Who or What Is a Prophet?
The truth is, Martin Luther King, like India’s social justice warrior, Mouhandas Gandhi, borrowed extensively from the Bible, specifically from the legacy of the great Hebrew prophets of old. In fact we might make a case that the entire concept of social justice, as we think of it today, is directly rooted in the ancient Israelite prophetic class. And those same prophets are not to be taken for granted. They were in fact about as revolutionary as the wheel. Think about it. The ancient Greeks had their soothsayers and shamans. The ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians had their fortunetellers. But only Israel had prophets in the true sense of the word.
One immediate issue we might raise is whether there would have been a Jewish people at all without the prophets. After all, the Jews were a conquered people, having been vanquished by the Babylonians in the year 586 BCE. Their great city of Jerusalem was burned. Their temple destroyed. And their leadership was taken into captivity in faraway Babylon. What normally happens to conquered peoples? They ordinarily become extinct, intermingling with their conquerors, as cultures change and evolve in new directions. The Jews were one ancient people who did not assimilate, but survived against all odds, with their own culture intact. Why? They must have had some powerful motivating factor that kept them alive and distinct. They no longer had a land; they no longer had an army. But they did have an idea. It was an idea as powerful as any imagined.
Of course it was the Israelites who gave us the concept of one God – monotheism. But even that wasn’t sufficient reason why this people should survive. So what if this people had only a single God? What if this were a cruel, vengeful God? A God of wrath rather than mercy? Arguably it was the Israelite prophets who at a critical moment in time, transformed the very idea of God into an emblem of transcendent compassion. In the end what we have is not just monotheism. It’s properly called ethical monotheism. And that made all the difference. It gave a conquered people a reason to survive. That said, there are yet other angles to consider.
One immediate issue we might raise is whether there would have been a Jewish people at all without the prophets. After all, the Jews were a conquered people, having been vanquished by the Babylonians in the year 586 BCE. Their great city of Jerusalem was burned. Their temple destroyed. And their leadership was taken into captivity in faraway Babylon. What normally happens to conquered peoples? They ordinarily become extinct, intermingling with their conquerors, as cultures change and evolve in new directions. The Jews were one ancient people who did not assimilate, but survived against all odds, with their own culture intact. Why? They must have had some powerful motivating factor that kept them alive and distinct. They no longer had a land; they no longer had an army. But they did have an idea. It was an idea as powerful as any imagined.
Of course it was the Israelites who gave us the concept of one God – monotheism. But even that wasn’t sufficient reason why this people should survive. So what if this people had only a single God? What if this were a cruel, vengeful God? A God of wrath rather than mercy? Arguably it was the Israelite prophets who at a critical moment in time, transformed the very idea of God into an emblem of transcendent compassion. In the end what we have is not just monotheism. It’s properly called ethical monotheism. And that made all the difference. It gave a conquered people a reason to survive. That said, there are yet other angles to consider.
Let me point out that many contemporary scholars would even go as far as to say that the books of Moses, that is the Torah, assumed their final edited form after the earliest classical Israelite prophets. In other words, the prophets, who abruptly appeared during the period of the monarchy, beginning in the 700s BCE, wrote at a time when there were only bits and pieces of the Books of Moses floating around. When all five books, Genesis through Deuteronomy, were finally edited and set in place, they became a counterbalance to the fiery voices of the prophets. First came the prophetic visionaries, then the priestly institutionalizers, who gave us law and order. It’s only a theory, but it does seem that the prophets represent a system of checks and balances against both kings and priests.
Perhaps we ought to start our inquiry with the word itself. What does “prophet” mean? Of course it’s a Hebrew word, pronounced: Navi. It doesn’t mean one who foretells the future. A Navi isn’t God’s soothsayer. We should properly understand it as meaning “spokesman.“ Not a foreteller, but a forthteller. And on that score very much like Dr. Martin Luther King. And that means that most people, who automatically fancy the prophets as tellers of the future, have got it all wrong. That’s not to say they never delivered messages of things yet to come. That just wasn’t their primary mission. The divine commission was straightforward enough, even if it often sounded like Mission Impossible: “Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to stand up on behalf of the weak and the oppressed. To be a voice for social justice. This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds.” Not surprisingly, most of the prophets weren’t exactly thrilled with Mission Impossible, and were inclined to ask: “Couldn’t you have chosen somebody else?“ In the final analysis the truest characteristic of a prophet was reluctance. In a sense Israel’s greatest prophets, the likes of Amos, Isaiah and Jeremiah, came out of nowhere. Their appearance was as unexpected as it was sudden. There was however an earlier class of Israelite prophets, not nearly as well known, who arrived on the scene centuries earlier. These were in fact of the shamanic variety, wandering to and fro across the land and delivering oracular pronouncements, often in an altered state of consciousness. We might call them ecstatic prophets and consider them somewhat akin to the Greek oracles. Moses is called a prophet, and so is Samuel. We’re told that the young man Saul, whom Samuel anoints to be Israel’s first king, doesn’t really want the job and wanders off to join a troupe of these early prophets. He’s later found rolling around on the ground naked, and the saying arises: Is Saul too among the prophets.
