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Considerations Regarding the Office and Calling of the Prophet1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

Klaus Baltzer
Klaus Baltzer
Affiliation:
Untversität München, Germany
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Extract

1. The present state of the discussion.

Fifty years ago Bernhard Duhm, in the introduction of his book Israels Propheten, wrote: “Prophecy has its history. It is not a timeless revelation of a supernatural truth. Again, its task is not to ‘prophesy’ events of a distant future in order to allow a simple faith to enjoy the consistent agreement of promise and fulfillment. The prophets are God's messengers. They are charged to proclaim to their contemporaries firstly God's decisions and, furthermore, his demands. Whereas divination in various forms occurs among all nations, the prophets with whom we are dealing here are a distinct Israelite phenomenon.”

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 61 , Issue 4 , October 1968 , pp. 567 - 581
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1968

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References

2 (1916; 2nd edition, Tbingen, 1922), 3f. Also see his book, Theologie der Propheten als Grundlage für die innere Entwicklungsgeschichte der israelitischen Religion dargestellt (1875)Google Scholar.

3 See, e.g., Jepsen, A., Nabi; Soziologische Studien zur alttestamentlichen Literatur und Religionsgeschichte (München, 1934)Google Scholar. Haldar, A., Associations of Cultic Prophets among the Ancient Semites (1945)Google Scholar.

4 Published by de Liagre Böhl, F. M. Th., Profetisme en plaatsvergangend lijden in Assyrie en Israel, Ned. Th. T. 4 (1949/50), 81–91Google Scholar, 161-76 ( Opera minora [1953] 63ff.)Google Scholar. Lods, A., Une tablette inédite de Mari.., in Studies in Old Testament Prophecy (Edinburgh, 1950), 103–10Google Scholar. Soden, v., Verkündigung des Gotteswillens durch prophetisches Wort in den altbabylonischen Briefen aus Mari, WO 1 (1950), 397–403Google Scholar. See in addition Noth, M., Geschichte und Gotteswort im Alten Testament (1949)Google Scholar; Ges. St. [1960 2], 230–47Google Scholar. Westermann, C., Die Mari-Briefe und die Prophetie in Israel, Ges. St. (1964), 171–88Google Scholar.

5 See especially Zimmerli, W., Form-und Traditionsgeschichte der prophetischen Berufungserzählungen, in Ezechiel, BK. XIII (1955ff.), 16–21Google Scholar; Habel, N., The Form and Significance of the Call Narratives, ZAW 77 (1965), 297–323Google Scholar; the latter includes further bibliography.

6 Concerning this conception, see Cross, F. M., The Council of Yahweh in Second Isaiah, JNESt 12(1953), 274–77Google Scholar.

7 This Ross, James F. has correctly perceived, The Prophet as Yahwe's Messenger, in Israel's Prophetic Heritage; Festschrift J. Muilenburg (New York, 1962), 98–107Google Scholar. Ross recognizes the connection with the “council” of God, without amplifying this more precisely, however.

8 In Die Einsetzung des Veziers unter der 18. Dynastie (Leipzig, 1909)Google Scholar. See further de Garies Davies, N., The Tomb of Rekh-mi-Re at Thebes; Publications of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, XI (New York, 1943)Google Scholar, abridged in Davies, , ANET, 212–14Google Scholar. Also, Porter/Moss, The Theban Necropolis, I (19602), 206–14, Grab Nr. 100; Helck, W., Zur Verwaltung des Mittleren und Neuen Reiches (Leiden, 1958)Google Scholar.

9 Following the translation of A. H. Gardiner, in Davies, 79f.

10 Ibid., 80.

11 Ibid., 85.

12 Ibid., 86.

13 Ibid., 88.

14 See Porter/Moss, , The Theban Necropolis, I (1960 2), 245–47Google Scholar, Amenuser oder User, Grab Nr. 131.

15 Here one must mention above all the works of L. Köhler, J. Begrich, Fr. Horst. For more recent research see Boecker, H. J., Redeformen des Rechtslebens im Alten Testament (Neukirchen, 1964)Google Scholar (Diss. Bonn, 1959). Huffmon, H. B., The Covenant Lawsuit in the Prophets, JBL 78 (1959), 285–95Google Scholar. Westermann, C., Grundformen prophetischer Rede (München, 1960)Google Scholar. von Waldow, E., Der traditionsgeschichtliche Hintergrund der prophetischen Gerichtsreden, Bzaw 85 (1963)Google Scholar.

16 For the differentiation between “evidence,” “formula of judgment” and “execution of judgment” in Egypt, see Seidl, E., Einführung in die ägyptische Rechtsgeschichte bis zum Ende des Neuen Reiches, Teil, I. Juristischer (Glückstadt-New York, 1957), 35Google Scholar, 37f. Concerning the New Kingdom Seidl establishes: “The king is the supreme judge. For him are reserved those sentences which go beyond the cutting off of a limb. Next to him the vizier is the superior judge, both in initial trials as well as in appeals.” Ibid., 32.

17 Gedanken über das Königtum Jahwes, Kl. Schriften, I, 356Google Scholar.

18 Is. 2:4; 5:26; 14:26.

19 Is. 8:18; 24:23.

20 See the illustration in the grave of Rekh-mi-Re entitled: “Reception of various foreign lands by the vizier…”

21 See Das Ende des Staates Juda und die Messias-Frage, in Studien zur Theologie der alttestamentlichen Überlieferungen, edited by Rendtorff, R. and Koch, K. (Neukirchen, 1961), 33–43Google Scholar.

22 Ezechiel, , HAT 13 (1955), 124Google Scholar.

23 de Garies Davies, N., The Tombs of the Vizier Ramose (London, 1941), 43Google Scholar.

24 See Kees, H., Das Priestertum im ägyptischen Staat vom Neuen Reich bis zur Spätzeit (Leiden, 1953), especially 96–106Google Scholar.

25 See Zimmerli, Ezechiel, 201.

26 Ez. 8:2f.; compare the commentaries.

27 HAT 13 (1955), 220Google ScholarPubMed.