29 Isaiah

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INTRODUCTIONTO

THEPROPHETS

TheHebrewBiblegroupstheBooksofIsaiah,Jeremiah,Ezekielandthat oftheTwelveMinorprophetsunderthetitleof'LaterProphets';thiscollection itputsaftertheJoshua-Kingsgroupwhichitentitles

'Ea

rlierProphets'.The GreekBibleputsthe

prop

heticbooksafterthePsalmsandtheWisdomBooks (the'Writings'or'Hagiographa')arrangingthemdifferentlyfromtheHebrew andaddingtothemLamentationsandDaniel(whichtheHebrewBibleplaces towardstheendofitscatalogue);italsocontainsadditionalmaterialnot written,ornotpreserved,inHebrew,includingtheBookofBaruch(after Jeremiah),theLetterofJeremiah(afterLamentations),andtheadditionsto theBookofDaniel.TheLatinVulgatehassubstantiallyadoptedthisarran gementbuthasfollowedtheHebrewinputtingtheminorafterthefourmajor prophets,andhasappendedtheLetterofJeremiahtotheBookofBaruch whichhasbeenplacedafterLamentations.

Thenatureofprophecy

Toagreaterorlesserdegreeandinvaryingforms,thegreatreligionsof antiquityalwayshadtheir'inspired'menwhoclaimedtobespeakinginthe nameofthegod.ThiswasparticularlytrueofIsrael'sneighbours:textsfrom thesecondmillenniumB.C.tellofpropheticactivityatMariontheEuphrates andatByblosinPhoenicia.

Mor

edetailedevidencecomesfromtheBibleitself whichspeaksofthefourhundredandfiftyprophetsofBaalsummonedby Jezebel,anativeofTyre,anddiscomfitedbyElijahonMtCarmel,IK18:19-40; andtheBiblegoesontospeakofthefourhundredprophetsconsultedby Ahab,IK22:5-12.Liketheformer,thesewereagroupofwildecstatics,though theyclaimedtospeakinthenameofYahweh.Theclaimwasfalse,butevidently contemporaryYahwismrecognisedthatsuchaninstitutionwasnotinitself illegitimate.Wefindgr

oup

sof'inspired'meninc

omp

anywithSamuel,1S10:5; 19:20,andinthetimeofElijah,IK18:4,propheticconfraternitieswerein touchwithElisha,2K2:3-18;4:38f;6:If;9:I;thisisthelastwehearofthem savefortheallusioninAm7:14.Undertheinfluenceofmusic,IS10:5,they wouldeithergointoacollectiveecstasythatalsoaffectedtheiraudience,IS 10:10;19:20-24,orperformsymbolicmimes,1K22:11. Elishahimselfononeoccasionresortedtomusicbeforeprophesying, 2K3:15.Morecommonwiththeprophetswasthesymbolicaction;thus AhijahofShiloh,1KII:29f,butalsoIsaiah,Is20:2-4,frequentlyJeremiah, Jr13:lf;19:1f;27:2f,notablyEzekiel,4:1-5:4;12:17,18;21:23f;37:15f.

Dur

ingtheseperformances,oronotheroccasions,theirbehaviourwasattimes extravagantandtheirpsychologicalstates

abnorma

l,butthesethingswere onlyincidentaltotheproperworkofthoseprophetswhoseactionsandwords

~

11

INTRODUCTION

TO

THEPRO

P

HE

TS

II

/6

1/

17

IN

TRO

DU

C

TION

TO

THE

PROPHETS

I"

"1

I'

II

theBiblepreservesforus.Inthisthey

are

sharplydistinguished

from

theecstatics

of

theancient

prop

hetic

confratern

ities.Nevertheless,they

are

calledbythesame

nam

e,

nabi.

Do

ubt

less

the

derivedverbsometimesmeans

'to

bebesideoneself',1S18:10andelsewhere,

from

thewayinwhichcertain

'proph

ets'behaved,

but

thisseco

ndary

usedoes

not

affecttheoriginalmean

ing

of

the

noun

itself.

It

ismorep

robab

lethatthisnounis

connected

witha

roo

tthatmeans

'to

call,toproclaim'.The

nabi

is

theref

oreeither'hewhoiscall

ed'

or'hewhoproclaim

s';

thesetwo

meanin

gstogetherdescribetheessence

of

prophecyinIsrael.Theprophetisthebearerandinter preter

of

theword

ofGo

d.Thisissuccinctlyexpressedintwoparallelpassages: inEx4:15-16,

Aaron

isthein

terpreter

of

Moses,Aaronthe'mouth'of

Mos

es,

Mo

ses'thegodwhoinspiredhim';inEx7:1,Mosesistobe

'a

godf

or

Pharao

h',

andAaronhis'p

rophet'

(nabi).

