Originally posted by Nemesio
If you have time, could you expound upon the Jewish understanding of
prophecy?
Nemesio
The prophet is one who speaks the message of YHVH directly to the people, often outside the bounds of religious convention. Generally, the message is one of justice and compassion, as opposed to religious legalism. Sometimes, as I maintain Jeremiah does, the message is corrective of prior understandings. (Some scholars believe that Jeremiah was speaking in some ways against the recently discovered “book” of Deuteronomy.)
The prophets were speaking to then-current historical situations. Their words are valid for us to the extent that we find ourselves in similar situations. In a sense, I think, Checkbaiter’s comments about “forthtelling” apply.
Prophets are not “inerrant”, however. Like the Torah itself, their words are to be considered. In a certain sense, they were perhaps the earliest voices of the “oral torah.” That oral torah (I use caps to indicate the five “books of Moses” ) is continuing and dynamic. Jesus, for example, as a rabbi, spoke his torah to the Torah—as other rabbis have done before and since.
Rabbinical Judaism is not—and never has been—the religion of the “Old Testament.” Tradition is honored; it is not slavishly followed. (Well, sometimes, perhaps it is. There are undoubtedly Jewish “fundamentalists.” They are not, however, “mainstream”.)
As you know, “Biblical literalism/inerrancy” is not a particularly Jewish stance. Real torah arises from the engagement in which one brings one’s own torah to the Torah. (
Talmid Torah—Torah study—generally takes the form of argument between at least two students; the Talmuds and the
midrashim are not pronouncements as to the meaning of Torah, so much as they are a record of various interpretations by rabbis over time—ultimately set down in writing, not for adherence, but as a kind of template and a springboard for continuing interpretation.)
[I follow Abraham Joshua Heschel here, from his book
The Prophets; my understanding, however, should not be laid to him.]
EDIT: As always, one needs to be careful about trying to expound
the "Jewish understanding." Judaism is no more monolithic than is Christianity. This, however, seems to be the main stream, as I understand it (that is, one can find it among such various groups as Hasidic, Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist Jews, despite what other differences they may have).
27 Jul '07 01:08
Paul Washer has a message for Christians
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