CHAPTER V

THE PROPHETS CREATING A LITERATURE

Adjustment to New Conditions.-In carrying out modern reform movements in state or community various methods of educating public opinion are employed. The training of leaders, speeches through which these leaders appeal directly to the people, and sermons from the pulpit are some of the important agencies. But in some respects more potent than any of these are the printed messages which by sound logic or by attractive form persuade large numbers of persons who cannot be reached by popular addresses. In the early days in Israel the prophets usually presented their messages in person, and in many cases to individuals who were the leaders of a blindly following constituency.' As the nation developed, larger groups of people became knit together in social and industrial activities. Constant contact with the greater nations developed intellectual independence and ability to solve the problems of state and religion. The people could no longer be wholly led by their rulers.

The prophets, pre-eminently men who could read the signs of the times, were not slow in adjusting their methods to changing conditions. They saw clearly that neither the welfare of the state nor the purity of the national religion could permanently be preserved except by the cultivation of a spirit of loyalty in the hearts of the people at large. Shut out at times from greater activities by persecution and royal disfavor, as in the period coincident with and following Elijah, they bent themselves to the task of preparing a literature which should give permanency and wider influence to their teachings.

The prophets were not writers of fiction or of philosophy, nor were they mere sermonizers. Certain fundamental beliefs they had already expressed. Jehovah was the one and only god of the

1 Recall the appearances of Samuel to Saul, and the visits of Nathan the prophet to David, II Sam. 12:1-15; Ahijah to Jeroboam, I Kings 11: 26-40. Recall also the appearances of Elijah to Ahab.

Hebrew people. He demanded their exclusive and sincere worship. His favor could not be bought with external gifts. More than this, he took an active interest in the national life, having directed it from the earliest times. Perfect obedience to his will as expressed by the prophets was therefore necessary to secure his approval. For such obedience his rewards were lavish-prosperity, long life, abundant increase in flocks and family-and for disobedience his punishments were equally swift and sure. Since Jehovah was not only superior to the gods of the other nations, if such existed, but vitally different in character, the prophets dimly saw his people also as unique and destined to some great future, for which they must be kept apart from the rest of the world, not only as a nation, but as a race, with blood uncontaminated by that of other peoples. Such were some of the fundamental ideas of the prophets of this time. To cultivate such beliefs among the people in the surest and most convincing way, was their steadfast purpose.

The Prophets and the National Traditions.-The Hebrew people, in common with all ancient nations, possessed a large body of oral traditions stories of the origin of the world, of man, of varied language, of the beginnings of civilization, stories of the early ancestors of their race, and their settlement in the land of Canaan. Doubtless in different sections of the country there existed different versions of the stories of the same great events. We can trace in our Old Testament two distinct cycles of stories which grew up, one in the north and one in the south, each possessing local color given to it by the sympathies of the story-teller and his audience,

Everyone knows that a truth embodied in a story strikes the heart, lingers longer in the memory, and does its work more surely than the same truth baldly stated. In their endeavor to teach the people the prophets turned to the ancient stories and the traditional history of their people. First in Judah, and perhaps a half-century later in more turbulent Israel, there came into existence under the hands of the prophets continuous stories of the nation and its God. These two narratives were later woven together by other writers or groups of writers and appear in the first five books of our Old Testament, so intertwined that only experts, judging from language, spirit, historical allusions, and literary style can separate

them. Having for their aim instruction in religion, the prophets selected only such material as suited their purpose, and treated. even that in such as way as to present most strongly the lesson which they wished to impress. The stories which follow emphasize one or another of the great religious teachings of the prophets of this period. Space permits the presentation of only a few of these stories, many of which are full of interest and religious significance.

Although familiar to most readers of the Old Testament, these stories take on a new and fresh value when regarded from the point of view of prophetic literature.

The Story of the Beginning of Sin2

The tradition of a first man and a first woman was common to all Semitic nations. In the hands of the prophets it is used to illustrate and to define sin as disobedience to Jehovah, who inflicts suffering as a punishment. Thus, in the thought of the Hebrews, all suffering came to be regarded as punishment for wrong doing.

