Hebrew Bible: prophecy short paper

What is Prophecy?

10/28/2011



Today's class was focused on brainstorming and organizing our thoughts for the paper due NEXT FRIDAY about biblical prophecy.  Remember, you need 900 words and 3 types of prophecy in your papers, and don't forget to include relevant examples and the differences between the Northern and Southern prophets.

• Southern prophets -- textual location in the books named after them
• emphasis on the Exodus
• Isaiah (8th century BCE)
• Zephaniah (7th)
• Nahum (7th)
• Micah (8th and maybe 7th)
• Northern Prophets -- Elijah, Elisha, and Micaiah are found in 1 & 2 Kings; others in own books
• emphasis on the Davidic Kingdom and restoration of Zion (Jerusalem)
• Amos (8th)
• Hosea (8th)
• Elijah (9th)
• Elisha (9th)
• Micaiah (9th)

• Pre-Exilic Prohpets (roughly chronological; Exile meaning during and after 586 BCE)
• Elijah
• Michaiah
• Elisha
• Isaiah
• Amos
• Hosea
  Here is the assignment, copied directly from Blackboard:
  
  
  What is Biblical Prophecy?
  
  
  Much of the text of the Hebrew Bible is devoted to the writings of the Israelite and Judean prophets.  Some of these prophets worked in the northern kingdom and some worked in the southern kingdom; most of them were active in the 8^th and 7^th centuries BCE.  In an essay of approximately 900 words, discuss the social, political, and cultural milieus of biblical prophecy.  You should include both northern and southern prophets in your discussion as well as pre-exilic and exilic prophets.  Your essay should attempt to answer the question, What is the nature of biblical prophecy?  In order to answer this larger, more general question, you will want to think about and address some of the following more specific questions:
  
  
  What was the historical context within which these prophets worked?
  Were northern prophets different from southern prophets?
  Did they have difference concerns?
  What kinds of critiques did the prophets make?
  Did they work for the king or against the king?  Or both?
  Were they only concerned with Israelites?
  Did they work alone or in groups?
  What social and/or cultural roles did the prophets play in ancient Israelites society?
  How would you categorize the different types of prophets? Are these categories related or completely different?
  What kinds of acts did the prophets perform?  Or did they only speak and write?
  For whom do the prophets speak?  Against whom do they speak?  In whose name?
  
  
  You do not need to answer all these questions in your essay, but you should address enough of them to answer our larger question: What is the nature of biblical prophecy?
  
  
  You absolutely MUST quote the biblical text in order to support your arguments.  If you want to argue that some prophets predict the future, you need to offer an example of an Israelite prophet who predicts the future.  If you argue that prophets are culture critics, you need to provide a quotation as an example.  REFERENCING OR SUMMARIZING THE TEXT DOES NOT COUNT AS A QUOTATION.  You may use Collins to help your thinking along and to find ideas, but I want you to refer to the biblical text ONLY in this paper.
  You should, at the very least, address the difference (if any) between northern and southern prophets; the difference (if any) between pre-exilic and exilic prophets; and discuss at least three different types of prophets.  By types I do not mean North vs. South or Pre-exilic vs. Exilic.  By types I mean the ways in which they prophesied and the specific social or political roles they played.
  
  
  You will be graded according to the following criteria:
  
  
  At least FIVE quotations of the biblical text (5 points each) = 25
  At least THREE different types of prophets (15 points each) = 45
  Contrasting southern prophets and northern prophets = 10
  Contrasting pre-exilic and exilic prophets = 10
  Spelling/Grammar/Clarity = 1
• Micah
• Zephaniah
• Nahum
• Exilic Prophets (not yet discussed in class -- next week)
• Habakkuk
• Malachi
• Jeremiah
• Ezekiel
• some others...

Typology

• professional -- paid by kings to speak in their favor; spoke often at the Samaria city gates
• Nahum --spoke against Ninevah
• Michaiah -- yet he spoke against the Israelite king
• Zedekiah -- used horns; see 1 Kings 22
• Isaiah -- often with royalty
• Sons of the Prophets -- performed miraces (e.g. ax head floats, 2 Kings)
• Elisha's disciples
• seers -- future-tellers, messiac prophets
• Amos -- called a seer, meaning not a professional prophet
• the witch of Endor -- see 1 Samuel
• Isaiah -- predicting future of messiah
• several others...
• women
• Miriam (Exodus)
• Deborah (Judges)
• witch of Endor
• previously laymen -- compelled to prophesy!
• Amos -- was a farmer
• Elisha
• culture critics -- of idolatry, social injustice, bad sacrificial system, etc.
• ALL THE PROPHETS
• THIS IS A KEY FEATURE OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A PROPHET
• miracle-workers
• Elisha -- resurrection, healing leprosy, endless supply of oil (2 Kings)
• Elijah -- calling down fire, parting the Jordan, etc. (1 Kings)
• symbolic -- symbolic action and symbolic naming of children
• Hosea -- children and marrying a "woman of promiscuity" (Hos 1-2)
• Isaiah -- children; nakedness, Isaiah 20
• Jerimiah -- ox goad (somewhere in Jeremiah...)