The Hebrew prophets lived in turbulent times in the history of ancient Israel when their faith and/or hope was at stake. Their theological worldview played a major role in the faith and practices of the People of God. Their prophecies dealt with wide range of themes. They critiqued dominant narrative and offered an alternative perspective to look at the realities of the socio-political and religious life of the People of God. The prophets saw the history of God’s people in a different angle. Their position as the representatives of God’s courtroom gave them freedom to critically analyse the history. The underlying theme of the prophetic view of history is the Yahweh’s sovereignty over the human history. This paper briefly analyses the how the Hebrew prophets understood and interpreted history to confront their contemporary realities and how their view of history was different from the dominant portrayals of history.
The core of the prophetic understanding of history is that Yahweh is the Lord of history. He reveals Himself in and through the historical events and controls the movement of the history. It is through the historical events that Yahweh reveals Himself as the Sovereign God above all other deities and rulers. It is Yahweh alone who is the mover and controller of the history.[1] The prophets also emphasized that Yahweh is Sovereign Lord through all the ages past, present, and future. Yahweh can and will use the history as means to demonstrate and declare His power and glory among all peoples.[2] In other words, Yahweh is free to enter and act in the history. This God is not ahistorical despite being above history.
In the ancient world, a deity controlling all the events of the world-history is uncommon because deities themselves are bound to time and space. In such a world, it was the prophets who boldly taught that Yahweh had controlled the past, working in the present, and would surely guide the future. Deutero-Isaiah emphasized that only Yahweh knew past and future. Amos 4:6-12 points out that Yahweh was the one who sent the natural calamities in order to lead Israel to repentance.[3] Amos also referred to Israelite conquest of Canaan as the Yahweh’s acts on behalf of Israel and the land of Israel, therefore, is the Yahweh’s gift rather than Israel’s own achievement.[4]
Furthermore, Yahweh as the Lord of history is not just the controller of Israel’s history but the events of the world-history.[5] Even though Yahweh had direct dealings only with Israel, the prophets also emphasized that God is at work in the history of other peoples as well. Amos spoke of Yahweh as the one behind the exodus of different nations other than Israel (Amos 9:7). Isaiah saw the Assyrians as instruments of Yahweh despite their ruthlessness (Isa. 10:5). Even though Yahweh uses the cruel and wicked nations as His instruments for His own purposes, He will also punish them eventually. Jeremiah interpreted the Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion of Jerusalem as act of Yahweh’s vengeance and the Nebuchadnezzar as Yahweh’s servant (Jer. 31:3-10). However, Nebuchadnezzar himself will be the object of divine wrath once his purpose is finished (Jer. 38:2ff). Deutero-Isaiah speaks of Cyrus as Yahweh’s anointed prince to bring deliverance to the people of Israel (Isa. 45:1ff).[6]
In other words, the prophetic understanding of Yahweh as the Lord of history gave them freedom to see the historical events within Israel and even beyond as acts of Yahweh. Since He is the Lord of history, He is not bound to any time and space. He can use the historical events for the purpose of His own glory: “… Yahweh, the sovereign one who acts in his lordly freedom, is extrapolated from no social reality and is captive to no social perception but acts from his own person toward his own purposes.”[7] For prophets, no historical event or person is free from Yahweh’s sovereignty.
One of the peculiarities of the prophetic understanding of Yahweh’s sovereignty over history is their drawing of attention to an entirely new action in history on part of Yahweh.[8] That is to say, the history is designed by fate because Yahweh is not just the God of beginnings but also the God of endings who can bring an end to all the fantasies and despairs of the people.[9] Anything that is in opposition to God shall be brought to an end at the ‘Day of Yahweh.’ Thus, for the prophets, since Yahweh is the Sovereign Lord, the history does not progress aimlessly nor is it fully predictable. What seems forever has to come to end when Yahweh breaks into the history and begins His ‘new act’.
