In Judaism, are Nevi'im (prophets) and Ketuvim (writings) considered divinely inspired?

Question

According to orthodox Jewish interpretation, God literally dictated the Torah to Moses. But how about the other books of the Tanakh? Were they also dictations from God, or were they inspired less directly? Or are those books considered to be simply historical accounts and writings?

Answer 1

 Considering that the Hebrew word “נביא” (Navi), usually translated as “prophet”, literally means “spokesman” or “interlocutor”, the Books of Nevi’im are significantly more than “inspired” writings. They are recordings of prophecy, and the essential historical background to them. The Books of Ketuvim, on the other hand, are the “inspired” writings.
 The distinction between Moses’s prophecy and that of the other Nevi’im is partly in how explicit the messages they were given were. Moses got direct dictation, while the other prophets got somewhat vague transmissions. (See, for example, the first chapter of Jeremiah where he describes his vision and how he learned to interpret it.)

Answer 2

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RE:
In Judaism, are Nevi'im (prophets) and Ketuvim (writings) considered divinely inspired?
According to orthodox Jewish interpretation, God literally dictated the Torah to Moses. But how about the other books of the Tanakh? Were they also dictations from God, or were they inspired less directly? Or are those books considered to be simply historical accounts and writings?

Answer 3

They are seen as less direct inspirations, as such they often hold less weight in terms of theological impact.

That being said a requirement for a book to be part of the Nevi'im or Ketuvim is that it must have relevance throughout history.

Books like Samuel give the background and legitimacy to the Davdic density.

Kings chronicle the historical events of those times. That being said the latter books are not flawless and if evidence contradicts some details that were transcribed that needs to be taken into account.

Answer 4

The books in Nevi'im and Ketuvim are considered to have been written by people with prophetic insight. However, since they were not directly transmitted from God, they are not as authoratative as the Torah. Thus while we derive halachah from the Tprah, from nevi'im and Ketuvim we can only derive examples that support the halachah and increase our understanding of the Torah, or allusions towards Rabbinical gezeiroth for the halachah. Nevi'im and Ketuvim can NEVER contradict the Torah, when they do, we look for an alternative explanation that would allow it to support the Torah.

Answer 5

Moses was the greatest prophet of all time, and the Five Books of the Torah are the clearest form of communication we have from God. However, the other books of the Scriptures were also written with prophecy (e.g. Isaiah) or, at least, Divine Inspiration (e.g. Chronicles). They are no less true or accurate - they are just less direct, as you wrote in your query. Jewish tradition teaches that every word of these books is meaningful on many levels and can teach us deep truths about ourselves.

Answer 6

naviim were historical recordings and so were some of the ketuvim but some ketuvim were divinely inspired like tehillim

Answer 7

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