In the day that Jehovah made earth and heaven, no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Jehovah had not caused it to rain upon the earth; and there was not a man to till the ground; but

I The task of separating these early documents from a third which is much later in its origin, and from editorial comments and revisions which have been incorporated in the text, has been the task of scholars for twenty-five years or more. Of course all scholars do not agree in the exact details of results obtained, but there is agreement upon the general characteristics of the different main pieces of literature combined in the first five books of the Old Testament, generally called the Pentateuch. In the stories which are presented in this chapter the later material has been omitted, and so far as possible only selections from the work of the prophets of the period which we have just studied included.

2 Gen. 2: 4-3: 24, with omission of portions said to have come from later writers (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).

3* This story, as we should expect, takes no account of science. The work of the geologists, of chemists, of physicists, and of astronomers, from whom we have learned so much of the history of the making of the earth and of its relation to other bodies, was yet unknown. At the time this story was current the earth was regarded as flat, with a solid blue dome, the sky, overarching it. The sun was supposed to travel across the sky daily, and the moon and stars in their seasons. Where these heavenly bodies were when not visible was a profound mystery. Doubtless the prophet and his predecessors as well as his successors for many generations believed this story to give the

5 there used to go up a mist from the earth, that watered the whole face of the ground. And Jehovah formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And Jehovah planted a garden eastward, in Eden; and there he put the man whom 10 he had formed. And out of the ground made Jehovah to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life' also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.2 And Jehovah commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden thou 15 mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

And Jehovah said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet3 for him." And out of the 20 ground Jehovah formed every beast of the field, and every bird of the heavens; and brought them unto the man to see what he would call them: and whatsoever the man called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And the man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the heavens 25 and to every beast of the field; but for man there was not

history of the origin of man and woman, but not for this purpose did the prophet put into written form a story which was already known to every one of his people. To him the important thing was the disobedience of the man and woman. He observed all about him disobedience to the commands of Jehovah. With true spiritual insight he saw that since time began man had sinned, and he argues that the suffering which he sees, labor, and pain, and sorrow, are the result of sin. How far wrong was he? Does this story reflect an attitude toward work which we do not share today, but which was not strange in an ancient oriental people, when a system of slavery existed throughout the world? Does it also show a true analysis of the steps in any sinful act-the prohibition, the desire, the temptation to act, the result or punishment? Remember that this story was current before the days of philosophy or psychology. 1*The tree of life: a tree whose fruit would render those who ate it immortal.

2 *The tree of the knowledge of good and evil: a tree which enabled those who ate of its fruit to become wise. Possibly in the original story which the prophet used the fruit of the tree was in itself fatal to human life. The prophet transfers the emphasis to the result of the act of disobedience. Forbidden fruit is a favorite feature of folklore. See the legend of the tree with the golden apples in the garden of the daughters of Hesperus, and the story of Persephone who ate a portion of a prohibited pomegranate and was on that account obliged to sojourn in the lower regions for a third of each year. A story somewhat similar to the Hebrew story was found in the Babylonian literature. From the point of view of religious teaching, however, all these stories except that of the Hebrews were of little value.

3*A help meet: a suitable companion or fellow-worker.

found a help meet for him. And Jehovah caused a deep sleep1 to fall upon the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof: and the rib, which Jehovah had taken from the man, made he a woman, and 30 brought her unto the man. And the man said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." And they were both 35 naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Now the serpent2 was more subtle than any beast of the field which Jehovah had made. And he said unto the woman, "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?" And the woman said unto the serpent, "Of the fruit 40 of the trees of the garden we may eat: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.' And the serpent said unto the woman, "Ye shall surely not die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then 45 your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be like gods,3 knowing good and evil." And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband 50 with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of Jehovah walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and the man and his wife hid themselves from the 55 presence of Jehovah amongst the trees of the garden.

I *Sleep: The word used for sleep here signifies a trance or supernatural slumber. 2 *The serpent: This was one of the traditions which, to ancient peoples, presented a reason why the serpent, so common in oriental countries, traveled on the ground, without apparent means of locomotion, instead of upright. To the ancients there was nothing marvelous in animals talking in a primitive world, or in Jehovah walking and talking as a man. In the mind of the prophet the natural antagonism between the serpent and mankind was translated into a symbol of the antagonism between good and evil, a strife in which he however saw good eventually prevailing. 3 Like gods: Among many ancient peoples there was a belief that the gods were jealous of man and dreaded his attainment to like knowledge with themselves. It is possible that in this expression we have a reflection of this old belief. It is interesting to note here that the attainment of spiritual likeness to God is the keynote of our modern religion.