The Prophets in Jewish and Christian Scripture

The prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible present some of the most profound theological literature in both the Tanak, the Jewish version of the Bible, and the Old Testament, the first portion of the Christian version of the Bible. Indeed, the prophetic books of the Bible grapple with the foundational theological questions of evil and righteousness as they attempt to come to grips with the problems posed by the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and the prospects for the restoration of both in the aftermath of the Babylonian exile. Of course, the long history of the prophetic books indicates that such questions were not limited to the Babylonian exile and the postexilic restoration. Earlier invasions by Aram and Assyria, among others, the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722/1 B.C.E., and the prospects for restoration during the reign of King Josiah of Judah (640–609 B.C.E.) had already opened such questions for the people of Judah and Israel in their efforts to understand their relationship with their G-d, YHWH, and their role in the world which YHWH created. Is YHWH indeed a righteous deity? What are Judah's and Israel's responsibilities in relation to YHWH? What role do the nations play in YHWH's plans for Judah/Israel and creation at large? These questions and others are addressed throughout the prophetic books, and they are just as significant today, particularly in the aftermath of the Shoah or Holocaust, for both Jews and Christians.

It is essential for readers to grasp the literary character of the prophetic books in order to discern their respective understandings of the significance of Judah's and Israel's relationship with YHWH and the events that they portray. The reading of the prophetic literature has been fragmented by more than a century of modern critical work that sought to reconstruct the words and persons of the historical prophets and the events of their times. The one-sided focus on historical reconstruction, with its identification of later editorial additions to the authentic words of the prophets, tended to obscure the literary coherence of the prophetic books and the overarching theological programs that they are designed to convey. The work of historical or diachronic reconstruction is necessary to the overall interpretation of the prophetic literature, but it must follow and work in conjunction with the synthetic or synchronic literary analysis of whole prophetic books in order to provide a credible reading of their presentation of the prophets. This is not to say that prophetic books must be read uncritically as the work of the prophets themselves—the prophetic books are the products of later editors or redactors who shaped earlier materials into their current forms. Rather, an understanding of the synchronic forms of the prophetic books (i.e., without regard to historical setting or the history of composition) helps readers to understand the overall framework in which the prophet is presented, and an understanding of the diachronic formation of the prophetic books (i.e., with consideration of historical setting and the history of composition) helps readers to understand how the prophet has been shaped.

The first step in a reading of the synchronic literary form of the prophetic literature is an assessment of the roles that the prophetic books play within the overall structure and theological program of the Bible. Such an assessment requires readers to recognize the differences between the Jewish Tanak and the Christian Old Testament. Many assume that the Tanak and the (Protestant) Old Testament are one and the same because they contain the same biblical books, but such a view is mistaken. The Old Testament itself shows great variety. The Roman Catholic version of the Old Testament contains a number of books that appear only as the Apocrypha in Protestant versions of the Bible. Other Christian Bibles, e.g., the Greek Septuagint of the Eastern Orthodox churches, the Syriac Peshitta of the Syrian churches, and the Ethiopian versions of the Bible contain books that might not appear in Western Christian Bibles. Furthermore, there are major differences in the structure or order of books in the Christian and Jewish versions of the Bible that have a profound impact on the theological reading of each. Although there is variation in the orders of the various Christian Bibles, we will focus on the Western Protestant tradition to illustrate the differing roles of the prophetic books in the Jewish and Christian versions of the Bible.

All forms of the Christian Bible are divided into two fundamental portions, viz., the Old Testament and the New Testament, which reflects the fundamental theological viewpoint of Christianity. The term "testament" means "covenant," and the terminology reflects Christianity's understanding of the progressive revelation of G-d to the world throughout human history. The Old Testament represents a first stage of G-d's revelation to the world through the Mosaic covenant with Israel. The New Testament represents a second stage of G-d's revelation to the world at large through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is understood to be the son of G-d in Christianity. Christianity anticipates a third stage of divine revelation through the second coming of Christ, which will see the final culmination of G-d's plans for the salvation of humanity.

