RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Prophecy
is, whose eyes are closed to the outer world, while to his prophetic gaze hidden and distant things are unveiled, bears the strongest likeness to the shamans; still, even he speaks with full consciousness of what he has seen. The individual characteristics of the prophets assert themselves in this particular. Judging from the emotion that still vibrates in his written words, Hosea was more powerfully affected physically than Haggai, for instance, and Ezekiel suffered more in this respect beneath the hand of the Lord than did Isaiah. In both Jewish and Christian theology much has been written on the psychical condition of the prophets. While the oldest patristic view, resting on Philo and Plato, lays stress on the ecstatic element, ecclesiastical theology since the Montanistic controversy (see Montanus, Montanism) has rather striven to exclude the idea of any abnormal psychical disturbance (cf. G. F. Oehler, Theologie des Alien Testaments, pp. 745 sqq., Stuttgart, 1891). Konig believes that the communication of God to the prophets was always an audible one and expressly rejects the parallel adduced by Oehler and Riehm with the way God's spirit speaks to the Christian petitioner and assures him that his prayer is heard (cf. E. Riehm, Die messianischen Weissagungen, 38 sqq.,Gotha, 1885, Eng. transl., Messianic Prophecy, Edinburgh, 1891; Oehler, ut sup., p. 764). He holds that if the revelation had been made to the inner consciousness of the prophets, they would have been unable to distinguish clearly the divine voice from that of their own hearts. This view, however, unduly limits the power of the divine spirit, and overlooks the fact that sensual impressions may as easily lead to self-deception — there are hallucinations both of sight and of hearing. With the Old-Testament prophets, the intrinsic majesty and sacredness of the revelation brought the conviction of its truth.
If the word of the Lord is something seen or perceived, something which comes to the prophet from without, it can not be the product of his subjective
conjectures, fears, or premonitions.
3- Ohjectiv- While the false prophet calculates
\F ° e which result is the most probable and
allows himself to be influenced by patriotism and personal advantage, the true prophet proclaims things contradictory to appearances and probabilities, things that offend his people and even deeply wound his own heart; yet he proclaims them with unshakable confidence. It must therefore be assumed that he had a higher source of knowledge. The ultra-rationalistic theology saw in the prophet only a man of superior gifts of mind and heart, a close observer of life, one familiar with virtue and hence with God, and one possessing that sure glance into the future which was lacking to the ordinary man. The difficulties to be overcome when an attempt is made to explain the duplex consciousness of the prophets and their boldness in the name of God, without having recourse to the intervention of a higher factor, is greatly increased by the quality of Old-Testament prophecy. This can not be explained by mere thought or by general convictions or simple premonitions.
The second act in the genesis of the prophetic word is its enunciation. This side of prophetic
activity is most often expressed by the word nabhi, " the speaker," namely, for God (cf. C. von Orelli,
Alttestamentliche Weissagung, pp. 7-8,
*' D/ th^ Vienna> 1882; En§- transl., Old Testa-
Message. ment ProPhecy> Edinburgh, 1885). The
effort has been made to see in nabhi, according to its fundamental meaning, a designation of a Canaanite dervish and to distinguish it from ro'eh, supposed to signify the more noble seer. But apart from the doubtful equation, nabhi = madman, these bands of dervishes represent rather a degeneration of something higher. In Amos vii. 12 sqq., hozeh, the synonym of ro'eh, has already the same meaning as nabhi, and Amos himself (ii. 11- 12) in no wise despises the nebi'im. The same spiritual power that has brought God's revelation with imperative certainty to the prophet's soul urges him to proclaim it to those to whom he is sent. This divine causation, which not only forces him to see but also to repeat what he has seen, is forcibly expressed in Amos iii. 8; that is, just as involuntarily as one starts in terror on hearing the voice of the lion, so must the prophet prophesy when God's mighty word comes upon him. When he tries to keep this word to himself, it burns his heart (Jer. xx. 9). False prophets indeed allow themselves to be influenced by human considerations and by the prospect of gain (cf. Mic. iii. 5, 11; Isa. lvi. 10); with the true prophet, however, " thus saith the Lord " means that a complete divine thought has been implanted in the prophet's being.
The concrete form and vivid realism of the relation springs from the fact that it describes a vision beheld by the prophet or some occurrence. He does
not teach general, abstract truths, but *>• F°^^ °* his gaze is fixed upon the activities of
the living God. This revelation first
the Message.
appears in an impressive form before the prophet's soul and it is only later combined with his own reflections. He may be morally disposed to expect, even to demand, a judgment upon Jerusalem, but what he prophetically beholds may be a visitation far in excess of what he believes reasonable. The form of prophetic inspiration depends upon the mental characteristics of the people and the race. A peculiarity of the Semites is a certain directness of perception; the single phenomenon is apprehended by them in immediate connection with its supreme cause. This natural gift was raised by the divine spirit to the potency of a charisma (cf . Charismata) and herein lay the peculiar greatness as well as the limitations of Old-Testament prophecy; its greatness, in that it enabled the prophets to recognize the rule of God even in its external manifestations; its limitations, in that this incorporation of divine ideas is inadequate. As a rule, this revelation of God is designated as a word of Yahweh, and herein lies an important formal peculiarity. In that it is a word, the prophetic revelation is distinguished from the imperfect prototypes by which future persons and events are foreshadowed. The whole Mosaic sacrificial institution points to a future and perfect means of atonement; David, the king after God's heart, is the type of a future and greater ruler in whom the ideal which hovered before David will be fully realized.
Prophecy