"Not having witnessed the act of revelation, we have no knowledge of it except that conveyed to us by the prophets. Thus our attitude will depend on whether we are ready to take the word of the prophets seriously. This, then, is decisive: are the prophets reliable? Is their testimony trustworthy? In calling upon the prophets to stand before the bar of our critical judgment, we are like dwarfs undertaking to measure the heights of giants. How could our spir- itual attainments be a yardstick with which to measure what they achieved, if their strivings were so completely above our own? Are we as open to God as they were? Do we care as intensely, as exclusively for what God has to say as they did?
An aspiring composer would not compare Beethoven with himself but compare himself with Beethoven. That which transcends us is not something we judge but something by which we are judged, and to be a prophet is to represent that which is spiritually transcendent. Our situation is somewhat like that of a person who, when faced with overwhelming beauty, is called upon to say what he thinks about it. Actually, it is his intelligence which is on trial, though seemingly it is the quality of beauty which he
has to probe. There are only three ways of judging the prophets: they told the truth, deliberately invented a tale, or were victims of an illusion. In other words, revelation is either a fact or the product of insanity, self-delusion, or a pedagogical invention, the product of a mental confusion, of wishful thinking, or a subconscious activity.
Thou sayest: Prophesy not against Israel And preach not against the house of Isaac; Therefore thus saith the Lord:
has to probe. There are only three ways of judging the prophets: they told the truth, deliberately invented a tale, or were victims of an illusion. In other words, revelation is either a fact or the product of insanity, self-delusion, or a pedagogical invention, the product of a mental confusion, of wishful thinking, or a subconscious activity.
Should we maintain that men such as Moses, Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, Amos, Micah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, were mentally deranged, victims of hallucinations? This, indeed, has often been asserted. Yet on what basis? Frantic efforts have been made to prove the pathological nature of the prophets. Yet no trace or symptom of abnormality or frenzy has been detected in either Moses or Isaiah, in either Amos or Jeremiah. On the other hand, the manner in which the prophets dealt with the issues of their own time and the fact that the solutions they propounded seem to be relevant for all times have compelled people in every generation to repeat a commonplace: the prophets were among the wisest of all men.
Their message being ages ahead of human thinking, it would be hard to believe in the normalcy of our own minds, if we questioned theirs. Indeed, if such is insanity, then we ought to feel ashamed of being sane.
Were the prophets victims of self-delusion? Was revelation a mockery, a snare? Self-delusion is usually the attainment of a specious goal which comes about when one fails to attain a genuine goal striven for. But the gift of prophecy was not a goal for which the prophets strove. Unlike the mystic experience which is attained as the result of craving for communion with God, revelation occurred against the will of the prophet. It was not a favor to him, but a burden of terror.
To Isaiah (6:5) the perception of God is a venture fraught with shock, peril and dismay, something which is more than his soul can bear: Woe is me! I am undone! … For mine eyes have seen the King.” Moses hid his face; he was afraid to look upon God (Exodus 3:6). When called, the prophets recoiled, resisted, and pleaded to be left alone. “O Lord, send, I pray Thee, someone else,” was Moses’ response to the mission. It is such incredible resistance that enables a prophet honestly to say Not I, but God: “Thus saith the Lord.” Is not the experience of resistance to the experience a mark of truthfulness, authenticity—or is this, too, a part of self-deception?
None of the prophets had any vested interests to protect or cherished the desire to gain power or prestige. None of them was enamored of being a prophet or even prided himself on his attainment. Was it the quest for happiness that drove Jeremiah to being a prophet? Here is his answer: Cursed be the day Wherein I was born … Because He slew me not from the womb; And so my mother would have been my grave … Wherefore came I forth from the womb To see labor and sorrow, That my days should be consumed in shame. 20:14,17,18 Over the life of a prophet words are invisibly inscribed: All flattery abandon, ye who enter here. But flattery is that which people love to hear. He who carries the torch of hope kindles enthusiasm and wins acclaim. Yet almost every true prophet begins with a message of doom, and only after long periods of misery and darkness is he able to speak of the dawn and to proclaim a message of hope.
Bitter is the taste of the divine word to the prophet’s soul; no reward is promised him and no reward could temper it. In the very hour when the call first came to Ezekiel, he was told what to expect: it will be as though briars and thorns were with him, as though he dwelt among scorpions. “Be not afraid, be not dismayed” (Ezekiel 2:6). Loneliness and misery were only part of the reward that prophecy brought to Jeremiah: “I sat alone because of Thy hand” (15:17). Mocked, reproached and persecuted, he would think of casting away his task:
If I say, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name, then there is my heart as it were a burning fire, shut up in my bones. I am weary with forbearing, and I cannot contain. Jeremiah 20:9
How little ado they made about themselves. The prophets considered themselves servants, not masters, and in their eyes the act of receiving a revelation was not glorified as a fact significant in itself. Unlike the mystic experience, the significance of prophecy lay not in those who perceived it but in those to whom the word was to be conveyed. The experience itself was a beginning, a means, rather than a goal. The purpose was not in the perception of the voice but in bringing it to bear upon the reality of the people’s life. Consequently, the substance of prophecy was in the content rather than in the act, and revelation was a prelude to action. Out of the field went Amos to Beth El to predict in public that the king of Israel would die by the sword and that the people of Israel would be led away captive out of his land. The priest, outraged at the terrible message, said unto Amos: go, flee away and never prophesy again in Beth El, for it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal house. But the prophet retorted: I was no prophet nor the disciple of a prophet; I was a herdman and a dresser of sycamore trees. And the Lord took me from following the flock and said unto me: Go prophesy unto my people Israel. Now therefore hear thou the word of the Lord:
Thou sayest: Prophesy not against Israel And preach not against the house of Isaac; Therefore thus saith the Lord:
Thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, And thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, And thy land shall be divided by line; And thou thyself shalt die in an unclean land, And Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land. Amos 7:14-17
The prophet did not volunteer for his rightful mission; it was forced upon him. How could he resist the power of God? “The hand of God came upon him” (Ezekiel 3:22). He was seduced, he was overwhelmed (Jeremiah 20:7). There was no choice. The lion hath roared, Who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, Who can but prophesy? Amos 3:8
As for me, I am filled with power,
with the spirit of the Lord, with justice, with might, To declare to Jacob his transgression, to Israel his sin. Micah 3:8"