The Old Testament revelation of the Mosaic covenant to Israel in the Christian Bible therefore represents only a stage in the revelation of G-d that anticipates the revelation of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. The various forms of Christianity differ in their respective understandings of whether or not and how the Mosaic covenant with Israel continues in Judaism following the New Testament period. Nevertheless, the preparatory character of the Old Testament is clear in the basic four-part structure of the Christian Old Testament. Although many argue that Old Testament's structure depends on the logical organization of the Greek Septuagint, which was itself likely the product of the Hellenistic Jewish community of Alexandria, it plays a constitutive role in defining Christianity's theological reading of the Old Testament. The first portion is the Pentateuch, viz., Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, which presents the earliest history of creation and the formation of Israel, including the revelation of the Mosaic covenant. The second portion is the Historical Books, viz., Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1–2 Samuel, 1–2 Kings, 1–2 Chronicles, Ezra–Nehemiah, and Esther, which presents the history of Israel from the entry into the promised land through the Persian period immediately prior to the Greco-Roman period of the New Testament when Judah/Israel found itself under the rule of foreign powers. The third section of the Old Testament shifts from concern with the past to concern with the timeless present, insofar as its books, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon, take up concern with fundamental questions of epistemology, human spirituality, and human behavior in the world. Finally, the Prophets, the fourth section of the Old Testament, including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the twelve books of the Minor Prophets, assess the fall of Israel and Judah to foreign powers and the prospects for their restoration following the Babylonian exile. Because the prophetic books contend that the sins of Judah and Israel led to their punishment and that YHWH intends to restore Judah and Israel following the period of their punishment, the Prophets occupy a key position in the Christian Bible. Appearing at the conclusion of the Old Testament and immediately prior to the New Testament, they point to the revelation of Jesus Christ as the means by which G-d's intended restoration of Israel at the center of the nations will be realized.

Indeed, the New Testament displays a structure like that of the Old Testament, insofar as it, too, is organized to anticipate the second coming of Christ. The Gospels present the earliest history of Jesus' revelation to the world; the Acts of the Apostles present Christianity's earliest history following the lifetime of Christ; the Epistles take up the timeless questions of Christian faith, practice, and organization, and the book of Revelation or the Apocalypse of John points to the anticipated second coming of Christ.

The organization of the Jewish Tanak is quite different from the Christian Old Testament, and this difference reflects a very distinctive theological viewpoint. There is no New Testament in Judaism because the revelation of divine Torah to Israel through Moses at Sinai continues to be the operative covenant of Judaism to this day. Furthermore, the Tanak is organized into three major sections, the Torah or "Instruction," the Nevi'im or "Prophets," and the Ketuvim or "Writings." The first letter of the Hebrew name for each section forms the acronym TaNaK by which the Jewish version of the Bible is known. The Torah, "Instruction," Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, again presents the earliest history of Israel from creation through the Mosaic revelation, and thereby represents the ideal construction of Israel as a holy people centered on the Tabernacle, a precursor for the Jerusalem Temple. The position of the Nevi'im, "Prophets," at the center of the Tanak, however, entails a very different function for the prophetic books in the Jewish form of the Bible. First, the Prophets are constructed quite differently into two subsections. The Nevi'im Rishonim, "Former Prophets," include Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, and relate the history of Israel from entry into the promised land through the Babylonian exile. Although these books present historical narrative, they emphasize a theological evaluation of the reasons for the destruction of Israel and Judah together with some inklings of potential restoration. The Nevi'im Aronim, "Latter Prophets," include Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Book of the Twelve Prophets, which again provide an assessment of the reasons for the punishment of Israel and Judah and the prospects for their restoration. Overall, they are concerned with the disruption of the holy ideal for Israel articulated in the Torah and the possibility of the reconstruction of that holy ideal. Because the Prophets appear at the center of the Tanak, they do not point beyond the Bible itself, but to the next segment of the Bible, the Ketuvim, "Writings," which express the reconstitution of that ideal. The Ketuvim include Psalms, Job, Proverbs, the Five Megillot or Scrolls (Ruth, Song of Songs, Qohelet/Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther), Daniel, Ezra–Nehemiah, and Chronicles. Altogether, these books are concerned with holy life for Israel around the Temple and within the world of creation; Psalms express spirituality, Job and Proverbs examine the epistemological foundations of divine creation, the Megillot are each associated with a festival, Daniel projects the restoration of holiness in the world, Chronicles expresses Israel's history around the Temple from creation through Cyrus's decree of restoration, and Ezra–Nehemiah express Judah's/Israel's restoration around the holy Temple in Jerusalem as the ideal for Jewish life.

