15.1. The Prophets as Bearers of God’s Word

As Robert Lowth recognized in the mid-1700s, the prophets who left us books were poets, and their poems fall into two main categories:

• oracles, which communicate the direct speech of God
• prophetic speeches, in which the prophet speaks as himself for God.

Since both address an audience, they belong to the genre of dramatic monologue rather than pure lyric.

The narratives about their lives are generally in prose, perhaps with oracles or prophetic speeches in poetry. Some prophets have a call narrative recounting their commission as a messenger of God’s word.

Unlike the psalmist, defined by one psalm, these prophets give us many poems, which create a character for us.  Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, offer us complex characters that defy easy characterization. Their poetry adds a psychological depth that gives the reader the sense of a real human being engaged with a passionate God. They are definitely a round characters. The author of Isaiah 40-55, called Second Isaiah, tells us little about himself and functions much like an omniscient third person narrator. Some of the minor prophets also come to life as complex individuals.

The Hebrew word for prophet, nabi’, comes from a verb meaning “to be in a prophetic ecstasy,” suggesting that the prophets were originally “ecstatics.” From these experiences, they could see into the world of the divine, and so there were also called “seers.” Both words emphasize their ability to transcend this world and to have immediate contact with the divine. The English word “prophet” comes from Greek and means “one who speaks for.” The prophets then were human beings believed to possess a transcendent connection to God and so were able to speak for God. Mainly this speaking comes to us in poetry.

Not all prophets wrote books. We have stories about Elijah and Elisha, but no writings. 1 Kgs 22:14 also names the prophetess Huldah and gives her prophetic words in prose. In addition to the “true” prophets, there were the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18) and false prophets (cf., 1 Kings 22; Jeremiah 23; Ezekiel 13).

Deuteronomy 18 lays out three criteria to identify a false prophet:

1. one who speaks in the name of another deity,
2. one who presumes to speak something not said by the LORD while claiming that it is from God,
3. one who predicts something that does not come true.

The last emphasizes predicting the future, which has come to dominate our understanding of prophecy, but this misses the central idea of one who brings God’s word.

Since these prophets bring the word of God like ancient messengers, they use the messenger formula of the ancient Near East, discussed below. The oracles from God fall into two main categories: judgment oracles and salvation oracles. Claus Westermann published classic works on these genres. Some oracles and prophetic speeches do not end in judgment or salvation; instead, they bring a warning or a call to repentance. Still, the prophet is mainly one who brings God’s word.

15.2 The Call Narrative

More than fifty years ago, Norman Habel recognized the importance of the call narrative as a genre, and he wrote a classic article on his understanding of the pattern. His pattern contained six elements, and, applying them strictly, he finds only six instances of the form: the call of Moses (Exodus 3:1–10), Gideon (Judges 6), Isaiah (Isa 6), Jeremiah (Jer 1:4–10), Ezekiel (Ezek 1–3), and Second Isaiah (Isa 40:1–11) (Habel: 297–323). While his precision creates clear criteria, it fails to recognize the similarity of these passages to many others. Later scholars expand the list, and Booker identifies the call narrative as a ubiquitous subplot (17, 48, 65, 70–71). In my article on subplots, I show that the call narrative appears throughout the Bible (Hagan, Basic Plots, 201-202).

At its most basic, the leader calls and commissions the hero, who then accepts. Since this provides little dramatic interest, the storyteller may complicate the pattern by having the hero raise a question or objection, which the leader answers. The primary variation has the hero asking for the commission, with the leader granting it perhaps after raising a question or an objection (cf. 1 Sam 17:31-37).

We can outline this for the prophets as follows:

God calls and commissions the prophet.

possible complication:
The prophet raises an objection or question.
God answers this.

The prophet accepts.