The way the prophets saw and interpreted the history is not only a testimony to Yahweh’s Sovereignty, justice and faithfulness but also it is a criticism of the dominant narratives. While the dominant narratives of history were centred on the emphasis on human power and achievement, the prophets were radically criticizing the idolatry of human power by emphasizing on Yahweh’s Lordship of the history. While the dominant history was filled with the worship of might, veneration of those who command might, and the conviction that the human might can prevail over anything and everything, the Hebrew prophets saw right in the opposite direction. They denounced the idolatry of human power by calling it ‘arrogant boasting’ and ‘haughty pride’ (Isa. 10:12). They denounced the kings who ruled with violent power as oppressors (Isa. 14:4-6) and they are seen as destroyers of nations, who went forth to inflict waste, ruin and death (Jer. 4:7). They charged the kings with guilty for deifying their own might (Hab. 1:11).[10]
Prophets also opposed militarism as a false confidence and denial of trust in God.[11] For the prophets, the war is no longer the reminder of much heroism and courage rather it breeds further moral corruption and indifference.[12] The prophets were bold in making it clear that the root of all evil is humankind’s false sense of sovereignty that stems out of human pride, arrogance and presumption.[13] Events in the history that could be accounted to the self-exaltation and pride of the tyrant nations, are acts of Yahweh, the Sovereign Lord of the history (Isa. 10:15; 45:1-8). These human powers may think that they are swinging by themselves but in reality, they are tools in the hands of Yahweh and thus rendering these self-made tyrants as mere instruments[14] rather than reservoir of all power and authority. Thus, one of the primary tasks of the prophetic history is to disenchant the dominant narratives that is centred on human power, pride and achievement.
The prophets gave a deeper interpretation of the political affairs and foreign policies of their own times. They not only saw Israel’s alliances with other nations as idolatrous and adulterous but also rejected them as they saw Yahweh as the Sovereign Lord who can overrule human decisions. They proclaimed Yahweh as the Lord who can turn upside down all the political fantasies can even use foreign powers to punish Israel.[15]
In the times when the royal Jerusalem was so acquainted with the ideology of being chosen by Yahweh and can never be devoid of His covenantal love and faithfulness, the prophets became voices of radical realism that shows the other face of the covenant. They accused the dominant culture for abusing the (vulnerable) neighbours and dishonouring God. They viewed Israel as the failed covenant partner who failed to realize that their social reality is populated by neighbours and occupied by Yahweh. The prophets made it clear that they cannot compartmentalize and privatize everything, they cannot uphold a social reality that is irrelevant to a majority of the vulnerable population, they cannot divide between economic policies and neighbourly responsibilities, and that they cannot remain Yahweh’s partner while demeaning their neighbours. Thus, the prophets used a variety of subversive terms to address Israel and thereby criticize their dominant narrative that is so acquainted with their chosenness.[16]
The books of the prophets contain many oracles and poems that condemn the governments and populaces of Israel, Judah, and sometimes their neighbouring states as well, for a wide range of crimes including war atrocities, socio-economic injustices, moral indifferences and the cultic hypocrisy. Thus, the prophetic literature offers an alternative account of the history of Israel in contrast to the dominant narratives of their day. Often, the prophets also saw the totality of Israel’s political and ethnic history as religiously void and morally bankrupt. The prophets made their analysis of the past as the basis to offer a hopeful prospection towards a new Jerusalem of peace and justice that is based on divine mercy and forgiveness. Furthermore, while the Pentateuchal narrative looked at the heroic past to illustrate the meaning of Israel in the present, the prophetic traditions created a revolutionary future by referring to a failed past.[17]
Generally human history is all about what humankind does with power. But for prophets, the power itself is not he human achievement but the divine assignment. Thus, emperors are mere tools in the hands of God. The history is not merely made up of human power and might. It is not merely what is displayed at the moment rather it is what is concealed in the mind of God.[18]
However, this very understanding of Yahweh’s sovereignty over the human history raises the question of human freedom: whether the history is fated in advance or is there any room for human freedom. The prophetic understanding of history does not give a straight answer instead it maintains this very paradox at the heart of the prophetic proclamation. For the prophets, history is neither a fate designs nor can it be fully controlled by a tyrant. History is combination of both human choice and God’s design. Whatever happens in the history is not the final trap. The Sin of the present is not the final determinant of the further history.[19] History is not a timeless blueprint which admits no exceptions while nations are mere puppets.[20] God can turn around the history if the kings and the people repent and turn to God. The history is always open for the newness.
