Chapter I:

Introduction to
Prophetic
Literature
Lecture 2
 C. Synchronic View of the
Prophetic Books
Question: Is there a basic unity
underlying the prophetic literature?
2. Prophetic Books in the Hebrew
Canon
a. Prophet as a historian
b. Prophet as a guardian of the Torah
 “Prophet as a guardian of
the Torah”
Compare Joshua 1:7-8 and Mal 3:22
(or 4:4)
NRSV Joshua 1:7-8
v. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being
careful to act in accordance with all the law
[hattorah] that my servant Moses commanded
you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the
left, so that you may be successful wherever you
go.
v. 8 This book of the law [hattorah] shall not
depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it
day and night, so that you may be careful to act in
accordance with all that is written in it. For then you
Malachi 3:22 (4:4)
Remember the teaching of my servant
Moses [Torat Moshe], the statutes and
ordinances that I commanded him at Horeb for
all Israel.
 The whole prophetic body is
“embraced by the Law of Moses”
 Placed immediately after Torah
(Pentateuch) indicates that the
prophets must be read as
commentaries to the Torah.
 Prophets apply and exhort the
observance of the Torah.
 Note: In the Christian Old Testament:
 Torah
 Historical Books

 Wisdom Books

 Prophetic Books
 Immediately before the NT to signify that
they are projected towards the new
announcement of the coming of Christ.
1. The Latter Prophets
The Negative-Positive Schema
Or The Eschatological Schema
(Condemnation and Promise;
Failure and Hope)

--Compare Isa 1:2-4 and Mal 3:23-24

 Isaiah 1:2-4
 2 Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth; for
the LORD has spoken: I reared children
and brought them up, but they have
rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows its
owner, and the donkey its master's
crib; but Israel does not know, my people
do not understand. 4 Ah, sinful nation,
people laden with iniquity, offspring who
do evil, children who deal corruptly, who
have forsaken the LORD, who have
despised the Holy One of Israel, who are
utterly estranged!
 Mal 3:23-24 = Mal 4:5-6
 V. 5 Lo, I will send you the prophet
Elijah before the great and terrible
day of the LORD comes.
 V. 6 He will turn the hearts of parents
to their children and the hearts of
children to their parents, so that I will
not come and strike the land with a
curse.
 --compare Isa 1-39 and 40-66
 --Amos 1:1-9:7 and 9:8-15
 --Ezekiel 1-24 (vs. Jerusalem and
Judah); 25-32 (vs. foreign nations)
and 33-48 (promise/ hope for Judah
and Jerusalem).
 --Zephaniah 1:1-2:3; 2:4-3:8 and 3:9-
20
 References
 GOOGLE it
 Browse or skim the following:
 David L. Petersen, “Introduction to
Prophetic Literature” in The New
International Bible Commentary VI, pp.
12-16.**
 Claus Westermann, Basic Forms of
Prophetic Speech (trans. H. C. White;
Philadelphia: Westminster, 1967).*
 Online outline of Westermann’s
Basic Forms*
 Marvin A. Sweeney, Isaiah 1-39 with an
Introduction to the Prophetic Literature
 D. Literary Styles of
Prophetic Literature
 GOOGLE it
 Browse or skim the following:

 Claus Westermann, Basic Forms of

Prophetic Speech (trans. H. C. White;
Philadelphia: Westminster, 1967).
 Marvin A. Sweeney, Isaiah 1-39 with an
Introduction to the Prophetic Literature
(FOTL 16; Grand Rapids, MI: W.B.
Eerdmans, 1996), pp. 15-30.
 Preliminary Remarks
 Some books represent a meaningful
ordering or structure
 E.g. Ezekiel
 33-
48
Hope
for
Israel

Chapters 25-32
Judgment on
Foreign Nations

Chapters 1-24
Judgment on Israel
 The Categories of Prose and Poetry
Prose is writing patterned from
everyday speech.
Poetry is heightened speech.
 Difficult to discern
 e.g. Ezekiel 17:9-10

NAB
NRSV
 1. Prose Accounts
 Most reports on the activity of
prophets are in prose
 But they are not all stories.
 Seven (7) accounts of prose accounts
 7 Types of Prose
Accounts
 1) Symbolic Action Report – it
describes prophetic behavior that is
designed to convey a message.
 Isaiah 20:1-6
 For nakedness as a symbolic expression see
1 Sam 19:19-24; Micah 1:8-9
 Ezek 4:1-3
 Ezek 5:1-4
 2) Commissioning Report = “Call
Narratives”
 Six elements (Norman Habel)
 Structure of a Call Narrative
(From:  Habel, Norm.  “The Form and Significance of
the Call Narratives.”  ZAW 77 (1965): 297-323; For
online, click here
 3. Vision Report
 Note: “prophet” as “seer”
 “to look up and see” (Amos 7:1)

