UwisioQ JO> O I 5 3 .^.SG52 Set ttOQ THE PROPHET AND HIS PROBLEMS ^ *> THE PROPHET AND HIS PROBLEMS BY J. M. POWIS "smith, Ph.D. AB80CIATB PBOFE8SOR OF OLD TESTAMENT LANGDAGE AND LITEBATURE IN THE UNIVEB8ITT OF CHICAQO \ NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1914 Copyright, 1914, bt Charles Scribner's Sons Published September, 1914 TO MY WIFE CATHERINE McKLVEEN SMITH " The heart of her husband trusteth in her" PREFACE The Hebrew prophet has received a new interpretation at the hands of mod- ern scholarship. Prior to its advent he was classified as belonging to an alto- gether unique species. He was neither of earth, nor of heaven, but had more or less tangible connections with both. He was a thing to be admired — ^yea, won- dered at, but not to be understood. His mental and spiritual processes defied all analysis. He was an unfathomable mys- tery. To-day the prophet is, in one sense, as much a mystery as ever; and he will remain so. Genius always eludes defi- nition and exposition; and religious gen- ius is no exception to the rule. But we have come to see that, after all, the prophet was a man among men. He was, vii viii PREFACE in essence, not differently constituted from other men. Nor was he vouchsafed a monopoly of the facilities for the dis- covery of truth and of God. This brings him nearer to us, and makes his experi- ences of primary interest for us, because they are seen to be such as, in kind at least, are common to men. They thus furnish illumination and direction to the modern man in his effort to know God more fully and to do his will more per- fectly. No section of the Old Testament, and but little of the New, comes so close to the needs of our day as does the pro- phetic literature. Reading it in the light of the conditions that produced it, we cannot but feel constantly the essential oneness of the prophet's problems with our own. They were struggling, and at times in the face of what seemed insuper- able diflBculties, to justify the ways of God to men. As time went on, these dif- ficulties multiplied, rather than dimin- PREFACE IX ished. Old systems of thought and con- victions of duty had to be abandoned, and new ones formulated in the heat of the conflict. Religion had to readjust itself from time to time to a new thought environment. To this task of reinter- preting the always changing phenomena of the world-life in terms of religion the prophet brought all his powers. Its suc- cessful achievement was the imperative need, if God was to be kept supreme in the thought of men. The perpetuation of Hebrew religious faith and its continued development in Christianity are proof of the prophet's success. To a generation that sees many of the old strongholds of religion crumbling, and finds it necessary to seek surer founda- tions for new structures, the story of the Hebrew prophets should always prove interesting and helpful. They have much to teach those who are called upon to build after them. Their example of un- blinking recognition of the facts of life X PREFACE is a stimulus to right thinking, and their courage in the presence of tremendous odds inspires faith. Their experience seemed to involve much pain and loss. But on the contrary, this was in every- way much gain. The old customs and dogmas that had to be dropped were but obstructing the way for the entrance of larger truth. The whole story spells progress. It cost much to learn the new truth; but truth paid its way then even as now. The truth proved to be no enemy to faith, but the enlarger and strengthener of faith. This Uttle book does not, of course, at- tempt to tell the whole story of prophecy. It aims rather to present a few illustrative sections of that story. Through these, it is believed, a general point of view re- garding the prophet and his work may be attained. It is hoped that some who read these pages may be suflBciently in- terested and quickened to feel a desire to fill in the lacunae by more detailed and PREFACE xi consecutive studies. Therefore, a list of books has been appended for those who may desire to go further and learn more. The prophetic writings yield rich reward for intelligent and faithful study. They show us Hebrew religion in the making and they point the way to God for all who would in like manner make their own religion. CONTENTS I PAQB Prophets in the Semitic World ... 3 II Primitive Hebrew Prophets .... 36 III False Prophets 59 IV Prophetic Prediction 87 V A Prophet's Marriage 109 VI The Prophet and the State .... 137 VII The Prophet and the Individual . . 168 xiii xiv CONTENTS VIII PAGE The Prophet's Religion 209 APPENDIX A List of Books for the General Reader 235 Index 239 THE PROPHET AND HIS PROBLEMS PROPHETS IN THE SEMITIC WORLD 1 For a long time prophecy was looked upon as an exclusively Israelitish institu- tion, as that which set Israel apart from all competitors in the sphere of religion. This point of view was inevitable as long as the opinion prevailed that Israel was *'the peculiar people," isolated on every side from the world about her, having connection only with the God above her. But that opinion is now being retired into the ever more thickly populated limbo of outworn, outgrown, and forgotten dog- mas. It is impossible for the historian any longer to treat the Hebrew nation as a thing apart. By birth the Hebrews were ^ Reprinted, with revision and expansion, from The Biblical World, vol. XXXV CIQIO). 