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The Prophets and the Promise

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The Prophets and the Promise THE PROPHETS AND THE PROMISE BY WILLIS JUDSON BEECHER 1905 by Thomas Y. Crowell, New York. Digitized by Ted Hildebrandt: Gordon College 2005 PREFACE IN part the Stone lectures as delivered were a selec- tion from the materials of this volume, and in part the volume is an expansion of the lectures. It is a product of studies, accumulating during many years, rather than a predirected discussion of a subject, but I hope that it will not be found deficient in logical coherence. The presentation it makes is essentially a restatement of the Christian tradition that was supreme fifty years ago, but a restatement with differences so numerous and important that it will probably be regarded, by men who do not think things through, as an attack on that tradition. If what I have said makes that impression on any one, and if he regards the matter as of sufficient importance, I ask him to consider it more carefully. I have tried to make my search a search for the truth, without undue solicitude as to whether its results are orthodox; but it seems to me that my conclusions are simply the old orthodoxy, to some extent transposed into the forms of modern thought, and with some new ele- ments introduced by widening the field of the induction. It follows, of course, that my position is antagonistic to that of the men who attack the older tradition. But I have tried not to be polemic. I have tried to give due consideration to the views of the men with whom I differ. Where practicable, I have preferred the broader statements, in which we are in agreement, to the narrower ones that would emphasize our differences. CONTENTS CHAPTER I PRELIMINARY PAGE Scope of the work 3 I. Sources. The scriptures as a source. Direct study versus general reading. Is the testimony credible? Direct examination versus cross-examination. Dependence on critical questions. The provisionally historical point of view. Evidence tested by use 4 II. Interpreting the sources. Avoid eisegesis. Eisegesis of Christian doctrine. Of negative assumptions. Of theories of reli- gion. Of particular schemes of Comparative Religion. A true method 9 III. Points concerning the treatment. Outline. Certain matters of detail 15 PART I THE PROPHETS CHAPTER II TERMS USED IN DESCRIBING THE PROPHETS Prophet. Nabhi and its cognates. Hhozeh and its cognates. Roeh and its cognates. The uses of raah and hhazah. Man of God. Word of Yahaweh. Saith Yahaweh. Man of the Spirit. Massa. Hittiph. Metaphorical terms 21 Terms used at all dates. Interchangeable as to the person de- noted. Three degrees of extension. Raving 32 CHAPTER III THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE PROPHETS Introductory. The subject attractive. Division into periods 36 I. Prophecy in the times before Samuel. Before Abraham. The patriarchs as prophets. Prophecy in the times of Moses and vii viii CONTENTS PAGE Joshua. In the times of the Judges. The dearth of prophecy in the time of Eli 38 II. Prophecy in the times of Samuel and later. First period, that of Samuel, David, and Nathan : the great names, the organ- izations, the terms that are used. Second period, from the disrup- tion to Elisha: distinguished prophets, "the sons of the prophets," false prophets, the use of terms. Third period, that of Amos and Isaiah: the great prophets, the numbers of the prophets true and false, the use of terms. Fourth period, that of Jeremiah and others: the great names, the many prophets true and false. Fifth period, the exilian prophets : the great names and the many prophets true and false. Sixth period, the postexilian prophets: the great names and the many other prophets. The cessation of prophecy 47 CHAPTER IV THE PROPHET. A CITIZEN WITH A MESSAGE The question. How affected by one's critical position 66 I. External appearance of the prophet. Baseless current ideas. Unearthly phenomena absent. Was there a prophetic costume? The facts significant even if negative. Did the prophets rave? The prophets long-lived 67 II. The organizations of the prophets. Samuel's "companies." The Naioth institution. "The sons of the prophets" 76 III. The so-called prophetic order. Holy orders. The prophets a succession. They had no priestly character. Was the prophet a graduate? Ordination. How one became a prophet 80 The prophet especially a manly man. The absence of insignia noteworthy 85 CHAPTER V THE FUNCTIONS OF A PROPHET—NATURALISTIC AND SUPERNATURALISTIC Introductory. Guarding against mistaken assumptions. The name indicates the function. Passages that outline the prophetic function 88 I. Naturalistic functions. They were public men. Jeremiah as a statesman. Isaiah and Hosea as statesmen. Prophetic ideal of a reunited Israel. Elijah and Elisha as statesmen. The prophets were reformers. Some of their reforms. They were preachers of CONTENTS ix PAGE good tidings. They were literary men. Certain points need to be guarded. Different grades and kinds of prophets. The prophet both local and