 Examples
 Amos’ five visions (7:1-9; 8:1-3; 9:1-4)
 Ezekiel’s four visions (1:1; 8:1; 37:1; and
40:1
 Zechariah’s eight visions
 Daniel’s vision (Dan 7:15-16)
 4) Legenda
 story of the life of a saint (Webster)
 A report about something holy, whether
on object or a person
 E.g. “ark of God” in 2 Sam 6:6-7
 Elisha as “man of God” in 2 Kgs 2:23-24; 2
Kgs 4:1-7
 5) Prophetic Historiography
 History is written from the point of view
of the role of the prophet.
 See Isaiah 36-39 = 2 Kgs 18:13-19:37
 For ancient Israelites, “the prophetic
word [has] a major place in history”
(Petersen, p. 14).
 6) Biography
 E.g. Jeremiah 37-44
 7) Divinatory Chronicle
 Text narrating the prophet as a diviner
 (one who could give information from the
world beyond that of normal human
knowledge)
 “to inquire from Yahweh”
 E.g. 1 Samuel 9
 Zechariah 7-9
 Ezekiel 20
 2. Poetic Speech
 Claus Westermann,
Basic Forms of
Prophetic Speech
(trans. H. C. White;
Philadelphia:
Westminster,
1967).*
 Online outline of
Westermann’s
Basic Forms*
 Adele Berlin,
“Introduction to
Hebrew Poetry,” in
The New
Interpreter’s Bible
vol. 4, pp. 301-315.
 2. Poetic Speech
 It is the predominant form of
prophetic literature
 Special attention to Hebrew poetic
techniques and rhetorical styles
 Regular forms of speech might been
created and preserved in ancient
society
 “Köh ´ämar yhwh” (“thus says the
Lord”)
 “says the Lord”
 1) Judgment Oracle
 e.g. Jer 6:16-21
 2) Woe oracle
 Isa 10:1-4
 Hebrew hôy

 Probably used originally to someone

who had just died. = person is good as
dead
 Opposite: Beatitudes ´aºšürê
 3) Lawsuit (rîb)
(
 Legal process that ends with the passing
of a sentence.
 Must have been derived from Israel’s
law courts.
 Most common prophetic speech.

 e.g. Micah 1:2-7

 Micah 1:2-7
1 Hear, you peoples, all of you; [Summon]
listen, O earth, and all that is in it;
and let the Lord GOD be a witness against you,
the Lord from his holy temple.
3 For lo, the LORD is coming out of his place,
and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
4 Then the mountains will melt under him
and the valleys will burst open,
like wax near the fire,
like waters poured down a steep place.
5 All this is for the transgression of Jacob
and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of
Jacob? [interrogation]
Is it not Samaria? And what is the high place of Judah? Is it not
Jerusalem?
6 Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country,
[sentence]
a place for planting vineyards.
I will pour down her stones into the valley,
and uncover her foundations.
7 All her images shall be beaten to pieces,
all her wages shall be burned with fire,
and all her idols I will lay waste; for as the wages of a prostitute she
 4) lament
 Would have been used in funerary rites.
 E.g. Amos 5:1-2

 5) hymn
 Begins with plural imperative verb, like
“Sing” or “Praise”
 Attests to the character of the deity.
 E.g. Habakkuk 3:2-15
 Isa 5:1-2
 6) allegory
 symbolic story that serves as a
disguised representation for meanings
other than those indicated on the
surface.
 Used by scribes and intellectuals

 E.g. Ezekiel 17:2-10

 7) acrostics
 is a poem or other text written in an
alphabetic script, in which the first
letter, syllable or word of each verse,
paragraph or other recurring feature in
the text spells out another message.
 See Anthony R. Ceresko, “Endings and
Beginnings: ‘Alphabetic Thinking’ and
the Shape of Psalms 106, and of the
Psalter,” in (CBAP 2005 Proceedings;
Tagaytay Scripture and the Quest for
New Society City: CBAP, 2006), pp. 75-
90).
 Nahum 1:1-8
Two important books on
prose and poetry

See chapter VI
“Prophecy and
Poetry”, pp. 137-162.
END
Chapter I