We

are

reminded

of

thewords

of

Yah

wehtoJeremiah:'Iamputtingmy

wordsintoyour

mouth',

Jr

I:9.The

pro

phetsareaware

that

theirmessageisfrom

God,intro

ducingitwiththewords

'Ya

hwehsaysthis',

'Wor

d

of

Yahweh',

'Oracl

e

of

Yahwe

h'.This

word

compelsthem

and

they

must

speakit:

'The

LordYahweh

speaks:whocanrefusetoprophes

y?'

Amo

scries,Am3:8,

and

Jeremiah

str

ugglesvainlyinitsgrip,Jr20:7-10. Ata

point

intheirliveseachreceivedan

irr

esistibledivinecall,Am7:15; Is6,

cf

.especiallyJrI:4-10,

and

waschosenas

Go

d'senvoy,Is6:8;theprice of

attempting

toeludethisvocationisstatedintheearlypart

of

the

story

of

Jonah.Thesemenweresenttoproclaim

God's

demandsandtobe

'signs'

of

thisdivinewillintheirownpersons.Foritisnotonlythewordstheys

peak

andtheactionstheyperform

that

tellofGod,

but

theirwholelives.H

osea

's

unha

ppymarriageisasymbol,Ho1-3;I

saiah

walksnakedfora

por

tent,Is20:3,andhewithhischildren

are

'signs

andportent

s',Is8:18;thelife

of

Jere

miahisitselfalesson,

Jr

16;Ezekielis

'a

signfortheHouse

of

Israel'whenhecarriesoutthestrangec

ommands

of

God

,Ezk4:3;12:6,11;24:24. Thedivinemessage

comes

to

them

in

var

iousways:byvisionasinIs6,Ezk1,2,8,etc.,

Dn

8-12,Zc1-6

(but

rarelybynight,cf.

Nb

12:6;cf.

Dn

7;Zc1:8f),byhearing,

butmost

oftenbyin

terna

linspiration(inthissensewe

are

usuallyto

understand

theformulae:

'The

word

of

Yahwehcame

tome',

'W

ordofYahwehto...'),sometimesunexpectedly,sometimesoccasionedby

some

quiteordinarycircumstancelikethesightofan

almondbranch

,

Jr

1:11,oftwo

basket

s

of

figs,

Jr

24,oravisittothe

potter

'swork

shop,

Jr18:1-4.Equallyvarious

are

themethodsthe

prop

hetsusetoconveytheirmessage: lyricalfragments,prosena

rrat

ives,inparable

or

directspeech,c

urtoracular

styleorthevariouslite

rary

forms

of

e

xhortatio

n,d

iatr

ibe,

sermon

,

prover

b,formalpsalms,lovesongs,satire,funerallament,etc. Thisvarietyinb

oth

receptionandtransmissionofthedivinemessageisin largepart

due

totheindividualtemperamentandnaturaltalents

of

each

prophet.

Yet

beneaththisvarietythereissomethingallhaveincommon:the genuineprophetisfully

aware

thatheisa

mouthp

iece,nomore;his

words

thoughhisownare

not

hisown.Hehasnodoubtt

hat

theword

of

God

has

come

tohim

and

t

hat

he

mustpass

itontoothers.Thesource

of

thisconviction isamysterious,we

may

callitmystical,experienceofadirect

contac

twith

Go

d.Aswehavesaid,thedivineseizure

oft

enprovokes'abnormal'manifes

tatio

nsbut,aswiththe

great

mystics,theseareincidental.

It

isimpo

rtant

tonoticethatthe

prophet

,likethemystic,israisedtoa'su

pra

nor

rnal'psychologicalstatebythisdivineintervention.Todenythiswouldbetoreducethe prophettotherankofpoetortocredithimwiththeillusions

of

misguidedvisionaries.Thep

rop

hetrarelyaddresseshismessagetoasingleperson,Is22:l5f,or, ifhedoesso,itiswith

other

sinview,Jr20:6;Am7:17.

