3. The Prophets as a WholeThe Former Prophets are distinct from the Latter Prophets in many obvious ways. They are different sub-collections, and the individual books within each sub-collection each has its own composition history. Yet there are notable points of commonality. The history of the monarchy as told in the Deuteronomistic History has a unity of theological expression and purpose that can also be identified in certain of the Latter Prophets. Although the character of the so-called Deuteronomic school is still being worked out by scholars, the tell-tale signs of its editorial work can be found in much of the prophetic literature. Its theological perspective became a major filter for the telling of history and for the shape of theology. Jeremiah especially is imbued with a Deuteronomic outlook and may have been edited by someone from the school of Deuteronomy.Other prophets fall in more closely with the other pentateuchal traditions. The Yahwist source aligns with the house of David and Zion traditions. The Elohist tradition has affinities with the Elijah and Elisha prophetic stories and the book of Hosea. The Priestly source is very close to the vision of a renewed worship center in Ezekiel. It can be productive to think of Israel's narrative traditions of the Torah in relation to the Prophets, rather than as opposed. Many of the themes of the Latter Prophets are controlling themes in the theological telling of Israel's history in the Former Prophets, and many of these themes have roots in the pentateuchal traditions. 1. God in History. The prophets believed implicitly that God controlled history, that he had chosen Israel as his people, formed an enduring relationship with them, and intended them to be his holy people forever. Because of this, everything that happened to Israel in history was a reflex of their relationship to God. If the people were faithful to Yahweh, they enjoyed freedom and prosperity. If they were unfaithful, God brought disaster on them in order to stir them to repentance. The Former Prophets demonstrate these biblical principles in the history of the monarchy. The Latter Prophets contain calls to repentance for averting or overcoming disaster. After disaster occurred, the prophets brought words of hope, knowing that God would never allow his people to disappear. 2. Covenant Traditions. The message of the prophets was rooted in Israel's covenant traditions. The covenants of Moses and David were especially influential. These traditions defined Israel's relationship to God. On the basis of the requirements laid out in these traditions, the prophets called the people back to faith. Prophets sometimes recalled Israel's covenantal roots to reaffirm the truth of God and to ground God's faithfulness. At other times they recalled those traditions to demonstrate how God was going to do something new and even more wonderful than what he had done in the past. In any case, the prophets carry on their ministry against the background of God's covenantal relationship with Israel. Reading prophetic literature in terms of its intertextual relationships with the Torah, where the record of those covenant traditions are found, can be very exciting (see Brueggemann 1979). 3. Faith and Worship. The prophets tried to shape the faith of the people so that they would think and act rightly. Sometimes prophets were in conflict with institutional religion, yet they never categorically condemned religious ritual practices or formal worship but only opposed such things when they promoted religious self-satisfaction, complacency, and social injustice. In fact, some prophets were also priests, and all true prophets were informed by the best principles of Israel's priestly tradition, including the reality of sin, and the need for sacrifice, purification, and holiness. 4. Prophetic Calling. Many prophets conveyed their understanding of the nature of prophetic calling and the task of prophecy in call narratives: Isaiah 6, 40; Jeremiah 1; Ezekiel 1-3; Amos 7. These narratives convey the personal conviction that motivated Israel's true prophets. They believed that God revealed his word to them and that God spoke through them. Furthermore, they believed that the word of God was not just divine information, but had the power to drive and determine history. It also had the power to change personal lives and the lives of nations. 5. The Future. Prophecy as a practice is almost intuitively associated with the future. While this view is distorted, because prophecy is not essentially prediction, there is still a significant component of prophetic literature that is future oriented. Arguably the DH's prophetic interpretation of Israel's history was an explanation of national failure told in order to prevent a repeat of the same in the future. In its final edition the DH sought to inspire hope of a return to the Promised Land. Often when individual prophets addressed the future in their oracles they presented a preview of what Israel might expect from the hand of God if they refused to reform. Still the goal was repentance, and the future was malleable according to how the people responded. Prophecy became obsessively concerned with the future as it moved toward its late literary expression called apocalyptic prophecy. This form schematized history into bad and good eras, became mechanistic and deterministic, and saw the future as discontinuous with the present world of experience (see Chapter 17).
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