ISRAEL
home
worship
or
not
we
cannot
tell.
They
were
evi-dently
a
crude
survival
from
an
earlier
time,
and
with
religious
progress
they
disappeared.
In
addition
to
the
features
of
the
religion
of
the
pre-Prophetic
period
which
have
been
enumerated,
it
must
be
remembered
that
the
fundamental
institutions
of
the
pre-Jahwistic
rehgion
of
Israel,
enumerated
in
§
1,
continued
through
this
period
also.
(10)
Another
religious
phenomenon
of
the
pre-Prophetic
period
consisted
in
the
development
of
a
class
of
seers
or
prophets,
who
are
to
be
carefully
distinguished
from
the
great
moral
and
literary
prophets
of
the
next
period.
The
prophets
of
this
period
were
closely
akin
to
the
seers
and
fortune-tellers
who
are
common
the
world
over.
They
had
their
parallel
in
other
Semitic
countries,
e.g.
Phoenicia
and
Assyria.
In
the
time
of
Saul
there
was
a
class
of
ecstatic
prophets
in
Israel
who
used
music
to
aid
their
prophetic
excitement,
who
uttered
themselves
when
possessed
by
an
uncontrollable
frenzy,
and
who
went
about
in
bands
(cf.
1
S
lO*-!"
IQ^a-
").
These
prophets
have
their
analogue
in
a
youth
at
Gebal
in
Phoenicia,
of
whom
the
Egyptian
Wenamon
makes
report
about
B.C.
1100.
This
youth
was
seized
by
the
spirit
of
the
gods
and
thrown
into
a
frenzy,
and
then
uttered
prophecies
which
moved
a
king
(cf.
AJSL
xxi.
105).
This
type
of
prophecy
was
therefore
in
this
period
widely
spread
over
the
country
even
beyond
the
bounds
of
Israel.
The
'sons
of
the
prophets'
referred
to
so
often
in
the
OT
were
simply
guilds
of
these
men
organized
for
mutual
help.
Music
helped
to
bring
on
the
frenzy,
and
it
was
more
contagious
when
a
number
were
together.
Samuel
was
not
sharply
distinguished
from,
the
'sons
of
the
prophets,'
although
he
was
evidently
a
man
of
a
higher
order,
believed
by
the
people
to
possess
superior
gifts.
He
was
called
a
'seec'
(1
S
9*),
and
was
believed
to
be
able
to
direct
people
in
hnding
lost
property,
and
not
to
be
above
taking
a
fee
for
it
(1
S
9*^).
Somewhat
parallel
to
such
a
seer
is
the
one
mentioned
by
Ashurbanipal
(G.
Smith,
Assurbanipal,
119
ff.).
These
men
were
held
in
high
esteem,
and
obtained
their
living
by
telling
people
what
they
wished
to
know.
Their
oracles
were
mostly
about
the
future,
but
often
no
doubt
they
told
a
man
whether
this
or
that
action
was
in
accord
with
the
will
of
Jahweh
,
or
of
the
god
whom
they
represented.
Baal
as
well
as
Jahweh
had
his
prophets
(1
K
18'^).
Such
men
were
necessary
adjuncts
of
a
court,
for
a
king
had
often
to
engage
in
hazardous
enterprises
of
State.
We
find
accord-ingly
that
Ahab
kept
four
hundred
of
them
about
him
(1
K
22").
David
and
other
kin^
had
probably
done
the
same.
No
doubt
Nathan
and
Gad,
whom
later
writers
mention
in
connexion
with
David,
were
really
men
of
this
character,
who
are
in
the
narratives
pictured
like
the
nobler
prophets
of
later
time.
These
prophets
by
profession
possessed
no
higher
ethical
tendencies
than
the
other
men
of
their
time.
Their
sustenance
was
dependent
on
the
pleasure
of
their
royal
master,
if
they
were
connected
with
the
court,
and
usually
they
gave
such
oracles
as
were
desired.
