10. From this follows another result, which is not least in importance, namely, that the minatory prediction, however categorically it may be ex- pressed, has always only a conditional character. Even Amos, whose denunciation of judgment sounds so irrevocable that he actually strikes up the funeral dirge (kindh) over Israel (5'), does not abandon all hope, for immediately thereafter he utters the exhortation: ‘Seek Jahweh, that ye may live’ (vv.*:°); ‘Yea, if ye hate the evil and love the good, it may be that Jahweh, the God of Hosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph’ y.), Isaiah, again, although expressly called (6}°-) to harden the people still more by his preach- ing of repentance, predicts (1%"-) the coming of a time when Jerusalem shall once more be called a city of righteousness, a faithful city, after a por- tion of her inhabitants have been brought by purifying judgment to repentance. Similarly, in 38° Isaiah, by the instruction of Jahweh, an- nounces to king Hezekiah his speedy end, but im- mediately thereafter tells him that, owing to his prayer and tears, his life is to be prolonged for fifteen years. Jeremiah announces as a message from Jahweh (26°) that the threatenings uttered against city and temple may perhaps have the effect of leading the people to hearken and turn from their ways, in which case Jahweh will repent Him of the evil which He thought to bring upon them because of the evil of their doings. In short,
the prophetic word is not a decretum absolutum, which must work itself out after the manner of a blind natural force, an inexorable fate ; it pursues moral aims ; it is designed to bring about know- ledge and repentance. Hence it is subject to recall, according to the conduct of the party threatened ; just as the potter can transform the marred vessel as he pleases (Jer 18'*:). For Jahweh has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but in his turning from his evil way, that he may live (Ezk 1875), It was to emphasize this truth, and that even as extended to the heathen, that the little Book of Jonah was composed in the post-exilic period.
iii. THz FORMS OF DIVINE REVELATION TO THE PROPHETS.—1. The simplest form of com- munication from God to the prophets is the word which comes to them, and which is very frequently the equivalent of ‘revelation.’ According to Jer 188 it was a current saying of the time that torah (‘direction’) could never be lacking to the priest, nor ‘counsel’ to the wise, nor the ‘ word’ to the prophet. ‘That the prophet, in virtue of his call, could speak in the name of Jahweh, without having in every instance received an extraordinary revelation, we have already (p. 674) pointed out. On the other hand, the exact dating of particular Divine messages (particularly in Ezekiel, Haggai, and Zechariah, but occasionally also in Jeremiah) is an evidence that the prophet could be quite conscious of having received a special revelation.
The same is witnessed to by the expression (Is 22! cf. 5°) ‘Jahweh revealed himself in my ears,’ i.e. called to me audibly. It has been argued by Ed. Kénig that a hearing with the bodily ear is what is thought of in this phrase; but that it is not so, is shown by the fact that elsewhere the Divine word is said to be seen by the prophet. But this seeing is with the eye of the spirit, like the beholding of the prophetic visions. Both kinds of seeing are designated by the same word in Hebrew (jin hazén; cf., for instance, the expres- sion ‘ Vision of Isaiah,’ placed as a collective title at the head of the present Book of Isaiah). This is explicable only on the supposition that the boundary between the two —especially in early times—was a fluid one: even the receiving of a Divine message might readily be coupled with ecstatic visionary conditions.
2. Still we are entitled to speak of visions proper, z.e. of the beholding of concrete pictures and incidents, of which the prophet afterwards gives an account, and, if necessary, an interpreta- tion. Itis noteworthy that this seeing is almost everywhere (cf. Am 7:47 81 91, Is 6!, Jer 111-33, Ezk 11, Zec 18 2! etc.) expressed by the verb ax (r@ah), which usually stands for bodily vision. Here, again, it cannot be inferred from this that we have to do with an unveiling of the invisible world to the bodily eye of the prophet, but rather that he with the spiritual eye beholds real pictures and incidents as at other times he does with the bodily eye. Of all the analogies which have been adduced to make the mystery of this kind of seeing (namely, the prophetic vision in the nar- rower sense) intelligible, that which deserves most attention is the largely attested ‘artistic intui- tion.’ In the latter, a work of art, which has been planned and perhaps long considered, may all at once present itself to the mind’s eye of the artist in unthought-of finish and beauty, and that so clearly that he is able henceforth to retain it in his memory and carry it into execution. But, even with such an analogy as this, we must not overlook the considerable differences in kind be- tween the two, artistic and prophetic inspiration,