Hebrew Word Study – Testing  – Menasseh  מנסה   Mem Nun Samek Hei

Deuteronomy 13:1-3: “If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, (2) And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; (3) Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

We in evangelical Christianity are hearing a lot about prophets these days.  Christian prophets are giving some pretty profound prophecies concerning our nation and warning us that we must listen to the prophets if we want these prophecies to come true.  They prove their authenticity by their track record. They don’t get everything right and they are not 100% accurate, even they will admit this much.  But some of their predictions have been pretty uncanny. When they remind you of their hits it is a little hard not to believe their new prophecies. I mean what they are prophesying is really good stuff, evil being uncovered, righteousness will once again rule, the nation will turn back to God and there will be a great revival. Yeah man, praiseallujah, that is what I want.  I mean who would not want to believe these prophets.  Their prophecies are right up our alley, preach it brother, I’ll hold the hymn book you sing the song. 

I mean I really want to believe them but how do I know they are real prophets and not false prophets.  That 100% accuracy rate test just won’t pan out with today’s prophets.  At least the dozen or so prophets I have been following.  I suppose you can put a spin on practically any prophecy and point to something that will make it sound like it came to pass. But most people don’t buy into it and many prophets have apologized for wrong prophecies. 

I recently did a study on Deutronomy 18:22: ‘When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that [is] the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, [but] the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.” Many have taken this verse to mean that a prophet must be 100% accurate or they are a false prophet.  The Bible does not call them a false prophet just one who has spoken presumptuously.  Jonah’s prophecy of the immediate destruction of Nineveh did not come to pass because the people repented. It doesn’t make him a false prophet. The prophet Agabus in Acts 21:10-12 prophesied that if Paul went to Jerusalem he would be put in chains.  Agabus was a true prophet but he missed that one. Paul went to Jerusalem and was not put in chains.  

So, I believe it is possible for a true prophet to miss a few.  God even said in Deuteronomy 13 that even a false prophet could have dreams, signs, and wonders and be accurate in his prophecies. The test of a true or false prophet is that a false prophet will say in Deuteronomy 13:2: “Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them.”  Now that is a pretty cut and dry test and of course, no true believer would listen to such a prophet and such false prophets are out their plenty preaching Eastern-type religions and pagan gods.  But is it possible that a Christian prophet who insists and swears on his King James Bible that He is only pointing you to God could actually be pointing you to another God?  

The enemy is very subtle, of course, he knows he cannot trap you into worshipping a pagan god, you’re too smart for that and he knows it, so he has put a  disguise on another god. Perhaps he will have this false prophet promote someone like a political savior or military savior. This political or military savior could appear to be a real saint such that even the elect will be deceived if it is possible.  The words “let us go after other gods” is neleka  achari Elohim achereim.  The word nelekah  which is rendered as let us go comes from the root word halak which is a word used for a righteous walk. The prophet will make it appear as if following this other god is a righteous thing.  The word nelekah is in a cohortative form which means it is in the form of a wish or desire. The prophet will play on the fleshly desires of a believer leading him to believe that if he follows this “other god” he will be blessed immensely. 

Now here is the curious thing. Verse 3 tells us that the Lord actually allows these false prophets to come before you to test you, to determine if you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and might.  The word test in Hebrew here is menasseh which is a Piel participle coming from the root word nasah which means to try something out, prove it, sort of giving it a road test. As a Piel this is intensive, that is it will require you to really think through this prophetic utterance before you blindly accept it.  The test is not for God’s sake but ours to prove to ourselves that our true love is God.

Suppose your boss quits and you now face the possibility of a new boss. Perhaps it is time to float your resume and make a change yourself.  A prophet could come to you and say: “Do not fear your new boss, yea, he will lead you new heights, truly, you will receive raises and bonuses yea, even a great promotion and again I say yea.” That is what you want to hear, that does not even need to be prayed over. How could such a thing not be the will of God?  You know it is the will of God because it is just so right for you.  You accept the prophecy as true because that is what you really want, you want to hear, what you want to be true. But where is God in all this?  Is there any word that this new boss will bring you closer to God, give you a greater opportunity to share your faith, or is that not so important in this mix?  God is saying that if He is not in the mix you might be hearing a false prophet.  If you truly love God you will not first think: “Boy this sounds great for me.”  You would first think: “Yeah, but how will this affect my relationship with God.  Will I have greater opportunity to be a witness or will this new boss silence me?”  

It would seem from this verse the primary test of the prophet’s prophecy is not whether it will bring you fame or fortune but how will it affect you mission for God?  If you love God first you will say: “Fame, fortune, peaceful existence are not what I am looking for, I want to hear a prophecy on how I can promote my first Love.” 

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