The Hebrew prophets did not advocate a static god who has tried everything at once and no longer cares for humans. He is not the God who is comfortable, staying neutral and indifferent. For the prophets, the Lord of history is the Lord of freedom. Indeed, God responds to the human cry and acts in His freedom. That is to say, because Yahweh is the Lord of freedom, the newness is possible in the history.[21] The human choices, acts and cries can play a vital role in shaping the future.
History is not determined once and for all by God nor can it be determined by human power and achievement. Yahweh’s sovereignty does not mean that He predestines everything that happens in the human history rather it means He holds everything and everyone accountable to Him. It also shows how God can use human acts of freedom for His own purposes. Furthermore, since every power in the history proceeds from God, He holds every one accountable for their acts. Even though a nation plays an instrumental role in executing Yahweh’s justice and judgement among nations, finally the nation itself will become subject of Yahweh’s judgement for all its cruel and arrogant actions. That is to say, taking freedom for granted and making lofty claims will come under judgement.
Prophets referred to the past events for different purposes. One of the purposes for prophetical use of history is to confront and condemn the realities of prophet’s own day. The prophets saw the sovereignty of Yahweh in the past as a basis for indictment of their contemporary times and it also served as basis to pronounce judgement over the corrupted offices of their times. In other words, prophets understood of history as testimony that counters the dominant culture of their own times.
Hosea portrays Jacob’s narrative of conflict with his brother and his striving with God in a negative light in order to portray Israel’s stubbornness from the beginning of its history (Hos. 12:3ff). Amos recalls Yahweh’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to announce Yahweh’s punishment of Israel (Amos 4:11).[22] He also used the election of Israel as a basis to announce punishment for their unjust and arrogant life (Amos 2:9-11; 3:1-2). Amos also went to an extent of using Israel’s exodus as evidence for Yahweh’s deliverance of other nations and thus nullifying the supremacy or uniqueness of Israel before Yahweh (Amos 9:7).[23] That is to say, for Amos, the history of salvation of the people of Israel itself bears a witness against their self-understanding and pride.
Hosea frequently referred to the Israel’s exodus from the Egypt. Even though he made references even back to Jacob, Israel’s identity as God’s son is rooted in the exodus tradition. It was at the exodus even God demonstrated His utmost love and care towards Israel. God made them His people. He cared for them as a father care for his child. It was also a period when Israel was loyal to God. In Jeremiah’s words, Israel expressed its pure love in its earliest stage (Jer. 2:2).[24] These earliest stages of Israel’s history, according to the prophets, is a time when Israel was loyal to and wholly happy in Yahweh.[25]
However, Amos, Isaiah, Hosea and Jeremiah used the exodus theme to criticize the lack of loyalty of Israel towards God in the present (Isa. 1:2; Hos. 6; Jer. 2). Micah starkly contrasted between Yahweh’s abiding faithfulness and Israel’s utter disloyalty despite Yahweh’s mercies.[26] The prophets emphasized the exodus and wilderness accounts not only to indict the people but also to display Yahweh’s lament over Israel’s disloyalty despite His unconditional love. The prophets also turned the Exodus symbol to show for all ‘would-be pharaohs’ that the Exodus is a dramatic and catastrophic end to the fantasies of any empire which thinks that it can remain forever.[27]
For Ezekiel, on the other hand, there was no time of ‘sweet memories’ in the history of Israel when she was faithful to Yahweh. Ezekiel’s frequent usage of the title “house of rebellion” to refer to the Israel depicts that the people have been rebellious from the beginning of their history. Chapters 16, 20, and 23 are the major references of Ezekiel to the past where the prophet receives an allegorical message. By depicting the unfaithfulness of Israel as whoredom in a pornographic way, Ezekiel proves that Israel had been corrupt and rebellious from the very beginning. Ezekiel’s message even went to an extent of attributing a pagan ancestry to Israel’s history and depicting Israel as a prostitute whose inherent nature is to go after other men.[28]