Call narratives for prophets appear in the following passages:

for Elijah in 1 Kgs 19:1-18
for Elisha in 1 Kgs 19:19-21; 2 Kgs 2:9-14
for Hosea in Hos 1:2-8; 3:1-5
for Amos in Amos 7:10-17
for Isaiah in Isaiah 6
for Jeremiah  in Jer 1:4–10 and 1:11-19
for Ezekiel in Ezekiel 1–3
for various people in Isa 40:1–1
for Jonah in Jon 1:1-3; 3:1-3a.

Habel identifies Jeremiah’s call in 1:4-10 as a classic example, and God’s words come to us in poetry:

⁴ Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,
⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Jeremiah famously objects:

⁶ Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.”

God answers the objection with

⁷ But the LORD said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’;
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.

God adds the typical motifs of encouragement (“Do not fear!” and the like) and the assurance of divine presence (“I am with you! ). I discuss this at more length in my book, Mighty in Battle (ch. 2.4.3).

⁸ Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,

Jeremiah does not voice his acceptance of the commission, and later he says in 20:7, “O LORD, you have enticed me, || and I was enticed.”

In the battle narrative, the arming of the hero follows the call and commission, and here God “arms” Jeremiah while making clear the commission is not just to Judah but to the whole world:

⁹ Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me,

“Now I have put my words in your mouth.
¹⁰ See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”

In the call of Isaiah, the objection comes before the call. Isaiah has a vision of God’s glory, which causes him to say:

And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isa 6:5)

The metonymy of the mouth is key because it will be the instrument for fulfilling his commission. A seraph comes with a burning coal held by tongs to touch Isaiah’s mouth and take away his sin. He then hears a general call from God, and he eagerly volunteers for the commission following.

Then I heard the voice of the LORD saying,
“Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I; send me!”

And he said, “Go and say to this people:
‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend … (6:8-9).

Isaiah asks a question (6:11a) but does not object. He is an eager prophet.

Jonah, of course, is not eager and must be called twice, and even then, he is not at peace (Jonah 1:1-3; 3:1-2). Amos reports his call to Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, who has been objecting to his prophecy in Israel (Amos 7:10-17). God calls Hosea and commissions him to take Gomer as his wife, and their marriage becomes a prophecy.

The story of Elijah begins with him bringing the oracle of drought to Ahab, followed by God’s call for him to flee, and eventually to the woman of Zarephath (1 Kings 17). Then God calls him to return and confront the prophets of Baal (18:1). Though this ends in a bloody triumph, Jezebel promises to take his life. A dark mood descends on the prophet and makes him wish for death (19:4), but God sends an angel twice to strengthen him for the journey to Mount Horeb. There he encounters God and receives a new commission, which revives him. This commission includes the call of Elisha, which Elijah makes by throwing his robe over this farmer. Elisha then destroys his means of livelihood and follows. Finally, in 2 Kgs 2:9-14, Elisha asks Elijah for “a double share of your spirit “and receives it as his master ascends in the fiery chariot.

Ezekiel 1 tells of a fabulous vision that causes the prophet to fall on his face. A spirit then sets him on his feet for the commission. Always passive, Ezekiel neither accepts nor objects. God tells him what he is to do and gives him the scroll to eat “Then I ate it, and in my mouth, it was as sweet as honey” (3:3). After another commission, the spirit lifts him up and carries him back to the exiles by the river Chebar. After seven days, he receives the commission as sentinel, and then God makes him unable to speak and reprove the house of Israel (3:22-27). The juxtaposition of these commissions creates its own complexity for this special prophet.

15.3. The Messenger Formula

In the ancient Near East, someone wishing to send a message to another would send a messenger to speak for them in the first person as if the messenger were the sender. The pattern is clear in the opening letter of the Royal Archives of Mari, in which Abi-Samar commissions a messenger to deliver the following words to Iahdulim.

To Iahdulim say:
Thus (says) Abi-Samar:
“Show (me) the peace of friendship. …”

The messenger then goes to Iahdulim and reads the words above in the name of the sender, Abi-Samar

We see another clear example in Genesis 32:3-5 where Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau.