The

king,responsible forthewhole

nation

,isanexception.ThusN

athan

inthecaseorDavid,Eli

jah

inthatof

Ahab,

Isaiah

of

Aha

z

and

Hezekiah,JeremiahofZedekiah;after the

return

fromexilethehighpriest,leaderofthecommunity,isalsothe recipientofthe

prophetic

message,Zc3.Ineverydescription

of

a

proph

et'scall,itis

made

clearthathismissionistothenation,Am7:15;Is6:9;Ezk2:3,

or

,inthecase

of

Je

remia

h,toallthenations.

Theprop

het'smessagerelatestobothpresentandfuture.Hismissionisto themenofhisowntime;tothemhecommunicatesthewillof

Go

d.Butinsofarashe/declaresthemind

of

Godhestandsbeyondtimeandhispreaching iss

upp

orted

andcontin

uedbythefulfilmentofthepredictionshemakes.At timesheforetellssomeeventinthencarfuturetherealisation

or

whichwillvindicatehiswordsandhisdivinemission.IS10:I

r.

Is7:14;Jr28:1

51'

;44:29-30;attimeshetells

of

punishmenttocomeinretributionforthecrimesagainst whiyhhe

thunders

,or

or

prosperityinreward

lor

therep

entan

ceforwhichhepleads.Prophetsofthelaterperiodlookstillfurtheraheadtothefinal triumph

of

God,

thou

ghheretoothereisalwaysalessonforthepresent.Since theprophet,however,isaninstrument

orGod

andnomore,hismessagemay exceedtheboundsofitshistoricalcontext

and

even

or

hisownappreciation; themessagemayremainveiledinmysteryuntilthefutureexplainsitssignifi cancebyfulfillingit,asinthecase

of

themessianicprophecies. There

are

twoaspectstothemessage,threatandconsolation.Jeremiahwas sent'totearupandtoknockdown.tobuildupandtoplant'.Andindeedthe messageoftenmakesbitterhearing,atissueofmenaces

and

r

epr

oaches,somuchso

that

severitycomestobeasignthataprophetisgenuine,Jr28:8-9, cf.

.J

r26:16-19;IK22:8.Thisisbecausethetrue

prop

hetish

aunt

edbythe idea

of

sin,theobstacletothewill

or

God.Theprospectsofsalvation,however. areneverforgotten.TheBook

or

Consolation,Is40-55,isapeak

of

prop

hecy;noristhereany

jus

tificationforquestioningtheauthenticity

or

passagesillthe olderprophetswhichspeakoffuturehappiness,passagessuchaswefindin Am9:8-15:Ho2:16-25;11:8-

11

;14:2-9.In

God

'sdealingswithhispeople,

pard

onandpunishmentarecomplementary. Thoughthe

prop

hetissenttothepeopleofIsrael,hisvision,likethestrong

arm

or

Godwhichishistheme,reaches

mor

edist

ant

horizons.Inthemajor prophetstherearcgroups

of

oraclesagainstthenations,Is13-23;.Jr46-51; Ezk25-32;theBook

or

AmosopenswithsentencepronouncedonIsrael's neighbours;Obadiahdeliversanoracleagainst

Edorn;

Nahumisonelong

ora

cleagainstNineveh. Thepr

ophe

thimselfknowsthathespeaksin

God's

name,

but

whatofhis hearers')Spuriousprophetsappearmore

than

onceintheBible.Suchprophets maybesincerebutdeluded,ortheymaybedeliberatefrauds;theyare

not

distinguishedfromthetrue

prophe

tbytheirbehaviour.Theysucceedinduping thepeople.

and

thegenuineprophetsarcforcedtodenouncet

hem:

thusMicaiah benlmlahdenouncesthep

rophets

of

Ahab,

IK22:8f,Jeremiahattacks

~

History

ofthepropheticmovementGiventhisdefinitionofthe

proph

et's

natureand

function,itisnotsurprising that

Mo

sesisaccountedthefatherof

them

all,Dt18:5,18,andtheir

most

distinguishedrepresentative,Nb12:6-8;Dt34:10-12,forhesp

oke

with

God

facetofaceandconveyedhisLawto

thechosenpeop

le.Hisprivilegesdidnot diewithhimand'thespiritdwells'in

Joshua

,hissuccessor,

Nb

27:18,cf.

