prophet

Coming is joining the boundary one is heading for, the opposite of going out (יציאה), which is parting from a boundary. It is a relative term, said only with respect to the boundary that is its end, and only where that boundary is fixed and stays in its place. Where it is not fixed, one cannot say of the one coming that his coming is complete: one may say that he drew near or approached (שקרב או נגש), but not that he came. Where it is fixed, בא is said even while he is still on the way, since he must reach it in the end: והנה עשו בא (Bereishis 33:1), and behold, Esav was coming, though he had not yet arrived; as he draws ever nearer to the fixed point, we see it as though the coming were already complete. And ביאה, coming, is said only of one who, having reached the boundary he sought, stops moving; of one who is still in motion it is not clear that the coming is complete.

So בא is said of the sun only at its setting, כי בא השמש (Bereishis 28:11), for the sun had come in, and not at its rising. From where we stand it would fit the sunrise better, since we are the boundary and the sun comes toward us; but after rising it is still in motion and does not rest, so ביאה, coming, does not apply to it. When it sets and we no longer see it moving, we may say כי באה, for it has come, as though it had found the point it sought on the western horizon and come to rest there.

The noun of place is מבוא, an entry: מבוא השמש (Devarim 11:30), the going in of the sun, and מבוא העיר (Shoftim 1:24), the entry of the city. In the language of Chazal it is מבוי, as מבוי שהוא גבוה (Eruvin), an alley that is high, on the pattern of ראוי, fit, and מצוי, found; in the plural מבואות, as שתופי מבואות (Eruvin 79b), the partnerships of the alleys. A מבוי, then, is the entry of the street: not the street itself, though it takes in both; what is meant is the open space of the street through which one comes into the houses and courtyards.

The verb of bringing is הביא, he brought, and מובא, brought: כי הובאו בית יוסף (Bereishis 43:18), that they had been brought into Yosef's house, that is, made to come by another. The verb is never found in the simple passive, so that it should not be confused with נביא, prophet, and נבואה, prophecy. It comes without its alef, ויבו ירבעם (Melachim I 12:12), and Yeravam came, and הנני מבי עליך (Melachim I 21:21), behold, I am bringing upon you; and with a tav added, תבואתה לראש יוסף (Devarim 33:16), let it come upon the head of Yosef, and תבואתך טובה (Iyov 22:21), good will come to you.

From the root comes תבואה, what the ground grows, grain and the fruit of trees alike: כתבואת גרן וכתבואת יקב (Bamidbar 18:30), as the yield of the threshing floor and as the yield of the winepress. It is named for the bringing forth that the earth brings. It is a noun of the verb, but not of the simple form, since it does not speak of coming; it is of the causative, which speaks of bringing. The sense is that of יבול, what the earth carries forth; see his explanation at the root בל. It is said also of the fruit of thought and deed: ותבואתי מכסף נבחר (Mishlei 8:19), and my yield is better than choice silver; תבואת רשע לחטאת (Mishlei 10:16), the yield of the wicked is for sin; תבואת שפתיו ישבע (Mishlei 18:20), with the yield of his lips he is sated.

ומי אוהב בהמון לא תבואה (Koheles 5:9), and whoever loves a crowd has no yield: the one who loves a crowd of workers to do his work, for some people love bustle and like their affairs run on a large scale. Such a man never makes a profit and gains nothing from the many hands, for ברבות הטובה רבו אוכליה (Koheles 5:10), when good increases, those who eat it increase, and his wage goes out in his loss: as the good grows with the number of workers, so grows the need to feed and keep them. The householder has no advantage כי אם ראות עיניו, but the sight of his eyes: many people reclining at his table and his house in a tumult. Better to have few workers and to work alongside them himself, for מתוקה שנת העובד (Koheles 5:11), sweet is the sleep of the worker, who enjoys the toil of his hands, whether much or little. Not so the rich man who slackens in the work because he relies on his many workers: though his provisions are plentiful, his sleep is confused and troubled.