Thus you shall say to my lord Esau:
Thus says your servant Jacob,
“I have lived with Laban as an alien, … .”

For the prophets, the formula, “Thus says X,” becomes “Thus says the LORD.” They announce themselves as the messengers of God—especially in major prophets. We often find a similar phrase, “says the LORD,” at the end of a passage. The role of the prophet as messenger is also clear in the command: “Hear the word of the LORD” and in the formula, “The word of the LORD came to X…,” which appears often in the historical books.

I am including here the many references to these formulae to show how pervasive they are.

The formula, “Hear the word of the LORD…,” appears in the following verses:

1 Kgs 22:19; 1 Ki. 22:19; 2 Ki. 7:1; 20:16; 2 Chr. 18:18; Isa. 1:10; 28:14; 39:5; 66:5; Jer. 2:4; 7:2; 17:20; 19:3; 21:11; 22:2, 29; 29:20; 31:10; 34:4; 42:15; 44:24, 26; Ezek. 6:3; 13:2; 16:35; 20:47; 25:3; 34:7, 9; 36:1, 4; 37:4; Hos. 4:1; Amos 7:16; Acts 13:44

The formula, “Thus says the LORD,” which literally translates the Hebrew: koh ˀāmar YHWH, appears in these texts:

Exod. 4:22; 5:1; 7:17, 26; 8:16; 9:1, 13; 10:3; 11:4; 32:27; Jos. 7:13; 24:2; Jdg. 6:8; 1 Sam. 2:27; 10:18; 15:2; 2 Sam. 7:5, 8; 12:7, 11; 24:12; 1 Ki. 11:31; 12:24; 13:2, 21; 14:7; 17:14; 20:13-14, 28, 42; 21:19; 22:11; 2 Ki. 1:4, 6, 16; 2:21; 3:16-17; 4:43; 7:1; 9:3, 6, 12; 19:6, 20, 32; 20:1, 5; 21:12; 22:15-16, 18; 1 Chr. 17:4, 7; 21:10-11; 2 Chr. 11:4; 12:5; 18:10; 20:15; 21:12; 34:23-24, 26; Isa. 8:11; 18:4; 29:22; 31:4; 37:6, 21, 33; 38:1, 5; 43:1, 14, 16; 44:2, 6, 24; 45:1, 11, 14, 18; 48:17; 49:7-8, 25; 50:1; 52:3; 56:1, 4; 65:8; 66:1, 12; Jer. 2:2, 5; 4:3, 27; 5:14; 6:6, 9, 16, 21-22; 7:3, 21; 8:4; 9:6, 14, 16, 22; 10:2, 18; 11:3, 11, 21-22; 12:14; 13:1, 9, 12-13; 14:10, 15; 15:2, 19; 16:3, 5, 9; 17:5, 19, 21; 18:11, 13; 19:1, 3, 11, 15; 20:4; 21:4, 8, 12; 22:1, 3, 6, 11, 18, 30; 23:2, 15-16, 38; 24:5, 8; 25:8, 15, 27-28, 32; 26:2, 4, 18; 27:2, 4, 16, 19, 21; 28:2, 11, 13-14, 16; 29:4, 8, 10, 16-17, 21, 25, 31-32; 30:2, 5, 12, 18; 31:2, 7, 15-16, 23, 35, 37; 32:3, 14-15, 28, 36, 42; 33:2, 4, 10, 12, 17, 20, 25; 34:2, 4, 13, 17; 35:13, 17-19; 36:29-30; 37:7, 9; 38:2-3, 17; 39:16; 42:9, 15, 18; 43:10; 44:2, 7, 11, 25, 30; 45:2, 4; 47:2; 48:1, 40; 49:1, 7, 12, 28, 35; 50:18, 33; 51:1, 33, 36, 58; Ezek. 11:5; 21:8; 30:6; Amos 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6; 3:12; 5:4, 16; 7:17; Mic. 2:3; 3:5; Nah. 1:12; Hag. 1:2, 5, 7; 2:6, 11; Zech. 1:3-4, 14, 16-17; 2:12; 3:7; 6:12; 7:9; 8:2-4, 6-7, 9, 14, 19-20, 23; 11:4; Mal. 1:4

