Prophetic Conflict: Its Effect Upon Israelite Religion

154 Pages·1971·9.05 MB·English

by  James L. Crenshaw

James L. Crenshaw
Prophetic Conflict

James L. Crenshaw
Prophetic Conflict
Its Effect Upon Israelite Religion
w
DE
G
Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York
1971
Beiheft zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
Herausgegeben von Georg Fohrer
124
ISBN 311 0033631
©
1971
by Walter de Gruyter & Co., vormals G. J. Göschen'sche Verlagshandlung — J. Guttentag,
Verlagsbuchhandlung — Georg Reimer — Karl J.Trübner — Veit &Comp.,Berlin 30
Alle Rechte des Nachdrucks, der photomechanischen Wiedergabe,
der Übersetzung, der Herstellung von Mikrofilmen und Photokopien,
auch auszugsweise, vorbehalten.
Printed in Germany
Satz und Druck: Walter de Gruyter & Co.
To Nita
baiäh bah leb bä'Hah (Prov 3111 a)
and
our sons, Tim and David

Preface
J. Philip Hyatt and Walter Harrelson, two of my colleagues,
and Martin Buss of Emory University were kind enough to read
this manuscript and to offer many valuable suggestions for its improve-
ment. To them I wish to express my deepest appreciation, for even
when their suggestions were not followed, I have profited greatly from
their insight into prophetic literature.
I wish also to express appreciation to the Research Councils of
Mercer University and Vanderbilt University for generous grants
enabling me to pursue this task with a minimum of distraction; to
many students upon whom these ideas have been tested; and to
Edith McGarrity for her cheerful and painstaking secretarial assistance.
Finally, I am particularly grateful to Professor Dr. Georg Fohrer
for the inclusion of this study in the Beihefte to ZAW, and to my
mother, who taught me to search the scriptures.

Contents
Preface vii
Abbreviations xill
Introduction: Prophet versus Prophet 1
I. The Unfolding Drama of Research 5
A. PROPHECY IN GENERAL 5
B. "FALSE" PROPHECY 13
II. The Crisis of Faith 23
A. VOX POPULI IN ANCIENT ISRAEL 24
1. Confidence in God's Faithfulness 24
2. Satisfaction with Traditional Religion 26
3. Defiance 28
4. Despair 29
6. Doubt as to God's Justice 30
6. Historical Pragmatism 31
B. THE QUESTION OF THE JUSTICE OF GOD 36
III. Prophecy's Inability to Face the Challenge 39
A. I KINGS 13 — A PERSPECTIVE ON PROPHETIC CONFLICT . . 39
1. Exposition of I Kings 13 39
a. Barth's classic treatment 40
b. further clarification 41
2. Observations about the Study of "False" Prophecy 46
a. two mutually exclusive words claiming divine origin 46
b. massoretic text has no term for false prophet 46
c. no valid criterion 47
d. narrow line between true and false prophecy 48
e. divine causality 48
B. THE LACK OF A VALID CRITERION 49
1. Message-centered Criteria 49
a. fulfillment or non-fulfillment 49
b. promise of weal or woe 52
c. revelatory form 54
d. allegiance to Yah weh or Baal 55