i8 7 7] WAS PROPHECY SUPERNATURAL ? 357 



tested. Kuerten asks, How shall I know whether Jahveh 

 speaks to men by prophets ? The question in Deut. 

 is only, How shall I know the word which Jahveh hath 

 spoken ? Accordingly the application of the Deuter- 

 onomic test will be conditioned by a variety of considera 

 tions, derived in each individual case from the general 

 theory of prophecy. These will determine the measure 

 and nature of the fulfilment which it is fair to expect. 



(2) Again, it is clear from the nature of the case that 

 this practical test does not cover all possible cases. It is 

 at best a negative test ; for in chapter xiii. 1-5 we read 

 that even though a prophet produces in support of his 

 divine commission an DD^ID IN JVIN which actually comes 

 to pass, this shall go for nothing if his teaching is 

 directed to withdraw the people from Jahveh. 



(3) And, once more, it is clear that in many cases the 

 effect of the prophetic word would be wholly lost if no 

 heed were given to it until it had been verified in the 

 event. So the Deuteronomic test would stultify prophecy 

 altogether if it were raised to the rank of a universal rule. 

 It is only a subsidiary test which may be applied in cases 

 where the self-evidencing power of the prophetic word 

 is not conclusive. As a matter of fact we do not find that 

 it was customary for all prophets to confirm their com 

 mission by a fulfilled prediction ; and strictly viewed the 

 passage does not require any such thing. It is purely a 

 negative rule, and necessarily of occasional application 

 merely. So we find that Jeremiah applies it in the case 

 of Hananiah only because the prophecy of peace given 

 by the latter was in its own nature suspicious. In this 

 case of special conflict between true and false prophecy God 

 did give to Jeremiah (Jer. xxviii.) a special evidence that 

 he was the true prophet by enabling him to predict the 

 death of Hananiah within the year. But this was clearly 

 a special case which must not be extended to a general 

 rule. Contrast the quite different line taken by Isaiah 

 and Micah against the diviners, Isa. viii. 19, Micah iii. 5-8, 