The last of this breed of early prophets is a venerable character known as Eliahu - Elijah. On Mt. Carmel in northern Israel, a monastery marks the spot where in tradition Elijah challenged 450 prophets of Baal to a great demonstration of who was the real God. Sacrifices were placed on an altar to Baal and on another to the God of Israel. The pagan prophets’ ecstatic appeals to Baal to kindle the wood on his altar were met with silence, but Elijah’s prayers were answered by fire from heaven, consuming the sacrifice, the stones of the altar itself, the earth and even the water in the trench. Under Elijah’s direction the impassioned Israelites went on to slay the priests and prophets of Baal, and a sudden rain brought an end to the drought which had been plaguing the land.
Perhaps we ought to start our inquiry with the word itself. What does “prophet” mean? Of course it’s a Hebrew word, pronounced: Navi. It doesn’t mean one who foretells the future. A Navi isn’t God’s soothsayer. We should properly understand it as meaning “spokesman.“ Not a foreteller, but a forthteller. And on that score very much like Dr. Martin Luther King. And that means that most people, who automatically fancy the prophets as tellers of the future, have got it all wrong. That’s not to say they never delivered messages of things yet to come. That just wasn’t their primary mission. The divine commission was straightforward enough, even if it often sounded like Mission Impossible: “Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to stand up on behalf of the weak and the oppressed. To be a voice for social justice. This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds.” Not surprisingly, most of the prophets weren’t exactly thrilled with Mission Impossible, and were inclined to ask: “Couldn’t you have chosen somebody else?“ In the final analysis the truest characteristic of a prophet was reluctance. In a sense Israel’s greatest prophets, the likes of Amos, Isaiah and Jeremiah, came out of nowhere. Their appearance was as unexpected as it was sudden. There was however an earlier class of Israelite prophets, not nearly as well known, who arrived on the scene centuries earlier. These were in fact of the shamanic variety, wandering to and fro across the land and delivering oracular pronouncements, often in an altered state of consciousness. We might call them ecstatic prophets and consider them somewhat akin to the Greek oracles. Moses is called a prophet, and so is Samuel. We’re told that the young man Saul, whom Samuel anoints to be Israel’s first king, doesn’t really want the job and wanders off to join a troupe of these early prophets. He’s later found rolling around on the ground naked, and the saying arises: Is Saul too among the prophets.
The last of this breed of early prophets is a venerable character known as Eliahu - Elijah. On Mt. Carmel in northern Israel, a monastery marks the spot where in tradition Elijah challenged 450 prophets of Baal to a great demonstration of who was the real God. Sacrifices were placed on an altar to Baal and on another to the God of Israel. The pagan prophets’ ecstatic appeals to Baal to kindle the wood on his altar were met with silence, but Elijah’s prayers were answered by fire from heaven, consuming the sacrifice, the stones of the altar itself, the earth and even the water in the trench. Under Elijah’s direction the impassioned Israelites went on to slay the priests and prophets of Baal, and a sudden rain brought an end to the drought which had been plaguing the land.
Elijah may well represent the last gasp of this early prophetic movement. As he later flees from Jezebel’s wrath he seeks shelter on the so-called Mountain of God. Multiple signs appear - a mighty wind, an earthquake, and fire. But the divine presence is in none of them. Only then does he hear a still small voice. This is how Elijah encounters God. The essence of this narrative is that this God – the God of Israel – is not to be confused with any created thing. This God is Other - completely separate from the physical world. It's not exactly a social justice message, but it’s a powerful philosophic statement nonetheless.
It would take another century and a half before a completely new breed of prophets would arise - prophets who didn’t just deliver oracles but who wrote entire books featuring some of the most powerful prose and poetry ever written. They would also make a new contribution to human civilization, for instead of praising their own society and culture with unquestioned support, they would turn established decorum on its head. For the first time in history they would lead a social campaign, questioning their own people. They would teach the importance of self criticism. Of urging society by example to make the world a better place. Of bequeathing to future generations a world that is better than they found it.
And the rest is history...
It would take another century and a half before a completely new breed of prophets would arise - prophets who didn’t just deliver oracles but who wrote entire books featuring some of the most powerful prose and poetry ever written. They would also make a new contribution to human civilization, for instead of praising their own society and culture with unquestioned support, they would turn established decorum on its head. For the first time in history they would lead a social campaign, questioning their own people. They would teach the importance of self criticism. Of urging society by example to make the world a better place. Of bequeathing to future generations a world that is better than they found it.
And the rest is history...
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