RS 160                                                                                                          Donna M. Chapman
Spring, 2005
 
 
Hebrew Prophets Resemble Greek Philosophers
 
         On the surface it would seem obvious that Hebrew Prophets in no way resemble the Greek Philosophers. Hebrew prophets speak for God, are to be accurate under pain of death by stoning, and on and on. Greek philosophers cannot approach the gods, that would be hubris, and punishable by some nasty trick or another. This punishment from the gods is mete out in response to the disrespectful act of attempting contact, not for mis representing the information given as in the case of the prophet. A good and accurate paper could be written expounding these differences. But I had a thought..
 
         How different would they look if we said that the only major difference between the Hebrew Prophets and the Greek Philosophers is that the Hebrew Prophets know who they are speaking to, and who they are hearing from?
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Prophets
 
         Traditionally a prophet is ÒOne Who Speaks for godÓ. During the time of the prophets the religion of the Hebrews is most definitely monotheistic. They believe (know) that there is only one god, and their ÒGodÓ is it. So, the prophets of Ancient Israel have a decided advantage in that they know that they know that they know that the urgings, murmurings, and visions that they experience are not the result of some obscure parasite or indigestion caused by a bit of undigested meat (homage to Dickens here) or mental illness but are true and real communications from The One God. They know who is speaking to them!
         With this knowledge and privilege comes responsibility and consequence. The prophet is responsible to represent what God is saying in the exact manner in which God intends it. The prophet is also responsible to respond to Gods requests in a timely manner. Consequences for neglecting either of these are swift and severe. These consequences may be meted out by either the Jewish community, or by God itself. If a prophet fails to represent the word of God correctly, and thereby renders the word from God a falsehood, in other words Òthus sayeth the Lord your GodÓ becomes Òso sayeth the prophetÓ, the penalty for this is death by stoning. Punishment is swift and absolute. There are no options and no second chances and no warnings. There are no incarcerations or lashings then release - death is the consequence.
 
                  Any prophet who fakes it, who claims to speak in my                           name something I havenÕt commanded him to say, or                    speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must                            dieÓ  
                  The Message, Deut. 18:20
 
                  If what the prophet spoke in GodÕs name doesnÕt                                 happen, the obviously God wasnÕt behind it; the                             prophet made it up. DonÕt be afraid of him.
                  The Message, Deut. 18:22
 
         There is also responsibility for the people to listen and obey the prophet. The people are the ones who asked God for the prophets to begin with. They felt that any more direct contact with God would kill them, so they asked God for intermediaries. God liked the idea, but there is a catch.
 
                  And God said to me, ÒtheyÕre right; theyÕve spoken the                        truth. IÕll raise up for them a prophet like you from their                          kinsmen. IÕll tell him what to say and he will pass on to                           them everything I command him. And anyone who                      wonÕt listen to my words spoken by him, I will                                personally hold responsible.
                  The Message, Deut. 18:17-19
 
          If the prophet hears from God and fails to respond, or fails to carry out a task which God asks him to do, God gets upset, and the events in the life of the prophet can begin to go strangely awry. This is God knocking on the prophets door, reminding him that he has a job to do and needs to get to it. God will keep this up until he again gets the prophets attention.
 
                  Jonah is a great example. God tells Jonah to go to                      Nineveh and preach there against their wickedness.                            Jonah ran away, and jumps into a ship at Joppa bound                         for Tarshish to try to get as far  from God as he can get.             God sends a huge storm. The boat begins to break up.                         The deck hands toss all the cargo out of the boat, to                     try to appease their gods, to get them to make the                       storm stop. Jonah was sleeping in the hold, through                    the storm, Jonah sleeps. The captain gets him up, and                         asks him to pray to his God. Maybe his God will rescue              them, because they will surely die at this rate. The                      sailors draw straws thinking that this will indicate the                        one who is responsible for the disaster..Jonah drew                            the short straw. The sailors grill him about whatÕs up.                          Jonah says heÕs a hebrew and worships the God of                       heaven who made sea and land. the sailors ask What                          have you done to anger this God of yours? As jonah                           continued to speak...the sailors realize that Jonah is                           running from God. Jonah tells them to toss him over                        board, because the storm will stop when he is off the                         ship. The storm got worse and finally the men toss him                       overboard. And the sea quieted down. Good news,                     sailors are in awe of God, and turn themselves toward                        it. But we still have Jonah. God send a big fish, usually                        called a whale, to swallow him whole. Jonah is in that                         fish for 3 days and nights and FINALLY gives in..He tells                   God that he will do what God asks. Fish throws up                           Jonah on to the seashore. God says: go to nineveh.                            Preach to them. It goes on..Jonah gets angry at God                            for being merciful! When Jonah preaches to the                                  Ninevites it works! They repent! God forgives and does              not destroy Nineveh. Jonah gets pissed! God                              tolerates.
 
