The false prophet: Parshat Re’eh

Abstract

It is for this reason that our Torah reading, Re’eh, does not caution people not to become false prophets but instead tells potential followers not to listen to such inauthentic leaders. The false prophet is nothing without followers. Do not give him – or her - that power. The way you know if the prophet is false is clear according to our verses; if a prophet tells you to go against the Torah, you know that he is misleading you: “If there appears among you a prophet or a dream-diviner, who gives you a sign or a portent, saying, ‘Let us follow and worship another god’—whom you have not experienced —even if the sign or portent named to you comes true, do not heed the words of that prophet or that dream-diviner” (Deut. 13:2-4).