Thursday, September 24, 2020

Stephen B. Chapman vs. belief Prophecy Ceased (e.g., during the time of Maccabees)

 

 

. . . prophecy never ceased at all, although it often functioned in the late period as a more scribal form of activity . . . the lack of prophecy referred to in Ps 74:9 appears episodic and does not provide any indication that the absence of prophecy to which it refers occurred on a permanent basis. To the contrary, the absence of prophecy in Ps 74 is tied to the destruction of God’s sanctuary and land by Israel’s enemies, whose eventual defeat promises to restore the institutions only presently endangered (Ps 74:9). The ‘cessation’ of prophecy in the context is thus clearly temporary. Moreover, the exilic ‘cessation’ of prophecy is evenly matched within the canon by a similar cessation of תורה (Lam 2:9), something usually overlooked by those making the case for Torah pre-eminence.

 

In Zech 13:2-6, the cessation of prophecy is characterized as permanent, but not yet accomplished. In this passage, the ‘end’ of prophecy is thoroughly eschatologized (Zech 13:2), reflecting the belief that at the time of Jerusalem’s cataclysmic battle with the nations (Zech 12-14) and Jerusalem’s eschatological purification (Zech 13:1) prophecy will no longer be necessary, perhaps because all Israel will have then received the prophetic gift (cf. Joel 3:1-2 [2:28-29]). In this way prophecy is also no different than the law, which will be internalized and democratized at the eschaton (Jer 31:31-34), no longer requiring official representation or admonition.

 

The passages in Maccabees do relate a more enduring, dogmatic judgment about prophecy. While this viewpoint might reflect a real lack of prophetic activity in the Hasmonean period, it certainly does not reflect a devaluation of prophetic revelation, whether as a ‘living’ tradition or as scripture. The canonical authority of the Prophets is clear (2 Mac 15:9; 4 Mac 18:10-19). In fact, the dogmatic position that prophecy has ‘ceased’ actually serves to consign prophecy to a single, unique era in Israel’s Heilsgeschichte as a means of grounding and protecting its authority. ‘Cessation’ statements probably operate within the general conception of a succession of mosaic prophecy which is intermittent and therefore only currently absent. Right alongside direct statements of cessation within this tradition (e.g., 1 Mac 9:27) exists the view that prophecy not only may but will revive, and that at its reappearance it will resume its precedence over the high priest (1 Mac 4:46; 14:41: note the qualification ‘until’!)

 

Also, even if those responsible for the books of Maccabees believed that prophecy had ceased in the Hasmonean period, other (roughly) coterminous traditions clearly differed. Thus, Wisdom 7:27 insists: “ . . . in every generation [wisdom] passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets . . . “ (cf. Sir 36:20-21). Similarly, prophecy continues to play a major role in the works of Josephus.

 

In sum, although there may be indications of a transformation of prophecy in the post-exilic period, there is no persuasive evidence that this transformation resulted from or contributed to a dogmatic elevation of the Torah qua Pentateuch over the Prophets. (Stephen B. Chapman, The Law and the Prophets: A Study in Old Testament Canon Formation [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2020], 264-66)

 

Further Reading


Rebecca Gray, Prophetic Figures in Late Second Temple Jewish Palestine: The Evidence from Josephus (Oxford University Press, 1997)