The Prophets

At one point, the author summarizes:'We and the prophets have no language in common. To us the moral state of society, for all its stains and spots, seems fair and trim; to the prophet it is dreadful. So many deeds of charity are done, so much decency radiates day and night; yet to the prophet the satiety of conscience is prudery and flight from responsibility. Our standards are modest; our sense of injustice tolerable, timid; our moral indignation impermament; yet human violence is interminable, unbearable, permanent. To us life is often serene, in the prophet's eye the world reels in confusion" (10).

This near-classic treatment of the prophets, written by Jewish theologian, Abraham Heschel, is full of helpful insights and reorientations of perspective. I only read the first half of the book, since the latter discussion of the psychology of ecstasy and such didn't interest me.

But the main section on OT prophets reinforced my sense that the biblical prophets saw the message or gospel of God as clearly focused on communal justice and even perhaps foreign policy, not on our post-Reformation obsession with individual salvation.

The book also highlighted how idolatry, too, was not some individual doctrinal error (the way we assume) but itself an alien politics and economics. To worship Assyrian or Egyptian gods was not just to worship a god of a different personal trait. It was to embrace an opposing politics, an opposing way of life.

The book also highlighted the prophets' continual denunciations of violence and war (I hadn't realized how many). At the same time, their general opposition to violence and military might set them not only at odds with the conservatism of their day but also with the violent pagan systems surrounding them.

"Others have considered history from the point of view of power, judging its course in terms of victory and defeat, wealth and success; the prophets look at history from the point of view of justice, judging its course in terms of righteousness and corruption, of compassion and violence" (219).

Still, the more one reads the communal perspective of the prophets, the more strange become the deep individualism and pietism of much of Christian faith, whether Roman, Protestant, or Eastern. All our traditions show a deep divide with the concerns of the prophets, and then we force our individualism on Jesus, though His teaching directly repeats their perspective.

At the same time, every Christian tradition has sub-traditions that follow Jesus and the prophets. Still, how to explain the divide between the concerns of Jesus/the prophets and a precisionist concern about where our soul would go if we died tonight. That is our evangelism, but it doesn't dominate the horizon of Jesus and the prophets (and I'd add, not Paul's or the other apostles' either).

I suspect there's a political/social answer for our deep pietism (even in those traditions, such as the Reformed, which pretend to denounce pietism). Historically, individualism and pietism and a general overemphasis on the inward tends to accompany those who have been compromised by systems of Mammon. This clearly happened to the Pharisees, once dangerously social but then tamed by Rome. And perhaps the same thing happened to Protestants when we sided primarily with German nobles and Elizabeth's quests for gold and American nuclear domination. In other words, once we surrender to Mammon, we're allowed only nonthreatening, private religion, nothing that would provoke persecution.

Apart from being provocative on a few points, the book overall didn't knock me over. Much of it was common knowledge but still good.

Neat opening line: 'This book is about some of the most disturbing people who ever lived.'

As much as I love Abraham Heschel's writing I probably wouldn't have picked this up if my Catholic women's book club hadn't selected it. We read book 1 (the first half) and it was simply superb.

It is common to characterize the prophet as a messenger of God, thus to differentiate him from the tellers of fortune, givers of oracles, seers, and ecstatics. Such a characterization expresses only one aspect of his consciousness. The prophet claims to be far more than a messenger. He is a person who stands in the presence of God (Jer. 15:19), who stands "in the council of the Lord" (Jer. 23:18), who is a participant, as it were, in the council of God, not a bearer of dispatches whose function is limited to being sent on errands. He is a counselor as well as a messenger. ...

The words the prophet utters are not offered as souvenirs. His speech to the people is not a reminiscence, a report, hearsay. The prophet not only conveys; he reveals. He almost does unto others what God does unto him. In speaking, the prophet reveals God. This is the marvel of a prophet's work: in his words, the invisible God becomes audible. He does not prove or argue. The thought he has to convey is more than language can contain. Divine power bursts in the words. The authority of the prophet is in the Presence his words reveal.

Heschel digs deep into selected prophets and shows how they were not just God's messengers but God's witnesses, interpreters, and friends. As well as being on the people's side also. It ain't easy being a prophet. It was inspirational and thought provoking.

I especially appreciated the inclusion of scriptural excerpts because I'd never have gone to look up referenced quotes. And I liked that he took the time to set each prophet firmly in his own historical context. Every single prophet isn't covered but there are various lesser prophets like Amos, Habakkuk, and Hosea to go along with the expected biggies (Isaiah and Jeremiah).

Heschel also takes side trips to discuss bigger issues like history, chastisement, and justice so that we get an overview from the prophets' point of view.

The second book goes into more depth on such topics as inspiration, wrath, and comparisons to prophets in other faiths. I will be reading that part in the future. Heschel is too good not to get the whole story from.

"'Know thy God' (I Chron. 28:9) rather than 'Know Thyself' is the categorical imperative of the biblical man. There is no self-understanding without God-understanding."

