Monday, April 17, 2023

David E. Aune on Jeremiah's Prophetic Call Narrative

  

The Prophetic Call Narrative.

 

The term nabi’, normally translated “prophet,” is widely thought to have originally meant “one called,” and the consciousness of having been divinely called is often thought to be integral to the prophetic role. The prophetic call narrative includes both speech and narrative elements and involves a procedure similar to that involved in the commissioning of a messenger (cf. Gen. 24:34-48). The focal point of the call narrative is the prophet’s commissioning by God, and for this reason the narrative could well be designated “the installation of the prophet.” Although these narratives appear autobiographical, their similar formal features have recently led some scholars to view them not as reflections of actual experience but as proclamations serving to legitimate the prophet’s vocation, or (less probably) as liturgical ordination ceremonies for prophets. That call narratives tend to be placed at the beginnings of oracle collections indicates that they function to validate the prophet as a legitimate spokesman of Yahweh. Since formal patterns are not antithetical to experiences which apparently are spontaneous and unstructured, prophetic call narratives might well reflect actual experience and provide a vehicle for legitimating the prophet’s vocation.

 

Jer. 1.4-10 is typical of a number of call narratives in the OT (Moses in Exod. 3:-12; Gideon in Jug. 6:11b-17; Ezekiel in Ezek. 1:1-3:11; Deutero-Isaiah in Isa. 40:1-11):

 

A. Divine confrontation (v. 4): now the word of the Lord came to me saying

 

B. Introductory word (v. 5a): “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you;

 

C. Commission (v. 5b): I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

 

D. Objection (v. 6): Then I said, “Ah, Lord God: Behold I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.”

 

E. Reassurance (vv. 7-8): But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you you shall go, and whatever I command you you shall speak. Be not afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.”

 

F. Sign (vv. 9-10): Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and overthrow, to build up and to plant.”

 

Although this pattern is rather elaborate, one can see that the central elements are the commission, the objection, the reassurance, and the sign. In Jer. 1:4-10 the commission that occurred prior to Jeremiah’s birth. Such call narratives are found occasionally in apocalyptic literature (1 Enoch 14-16, 71; 4 Ezra 14), and in the NT (Acts 9, 22, 26; Rev. 1:9-20; 10:8-11). (David E. Aune, Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Ancient Mediterranean World [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1983], 97-98)