Deuteronomy 18:20

That prophet shall die] For an instance see Jeremiah 28:15.

22, 21. At no time is it easy to distinguish the true from the false prophet. Different prophets in Israel not unfrequently contradieted each other. One test of the true prophet, but not the only one, is proposed here, viz. the fulfilment of prediction. Manifestly this test could only be applied to predictions of the immediate future. But the prophet sometimes prophesied of things that were afar off (Ezekiel 12:22) so that his words could not be verified by those to whom they were addressed. The ultimate criterion of the true prophet is the moral character of his utterance. Conscience is the true judge. Our Lord reproached His generation because they insisted on seeing signs and wonders before they would believe.