While criticizing Israel’s cultic practices in the present, Amos and Jeremiah went back in the history recalling Yahweh’s demands for worship. According to them, God did not give any commandment regarding the burnt-offerings and sacrifices which the people were practicing as a routine. The sacrificial worship is not central to the covenantal relationship with Yahweh. For them, the central requirement of Yahweh was executing justice and righteousness (Amos 5:24; Jer. 7:21-22).[29]
While criticizing the politics of Israel, Hosea refers to the anointing of kings as an act of wickedness (Hos. 7:3). He goes on to indict the entire monarchy as set up against the will of Yahweh (Hos. 8:4). Hosea was not particularizing any king or a dynasty while indicting the monarchy because his condemnation of monarchy may even go as back as Saul. (cf. Hos. 9:9; 10:9). Nevertheless, for Hosea, the depth of God’s pain over Israel’s disloyalty and corruption is as old as remoter past rather than a sudden reaction of the present. The nation had gone astray and became trackless and wasteful heading towards its own ruin.[30]
Prophets did not only use the history to critique their contemporary situations. For the prophets, history is not only a record of Israel’s sinfulness rather it is also a witness to Yahweh’s greatness, goodness and faithfulness.[31] The prophets saw the events of the past and interpreted them in the present to fight against the despair of the people, especially during the exile. The monarchy has created a situation of despair by emphasizing on what is present while excluding the future. That is to say, the monarchy created such a situation in which the history had to inevitably hold on desperately to the present because if the ‘present’ is slipped away, there would be nothing left.[32]
Because of such desperate holding on to the present, the exile brought despair upon despair. There was no room for hope because what they fantasied to be forever had come to an end and what they imagined to be real has been rendered futile and irrevocably devastated. In the face of such despair, prophets referred to the great deeds of Yahweh in the past are not a mere memory rather they prove that Yahweh can enter into history at any time and can turn around any situation in the present. What is in the present – whether exile or the shame or the rebelliousness of God’s people – is not the determinant of the future.
While the prophets were convinced that the Israel’s life and death depends on some future event rather than merely on the past saving history, time and again they referred to the new work of God in terms of what God has already done in the history. Hosea anticipates for a new entry into the land; Isaiah looks forward for the rise of a new David and a new Zion; Jeremiah foresees a new covenant; and Deutero-Isaiah speaks of a new exodus.[33] For each of the prophets the new act of God is not merely a repetition of the old act rather the old act is the basis for the anticipation of a new future. Thus, for the prophets, God’s decisive acts in the history holds a promise for the restoration of Israel in the future.
During the exile, Deutero-Isaiah saw the memory of Israel’s past as a new gift. It is not a closed record that cannot be altered rather it is force that keeps on offering new gifts. He uses the memory of the barrenness of Sarah in order to offer hope a hope for a whole new community that would come out of the exilic community who are utterly hopeless (Isa. 51:2-3; 54:1-3). God’s covenant with Noah stands as testimony for Yahweh’s unconditional and steadfast love which would be extended to Israel in its own situation of ruin and darkness (Isa. 54:9-11). The prophets powerfully articulated the memory of the past in order to sustain the identity of Israel in the midst of exile.[34]
Two of the most frequent references to the past by the Deutero-Isaiah were Yahweh’s act of creation and Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. Yahweh’s creation of the heavens and the earth stand as witness to His continuing sovereignty over nature and over history. Since He is the Creator of all things, it is not impossible for Him to create new things out of the hopeless situations of exile (cf. Isa. 40:12-17). The exodus of Israel demonstrated Yahweh’s sovereign power over all nations. The defeat of Egypt at the Red Sea is depicted as the defeat of the mighty monster, Rahab (Isa. 43:16-17; 51:1-10).[35] This event stands as basis for the hope of the new redemption and the defeat of the Babylonian gods (Isa. 43:2, 18-21; 46:1).