Dt

34:9.Intheperiod

of

the

Judg

eswemeet

Debora

h

the

prophetess,Jg4-5,andthe

unn

amed

proph

etofJg6:8,andlaterSa

muel

himself

,

prophet

and

seer,IS3:20; 9:9;cf.2Ch35:18.Subsequentlythe

prop

hetic

spirit

isfounddiffusedamong thegroups

of

visionarieswhoseeccentric

behaviour

hasalready

been

m

ention

ed,IS10:5;19:20,afterwhomcomethem

or

esoberconfraternities,the

'so

ns

of

thepro

phets',2K2,e

tc.;

even

afterthereturn

fromexilewestillhear

of

'pro

phets'

spo

ken

of

intheplural,Zc7:3.

Nothing

iskn

own

oftheinfluence

of

these

con

f

raterni

tiesonthereli

giou

slife

of

thenation,butother

pro

phets

appear,not

of

theirn

umber,

whoseinfluenceisconsiderable:

thu

s

Gad

,

pro

phet

of

Dav

id,IS22:5;2S24:

II,

and

Nat

han,un

der

thesameking,2S7:2f;

12:lf;

IK1:

llf;soalsoAhijahun

d

erJ

ero

boam,1K11:29f;14:2f,Jehuson

of

Hananiunder

Baasha,IK16:7,Eli

jahand

Elisha

under

Ahab

and

hissuccessors,IK17to2K13

passim,

Jonah

underJeroboam

II,2K14:25,the

prop

hetessHuldah

underJosiah,

2K22:14f,

Ur

iah

underJehoiakim,

Jr

26:20.

To

thislisttheBooks

of

Chronicles

add

ShemaiahunderRe

hoboam,

2Ch12:5f,

IddounderRehoboamand

un

der

Ab

ijah,2

Ch

12:15;13:22,

Azariahunder

Ha

nania

h,Jr28,andallspuriousprophetsingeneral,Jr23,Ezekielcondemns

prop

hetsandprophetessesinIsrael,Ezk13.How

are

mentoknowifamessage isfrom

God?

How

recognise

the

genuinepr

oph

et?

TheOld

Testamentoffers twocriteria:thefulfilment

of

a

prop

hecy,Jr28:9;Dt18:22;andcf.IS10:lf; Is7:14;Jr28:15f;44:29-30,butalso,andofmoreimportance,theagreement

of

theprophet'steach

ingwithYahwisticd

oct

rine,Jr23:22;Dt13:1-6.

The

textswehaveq

uoted

fromDeuteronomys

how

that

prop

hecywasanofficiallyrecognisedinstitution

of

Israelitereligion.The

pro

phetswereonoccasionassociatedwith

the

priests,Jr8:I;23:II;26:7f,etc.;Zc7:3,etc.,

and

JeremiahtellsusthatintheTemple

at

Jerusalemtherewasa

roo

m'ofBen j

ohan

an,amanof

God'

,probablya

prophet.

Fromtheseindicationsandfrom similaritiesbetweensomepropheticmessages

and

liturgicalcompositions, certainrecentscholarshaveinferredthatthepr

oph

ets,eventhemostnotable amongthem,werea

ttac

hedtotheTempleandpl

ayed

anofficialpartinits worship.Thishypothesisgoesfarbey

ondthe

evidence

of

thetextsonwhich itifbuilt;thesearesufficientlyexplainedbysomelooserconnectionbetween

theprop

hetsandthemaincentres

of

Israelite

worsh

ip,asalsobytheinlluence

of

the

liturgyoncertain

of

the

pro

phets'oracles,inparticular

thos

e

of

Habakkuk,

Zechar

iahand

Joe

l.Thenature

of

thepropheticfunctionhastobe

deduc

edfromavariety

of

factsandoftexts,butfromtheseemergesthis

fundament

alidea:thepr

oph

etisonewhohasanimmediateexperience

of

Go

d;

heisonetow

hom

theholiness andwillof

Go

dhavebeenrevealed;hecont

empl

atespresentandfuturethrough theeyes

ofGod;

heissenttoremindmenoftheir

dut

yto

God

andtobring thembackto

obe

dienceandlove.Prophecy

thus

understoodisathingpeculiar toIsrael,aprovidentialinstrument

of

Go

dfor

the

guidance

of

hischosenpeople.

I

Ii

~

INTRODUCTIO

N

TO

THEPROPH

ET

S

IJ

I

8

1119

INTRODUCTION

TO

THE

PROPHETS

Asa,2Ch15:I

f,

Oded

un

der

Ahaz,2Ch28:9f.

and

afewotherswhosenames

arenot

given.

Most

of

theseprophets

are

barely

more

thanmentioned,butweknowalittle

moreabout

afew

of

them.