The formula, “says the LORD” or “oracle of the LORD,” which translates the Hebrew words: nĕˀum YHWH, appears in the following verses:

Gen. 22:16; Num. 14:28; 1 Sam. 2:30; 2 Ki. 9:26; 19:33; 22:19; 2 Chr. 34:27; Ps. 110:1; Isa. 14:22-23; 17:3, 6; 22:25; 30:1; 31:9; 37:34; 41:14; 43:10, 12; 49:18; 52:5; 54:17; 55:8; 59:20; 66:2, 17, 22; Jer. 1:8, 15, 19; 2:3, 9, 12, 29; 3:1, 10, 12-14, 16, 20; 4:1, 9, 17; 5:9, 11, 15, 18, 22, 29; 6:12; 7:11, 13, 19, 32; 8:1, 3, 13, 17; 9:2, 5, 8, 21, 23-24; 12:17; 13:11, 14, 25; 15:3, 6, 9, 20; 16:5, 11, 14, 16; 17:24; 18:6; 19:6, 12; 21:7, 10, 13-14; 22:5, 16, 24; 23:1-2, 4-5, 7, 11-12, 23-24, 28-33; 25:7, 9, 12, 29, 31; 27:8, 11, 15, 22; 28:4; 29:9, 11, 14, 19, 23, 32; 30:3, 8, 10-11, 17, 21; 31:1, 14, 16-17, 20, 27-28, 31-34, 36-38; 32:5, 30, 44; 33:14; 34:5, 17, 22; 35:13; 39:17-18; 42:11; 44:29; 45:5; 46:5, 23, 26, 28; 48:12, 25, 30, 35, 38, 43-44, 47; 49:2, 6, 13, 16, 26, 30-32, 37-39; 50:4, 10, 20-21, 30, 35, 40; 51:24-26, 39, 48, 52-53; Ezek. 13:6-7; 16:58; 37:14; Hos. 2:15, 18, 23; 11:11; Joel 2:12; Amos 2:11, 16; 3:10, 15; 4:3, 6, 8-11; 6:8, 14; 9:7-8, 12-13; Obad. 1:4, 8; Mic. 4:6; 5:9; Nah. 2:14; 3:5; Zeph. 1:2-3, 10; 2:9; 3:8; Hag. 1:9, 13; 2:4, 8-9, 14, 17, 23; Zech. 1:3-4, 16; 2:9-10, 14; 3:9-10; 5:4; 8:6, 11, 17; 10:12; 11:6; 12:1, 4; 13:2, 7-8; Mal. 1:2

These phrases underline the fundamental metaphor: the prophets are like the messengers of the ancient Near East. They do not claim to bring their own understanding of the situation; rather, they present themselves as messengers of God’s own words.

15.4. Oracles and Prophetic Speeches

Oracles are messages from God brought by human beings to others. Typically, God speaks in the first person, and so the oracles often begin with a messenger formula: “Thus says the LORD.”

Prophetic speeches refer to the words of the prophet himself. References to God appear in the third person and not in the first. Still, the prophets are the messengers of God, and their words are somehow God’s words.

Finally, it is not always easy to know where to divide the text in the books of the prophets. Different translations divide the text differently. As in other situations, whatever divisions support an understanding of the whole is viable.   

a. judgment oracles and prophetic speeches

Especially before the fall of Jerusalem in 586, prophets announced judgment against Israel or Judah or the nations. The two key elements are the accusation and the sentence. Often these oracles begin with a call either to the accused or to witnesses. The accusations enumerate the sins of the accused. The judgment, often introduced by “therefore,” announces that punishment. Often there follows the reason, introduced by “because” or “for.” The reasons are the same as the accusations.