(For
fuller
account,
see
Batten,
The
Hebrew
Prophet,
27-72.)
The
institution
was
held
in
high
regard.
When
the
ecstatic
frenzy
came
upon
a
man
and
his
higher
nerve
centres
were
by
the
excitement
inhibited
from
action,
he
was,
as
such
men
usually
are
among
savage
and
primi-tive
people
(cf
.
Davenport,
Primitive
Traits
in
Religions
Revivals,
ch.
i.
vi.),
thought
to
be
under
the
possession
of
a
supernatural
spirit.
He
was
accordingly
listened
to
most
carefully,
and
his
utterances
were
supposed
to
reveal
the
Divine
will.
It
is
significant
that
the
Hebrews
used
the
same
word
for
'prophet'
and
for
'lunatic'
The
institution
was
capable
nevertheless
of
high
possi-bilities.
If
those
came
forward
exercising
its
gifts
who
were
animated
by
high
ethical
purpose
and
possessed
a
great
spiritual
message,
the
regard
in
which
this
institu-tion
was
held
assured
them
of
a
hearing.
4.
Religion
in
the
Prophetic
period.—
The
period
which
we
call
Prophetic
extends
from
Elijah
to
the
great
prophet
of
the
Exile,
the
so-called
Second
Isaiah.
It
was
in
this
period
that,
thanks
to
the
labours
of
the
great
school
of
prophetic
reformers,
the
religion
of
Israel
became
ethical
and
spiritual.
They
gave
it
this
content,
ISRAEL
and
by
the
new
interpretation
which
they
put
on
the
covenant
with
Jahweh
which
Moses
and
Jethro
had
medi-ated,
forced
it
upon
the
nation.
In
this
they
were
aided
by
the
misfortunes
and
sufferings
incident
to
the
interference
of
Assyria
and
Babylon
in
Hebrew
affairs.
In
one
important
respect
the
prophets
in
this
noble
succession
changed
the
method
of
prophetic
utterance.
With
one
exception,
they
discarded
the
method
of
ecstatic
utterance,
and
spoke
as
the
result
of
prophetic
vision.
Just
what
they
mean
by
'vision'
we
may
not
say,
but
we
may
be
sure
that
inteUigence
and
imagina-tion
had
their
part
in
it.
It
led
to
the
perception
of
a
noble
ideal,
and
gave
the
beholder
a
holy
passion
to
realize
it.
(1)
Elijah.
The
prophetic
work
began
with
Elijah.
The
main
points
of
his
career
(1
K
17-19)
have
already
been
touched
upon
above
(I.
$
17).
His
significance
lies
in
the
•act
that
in
the
name
of
Jahweh
he
championed
the
poor
against
the
rich.
That
his
conception
of
Jahweh
was
narrow,
—
that
he
regarded
Him
as
a
god
of
the
nomadic
type,
—
that
he
opposed
a
foreign
cult,
are
all
incidental.
Any
enthusiastic
member
of
a
prophetic
guild
might
havie
done
any
one
of
these
three
things.
The
significance
of
the
work
of
EUjah
Ues
in
the
fact
that
it
marks
the
dawn
of
ethical
purity
and
social
justice
in
Jahweh's
religion.
The
methoa
of
EHjah,
too,
was
an
ethical
method.
He
delivered
his
message,
and
relied
upon
its
weight
for
the
results.
(2)
The
Jahwist
(J
writer)
.
In
the
same
century^
perhaps
contemporary
with
Elijah,
the
first
of
the
J
writers
was
composing
his
matchless
prose
narratives
in
Judah.
He
was
pervaded
by
the
prophetic
spirit
in
its
incipient
form.
He
traces
the
creation
of
man
to
Jahweh^
and
is
interested
in
the
descent
of
the
nations
from
a
primitive
pair.
