005. Characteristics Of The Prophetic Writings

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROPHETIC WRITINGS

One of the first facts impressed upon the student of prophetic literature is that the prophetic books in the Bible are arranged on quite another principle than that of historical order. Whether the ruling motive was that of size or relative excellence is not clear. At all events, the prophet Isaiah was the third prophet in order, not the first; Jeremiah was the seventh, not the second, while Amos was probably the first to utter a public sermon. Since the prophetic writings can best be understood and appreciated in connection with the events to which they allude, and out of which they sprang, it is necessary for the student of biblical history and literature to rearrange them in the order of time. It will be noticed, also, that the earlier prophetic books belong in two distinct groups, three-fourths of a century apart,—the first group of four, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah, belonging to the latter half of the eighth century; the second group of four, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Nahum, and Habakkuk, covering the half-century after 627 B. C. No less obvious is the fact that these prophetic books contain a number of separate utterances arranged in an order which is frequently not chronological. Some interpreters think that the Book of Amos contains not less than ten or eleven distinct sermons, and the Book of Micah almost as many. So far as it is possible to determine the principle in accordance with which these passages are arranged in the Old Testament, it seems to be topical. The prophets of the sixth century, such as Jeremiah or Ezekiel, were in the habit of dating their oracles, so that it is comparatively easy to arrange them in the order of utterance. The earlier prophets almost never indicated the date of a sermon, so that the determination of this fact is less certain. Such a rearrangement of prophetic addresses into their probable historical order is essential before the student of prophecy can enter completely into the heart of his subject. Without it no one can intelligently grasp the changing phases of Isaiah’s preaching during the forty years or more of his active life, nor the increasing hopelessness of the utterances of Jeremiah. Such a rearrangement is adopted in this volume, in order that a clear conception of the development of prophecy may be gained. When the student calls to mind the long period of years during which we know that Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah were active, and notes the compact report of the prophetic addresses of all those years, he is forced to conclude that the writings to which we have access are but a representative digest of the actual utterances. The words were not probably taken down on the spot as spoken, but reproduced from memory either by the prophet himself or by a faithful disciple. The writing is an accurate reproduction of the force and tenor of the original saying, but not necessarily a word-for-word repetition of it. What Jeremiah did, as related in the thirty-sixth chapter of the Book of Jeremiah, throws much light upon this question. He was told to write down upon a roll “all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day;” that is, for twenty-three years. In the present Book of Jeremiah that roll would be represented by about a dozen chapters which in turn record the sermons of twice as many years. Manifestly, one discourse will often sum up the distinctive ideas of a whole season of active preaching.

Closely allied to the preceding characteristic of the prophetic writings is another. Many a paragraph in a prophetic book is a fragment of an independent discourse. Isaiah 14:24-27, or Isaiah 14:29-32, or the three sections of chapter 21, are obvious examples of such fragments. Such passages as Micah 2:12-13, or Hosea 1:10 to Hosea 2:1, which are evidently out of their original connection, are most readily explained in this way. Much of the disjointedness of the Book of Hosea may be due to the fragmentary character of the utterances there collected. The curious alternation of threats and promises in Micah 4, 5 is explained by Nowack as the combination, by an editor, of extracts from two entirely different discourses, uttered at separated periods. To adopt all these views is far from necessary, but the student of prophetic literature must expect the records of the utterances of the prophets to be more or less fragmentary as well as condensed. From a literary standpoint the student of prophecy is impressed by the artistic finish given to many an oracle. The prophet was often both poet and orator. He was anxious to persuade, and utilized any means which would contribute to his purpose. Every rhetorical artifice was used by him. The overstatement, “there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the land” (Hosea 4:1); the threat intensified by indefiniteness, “Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel, and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel” (Amos 4:12); the play upon words, “the houses of Achzib shall be an achzab unto the kings of Israel” (Micah 1:14); the metaphor, the epithet, the rhapsody, the apostrophe, and many other legitimate devices for enlivening and emphasizing speech, all illustrate the prophet’s remarkable skill in the presentation of truth.

Still another prominent element in prophecy is its practical character. The prophet was a preacher to his own generation. Nearly every word he uttered had a practical relation to the life of his day. If he referred to the distant future, it was usually a word of hope to a people who were facing disappointment or disaster; if he portrayed the universal acceptance of Jehovah as God, it was in order to confirm his declaration that Jehovah was the ruler, not of Israel alone, but of the world. His greatest predictions were expressed in forms well adapted to the thought of his time. The triumph of God’s kingdom, for instance, is pictured as a rallying of worshipers from all quarters of the earth to Jerusalem, the holy city. The Messianic blessedness is described as an era of plenty and peace. The student of the Old Testament does not need to literalize such declarations any more than the saying of our Lord about the heavenly banquet with the patriarchs (Matthew 8:11).

It is enough to add that he who interprets the prophetic writings must expect to apply to them all the usual literary tests before he can obtain a true appreciation of their beauty of form and strength of thought.