The famous judgment oracle in Mic 2:9-12 offers a helpful example.

call:

⁹ Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob
and chiefs of the house of Israel,

accusations:

who abhor justice
and pervert all equity,
¹⁰ who build Zion with blood
and Jerusalem with wrong!
¹¹ Its rulers give judgment for a bribe,
its priests teach for a price,
its prophets give oracles for money;
yet they lean upon the LORD and say,
“Surely the LORD is with us!
No harm shall come upon us.”

judgment:

¹² Therefore because of you
Zion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,
and the mountain of the house a wooded height.

The word pairs and parallelism of Hebrew poetry are readily evident here.

These judgment oracles may also introduce the accused with “woe” or “alas” or “ah,” as in Amos 6:1-7; Hosea 4:1-3; Micah 2:1-3; 3:5-6; Jeremiah 14:10, etc.

While these judgments are mainly oracles, Isaiah 28:1-13 lets us hear the prophet in his own voice before the oracle. The distance of the third person allows the prophet to achieve an understatement that belies the strong emotion just below the surface of this text.

Judgment with its accusation and sentence appears in many human contexts, such as parent and child, employer and employee, coach, and player, etc. The most formal context is the trial, where the accused comes before the court to hear the accusations and the formal judgment. The prophets, not surprisingly, adopt the formal vocabulary and roles of the lawsuit which translates the Hebrew word rîb (pronounced ‘reeve’).

In the prophetic literature, the lawsuit or rîb may have the following elements:

1. the call of the accused party or the call of witnesses to observe the trial
2. the accusations by the plaintiff against the defendant
3. occasionally a statement about the innocence of the plaintiff
4. “Therefore” or “now, therefore” followed by the sentence
5. “Because/for” followed reasons for the sentence, which are the same as the accusations.

The defense by the defendant does not appear in these texts. Their guilt is certain. God takes the role of plaintiff and judge, and the judgment is clear.

Jeremiah 2:1-37 represents one of the most elaborate developments of the lawsuit, but perhaps, the most famous example is found in Hosea 2, where God’s role as husband is added to plaintiff and judge. There the speaker’s shifting emotions make it one of the masterpieces of biblical literature. Like much in prophetic literature, these poets constantly transform everything they use. An analysis should not concentrate on how it fits the model but on how the prophet has defamiliarized and transformed the genre.

The judgment oracle has a formal similarity to the lawsuit, and we need not see them as distinct categories. The lawsuit offers the prophet a way to elaborate the judgment oracles.

Both the judgment oracle and the judgment of the lawsuit are performative language, a concept discussed above in §11.2b. The language does not describe but rather puts into effect what is said. A judge in pronouncing the judgment of guilt with a sentence is creating a legal reality. These judgments are not a wish for justice but rather the execution of justice.

b. salvation oracles

The salvation oracles are the counterpart to the judgment oracles. According to Claus Westermann, they mainly “arose anonymously [in the period exilic and post-exilic period] between Deutero-Isaiah (a few probably earlier) and the conclusion of the prophetic canon” (Prophetic Oracles, 13). Surely, the people in exile had heard enough of judgment and were in need of salvation. The whole of Isaiah 40-55 can be considered an elaborate salvation oracle. Still, the books of the pre-exilic prophets, as they stand, also contain salvation oracle as if to remind us that prophecy is not just a matter of being angry. The announcement of judgment and salvation are two pieces of a whole. If the Bible confronts us with our sin, it also announces a saving word.

The salvation oracle is the statement or promise by God to save people, and in Micah 4:6-7, we hear:

In that day, says the LORD,
I will assemble the lame
and gather those who have been driven away,
and those whom I have afflicted.
The lame I will make the remnant,
and those who were cast off, a strong nation;
and the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion
now and forevermore.

