Tuesday, April 6, 2021

M. Sashi Jamir on Jeremiah and the Test of a True Prophet in Deuteronomy 18

  

The book of Deuteronomy, which literally means second law, concerns with the covenantal relationship between Yahweh and his people. It expounds the covenant in which Israel’s society was to be established. It is only right, therefore, to look into the legal legislation of the prophets and prophecy (Deut 13:2-6; 18:21-22) from the perspective of covenant relationship between Yahweh and Israel. The crux of the covenant relationship is that this covenant is based on the חסד character of Yahweh, and that obedience fosters blessings and disobedience incurs Yahweh’s wrath. Translating this covenant premise within the context of prophets and their prophecy would mean that a prophet can actually prophesy both peaceful/blessings as well as doom/judgment messages. However, it is true that in many instances Yahweh’s prophet prophesies doom and judgment messages because of the recalcitrant nature of Israel. Thus, in a way, Yahweh’s persistent and perpetual sending of his prophets implies this חסד for his people.

 

Jeremiah’s recounting that past prophets prophesied doom and judgment and that peace prophecy has to be aided by fulfillment (Jer 28:8-9) can be understood as a commentary on Deut 18:22 within his context. The criterion of Deut 18:22, that is, that true prophecy has to be substantiated by fulfillment, is thus more nuanced in its meaning. In other words, this criterion has to be understood generally from Yahwistic tradition and specifically from the חסד character of Yahweh. Yahweh’s prophets are the manifestation of Yahweh’s חסד. Their role was largely to guide the Israelites away from evil paths. Thus, their messages came with a condition: Repent or face Yahweh’s judgement. In this case their prophecy was contingent on the response of the audience.

 

Therefore, on the one hand, if the audience receives the message and repents, then Yahweh’s wrath is averted; on the other hand, if the audience ignores the message, then Yahweh’s wrath is enforced. In the case of Jeremiah, the audience did not avail themselves of Yahweh’s message and thus Jeremiah’s prophecy should understand the issue of doom prophesy from this perspective. As noted above, there is truth in Jeremiah’s statement that Yahweh’s prophets have more often than not prophesied doom messages but there is also a scope and space within the Yahwistic tradition for true Yahwistic prophets could also prophesy a peace prophesy (see Jer 30-33). However, if a prophet prophesies peace without acknowledging the covenantal premise, namely, the right relationship between Yahweh and his people, such prophecy becomes utterly false. It should also be noted that, in fact, a deeper reading of the so-called doom prophecy is closely related to the salvation message, provided the audience takes the message to heart. (M. Sashi Jamir, Prophetic Conflict and Yahwistic Tradition: A Synthetic Study of True and False Prophecy (Jeremiah 26-29) [Glossahouse Dissertation Series vol. 3; Wilmore, Ky.: Glossa House, 2016], 212-14)