Introduction to the Historical Prophets
 
Students are often ill at ease with historical prophets. The material in the Torah and in the Deuteronomic history is often confusing and fraught with ambiguity. Passages seem to contradict themselves, and prophets do things that violate our sense of justice or our theological convictions. Source and form critics conclude that since the books of the canon are composed of various traditions, contradictions reflect different sources and hold no real significance other than to witness to the pluralism of Israelite culture and faith. If prophets commit acts of violence, this reflects the norms of antiquity. As "men of God", their acts would go unquestioned or would be seen as acts of authority by the ancient reader. In this course, we will entertain the question that meaning may also lie in the patterns produced by the weave of traditions. Lessons may be drawn from contradictions, and ambiguity is to be pondered and the meaning for us or thoughts that arise because of our own situation will be important to the interpretative act.
 
 
And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses,
whom the Lord knew face to face... (Deut 34:10)
 
In Deuteronomy, the only reported speech belongs to God or Moses. What effect does this narrative strategy have upon the reader's perception of Moses' authority? Other than the ten commandments (5:27) , God's speech is mediated to the Israelites by Moses.
 
Robert Polzin, Moses and the Deuteronomist: A Literary Study of the Deuteronomic History -- Part One -- Deuteronomy Joshua Judges (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980) pa.25ff, describes strategies that the narrator uses to diminish Moses' elevated status. For example, in 4:21-22 Moses is punished with everyone. Polzin argues that Moses has a unique role as one who declares and teaches God's word, but he is described as one whose perception is that of his fellow Israelites. "The conflict over Moses' unique role centers rather on whether there could ever be another prophet like him. As we by now have seen in a number of different contexts, the Deuteronomist's constant and obvious exaltation of Moses paradoxically contributes to the ultimate exaltation of the one who quotes him throughout the Book of Deuteronomy, the Deuteronomic narrator himself." (Polzin, 47)
 
Polzin's discussion revolves around an issue that will come into focus at the end of this course, the replacement of the prophetic voice with scripture and the authority of the ecstatic witness with scripture as witness.
 
Polzin identifies Moses' two functions as God's mouthpiece: he declares and he interprets. The narrative shares these two functions. The narrative frame or the organization of God's words provides the reader with an interpretation of God's word.
 
 
And the lord said to me, "They have rightly said all that they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not give heed to my words which he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him." (Deut 18:17-18)
 
 

Moses as Paradigm or Archetype

Scripture does not always flatter the prophet:

"The prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit is mad!" Israel quoted in Hosea 9:7

Zech 13:3 If any prophets appear again, their father and mother who bore them will say to them, "You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the Lord"; and their fathers and their mothers who bore them shall pierce them through when they prophesy. On that day the prophets will be ashamed, every one, of their visions when they prophesy; they will not put on a hairy mantle in order to deceive, but each of them will say, "I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the soil; for the land has been my possession since my youth." And if anyone asks the, "What are these wounds on you chest?" the answer will be "The wounds I received in the house of my friends."

Amos 7:14 "I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees...."

Ezekiel 13:2 ff Mortal, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are prophesying; say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: "Hear the word of the Lord!" Thus says the Lord God, Alas for the senseless prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

In Numbers, God draws a distinction between Moses and prophets, who play a decidedly less authoritative role:

Numbers 12:6 Hear my words: if there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses; he is entrusted with all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth clearly and not in dark speech, and he beholds the word of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant (eved) Moses.

But

Deut 34:10 There has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.

Deut 18:15-18 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren, him you shall heed ... I [God] will raise up from them a prophet like you [Moses] from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak to them all that I command him...."

Hosea 12:13 By a prophet the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt and by a prophet he was preserved.

Is Moses a prophet? Yes and No

No - he is singular - he is the lawgiver; there is no other

Yes: Jewish Encyclopedia: He was not only a prophet but the father of the prophets.

1. Father of the prophets - institutes the office of prophet Num 11:16

2. The Paradigm or Archetype of the Prophets: a) Exodus 1-3 Birth Narrative and Call; b) the prosecuting attorney and the defense lawyer -- Exodus 32 . The Golden Calf.

George W. Coats, The Moses Tradition (Sheffield: JSOT,1993) concludes that "[M]oses is not simply an instrument in the hands of an omnipotent God. Rather, he contributes along with God to the emerging present." (p. 72) "The tradition presents Moses as creative innovator who defends his people at the risk of the favor he holds with God." (p. 73).

Yochanan Muffs, "Moses for the Defense," Parabola 21 (1996) 67-69. Text available in Palni - Academic Search Elite.

A. The Birth , Early Life and Call Narratives underscore the fact that God uses that which is weak to demonstrate his strength. Moses is in many ways an improbable leader:

B. The Story of the Golden Calf underscores a number of significant characteristics:

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Note: Deut 18 gives rise to messianic expectations. cf. Joel 2:28 "I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." and Acts 7:25.

Exploration: How is Moses Unique? How does the narrator pull the reader back from placing him upon a pedestal?