Prophecies That Came True: The Ramban on the Torah’s Predictions of Jewish History

Parashat Ki Tavo contains a long and difficult passage of rebuke. The Ramban explains that these warnings refer to the destruction of the Second Temple and the exile that followed it. By contrast, he explains that the rebuke found in Parashat Bechukotai refers to the destruction of the First Temple.

The Ramban adds a remarkable point: when we look back at history and see how the Torah’s descriptions were fulfilled, we can recognize in this a powerful testimony to the truth of the Torah. These prophecies were recorded centuries before the events they describe, and some of the developments they predicted would have been extraordinarily difficult to anticipate through ordinary human foresight.

Rabbi Hadar Margolin, in his book L’Margelot HaRamban, develops this idea. When we look back at a prophecy that has already been fulfilled, we tend simply to say, “Yes, that happened,” and move on. Because we already know the outcome, it is difficult to appreciate how extraordinary the prediction would have sounded before the event occurred.

Consider a simple exercise. What can any of us confidently predict about the world 100 years from now? What will the newspaper headlines say? Which nations will dominate the world? What wars will be fought? What will the political map look like? We simply do not know. Human beings cannot reliably predict the details of the distant future.

Now imagine standing at the time the Torah was given and hearing descriptions of events that would unfold many centuries later.

Who Would Destroy Jerusalem?

The Torah foretells a devastating destruction. But which nation would bring it about? Throughout Jewish history, Israel was surrounded by numerous enemies: Egypt, the Philistines, Amalek, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Babylon, Assyria, and others. Which of these nations would ultimately be responsible for the destruction?

The Torah gives a surprising answer: “The Lord will bring against you a nation from afar, from the end of the earth... a nation whose language you will not understand” (Deuteronomy 28:49).

Why would the destroyer come from far away? Why would it not be one of Israel’s familiar neighboring enemies?

Centuries later, the Second Temple was destroyed by Rome, a powerful empire that came from far beyond Israel’s immediate surroundings. For the Ramban, this correspondence between the Torah’s description and later history is deeply significant.

A Dispersion Across the World

The Torah then describes what would happen after the destruction. The Jewish people had experienced exile before. Following the destruction of the First Temple, much of the nation was exiled to Babylon. But the Torah describes a different kind of exile following the later destruction: “The Lord will scatter you among all the peoples, from one end of the earth to the other” (Deuteronomy 28:64).

This would not simply be the transfer of a defeated population from one country to another. It would become a far-reaching dispersion across many lands.

That worldwide dispersion became one of the defining features of later Jewish history. Jewish communities eventually became established throughout the Middle East and North Africa, across Europe, and eventually in countries around the globe. The Jewish exile was not confined to a single foreign land. It became a diaspora stretching across continents, remarkably reflecting the Torah’s description of a people scattered “from one end of the earth to the other.”

What Would Happen to the Land?

There was another remarkable prediction. What would happen to the Land of Israel while the Jewish people were in exile?

Logically, one might assume that a fertile and desirable land would simply pass into the hands of another people. They would settle it, cultivate it, build upon it, and enjoy its agricultural potential. Yet the Torah says, “Your enemies who dwell upon it will be desolate over it” (Leviticus 26:32).

The Ramban sees a remarkable promise hidden within this frightening verse. He writes that although the Jewish people would be exiled, the land would not fully accept another nation in their place:

“This is good news, proclaiming throughout all our exiles that our land will not accept our enemies. This is also a great proof and promise to us, for you will not find throughout the inhabited world a land that is good and spacious, and which was always inhabited, that has become as desolate as it. For since we left it, it has not accepted any nation or people. They all attempt to settle it, but they are unable.”

For the Ramban, the land’s failure to become the flourishing national homeland of another people during the Jewish exile was itself part of the Torah’s promise.

Historical travelers left accounts describing areas of the Land of Israel as sparsely populated and poorly cultivated. One of the most famous was American author Mark Twain, who visited the region in 1867 and wrote vividly about landscapes that struck him as barren and desolate.

In his commentary on the rebuke in Parashat Bechukotai, the Ramban discusses additional details concerning exile and redemption. He emphasizes developments that, from his perspective, could not reasonably have been predicted through ordinary human calculation, yet became recognizable in the course of Jewish history.

The Story Does Not End With Exile

The Torah’s description of Jewish history, however, does not end with destruction, suffering, and dispersion. It ends with redemption.

After describing the blessings and curses that would come upon the Jewish people, the Torah speaks of a future return: “When all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse...” (Deuteronomy 30:1). It then promises that God will gather His people and bring them back, declaring: “He will do good to you and make you more numerous than your ancestors” (Deuteronomy 30:5).

The Ramban understands these verses as referring to a complete future redemption of the Jewish people. He describes it as a redemption greater than those that preceded it, one that will encompass all the tribes of Israel. He writes that the Torah offers here a complete promise of the future redemption, even more explicit than the visions found in the Book of Daniel.

If we can look back through Jewish history and recognize the fulfillment of the Torah’s descriptions of destruction, exile, dispersion, and the condition of the land, then the promises that follow them take on even greater significance.

The same Torah that spoke of destruction also spoke of return. The same Torah that foretold dispersion also promised gathering. The same passages that describe exile ultimately point toward redemption.

After looking back at the remarkable course of Jewish history, we can therefore look forward with faith and prayer to the fulfillment of the rest of the promise: “He will do good to you and make you more numerous than your ancestors.”

May we merit to see the complete redemption soon.