The Jewish People by David Goldberg & John D. Rayner

Author:David Goldberg & John D. Rayner
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780141941240
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2009-07-20T20:00:00+00:00

PROPHETS

The second division of the Jewish Bible, known as the Prophets, falls into two parts: the Former Prophets and the Latter Prophets. The first, comprising the books of Joshua, Judges, I and II Samuel, and I and II Kings, is a collection of historical narratives written in a prophetic spirit: they not only relate events and actions, but evaluate them according to the divine guidance they show and the moral lessons to be learned from them.

Like the Pentateuch, this series of books is anonymous. An old Jewish tradition attributes it to Joshua, Samuel and Jeremiah. Modern scholarship regards it as emanating from the same kind of sources as the Pentateuch, particularly the author of Deuteronomy, or a school of writers sharing his outlook; but it also utilizes, especially in Samuel and Kings, otherwise un-preserved court chronicles from the days of the monarchy.

The book of Joshua begins where the Pentateuch leaves off, relating the Israelites’ conquest of Canaan under the leadership of Moses’s successor, Joshua. The book of Judges recounts episodes from the ensuing period, including the exploits of such heroes as Deborah, Gideon and Samson. The books of Samuel begin with the life story of the prophet Samuel and the institution of the monarchy, towards which it records two opposing attitudes, favourable and unfavourable, presumably emanating from different source materials or traditions. The books then chronicle the royal careers of Saul and David, the conflict between them, and David’s friendship with Saul’s son Jonathan. I and II Kings continue in the same vein, relating the story of the reign of Solomon and the building of the Temple, then tracing the histories of the Two Kingdoms down to the conquest of Samaria by the Assyrians and that of Judah by the Babylonians.

The subdivision known as the Latter Prophets largely comprises collections of prophetic speeches committed to writing either by the prophets themselves or by their disciples. These ‘writing prophets’ flourished from the eighth down to the fifth century BCE. There are of course many individual differences between them, but they also have much in common. They are all charismatic preachers, impelled by a conviction of having been personally commissioned to act as God’s spokesmen, rather than cultic functionaries, though some of them may have been, incidentally, professional prophets in that sense. They are all interpreters of current events in the light of general religious and moral principles. They are all, in varying degrees, critics of contemporary society, fearless in delivering their message, however unpopular it may be. And they all employ powerful rhetoric, often rising to the heights of poetry.

Frequently occurring themes are: God’s unity and majesty, His concern for all mankind, His special love for Israel, His exacting moral demands; denunciations of idolatry, immorality, injustice, empty ritualism, reliance on power politics; threats of impending disaster by way of divine retribution; appeals for repentance through renewed loyalty to the Covenant, compassion for the weak, social justice; emphasis on Israel’s special responsibility as God’s ‘chosen people’; visions of a golden future when

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