Furthermore, Yahweh’s provision and providence throughout the wilderness wanderings of Israel is now once again retold in the prophet’s own situation. The ‘outstretched hand’ of God that had performed the exodus, the same outstretched hand that had moved against Jerusalem, will now permit the new exodus and homecoming of the exiles (Isa. 50:2; 59:1).[36]
The prophets understood of history in a way that is different from the dominant culture. In fact, the prophetic understanding of history is a counter-narrative to the popular understanding of history. Their peculiar way of understanding Yahweh as the Sovereign Lord of the history enabled them to look at history anew. History is not a fixed and rigid framework into which everything is squeezed desperately. The Sovereign Lord not only controls the human history but also uses the history to manifest His glory and power in a world that is so accustomated with deifying human power and might. Since the Yahweh is the Lord of history, the events of history stand as witnesses to Yahweh’s justice in His judgements and His saving power even in the present. The history need not to be predictable always because it is Yahweh who is the God of endings.
Prophets played a vital role in giving history a theological meaning and outlook. The history is not merely events and records of facts. It is the witness of God’s justice, goodness and power. The prophetic understanding of history is relevant in present times also. In times when the human power is venerated and the deadly weapons became the idols of human might, in times when the empires are built upon the fantasies that they would continue forever, in times when human freedom is taken for granted and sin is prevailing, and in times of despairs, the understanding of Yahweh’s sovereignty over history is both good news as well as a warning. The prophetic understanding of history offers a theological message that no tyrant can destine the movement of history to the end. The despair created by Sin and death will be brought to an end. Yahweh manifests His power of salvation and judgement in history. Furthermore, the memory of the past enables the peoples in the present to understand God’s character and live in accordance with that rather than falling to the temptations of pride or despair.
[1] R. L. Hnuni, Am Yahweh: The Life and Witness of God’s People in the Old Testament: A Guide for Theological Students, vol. 2, 2 vols. (New Delhi: Christian World Imprints, 2021), 67-68. [2] Hnuni, Am Yahweh, 69. [3] J. Philip Hyatt, Prophetic Religion (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1947), 156-57. [4] Hyatt, Prophetic Religion, 79. [5] Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, trans. D. M. G. Stalker, vol. 2: The Theology of Israel's Prophetic Traditions, 2 vols. (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1965), 112. [6] Christopher R. North, The Old Testament Interpretation of History (London: The Epwroth Press, 1946), 73-75. [7] Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination, 2nd ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001), 27. [8] Von Rad, Old Testament Theology, 116. [9] Brueggemann, Prophetic Imagination, 55. [10] Abraham J. Heschel, The Prophets (New York: HarperPerennial, 2001), 202. [11] Hyatt, Prophetic Religion, 144. [12] Hyatt, Prophetic Religion, 145. [13] Heschel, The Prophets, 210. [14] J. N. Oswalt, “God,” in Dictionary of the Old Testament Prophets, ed. Mark J. Boda and J. Gordon McConville (Illinois: IVP Academic, 2012), 288. [15] Hyatt, Prophetic Religion, 143. [16] Walter Brueggemann, Reality, Grief, Hope: Three Urgent Prophetic Tasks (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014), 31-34. [17] Thomas L. Thompson, “Historiography (Israelite),” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 3, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 210. [18] Heschel, The Prophets, 217, 219. [19] Heschel, The Prophets, 222-23. [20] Oswalt, “God,” 288. [21] Brueggemann, Prophetic Imagination, 34. [22] North, The Old Testament Interpretation of History, 42. [23] Hnuni, Am Yahweh, 68. [24] Hyatt, Prophetic Religion, 81-82. [25] North, The Old Testament Interpretation of History, 45. [26] North, The Old Testament Interpretation of History, 46. [27] Brueggemann, Prophetic Imagination, 55. [28] Hyatt, Prophetic Religion, 83-84. [29] North, The Old Testament Interpretation of History, 54. [30] North, The Old Testament Interpretation of History, 55-56. [31] Hyatt, Prophetic Religion, 85. [32] Brueggemann, Prophetic Imagination, 66. [33] von Rad, Old Testament Theology, 117. [34] Walter Brueggemann, Hopeful Imagination: Prophetic Voices in Exile (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1986), 102. [35] Hyatt, Prophetic Religion, 85. [36] Brueggemann, Reality, Grief, Hope, 116.
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