In the judgment oracles, “that day” or “the day of the LORD” is the day of punishment and retribution, but in the salvation oracles, “that day” becomes the day of fulfillment (Amos 9:11).

The salvation oracles then are promises, and as such, they too are performative language. When the prophet proclaims a salvation oracle, God is promising to fulfill the oracle. The salvation oracles are not descriptions of what the future might be; they are a promise by God of what the future will be or what is already taking place in the present. By announcing these oracles, God is guaranteeing their fulfillment.

c. the warning and the call to repentance

Though sin may bring judgment, the prophets sometimes bring only a warning. Imperatives to repent and do good create these warnings, perhaps with reasons added to motivate people.

Isaiah opens his book with this variation on the judgment oracle. It begins with the standard call and accusation (1:2-3).

call:

Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth;
for the LORD has spoken:

accusation:
I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.

Instead of adding the judgment with its sentence, he accuses Israel’s children of being dumber than the ox and the donkey. It is as if a parent shakes their head and says:

The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey its master’s crib;
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.

Isaiah hopes the irony will bring people to their senses. The ox and donkey, because of their good sense, have found a place at the Christmas manger.

Though Jeremiah is famous for judgment oracles, we find several calls to repentance in his work; see Jer 3:11-13; 3:21-22; 10:1-5; 21:11-14 (with a threat of future punishment). . Hosea continually highlights the call to return as we see in 14:1-3.

Both the warning and the call to repentance become variations on the oracles of judgment and salvation. These prophet poets are continually taking traditional forms and turning them upside down.

15.5. Conclusion

The prophets take other genres and use them for their purposes, such as the dirge (Jer. 9:19-20), the riddle (Ezek. 17), and the hymn (Isa. 49:13). However, the dramatic monologue, whether a divine oracle or the prophet’s speech, dominates the prophetic literature. As in the laments, we must pay close attention how the prophet creates the implied story and the characters. Unlike the laments, in which each psalm is a unity, the prophetic literature gives us recurring characters and contexts. Even so, their words are larger than the moment. They can transcend their context and create possibilities for inter-textual readings.

15.6. Exercises for Chapter 15

Vocabulary

• call narrative, prophetic: the story of the call of the prophet which is one of the basic subplots. §15.2
• judgment oracle: a speech by God, often with a call to the defendant or to witnesses, followed by accusations and then the judgment, often introduced by “therefore,” with its punishment and reasons. §15.4a
• lawsuit: rîb in Hebrew, an expanded form of the judgment oracle based on the process of a law court in which witnesses are called; the defendant is accused, the plaintiff is defended, and the judgment is given with its punishment and reason. In the biblical lawsuit, the Lord is the plaintiff, prosecutor, and judge. §15.4a
• oracle: a message from God brought by a human being to others, with God speaking in the first person. §15.4
• salvation oracle: a message by God announcing coming salvation. §15.4b

Questions

1. The following passages are judgment oracles. If they contain the messenger formula, identify that. Then identify the elements of the judgment oracles contained in the text. Every passage does not contain all of the elements, and the prophet sometimes adds other elements.

• call to the accused or to witnesses
• accusations
• defense of the accuser (rare)
• Therefore/Now therefore
• judgment and punishment
• reasons introduced by for/because (= accusations).

Amos 3:9-11; 3:13-15; 4:1-3;
Micah 1:2-7; 3:1-4; 3:5-8; 3:9-12; 6:9-16

2. Make a close reading of Amos 3:9-11 or another from the list above.

3. How does Isaiah reshape the judgment oracle: Isa 1:2-3; 1:10-17; 28:14-22

4. Choose one of the following salvation oracles and analyze how it creates a promise of salvation.

Amos 9:13-15;
Micah 2:12-13; 4:1-5 (= Isa 2:2-4);
Micah 4:6-7 – Should It be part of the previous verses?

5. Write your own judgment oracle and salvation oracle.