Introducing the Prophets: Who Were the Prophets?
Mar 27th, 2009 by Bryan
[This is the second post in my series: Introducing the Prophets.]
Perhaps the most important point to make on the first day of a Prophets course is that prophecy is concerned not so much with telling the future as it is with providing an interpretation of the past and an explanation for why things are happening. The prophets are concerned, generally speaking, with the recent past, the present, and the very near future. They bring God’s message to bear on their contemporary situation, providing an (inspired) vision of the deeper spiritual realities that lie underneath the political landscape.
Therefore, my answer to the question, “Who were the prophets,” is that they were messengers from God to the people with three tasks:
- to serve as God’s representative agent in the human community
- to proclaim God’s justice and the requirements of the Covenant
- to announce and interpret God’s interventions in world affairs
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Thus, we should interpret the prophets firmly within their historical, social, and political contexts. Not many scholars would quibble with this point, but many Christians read the prophets quite differently. Following the lead of the Gospels and Paul, they often interpret the prophets primarily as an early witness to, and prediction of, Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. I do not object in principle to this, being a Christian myself, but I believe that to focus only on this Christological interpretation actually distorts the purpose and message of the prophets, not least because about 90% of prophecy becomes irrelevant to Christian proclamation.
I argue that Christians should read the prophets in two directions: forward and backward. First, we should read the prophets with the goal of understanding their message to the community of their day, both to the common people and to the political and religious leadership. The nature of prophetic proclamation changes over time along with upheavals in the political and social world. As we read through the prophetic text, we can track these changes to see how different prophets responded to different situations, even to the point of revising and supplementing previous prophetic material. Only much later do we find Jesus and the gospel writers engaged in the same process of reinterpretation and revision in light of changing circumstances. Thus, after reading forward through the prophetic history, we eventually turn with the gospel writers to read the prophets backward through a later interpretive lens.
But, you may ask, what about those prophetic passages that do have a longer gaze into the future? Aren’t there oracles that point far into the future in a way that can only be fulfilled by Jesus?
Generally speaking, the further into the future that prophets gaze, the more vague and metaphorical their prophecies become. Also, eschatological salvation oracles, as most of these long-term prophecies are, tend to be idealistic rather than realistic and particular.
A classic example of an eschatological salvation oracle set in the undetermined future is the “swords into ploughshares” text found in Isaiah 2:2-4 and Micah 4:1-4:
Is. 2:2 In days to come the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. 3 Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Isaiah also invokes messianic hopes in his oracle about a future king whom God will use to bring about Israel’s salvation:
Is. 9:6 For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
Isaiah paints a picture of a glorious future of peace, reconciliation, and justice: Old enemies have ceased their fighting and all of the world unites under God’s covenantal umbrella. This picture of the “kingdom of God” informs later eschatological Jewish texts as well as early Christian writing and preaching about Jesus. Does that mean that Isaiah had Jesus in mind when he spoke these words? I don’t believe he would have expected this prophecy to be fulfilled in the way that New Testament writers argue that it was.
Furthermore, even if Jesus in some way fulfills these prophecies, we certainly still yearn and pray for a world of peace and reconciliation. The human community still waits, with Isaiah, to see God’s justice and mercy take root.
When we define the prophets as future-tellers whose main task is to predict the the coming of Jesus of Nazareth, we only begin to fathom the power and relevance of their message, then and now.
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This is an interesting and encouraging post. Encouraging in that it affirms a recent conversation I had with a fellow Ph.D. student (he is theology, I am HB/OT).
At bottom, our discussion centered around the definition or essence of prophecy. He unabashedly (and in quite limited fashion, I would argue) sees the prophets primarily as pointers to Jesus; that was their task (perhaps he would make an argument akin to the Qumran community in the Habakkuk pesher [1QpHab], noting that the prophet Habakkuk had no knowledge of what he was saying, for what purposes it would be relevant, or even when it would be relevant!). He also–in quite problematic fashion, I think, saw the prophets as predictors of the future (prophecy is many things, he said, but at the very least it is this).
My difficulty with his statements was clear. First, I advocated a much similar ‘double-trajectory’ as that outlined above. Reading from the perspective of the NT backwards, no doubt Christian tradition has seen (for various reasons) the prophets as pointing towards Jesus. This trajectory to me, while legitimate, should in no way be primary; it should not be done to the detriment of the second trajectory: from the OT perspective, the prophets are very much grounded in a particular historical situation and community, with a particular message (I have always found the analogy of the Prophets and Paul helpful; both, I would argue, are addressing a specific community in a particular placle and time within history, with very specific concerns that need not be–to be sure, are not!!–always consistent. This is why many of the desires to find a center for Paul drive me batty. A center for Romans, sure. Galatians, gotcha. For Paul? I get a little iffy there. Just like there is likely no single center for prophecy). The old saying prophets are forthtellers not foretellers I think is spot on.
At bottom, our disagreement seemed to revolve around what is meant by “the future.” For him, the future was the distant future – the future is what Christianity becomes. For me, I think it is quite clear the future is much more immediate. It also is clearly not static; it can change.
I would argue prophecy to be far more complex than he was allowing it to be (even than I am allowing it to be at 5 am!!!!).
So, at bottom, I am thankful for this introduction, especially its corroboration of my sense of a double trajectory (even if we may quibble on that a bit).
All the best!
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Thanks for the great comment, John. I had a similarly exasperating experience while giving a talk on the prophets at a baptist church in Raritan, New Jersey. (Baptists up there tend to be southern transplants and are often quite conservative.) I made the comment that the prophets drew upon various traditions in Israelite theology such as the law and covenant (hoping to help people see that the prophets are not simply anti-law or anti-ritual). One person became very indignant and started arguing that since the prophets are God’s mouthpiece, they are not influenced in any way by their historical, political, or ideological context. Therefore, it would make no sense to talk about the prophets drawing upon any traditional material.
Most people would not go that far. Obviously the prophets each have their own voice, at least. However, I have seen this basic perspective many times: Since the prophets were really conveying a message to us, it is not very important that they spoke in Hebrew to an Israelite and Judean audience about particular historical events.