The Function Of Prophecy In Old Testament Theology Religion Essay

The Function Of prognostication In Old Testament Theology Religion EssayProphets hire al shipway been surrounded by an aura of mystery. Because they were intermediaries in the midst of the human and portend worlds, prophets appeared to their hearers as terrifying yet magnetic and fascinating figures. Throughout the history of Western civilization, whenever these divinely inspired individuals score appeared, attempts have been made to cluck the mystery that surrounds them. The focus of m any(prenominal) of these attempts has been the Old Testament prophets who have conventionally functioned as models for the elucidation of other prophetic phenomenon.How prophets were viewedProphets were viewed as channels through which divine messages reached the ordinary world and through which humans could gain withdraw access to the divine. T herefore, the prophetic intermediaries appeared in any society which believed in the reality of divine causes capable of communicating with human beings.1However, within societies and groups, the behaviour of prophets tended to catch traditional, well-defined patterns. This behavior varied from society to society. Within a precondition society or group, prophetic behavior usually conformed to the expected norms. In the Old Testament we can find that the prophets receive divine messages and show them into human terms and communicating them, using traditional speech forms and actions. This trade union movement indicates that they are functioning as prophets and the message they bring, comes from the divine realm.2Isaiah as a prophetSimilarly, Isaiah who is one of the big(p) prophets, exercised his prophetic ministry during the reigns of Uzziah (783-742 BC), Jotham ( 742-735), Ahaz ( 735-715) and Hezekiah (715-687). The batch which is recorded in Chapter 6 was the one which constituted the call of Isaiah to be a prophet.It has sometimes been said that Isaiah must have belonged to the aristocracy of the capital because he kn ew the ways of the court and had ready access to the presence of the king when he had need. A prophet of the stature of Isaiah must have made himself a well-known member of the Jerusalem community and one whose words were treated with great respect.3The book of Isaiah, one of the longer units in the Hebrew Bible, comprises prophetic textile in verse and prose collected over a period of at least half a millennium. In the opening chapter of Isaiah we catch echoes of Amos here and there, not least in the contrast between the sacrificial madness and the demands of social justice ( Isa. 112-17) which would fit better the early dress of Isaiahs career.thither is also reminiscent of Amos in his condemnation of the ruling classes who labour the face of the poor (Isa. 315) and reflects a lack of concern for traditional moral values of the women of Jerusalem ( Isa. 316-17,24-26 cf The poem on divine view (Isa. 26-22) restates for the befit of Judah the central message of Amos that the matinee idol of Israel has now abandoned his nation and left them at the mercy of history.4And Isaiah was victorious up where Amos left. He is more explicit than Amos in his reference to the Assyrians and the fictional character they were destined to play in Israels future ( Isa. 526-30).Social, cultural and semi policy-making situation during the time of IsaiahBefore the time of Omri and Ahab, kings of Israel about a hundred before Isaiah received his call to be a prophet, the history of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah afterward the death of Solomon had been an unimpressive record of petty squabbles, and events of really local significance. scarcely these two kings saw the folly of such behaviour o the dower of two politically weak kingdoms, which, in face of an aggressive insurance by a great power such as Assyria or Egypt, could forecast to survive only by the combined military resources of an alignment of western states, in which they had part.Israel was the dominan t partner. In every age political and commercial bargaining was successful done from a position of strength. With Israels sizable increase in national wealth owing to the opening up of profitable avenues of trade, s development which, in turn, widened the social gap between the wealthy, upper class in Israelite society and the poor peasants.5Such a situation was liable to recur whenever Israel entered into a close relation of tie-up with, or, even more, of dependence on, a people greater in power than itself, and it was the main reason for the warning which the prophets repeatedly gave against any policy.In a way not paralleled in the activity of the other great prophets whose utterances have a place in the Old Testament canon, Isaiah took a very prominent part in the national crises of the days through which he lived.Isaiah as a JudgeIn spite of the fact that judgment spoken of as if it were inevitable, that does not exclude from Isaiahs preaching the note of invoke and entreaty calling upon the people to return. This is found several times in chapter 1 (5, 16 f., 18 f.). It is Isaiahs conviction that for all this sinfulness a day of judgment is coming. God is not mocked men cannot disobey his leave behind with impunity. The land get out be desolated. Lebanon pull up stakes become a heath, red-fruited places like Carmel and Sharon will become a wilderness, men and cattele will be few Time after time Assyria is specified as the pecker by which the judgment will accomplished.6Isaiah often declares his confidence that, however annihilating the judgment may be, a remnant of the people will survive. by of the stump of the tree new life will come. The glory will have departed, the comeliness will have perished, the new shoot will be a miracle of renewed life but therein is the hope of the people and therein lies the possibility of the continuance of their work and witness. That conviction on the part of Isaiah may be related to to the fact that even in h uman relations a complete obliteration of an individual or a people was guarded against with very great care ( cf. Deut. 25.5 Ruth 4.10 f., Amos 1.6,9). The doctrine of surviving remnant in turn is related to the fact that whereas the prophet can speak in terms of a judgment upon the whole people, he can, at the same time and without any sense of contradiction, speak of a discriminating judgment in which a distinction will be made between the righteous and the tremendous ( Isa. 1. 27 f. 3.10 f. cf. 28.23-29). At this point Isaiah though of the necessary cleanup of the peoples as consisting substantiality of restoring in them a former righteousness and goodness which had become corrupted he comes near to describing it as a switch of the wilderness ideal.7The message and the people Isaiah spoke to and spoke aboutThe postexilic community was concerned with their identity and self-understanding. Their existence as a people was threatened by the consequences of the catastrophe of exi le and loss of national independence. There were other Jewish communities, and perhaps provinces, in close proximity to Judah, for slip in Samaria and Transjordan, and far away, for away for example in Egypt and Babylon. Isaiah presents a vision for these people to understand themselves, their God and their world. The vision spans past, present and future.Israel as a people participates in this story ( Isa. 1.2-9 4.2-6) and, at the same time, Israel is comprised of wicked and righteous, oppressors and the laden ( Isa. 1.19-23, 27-28 3.13-15). Isaiah gives a clear picture of distinction between good and unworthy that is at points applied to over against the nations can be applied to Israel itself. right versus wicked behaviour is the important point. There is no doubt in Isaiah about the radical separation of good and evil. What is in doubt, indeed, what is denied, is the equation of these arbitrary categories with actual human groups, whether defined in religious or political t erms.Isaiah represents his vision as a Quasi-drama dominated by dramatic speeches. til now the narrative sections in chapter 6 provide settings for further speeches. The characters are not presented as distinct and historical individuals. They are constructs in the grand poetic work of Isaiah. Israel, for example, is masculine whimsical ( 1.4), masculine plural ( 1.5-6) and feminine singular ( 1.21-26), where one can see that Israel is judged and condemned, desolate and devastated, and comforted and redeemed.8BooksJoseph Blenkinsopp, A floor of Prophecy in Israel ( Louisville, KY Westminster John Knox Press, 1996)James Luther Mays and Paul J. Achtemeier. Early Israelite portent Interpreting the prophets, ed., Philadelphia Fortress Press, c1987.Mauchline, John.John Mauchline, Isaiah 1-39 , (London SCM Press, 1962), p.Peter D. Miscall, Isaiah ( Sheffield JSOT Press, 1993). P.