cosmopolitan. The sense in which devout persons or great leaders are prophets 93 II. Supernaturalistic functions. The prophets claim them. Working of miracles, disclosing of secrets, prediction, the giving of torah, the messianic forecast. Revealers of the monotheism of Yahaweh 105 CHAPTER VI THE PROPHET'S MESSAGE I. How given to him. The source of his inspiration is the Spirit of Yahaweh. Utterances inspired by the Spirit. Deeds inspired by the Spirit. Micaiah's lying Spirit. The nature of the Spirit of Yahaweh. The modes in which the prophet received his message. Classification of them. Dreams. The interpreting of dreams. Picture-vision. Visions of insight. Hhazah versus raah. Vision other than by sense-images. Theophany. Its forms. The Angel. Theophany versus picture-vision. The notable absence of artificial excitation 110 II. How uttered by him. Prophetic object lessons. Types. No double meanings. Manifold fulfilment. Generic prophecy. The art of persuasive speech 125 CHAPTER VII THE PROPHET AS A GIVER OF TORAH AND WRITER OF SCRIPTURE General statements 133 I. The term "law" in later writings. Current use. Use in Jewish literature, later and earlier. In the New Testament. Ira the Apocrypha 134 II. The term "law" in the Old Testament. Derivation of torah and horah. Torah is from Deity. Is authoritative. Revealed through prophets. Guarded and administered by. priests. Inter- preted by both. No separate priestly torah. Its forms. Oral or written. A particular revelation. An aggregate. The noun used abstractly. The known and definite aggregate. Some section of the aggregate 139 x CONTENTS PAGE The nature of the torah-aggregate. Limitations of the term. Examination of instances. From earlier records of the Mosaic times. From Deuteronomy and the writings that presuppose it. From the earlier prophetic books. The torah not primarily the pentateuch. Law and Prophets and Writings from the first. A separate pentateuch? The torah and the Old Testament. Some sources were torah and others not. Five torah-producing periods. Not three canons. Later emergence of the threefold division 155 III. The prophets as writers of scripture. As bringers of torah. Their authority the highest. All scripture equally of prophetic authority 168 PART II THE PROMISE CHAPTER VIII THE PROMISE–DOCTRINE AS TAUGHT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT Introductory. The Christian messianic idea distinctive. Mes- sianic prediction, prophecy, doctrine. The proposition 175 I. The New Testament claim. That there is one promise. The promise to Abraham. Consisting of many promises. The theme of the whole Old Testament. Pervading all New Testament thought 179 II. The use made of the claim. The promise eternally operative and irrevocable. Jesus Christ its culminating fulfilment. The gen- tiles share in the benefit of it. It underlies the great doctrines of the gospel: the kingdom, immortality, the Holy Ghost, redemption from sin 185 Concluding statements. Recapitulation. A Christocentric theology 192 CHAPTER IX THE PROMISE AS GIVEN TO THE PATRIARCHS Outline of treatment. Pre-Abrahamic passages 195 I. The promise as made. Earliest statement. Its subordinate items. The principal item emphasized. Climacteric order. Five times repeated. The name Abraham. Seed. Covenants. Pecul- iar people. The promise eternally operative. This emphasized. Therefore of progressive fulfilment. The seed a continuing unit 197 CONTENTS xi PAGE II. Problems concerning the promise. How affected by critical theories. What is true according to all theories. The contem- porary understanding of the promise. In what sense they under- stood it to be predictive. Its value as practical doctrine 207 CHAPTER X THE PROMISE AS RENEWED TO ISRAEL AND TO DAVID I. For the times of the exodus. Israel Yahaweh's people Yahaweh's son. Separative institutions. For eternity. Irrevocable even for sin. Rest. Has mankind a share in this? That all may know Yahaweh. "My own, out of all the peoples." A king- dom of priests. Continuity with the patriarchal revelation. Con- sistent with the treatment of Amalek and the Canaanite. Critical point of view. Contemporary interpretation 217 II. For the times of David. 2 Samuel vii. David's house. His seed. The temple builder. Line of kings. An eternal kingdom. Irrevocable even for sin. In continuation with the promise to Abraham and Israel, and therefore for mankind. The rest promise. "To thee for a people." "One nation in the earth." Yahaweh's son. The torah of mankind. Critical views. Contemporary in- terpretation 228 CHAPTER XI THE PROMISE–DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS AND PSALMISTS Introductory. Recapitulation. A new phase. The messianic dogma. Its homiletical presentation 241 I. Modes of expressing it. The predictive passages. A sermon text or a proof text. Repeating the old phrases. Amplifying them. Psalm lxxxix. Celebration songs. Technical terms and collateral lines. Presupposition oftener than open statement 243 II. The matters which they emphasize. The three promises the same. The promise cosmopolitan.
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