From בא in the sense of bringing comes the noun נביא, prophet, on the pattern of נשיא, prince, and נזיר, nazirite. He is the messenger who brings the words of Hashem to the people and the words of the people to Hashem, and he is called נביא for this bringing of words, as it says והבאת אתה את הדברים אל האלהים (Shemos 18:19), and you shall bring the matters to Hashem. That is the chief condition of a prophet: that he stand so high that Hashem attends to him, makes him His messenger to tell the people His words, and receives the people's words through him. Working signs and wonders beyond nature, and knowing the future, are incidental to a prophet, for times when the hour requires them, and are not a necessary condition: many prophets prophesied of whom no miracles or foretelling became known. וידע כל ישראל כי נאמן שמואל לנביא (Shmuel I 3:20), and all Yisrael knew that Shmuel was established as a prophet, when he had not yet worked any wonder; they knew he was a prophet because Hashem had revealed Himself to him.

ואהרן אחיך יהיה נביאך (Shemos 7:1), and Aharon your brother shall be your prophet: the one who brings your words to Pharaoh, as a prophet brings the words of Hashem to the people, so that you are in My place and he in yours. And of the one who prophesied at the king's direction, הניבא על ידי המלך, it says הנבא על הודות והלל (Divrei HaYamim I 25:2-3), who prophesied in thanksgiving and praise: that is, who brought through songs the words of the king, and words of thanksgiving and praise to Hashem.

Telling the future is also called נבואה, prophecy, because it is found only among prophets and not among ordinary men. Hashem reveals His secret only to His servants the prophets (Amos 3:7), and works signs and wonders only through them, so that it should be clear to every challenger that they are His messengers, or to warn the people and set them straight in His ways.

In time people made the secondary thing the main one, held that a prophet's chief distinction was to see what is to come, and called the prophet רואה, seer. This was in the days of the Judges, when over the years the principle the nation had received from of old was shaken: that the condition of a prophet is his mission and not foretelling. Thinking foretelling the main thing, they set aside the name נביא, which speaks of bringing the mission, and called him רואה, for the seeing of the future. So כי לנביא היום יקרא לפנים הרואה (Shmuel I 9:9), for the one now called a prophet was formerly called a seer. היום, today, refers to the time Shmuel wrote his book, at the end of his life, when the name רואה had fallen away again and נביא had been chosen again as at first. Writing then, Shmuel was saying: what I now call a prophet, by the true name it had in early days, was called before, in the days of the Judges and in the years of my youth as well, a seer.

In the word בא the only root letter is ב, and the alef is added: it is missing in the forms above and in ויכל מהתנבות (Shmuel I 10:13), and he finished prophesying. The letter ב in itself marks the cleaving of a quality (מקרה) to the thing that bears it (נושא), that is, the boundary it is in: בי, בהם, בכם, in me, in them, in you. Since there are many ways for a quality to cleave to its bearer, ב has many uses.

Some qualities cleave from the start, as heat to fire and wetness to water, from their creation: יהיה בו מום (Vayikra 21:17), who has a blemish in him, and או תבלול בעינו (Vayikra 21:20), or a film in his eye. Some arise anew, as flowing in water that is sometimes still and sometimes running: כי יהיה בו שבר רגל (Vayikra 21:19), who has a broken leg, for the break is not from his creation. What arises may come about in place, as flowing within the water itself: כי פשה הנגע בבית (Vayikra 14:48), that the plague has spread in the house; ושער שחור צמח בו (Vayikra 13:37), and black hair has grown in it; ויהי רעב בארץ (Bereishis 12:10), and there was famine in the land. Or it may come upon the bearer from outside, as warmth comes upon water: כאשר יתן מום באדם כן ינתן בו (Vayikra 24:20), as he put a blemish in a man so shall it be put in him; ורחץ במים (Vayikra 14:8), and he shall wash in water; ודבק באשתו (Bereishis 2:24), and he shall cleave to his wife. What comes from outside sometimes comes through a means, as rinsing is done by means of water: ומורק ושטף במים (Vayikra 6:21), it shall be scoured and rinsed in water; מיד האמורי בחרבי ובקשתי (Bereishis 48:22), from the hand of the Emori with my sword and my bow; and this is what is called the ב of the instrument.

