A philosopher once came to Rabbi Eliezer with what he thought was an airtight argument against Jewish prophecy. He cited Malachi 1:4, where God says of Edom, "They shall build, but I will throw down."
The philosopher gestured at the world around him. "Do not buildings still exist? Cities still stand. Edom flourishes. The prophet is obviously wrong."
What the Prophet Actually Said
Rabbi Eliezer did not flinch. "The prophet is not speaking of buildings made of stone. He is speaking of the schemes of designers. Every year you all gather and scheme to destroy us, to make an end of us. And He brings your counsels to nothing. He throws them down. So that your plots against us accomplish nothing."
The philosopher went silent. Then he said, "By your life, it is even so. We do meet annually for the purpose of..." — and here the text trails off, the answer caught mid-sentence in the margin.
What survives of the exchange, preserved in the Hebraic anthologies of rabbinic Midrash, is the principle. Prophecy does not always deal in bricks. Sometimes it deals in the ruined blueprints of enemies who thought their plans were secret.
The schemes never become monuments. They are thrown down before they ever rise.