{"id":64711,"date":"2019-10-23T23:50:29","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T20:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=64711"},"modified":"2023-05-17T08:17:50","modified_gmt":"2023-05-17T05:17:50","slug":"the-distillation-of-biblical-prophecy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-distillation-of-biblical-prophecy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Distillation Of Biblical Prophecy"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[391,506,387],"acf":{"old_id":"64711","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":64468,"related_cahpter":"335","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Nothing less than sacrifice and justice, prayer and compassion will suffice\u00a0","content":"

For most English speakers, \u201cprophetic\u201d refers to premonitory knowledge of the future. But for many Jews, \u201cprophetic\u201d means something different: to \u201cspeak truth to power\u201d\u2014to hold corrupt authority to account for failing to honor God\u2019s true demands. What explains this different understanding? The answer, of course, is that the biblical prophets so often modeled this social critique in their own careers. And there are few prophetic passages that do so with quite the moral clarity and rhetorical power of the opening chapter of Isaiah.<\/span><\/p>\n

Isaiah 1 begins with the bleak prospects that we are accustomed to expect from biblical prophecy. Israel is buckling under sin; their bodies are maimed by their transgressions; their land is scorched. Scholarly attempts to date parts of these verses to Sennacherib\u2019s siege of Jerusalem in 701 BCE probably misconstrue their point in their present context. This situation transcends any particular historical event: it is, rather, the timeless condition of a people that has failed as a covenantal partner.<\/span><\/p>\n

Such a people is bound eventually to turn to worship in order to appease their recalcitrant God. Yet it is precisely here that Isaiah has set his theological trap:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

‘What need have I of all your sacrifices?’ says the LORD. ‘I am sated with burnt offerings of rams, And suet of fatlings, And blood of bulls; And I have no delight In lambs and he-goats. \u2026 Learn to do good. Devote yourselves to justice; Aid the wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; Defend the cause of the widow’ (1:11, 17).<\/span><\/p>\n

It will be noted that Isaiah nowhere calls for the abrogation of cultic worship. What he <\/span>does<\/span><\/em> say is, in fact, far more radical: without concomitant attention to morality and decency, cultic worship\u2014including prayer (Isa 1:15)\u2014is not only ineffective; it is <\/span>actively abominable<\/span><\/em>. God certainly commands sacrifice. But if Israel believes that he may be appeased with fatlings while those created in his image go hungry in the streets, they do not understand the first thing about the God they claim to serve.<\/span><\/p>\n

This stirring assertion opens not only the book of Isaiah but also the entirety of the Latter Prophets. It is, in effect, the \u201cdistillation\u201d of biblical prophecy. Like any effective abstract, it encapsulates an argument while leaving the full nuance to the careful reader. The latter component should not be dismissed. Biblical prophecy is wildly diverse; attempts wholly to equate it with social critique are literarily dishonest. Yet out of this diversity, Isaiah 1 sets the stage for the emergence of a sublime and terrifying claim: God and his Torah demand sacrifice <\/span>and<\/span><\/em> justice, prayer <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> compassion. According to the prophets, nothing less will suffice.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: John Singer Sargent, Frieze of Prophets, 1895.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":64712,"id":64712,"title":"is1-john singer sargent frieze of prophets","filename":"is1-john-singer-sargent-frieze-of-prophets.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-john-singer-sargent-frieze-of-prophets.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-distillation-of-biblical-prophecy\/is1-john-singer-sargent-frieze-of-prophets\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is1-john-singer-sargent-frieze-of-prophets","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":64711,"date":"2019-10-23 20:50:12","modified":"2022-09-30 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