The moral issue, not a prodigy, was the test.  These false prophets

caused Israel 'to forget' the name of the Lord, and turned their hearts after

'Baal'.  They are accused of 'stealing' God's words, and using their tongues

to say 'He saith'.  'I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the

Lord, and do tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies, and by

their lightness' (23:32).  Here are two test words that may be applied to the

whole of Prophetic Scripture.  If the result of any prophetic utterance be to

'make you vain' then we can be sure that such prophets 'speak a vision of

their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord' (Jer. 23:16).

The Hebrew word that is translated 'lie' is sheqer.  The primary idea

of the word, according to Gesenius, is 'colouring' with the implied idea of

falsehood.  So, 'wanton eyes' are translated by Bishop Lowth, 'falsely

setting off their eyes with paint' (Isa. 3:16).  Keeping to the prophecy of

Jeremiah we find this word sheqer translated 'feignedly', 'in vain',

'falsely', 'lying', 'lies' and 'falsehood'.  Jeremiah 8:8 reads in the

Authorized Version margin, 'the false pen of the scribes worketh for

falsehood', or again, 'They bend their tongues like their bow for lies; but

they are not valiant for the truth' (Jer. 9:3).  (See Feigned Obedience, p.

299).  Over and over again Jeremiah warns the people against the teacher of

lies, and finally was himself put into prison because the words he uttered

were unacceptable in the ears of the rulers of the people.

'Lies and lightness'.  The Hebrew word translated lightness is

pachazuth, which means instability.  ' Unstable as water' (Gen. 49:4) uses

the word in the masculine form.  Zephaniah said, 'her prophets are light

(pachaz) and treacherous persons' (3:4).

'Truth', emeth (the parent of our word Amen) is the very opposite both

of 'lies' and 'lightness', for the basic meaning of emeth is 'steadfastness',

'establishment' (2 Chron. 32:1).  'Lies and lightness' here, are the tests

for all prophetic utterances -- if they 'make you vain' they are not of God.

Why should 'false prophets' ever be permitted?  Apart from the fact

that such form part of the problem of evil that is ever present but never

discussed in the Scriptures, we are definitely told that the prophet or a

dreamer of dreams that says, 'Let us go after other gods' is permitted by the

Lord, 'For the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord

your God with all your heart and with all your soul' (Deut. 13:1 -3).

In our own generation we have had a number of 'prophets' who, by one

form of computation or another, have 'proved' that the Second Coming of the

Lord would take place on some specified date.  One after another they have

been proved false, but still they arise and still there will be found men and

women foolish and blind enough to follow them:

'To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this

word, it is because there is no light in them' (or 'surely there is no

morning for them', Revised Version), (Isa. 8:20).

'Thy Spokesman ... instead of a mouth'

The first person to be named 'a prophet' is Abraham (Gen. 20:7), which

shows that the title is not to be limited to 'prediction' but rather to the

wider meaning of a spokesman for God:

'He is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live'.