This book is definitely in the top 5 books I've ever read! The last sentence of Heschel's classic work is a great summation of the book as a whole, yet fails to communicate the depth of how Heschel can conclude with a simple statement as that. The discussion of pathos throughout this book, as the author traces the history of Israel, is one of the most profound parts as the concern of God seems to be the defining characteristic of the Bible and is what has been communicated through the prophets of Israel—God's compassion, his anger, his sorrow. The idea that God is in search of man rather than the other way around is beautiful and striking. Super fitting to finish on Christmas.

Still a classic!

A. J. Heschel's The Prophets remains one of the most readable and moving works on prophecy in Israel. He points out that, while most religions concern themselves with attaining mystical union with God, the Jewish prophet is concerned with the well-being of the common man or women in the mundane world:

In contrast, the prophet's field of concern is not the mysteries of heaven, but the affairs of the market place; not the glories of eternity, but the blights of society. He addresses himself to those who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land; who increase the price of the grain, use dishonest scales, and sell the refuse of the corn (Amos 8:4-6). What the prophet's ear perceives is the world of God, but what the word contains is God's concern for the world. (p. 363)

The prophet's mission is not merely to bring the word of God to man, but equally to represent man before God. Heschel sees the prophet as a tragic figure, constantly caught between God's high expectations of man, and his own compassion for his people's weakness. And yet, the prophet must remain convinced of the eventual reform of society, via the right choices of individuals.

Kindness and right behavior can be learned, and are the underpinning of a lasting and stable society. The prophet's mission is not to inculcate religious dogmas, but rather, to teach and to admonish, and to open the heart of those in power to the needs of the weakest members of society. "The opposite of freedom is not determinism, but hardness of heart. Freedom presupposes openness of heart, of mind, of eye and ear. (p. 191)"

My spiritual director, a Benedictine monk, recommended Abraham Heschl's The Prophets to me. I had brought to him some badly muddled thinking about the prophets, despite my knowledge of Israelite history and the Bible.
Heschl's book profoundly altered my thinking. He called me to a clearer understanding of the God who called the Hebrews out of Egypt, named them as a people "peculiarly" his own, and demanded their unwavering fidelity.
The prophets were those men who were called by God and given a clear understanding of God's authority and God's righteousness. They also saw very clearly how simple it could be for the people to rely on the God who had chosen, delivered and blessed them. Consequently, they were all the more appalled by the sins of the people.
There was simply no excuse for their infidelity.

I have tried to apply that lesson in my own life. There is no excuse for my sin.

Nor should I want an excuse because to make one implies I have no need of forgiveness and, hence, no need for grace. And there I would not go!
If I can persuade someone I've hurt that I couldn't help it, he or she might be willing to let it go, or to blame someone else for what I did. But if I admit that I did it, I should not have done it, I wish I had not done it, I wish I had not profited by it -- then I can ask, "Please forgive me." And this friend will have the free opportunity to give me that blessing.

But so long as I cling to my excuses the hurt will remain somewhere between us. It will be unresolved even if forgotten.

Asking God's forgiveness requires an act of faith. I acknowledge that I have done wrong, I didn't have to do it, I knew it was wrong, I chose to do it, I profited by it, I wish I had not, and I am willing to make atonement.

Accepting God's forgiveness is an act of faith and, for that reason, can penetrate all the more deeply into those mysterious, inaccessible places of my heart.

As a Catholic the Sacrament of Penance helps me believe that God forgives me, provided I have approached the sacrament with sorrow, regret and true repentance. Acknowledging my sin to another person helps me "realize" both my sorrow and my faith in God. Without actually speaking to another person who has the authority to represent God, how can I persuade myself that I have truly made atonement?

The Prophets lead us on the way of penance. Their revelation remains an outstanding,if under-appreciated, event in human history. They have limned out the way that only Jesus could follow, and he has blazed the trail for his people.

Given Heschl's remarkable achievement with this book, I have to believe it will remain a classic throughout the third and into the fourth millennium.

A great work by one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of our modern era. Totally different than other classics like "The Sabbath," this 600+ page read was a very comprehensive examination of the office of the Biblical prophet.

This volume is contracted around two parts. The first of which focuses on who the prophet is and how they function. It looks at some biblical examples (namely Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, Habakkuk) and makes some observations about what concerns the prophets. Great chapters on history, justice, and chastisement.

The second part is a very large apologetic that stands against any cold, academic attempt to write off the biblical prophet as something other than who they are. He starts by talking about what the prophet is doing in comparison to the ancient world around him and then dismantles the idea that the prophet is simply the result of ecstasy, suffering from psychosis, and a list of other conclusions that historical critics are bound to make. I found this section challenging in a very positive way to where my cerebral mind tends to trend.

Finally, the whole book is an attempt to associate the prophet's work to that of experiencing the divine "pathos" which Heschel addresses repeatedly throughout the book. The conclusion is fantastic and a chapter that I re-read more than once to appreciate what Heschel had done in this work.

Good, but a lot of it is beyond me haha

First half is five stars; second half is more like a two or three. Heschel has great and lovely insight into rabbinical tradition and theology, particularly on how prophecy, politics, and social justice intersected for the prophet.

Unfortunately, his understanding of other religions, sociology, anthropology etc is lacking notably in the second half of the book. Part of the reason is that he's working with very old academic sources - understandable since this was written in the early sixties, but even so many sources were fifty years old by the time he wrote the book, and over 100 years old today.