                  Moses argued with God when he was first called to                     lead the hebrews out of captivity. God gave him tools                          and words to say and moses still argued. IÕm not the                      guy for this.
                  paraphrased from The Message, Exodus
 
God is as relentless as a toddler intent upon a cookie jar, but agelessly more mature. His reasons are vastly more complex then getting the cookie. but the degree of focus and intent are the same. They will both have their way one way or another. One way is to wear you down until you give in and perform the task, another is that God could pick someone else for the task and you get to live with the knowledge that you failed to answer Gods call. An interesting point here is that we are the ones who feel guilty, God has no long term memory about these lapses. Once a prophet gets back on track with God, God seems to forget that he was ever off track in the first place.
         God is patient through the people not following the          instructions for the reaping of the manna while in the desert, patient through the golden calf incident, and patient when Moses breaks the original tablets of the       law.
         There is a minor exception in the case of Moses, he did doubt God once too often, and his punishment was not to enter the promised land with the people of Israel, however this cast no shadow on him historically or on his religious significance for the people of Israel. He still won the prize.
                  Speak to the rock, strike it once, it will give water. But                         Moses struck the rock twice. God said: ÒBecause you                    didnÕt trust me; didnÕt treat me with holy reverence in                        front of the people of Israel, you two (Moses and                                  Aaron) arenÕt going to lead this company into the land                        that I am giving themÓ
                  The Message, Numbers 20:2-17
 
         So, the prophets know who they are hearing from. They also know who they are talking to. They are talking to whomever God has instructed them to ranging from Moses conversations with EgyptÕs Pharaoh concerning the captive Israelites, to John the Baptist preparing the Jewish People for the coming Messiah, to Peter, Paul and John speaking to Governors of Rome about the crucified and resurrected Christ.
 
                  With that Peter, full of the spirit let loose: ÒRulers and                         leaders of the people, if we have been brought to trial                       today for helping a sick man, put under investigation                       regarding this healing, IÕll be completely frank with you              – we have nothing to hide. By the name of Jesus Christ             of Nazareth, the one you killed on a cross, the One                    God raised from the dead, by means of his name this                           man stands before you healthy and whole. Jesus is                    the stone you masons threw out, which is now the                         cornerstone. Salvation comes no other way; no other                            name has been or will be given to us by which we can                         be saved, only this one.
                  The Message, Acts 4:12
 
         These people are very clear about who they are speaking too and what they are to say in spite of the fact that they are uneducated and specifically uneducated in the torah. They speak with Spirit inspired elegance and authority.
 
