The Navi Detective

One of the stranger aspects of the Navi persona is the attribute of detection.

Shmuel was apparently well known for finding things such that Shaul (not yet a king) sought him out to find a missing donkey. To some degree, it makes sense to us that a man who regularly communicates with God and can foretell the future would have an easy time of finding lost objects. But why? If nevuah is simply a communication system of reality between man and God, isn't that a little like using 911 to order a pizza? (Shout out to Die Hard.)

The Rambam brings down the detection abilities of the Navi as being an aspect of all neviim so we need not consider Shmuel an outlier. Moshe investigated a lost sheep so perhaps the Rambam is correct and Neviim have a special affinity for finding lost objects. I'm comfortable trusting the Rambam's investigation of the psukim and the words of chazal about them.

But again, the question is why? Why utilize this amazing ability to see the future for trifles such as finding lost objects? And, more to the point, what can we learn about the practice of nevua from its connection to detection?

What's interesting when we consider famous detectives is that we see a pattern. The most famous are fictional detectives such as Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, or Sam Spade which all trace back to real people with biographies. Of the doctor who inspired the Sherlock Holmes character, he utilized an almost encyclopedic knowledge base coupled with a clear mind to infer information about his patients to a disarming degree.

And what of the ability to find things? Today we have procedures and guidelines based upon thousands of years of human investigation and study. We re-trace our steps, we imagine where the object might be. If it is inanimate, we imagine the animate forces which may have moved it. We attempt to narrowly tailor our assumptions to those which most conform with reality as we know it.

And then we go out. We investigate. Each new piece of information refining our understanding of reality and adjusting our prediction for where we will find the object. Much like a fictional detective, we wade into the world with a singular focus and carefully investigate what we find along the way.

I also find it interesting to consider the parallels between the navi persona and the investigative journalist. Uncovering the truth. Shining a light on some ignored or forgotten error of the world. The need to speak out against injustice. To say: "Care for the ger the yasom and the almana! You're errors will cause them harm. Return to the teachings of Hashem - be kind and fair and just." 

I can't be sure that the navi persona is connected to the art of detection in any of its manifestations. As it is always possible that God simply allows neviim to utilize this ability to find trifling things such that a man would seek their aid in finding a donkey. But I tend to consider the connections of the psukim as being instructive - I think that art of detection is illustrative when considering the Navi persona.