Nat

hanisthe

prophet

whoassures

David

of

thepermanence

of

hisdivinelyfavoured

dynasty

-the

first

of

aseries

of

prophecies,

becoming

clearerastimegoeson.

of

theMessiah,sonofDavid.2S7:1-17.

This

same

prophetreprovesDavidforhis

adu

lterywithBathshebabut,onhis repentance,assureshim

ofGod's

forgiveness,2S12:1-24.ElijahandElisha weknowrelativelywell,thankstothenarrutivcsintheBooksofKings.Elijah

appea

rsasthe

champio

nofthetrue

Go

datatimewhenimported

paga

ncults

ar

c

thr

eateningthereligionofYahweh:onthesummitof

Car

melhewinsasignalvictoryoverthepr

oph

etsofBaal,IKIHHismeetingwithGodat

Hore

b,them

ount

ainofthecovenant,showshowcloselyhisownworkis relatedtothat

of

Moses,IK19.Heisthe

cha

mpion

of

the

tru

efaithindeed

but

also

of

soundmorals;hesternly

pro

nouncesGod'sjudgementonAhab whohasmurdered

Naboth

forthesakeofhisvineyard,IK21.Anaura s

urro

undsthisfigurewhosed

isappearance

issomysteriouslydescribed, 2K2:1-IH,

and

inJewishtraditionElijahhasgrownmoreimport

ant

withthe passage

of

time.Unlikehim,Elishatheh

ermit

-prophet,playsaprominent partincontemporaryaffairs:intheMoabitewar,2K3,inthewarsagainst theSyrians,2K6-7,inHazacl'su

surpat

ionatDamascus,2K8:7-15,and Je

hu's

usurpationinIsrael.2K9:1-3.Heisconsultedbythepowerful,by Jehoash

of

Israel,2K13:14-18,

Ben-hadad

or

Damascus,2K8:7-8,

Na

amantheSyrian.2K5.Heisalsoconnectedwiththeconfraternitiesofthe

'so

nsofthe

pro

phets',whorelatedmarvelloustalesabouthim,2K4:1-7,3H-44;6:1-7. Notunnaturallymostorourinf

ormat

ionis

abo

utthe

pro

phetsinthescrip

tura

lcanon.Eachofthesewillbetreated

separa

telywhenthebooks bearingtheirn

ame

sarediscussed;meanwhilewemayindicatetheirrelationship tothewhole

proph

eticmovement.Themini

str

yofAmosisdatedinthemid-Sth century,about

fifty

yearsafterthedeath

of

Elisha,andthegreatageofpr

oph

ecy(lessthantwocenturies)continuesuntiltheExile;theperiodisdominatedby thetwogreatfigures

of

IsaiahandJeremiah,thoughtothesameepochbelong

Ho

sea,Micah,

Nahum

,Zephaniah

and

Habakkuk.Theendoftheministry

of

Jeremiahcoincideswiththebeginningofth

atof

Ezekiel,thepr

oph

etofthe Exile.ButwithEzekielthe

atmo

spher

echanges:spontaneityandvervedecline, thevisionsareonthegrandscaleandveryinvolved,theirdescriptionis meticulous,

and

interestinthe'l

att

erdays'increases:inshort,apocalyptic literaryf

orm

isbeginningtomakeitsap

peara

nce.Inthisperiod,evenso,the greatIsaian

tradition

iscontinued,withe

labora

tions,inIs40-55(the'Book

of

Consolation').HaggaiandZechariah,thepr

oph

etsoftheReturn,aremore restrictedin

their

outlo

ok:theyareentirelyconcernedwiththerebuilding oftheTemple.AfterthesecomesMalachitopointoutthedefectsofthenewly established

com

munity.

The

shortBookof

Jona

hfollows;

adapting

theancient

and

sacredtextstoteachitsnewlesson,itheraldstheliterary

form

called'rnidrash'.InJoel

and

in

the

second

part

of

Zechariah

we

re-encounterthe

apocalypticliteraryfashionsetbyEzekiel;so

too

inDaniel,whereimages

of

pastandfuturecome

together

inone

great

vision

thattranscends

time,avisionofthedestructionofevil

and

of

the

coming

of

the

k

ingdom

of

God

.At

this

point,itseems,

the

high

insp

iration

of

the

prophets

is

exha

ustedandwebegin

~

Category:	Books - Fiction
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Upload Date:	03/18/2009
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