Altogether, the Tanak's presentation of the holy ideal for Israel in the world, its disruption, and its restoration, represents a combination of linear and cyclical understandings of the course of human history and Israel's relationship with G-d. The Prophets play a key role in that presentation, insofar as they both sum up the reasons for that disruption and provide the rationale for restoration. Such an understanding has enabled Judaism both to weather periods of challenge and persecution and to develop progressively through the course of human history into modern times. The Prophets occupy a very different role at the conclusion of the Christian Old Testament. Within the linear presentation of the Old Testament, the Prophets again sum up the reasons for Israel's punishment and prepare the reader for the revelation of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Such a perspective provides Christianity with a clear sense of historical progression and development into the modern age as Christianity anticipates the culmination of human history through the second coming of Christ.

The formation of the Jewish Tanak and the Christian Old Testament clearly depends not on the original authors of the biblical books, but on the decisions and perspectives of later thinkers and leaders who organized the Bible into its present forms in order to articulate their respective understandings of the significance of the Bible. Although such organization—or even the concept of a Bible—was likely entirely foreign to the authors of the prophetic books or even to the prophets themselves, it clearly plays a very important role in the continuing life and relevance of the prophetic books to later generations of readers in both Judaism and Christianity.

In the next chapter we turn to the question of the reading of the individual prophetic books in their present synchronic literary forms and to the diachronic reconstruction of the prophetic books and the prophetic figures that they present.

Reading Prophetic Books

Reading the prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible calls for an understanding of the nature of prophecy and the social roles of prophets in ancient Israel and Judah as well as the larger world of the ancient Near East. It also calls for an understanding of the specific forms of literary presentation and linguistic expression that one encounters when reading prophetic literature.

A. PROPHETS IN THE ANCIENT WORLD

Although many think of prophets as persons who predict the future, prophets are concerned primarily with the events and circumstances of their own times and with influencing people within their own societies. Many prophets speak about potential future events, but they do so as part of their interest in persuading their contemporaries to adopt a specific course of action or attitude that they think best represents the will of G-d and the best interests of the people. Although prophecy was a recognized profession in the ancient Near Eastern world—and prophets, diviners, and other types of shamans appear frequently in other cultures and times as well—such a role tends to be expressed in contemporary Western culture by other types of figures, such as religious or political leaders, educators, journalists, artists, writers, musicians, attorneys, and others who are concerned with charting the directions of our society and the actions and viewpoints of people who live within it. Both men and women functioned as prophets in the ancient world, and their success was determined by the extent to which people understood them to speak the truth on behalf of their respective gods.

Prophets are well known throughout the ancient Near Eastern world in Egypt, Canaan, Aram (ancient Syria), Mesopotamia, and Israel and Judah. Although some might like to think of prophets as persons from all walks of life who suddenly find themselves possessed of divine spirit and compelled to speak on G-d's behalf, most prophets in the ancient world appear to be well-trained professionals who have mastered a set of skills, such as oracular divination, poetic and musical expression, ritual action, and so on, and who might function within the contexts of well-recognized institutions, such as temples, royal palaces, or even roving bands.

The literature of ancient Egypt, for example, presents many examples of prophetic activity and roles. The "Admonitions of Ipu-Wer" present the warnings of a well-educated prophetic figure from 2300 to 2050 B.C.E. who warned his pharaoh of a breakdown in Egypt's well-ordered society and called upon the pharaoh to restore order in the land:

He is the herdsman of all men. Evil is not in his heart.... Then he would smite down evil; he would stretch his arm against it.

The "Prophecy of Neferti" (or Nefer-rohu) relates how the Fourth Dynasty Pharaoh, Snefru (r. 2613ff. B.C.E.), called upon the lector-priest, Nefer-rohu, to entertain the court with his choice speeches. Nefer-rohu surprised the court with his descriptions of threats to Egypt:

Foes have arisen in the east, and Asiatics have come down into Egypt.... No protector will listen.... This land is helter-skelter, and no one knows the result which will come about.