Some cleaving arises inside the bearer: והשוכב בבית (Vayikra 14:47), and one who lies in the house; בבית ובשדה (Bereishis 39:5), in the house and in the field; ובדרך לא היה (Bamidbar 9:13), and was not on the road. Some is by leaning on it: לא בקשתי אבטח (Tehillim 44:7), not in my bow do I trust; הנוגע בהר (Shemos 19:12), whoever touches the mountain. Some is by company: כי במקלי עברתי את הירדן (Bereishis 32:11), for with my staff I crossed the Yarden; בזאת יבא אהרן (Vayikra 16:3), with this shall Aharon come. Some is in time, either the time itself, בעת ההיא (Yehoshua 5:2), at that time, בימים ההם (Bereishis 6:4), in those days, ויכל אלהים ביום השביעי (Bereishis 2:2), and Hashem finished on the seventh day; or through some act in between, ובלכתך בדרך ובשכבך ובקומך (Devarim 6:7), and as you walk on the way, and as you lie down and as you rise, and ובמלאות ימי טהרה (Vayikra 12:6), and when the days of her purity are complete. The act in between may mark the time by chance, as בשכון ישראל (Bereishis 35:22), when Yisrael dwelt, וברדת הטל (Bamidbar 11:9), and when the dew came down, and בשבתך בביתך (Devarim 6:7), when you sit in your house; or be bound to the time necessarily, as ובשכבך ובקומך (Devarim 6:7), at the hour people lie down; בעלותך לראות (Shemos 34:24), when you go up to appear; באכלכם מלחם הארץ (Bamidbar 15:19), when you eat of the bread of the land; באין אלפים אבוס בר (Mishlei 14:4), where there are no oxen the trough is clean, that is, at a time when there are none; and התשחית בחמשה (Bereishis 18:28), will You destroy for the five, that is, at a time when five are lacking.

Some cleaving is a joining of things in imagination and thought: בכסף מלא יתננה לי (Bereishis 23:9), for full silver let him give it to me, an imagined joining of the act of giving to the receipt of full silver; והנותר בבשר ובלחם (Vayikra 8:32), and what is left of the flesh and of the bread, where being left over is attached to the flesh and bread by a relation in thought. So too ותדבר מרים ואהרן במשה (Bamidbar 12:1), and Miriam and Aharon spoke against Moshe; ויעבד ישראל באשה (Hoshea 12:13), and Yisrael served for a wife; כפלים בכל חטאותיה (Yeshayahu 40:2), double for all her sins; בך ארוץ גדוד (Shmuel II 22:30), by You I run against a troop; לדבקה בו (Devarim 11:22), to cleave to Him. All these, and many more, are the cleaving of a quality to its bearer: from the start or arising anew, from within the bearer itself or by coming from outside.

A quality that comes from outside must pass two stages. First the motion, in which it moves to cleave to its bearer: the preparation and the act before the attachment. Then the attachment itself, the point of time at which it takes hold and is complete, the outcome of the motion before it. The letter ל marks the motion that comes before, which the logicians call מאמר לו, the category of to it, motion toward some point, matter or state; the letter ב marks the attachment once complete, which they call מאמר בו, the category of in it. German says both with its word for in: of one walking in the city, געהט אין דער שטאט, geht in der Stadt, he walks in the city, and of one going to the city, געהט אין דיא שטאט, geht in die Stadt, he goes into the city; it tells the two apart by the article, die or der, the word der, which Rav Pappenheim labels genitive, meaning the inside of the city. So ב serves for the cleaving of a quality to its bearer, from within or from outside, and from its use for what comes from outside the language made the word בא, to come: the verb that gathers both stages. Before the joining is complete the one coming is in motion toward the boundary he heads for, in the category of to it; once he has cleaved to that boundary he passes out of the category of to it into the category of in it, and the verb that holds both is called בא.