Prophecy and the Prophets in Ancient Israel: Proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar

481 Pages·2010·2.47 MB·English

by  John Day

LIBRARY OF HEBREW BIBLE/
OLD TESTAMENT STUDIES

531

Formerly Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series

Editors
Claudia V. Camp, Texas Christian University
Andrew Mein, Westcott House, Cambridge

Founding Editors
David J. A. Clines, Philip R. Davies and David M. Gunn

Editorial Board
Richard J. Coggins, Alan Cooper, John Goldingay, Robert P. Gordon,
Norman K. Gottwald, Gina Hens-Piazza, John Jarick, Andrew D. H. Mayes,
Carol Meyers, Patrick D. Miller, Yvonne Sherwood
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PROPHECY AND PROPHETS
IN ANCIENT ISRAEL

Proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar

edited by

John Day
Copyright © 2010 by John Day

Published by T & T Clark International
A Continuum imprint
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The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher, T & T Clark
International.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN: 978-0-567-47364-6 (hardback)

Typeset and copy-edited by Forthcoming Publications Ltd. (www.forthpub.com)
Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS

Preface ix
List of Contributors xi
Abbreviations xiii

Part I
THE ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN CONTEXT OF PROPHECY

COMPARING PROPHETIC SOURCES:
PRINCIPLES AND A TEST CASE
Martti Nissinen 3

PREDICTIVE AND PROPHETIC LITERATURE:
CAN NEFERTI HELP US READ THE BIBLE?
Stuart Weeks 25

FEMALE PROPHETS IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST
Jonathan Stökl 47

Part II
SPECIFIC THEMES

PROPHETESSES IN THE HEBREW BIBLE
H.G.M. Williamson 65

INTERPERSONAL FORGIVENESS AND THE HEBREW PROPHETS
David J. Reimer 81

Part III
SOCIOLOGICAL, ANTHROPOLOGICAL
AND PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

EXIT THE OPPRESSED PEASANT? RETHINKING THE BACKGROUND
OF SOCIAL CRITICISM IN THE PROPHETS
Walter J. Houston 101
vi Prophecy and the Prophets in Ancient Israel
SHAMAN, PREACHER, OR SPIRIT MEDIUM?
THE ISRAELITE PROPHET IN THE LIGHT
OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL MODELS
Lester L. Grabbe 117

THE PROPHETS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION
Paul M. Joyce 133

Part IV
PROPHECY AND THE PROPHETS IN SPECIFIC BIBLICAL BOOKS

DEUTERONOMY 18.9-22, THE PROPHETS AND SCRIPTURE
Ernest Nicholson 151

‘A PROPHET INSTEAD OF YOU’ (1 KINGS 19.16):
ELIJAH, ELISHA AND PROPHETIC SUCCESSION
David T. Lamb 172

THE THEOLOGY OF AMOS
John Barton 188

HOSEA AND THE BAAL CULT
John Day 202

THE SIGN OF IMMANUEL
John J. Collins 225

REWRITING ISAIAH: THE CASE OF ISAIAH 28–31
Reinhard G. Kratz 245

DEUTERO-ISAIAH AND MONOTHEISM
Hywel Clifford 267

‘NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON’T!’ JEREMIAH AND GOD
Philip S. Johnston 290

EXCLUSIVELY YAHWEH:
ANICONISM AND ANTHROPOMORPHISM IN EZEKIEL
Jill Middlemas 309

ZEPHANIAH AND THE ‘BOOK OF THE TWELVE’ HYPOTHESIS
Tchavdar S. Hadjiev 325
Contents vii
‘LAW IS PARALYSED’ (HABAKKUK 1.4):
HABAKKUK’S DIALOGUE WITH GOD
AND THE LANGUAGE OF LEGAL DISPUTATION
Kevin J. Cathcart 339

STRUCTURE AND MEANING IN THE BOOK OF MALACHI
Elie Assis 354

NEW WINE AND OLD WINESKINS:
THREE APPROACHES TO PROPHECY AND PSALMODY
Susan Gillingham 370

DEMOCRATIZING REVELATION?
PROPHETS, SEERS AND VISIONARIES IN CHRONICLES
Gary N. Knoppers 391

PROPHECY AND THE NEW TESTAMENT
Christopher Rowland 410

Index of References 431
Index of Authors 455

1
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PREFACE

This volume consists of twenty-three essays which were originally deliv-
ered as papers to the Oxford Old Testament seminar between January
2006 and October 2008, and which have all subsequently been revised
and often expanded. The essays, which overall make a major contribution
to the study of Prophecy and the Prophets in ancient Israel, range over a
wide (cid:2)eld, stretching from the ancient near East, through the Old Testa-
ment—on which it primarily concentrates—and into the New Testament.
I am extremely grateful to all the contributors to this work who have
helped make it a success, many from within Oxford, others from else-
where in the United Kingdom and yet others who have travelled vast
distances from overseas in order to address the Oxford seminar. In par-
ticular, I am indebted to one of the participants, Professor John Barton,
for once again allowing me to take over for such a long period the organi-
zation of the deliberations of the seminar that he normally convenes. I am
also grateful to T&T Clark International for agreeing to publish this
volume. Not for the (cid:2)rst time I am enormously indebted to their copy-
editor and typesetter, Dr Duncan Burns, who once again has demonstrated
extraordinary care in his attention to detail and has also undertaken the
laborious task of compiling the indexes.
This is now the fourth series of published proceedings of the Oxford
Old Testament seminar to appear under my editorship. The (cid:2)rst volume
to be published was King and Messiah in Israel and the Ancient Near
East (JSOTSup, 270; Shef(cid:2)eld: Shef(cid:2)eld Academic Press, 1998), which
appeared in a Brazilian Portuguese translation in 2005. The second,
In Search of Pre-exilic Israel (JSOTSup, 406; London and New York:
T. & T. Clark International, 2004) went into paperback in the same year,
while the third, Temple and Worship in Biblical Israel (LHBOTS, 422;
London and New York: T&T Clark International, 2005), appeared in
paperback in 2007. It is hoped that this latest volume will prove as
successful as the earlier series have been.

John Day