The Greek Philosophers
          The Ancient Greeks had a polytheistic religious structure. There was an elite group of anthropomorphic gods who ran things, caused trouble, and engaged in mischievous behavior with the humans. In many ways the greek people were their play things. And play with them they did. They fought over them, got jealous of each other over them, and even bred with them. It would have been like being ruled over by someone who will be 16 forever!      
         The relationship between the Greek people and the realm of the gods was one of separation. It was only at the benevolence of the gods that humans were ever granted contact. Sometimes a god wanted to get a job done, so a human was conscripted for the task. But there was no Ògreater messageÓ like there was in the case of the prophets. Whenever a greek god hob-knobbed with a human, it was always and only for the gods best interest, and rarely beneficial for the human. Sometimes the result of these trysts were heroes, like Hercules. 
         If a god were ever deliberately approached by a human, it was considered an extreme step out of your place. Your place was certainly NOT to be speaking to gods. (hubris). You would be lucky to survive it.
         So here are the Greeks, with unapproachable gods. What do they do? They start looking around at their universe. They start to wonder about their cosmology. Where did it all come from? What is everything made of? How shall we behave in a social setting? And they start talking to each other about it. And when theyÕve observed it and talked about it, they decide to write it down and see if it can be a system that works.
         Thalese observes the habits and patterns of water, and decides that all things are made up of water, he has a huge explanation for this view.
Anaximenes ÒsourceÓ is air, for Heraclitus it is fire. but wait..fire..we have to stop and look at that.  He figures out that fire is not an element, it is something other, it is in ÒprocessÓ.  Heraclitus connects the universe as a process or in ÒfluxÓ. This thought kicks us up a knotch...and ideas organized in a more sophisticated way come forth..AnaximanderÕs term the ÒboundlessÓ starts to consider the way things work as without limit. Pythagoras ÒnumberÓ. Everything happens in chord harmony. We start seeing identity statements. Parmenides says that everything is solid and therefore everything is matter, and matter ÒisÓ so everything ÒisÓ.  Empedocles puts  elements together in roots: earth, air, fire, water all processes with each other.
         Then out of the blue the atomists show up! They determine that matter is made up of little units called atoms, and that these atoms bond together to perform particular substance and functions. They were so close and without an electron microscope!
         Now the focus of the group of thinkers shifts to humans. How shall we live? And up rise Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Out of these  thinkers comes the study of Metaphysics - What is reality?, Axiology - What is value?, Epistemology - What is truth? Eventually a humanist movement emerges which knows that values and standards are based on man not on the gods.
         All of these aforementioned groups have a primary point in common: They ALL know who they are talking to! Fans and critics alike!  They talk to Each other! BUT who is talking to them?
         Now let us look at the gods a little more closely. There were sky gods, sea gods, earthquake gods, mountain gods. As the Thalese closely observed the behavior of the sea with all its crashing fury, could not the Poseidon, the god of sea and earthquake, be talking to him on some unconscious, primal level?  As  Anaximenes observes the patterns of the wind in the trees and the clouds as they travel across the sky, could not
Zeus, the father of all gods, be speaking to him on some primal sub conscious level? As Heraclitus observes the ÒprocessÓ and then the end of the process, and he begins to apply the process to biological life..could then be Hades, god of the underworld be drawing him to wonder what happens when the process stops?
         Is it at all possible that the gods were in fact talking to the greek thinkers? Based on what we know about Greek mythology, could the gods do it? Sure! If they were IÕm sure that they were trying to make sport of it. Yet another way to make fun of those silly humans. And heaven forbid I be seen by the other gods in rapt discussion of life the universe and everything with a little worm of a human. But an interesting metamorphosis begins to occur...as the humans begin to figure out the world around them, the figuring out becomes the religion.  Eventually the thinking becomes the godhood in a manner of speaking. Think about it..the followers of Socrates, Aristotle, the model of society in PlatoÕs republic. All arisen from the Greek thinkers with no ÒapparentÓ input from the gods. They come up with a pretty good way to life. A pretty good model for ethical behavior.
         Something is astir..if I understand that the sun moves around the earth (I didnÕt say that their observations were correct) and in the moving I can count days and realize that this has something to do with the time of year that rain storms form. And during that time of rainstorms forming, there is thunder and lightning, well wait a minute, thunder and lightning does not have anything to do with a god perhaps named Zeus. So in short  order because of keeping the distance between themselves and the humans,  the greek gods become obsolete. They are made obsolete by the very humans who used to rely on them for life..because now they begin to understand life the universe and everything on their own. And with this comes persecution - in the case of Socrates. We canÕt have you polluting the minds of our young people with these thoughts about how to live a good life.
         So in conclusion, I suggest that the gods were in fact talking to the Greek thinkers. Perhaps the prophets of Ancient Israel and the Greek thinkers are not so far apart after all.
         As an aside, itÕs funny, when the greek thinkers, and philosophers in general for that matter, come up against the unexplainable..if they donÕt drop it like a hot potato,  they get really creative and some really amusing tales emerge. But thatÕs another story.