He
tells
thestories
of
the
patriarchs
to
illustrate
the
power
of
.Jahweh,
but
the
purely
religious
motive
is
not
often
present.
He
represents
the
patriarchs
as
on
friendly
terms
with
the
Canaanites
about
them,
which
indicates
that
he
is
not
conscious
that
the
religion
of
Jahweh
is
hostile
to
other
faiths.
His
conception
of
the
basis
of
Jahweh's
covenant
with
Israel
is,
aspointed
out
above
(§2
(4)),
ten
commands
of
a
purely
ritual
nature.
The
tone
of
his
stories
is
soMbre.
Clothing
and
child-bearing
came
in
consequence
of
sin.
The
first
agriculturist
was
the
first
murderer.
The
inventors
of
metal
instruments
and
of
music
were
especially
wicked
men
.
The
civilization
of
Babylonia
attempted
such
astound-ing
structures,
that,
as
Jahweh
looked
down
from
heaven,
He
found
He
could
prevent
men
from
reaching
heaven
only
by
confounding
their
language.
To
the
Jahwist
civilization
meant
sin,
pain,
and
trouble.^
He
had
no
hopeful
outlook.
His
type
of
faith
was
nomadic
indeed.
He
represents
the
starting-point
from
which
the
prophetic
movement
went
forward.
(3)
Elisha
hardly
deserves
to
be
reckoned
in
this
great
succession
.
He
was
the
very
head
of
professional
prophecy.
When
absent
from
the
band
of
associates
he
found
it
necessary
to
call
a
minstrel
to
work
up
his
ecstasy
before
he
could
prophesy
C2
K
3^^).
It
was
he,
too,
who
prompted
Jehu,
one
of
the
bloodiest
of
usurpers
ana
reformers,
to
undertake
the
purification
of
Israel
from
the
taint
of
foreign
religion;
and
when
it
was
accomplished
Israel
was
not
one
whit
more
ethical
or
spiritual
than
before.
Elisha
is
usually
counted
as
Elijah's
successor,
but
he
belongs
to
a
different
class.
The
nobler
religion
of
Israel
owes
him
nothing.
(4)
Amos,
the
first
prophet
to
commit
his
message
to
writing,
came,
like
Elijah,
with
a
magnificent
message
—
a
message
indeed
which
is
to
that
of
Elijah
ike
noon
to
dawn.
Amos
announces
for
the
first
time
the
fafth
of
a
practical
monotheist.
Such
a
faith
had
been
imphcit
in
the
Jahwist,
when
he
traced
the
existence
of
all
mankind
to
Jahweh's
act,
but
in
Amos
it
is
explicit.
Jahweh
brought
not
only
the
Israelites
from
Egypt,
but
the
Philistines
from
Caphtor,
and
the
AramsBans
from
Kir
(Am
9^),
and
He
will
likewise
judge
the
Philistines,
Damascus,
Moab,
Edom,
and
all
nations
(chs.
1.
2).
Jahweh,
too,
Amos
proclaims
as
an
ethical
God.
Ethics,
not
ritual,
was
the
basis
of
the
covenant
at
Sinai
(Am
S^i-^s).
Justice
is
to
roll
down
as
waters
and
righteousness
as
a
perennial
stream
before
Jahweh
will
be
satisfied.
In
this
spirit
Amos
championed
in
the
name
of
Jahweh
the
cause
of
the
oppressed
poor,
and
rebuked
the
social
impurities
connected
with
rehgion,
pronoimcing
upon
the
unethical
the
doom
of
Jahweh.
'
(5)
The
Elohist.
Perhaps
contemporary
with
Amos
was
the
first
E
writer.
He
was
a
man
of
true
propKetic
spirit.
Like
J,
he
recorded
many
of
the
traditions
of
ancient
times,
but
he
tells
them
with
a
m9re
hopeful
outlook.
He
has
a
high
regard
for
a
prot>het,
and
represents
Abraham