3 4 PROPHET AND HIS PROBLEMS members of the great Semitic family. Nothing pertaining to the Semite was wholly foreign to the Hebrew. Semitic blood flowed in Israel's veins; Semitic ideas rounded out her mental horizon; Semitic impulses and passions furnished the content of her emotions. Israel's whole social, intellectual, and spiritual background was through and through Semitic. Not only so, but at one time or an- other in Israel's experience she was V brought into vital contact with all of the great civilisations of antiquity. Egyp- tians, Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, all in turn made their contribution to Israel- itish Ufe and thought. The great out- standing and enduring feature of Israel's life was her wiUingness to borrow from her neighbours. No nation has manifested a greater openness of mind and heart. Yet there was nothing of slavish depen- dence in her attitude. She exhibited a SEMITIC PROPHETS 5 wonderful selective power in the things she took and in many a case her touch was transforming. It is now generally recognised that not a single institution of Israel's life was exclusively Hebraic. Quantitatively speaking, that which united Israel to the neighbouring peoples far outweighed that which differentiated her from them. Her pre-eminence was wholly in the sphere of quality and de- gree. We are now prepared, therefore, for consideration of the proposition that prophecy was shared alike by all the Semitic peoples. If sacrifice, priesthood, temple, clean and unclean, circumci- sion, Sabbath, sabbatical year, atone- ment, fasts, feasts, sacred pillars, tera- phim, blood-revenge, oracles, prayers, and psalms are all held in common by the Semitic world, why should we ex- pect prophecy to form an exception? The Old Testament itself furnishes no warrant for such an expectation but 6 PROPHET AND HIS PROBLEMS rather gives direct evidence of a contrary sort. Balaam, son of Beor (Num. 22 : 5), though a prophet of Yahweh (22 : 8), was yet quite evidently not a Hebrew, for he sought oracles to the detriment of Israel and for the benefit of Midian and Moab. Even the Philistines had "diviners" (I Sam. 6:2). The King of Babylon is represented by Ezekiel (21 : 21) as employing divination by means of arrows, teraphim, and the in- spection of the livers of animals. When we extend our quest beyond the Old Testament, evidence for the existence of prophets among non-Hebraic peoples multiplies. In Assyrian religion, visions and ora- cles played an important part, constitut- ing a "regular means of communication between man and the gods." ^ Oracles were sought by Esarhaddon, Ashurbani- ' M. Jastrow, Jr., Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (1898), pp. 338 Jf. and 379. In the new German edition of this work (completed in 1912) three entire chapters, covering 833 pages, are given to the various kinds of divination. SEMITIC PROPHETS 7 pal, and the kings in general upon all sorts of occasions, public and private.^ By means of them the kings sought from the gods guidance and light upon the outcome of their plans. The func- tion of the seer, diviner, and soothsayer in Assyria, therefore, frequently took on national significance, thus being sugges- tive of Israelitish prophecy in its higher development. For example, when Ash- urbanipal, after the capture of Babylon, propitiated the outraged gods by the purification of their shrines, it was done by direction of the guild of soothsayers. On another occasion, Ashurbanipal, just as he was setting out for a campaign against Elam, poured out his soul in sup- plication for aid to Ishtar, and later in the same night was comforted by re- ceiving a revelation from her. As he himself tells the story: * Cf. C. D, Gray's translations of some oracles of Esarhad- don in R. F. Harper's Assyrian and Babylonian Literature (1900). pp. 414 jf. 8 PROPHET AND HIS PROBLEMS Toward the end of the night in which I had addressed myself to her, a seer lay down and dreamed a dream; and Ishtar showed him a vi- sion of the night which he related to me as fol- lows: "Ishtar who dwells in Arbela entered with her quivers hanging down on the right side and on the left. In her hand she held a bow, and a sharp war sword she drew from its sheath and held before her. Like the mother that bore thee, she speaks with thee, she calls thee, Ishtar, the exalted among the gods, establisheth thy fate. . . . Whither thy face is set, thither go I. Thou didst say to her: * Whithersoever thou goest, will I go with thee, O queen of the gods.' She replied to thee: *Thou may est stay here; where the shrine of Nabu is, eat food, drink wine, make music, and exalt my deity, until I go forth and complete that work and give thee the wish of thy heart. Let not thy countenance pale nor thy feet totter.' In her good mother-love she hid thee and protected thy whole body. Before her will a flame flash forth, and for the destruc- tion of thine enemies will she cause it to go forth abroad. Against Teumman, King of Elam, against whom she is enraged, has she set her face."^ This narrative irresistibly calls to mind the corresponding scene when Ahab and » See H. Winckler. Keilinschriftliche BiUiotheh, vol. II (1890). pp. 251/. SEMITIC PROPHETS 9 Jehoshaphat sought to know the will of Yahweh concerning the expedition against Ramoth Gilead and finally called in Mi- caiah ben Imlah (I Kings 22 : 4^n 16 V. ' " i , 't JAMS ^v^ N if) i^ Tl J A 1 ? 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