Name Terms Of The Old Testament Prophet Of God -- By: Eugene H. Merrill

Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 14:4 (Fall 1971)
Article: Name Terms Of The Old Testament Prophet Of God
Author: Eugene H. Merrill


Name Terms Of The Old Testament Prophet Of God

Eugene H. Merrill*

Introduction

In any serious study of the nature and purpose of Old Testament prophetism, it is mandatory that the terms used to describe the person and office of the prophets be thoroughly understood. This is all the more important in the light of current critical hypotheses which would make of the Old Testament Hebrew prophetic phenomenon nothing more than an ethicized and refined version of that known to exist commonly throughout the ancient Near East. The theory as generally proposed contends that the “prediterary” prophets (those before ca. 750 B.C.) were akin to the soothsaying dervish-type ecstatics who made up such a large part of the Canaanite and other Near Eastern cults, particularly in the Amarna Age and later.1 These diviners were gradually supplanted by the “true” prophets such as Amos and Hosea, who brought to the Theocracy concepts which were more morally and religiously oriented and which lifted Israel to a higher spiritual plane than that known to her contemporaries. These religious geniuses, according to the critical understanding, looked with disdain upon their prophetic predecessors, castigated and tried to reform the remnants of the primitive priesthood and liturgy, and were in constant conflict with the monarchy ipso facto. Their most important contribution, obviously, lay in their success in elevating Yahweh from His position as a mere tribal deity to that of the universal, ethically monotheistic God of all the world. Begun by Amos, this task was finally consummated by Deutero-Isaiah following the Exile. For an early treatment of the prophet as the creator of ethical montheism, see William Bade, The Old Testament in the Light of Today (1915). For an opposing but equally erroneous interpretation —that of presuming that the prophets were cultic officials who, usurped priestly functions—see Alfred Haldar, Associations of Cult Prophets Among the Ancient Semites (1945), and Aubrey Johnson, The Cultic Prophet in Ancient Israel (1944).

As interesting as prophetic phenomena might be in the context of

*Professor of Old Testament, Berkshire Christian College, Lenox, Massachusetts.

the ancient Near East,2 particularly outside Israel and the covenant, understanding of such can have but minimal value in understanding the divinely originated and revealed concept of prophetism as contained in the Old Testament. Because the Theocracy itself was unique, explicable only in reference to itself as a divine institution, Hebrew prophetism is likewise unique and ...

You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
Click here to subscribe
visitor : : uid: ()