Transcript Prophecy - Appalachian State University

Power
The Functioning of the Apparatus of
the State
Michel Foucault
“What I want to say is that relations of power, and
hence the analysis that is to be made of them,
necessarily extend beyond the limits of the state.
In two senses: first of all because the state, for all
the omnipotence of its apparatuses, is far from
being able to occupy the whole field of actual
power relations, and further because the state can
only operate on the basis of other, already
existing power relations. The state is
superstructural in relation to a whole series of
power networks that invest the body, sexuality,
kinship, knowledge, technology, and so forth.”
Prophets

Nabi – prophet

Hozeh – visionary

Roeh – seer

Ish elohim – man (person)
of God

Amos 7:14-15
“I am no prophet, nor a
prophet’s son; but I am a
herdsman, and a dresser
of sycamore trees, and the
Lord took me from
following the flock, and the
Lord said to me, ‘Go,
prophesy to my people
Israel.”
Isaiah 6: 1-5
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne,
high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs
were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they
covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with
two they flew. And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is full of his glory.”
The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called,
and the house filled with smoke. And I said, “Woe is me! I am lost,
for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean
lips; yet my eyes have seen the Lord of hosts!”
Ms 252, Utrecht (1423-1425)
Isaiah 6: 6-8
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding
a live coal that had been taken from the
altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph
touched my mouth with it and said: “Now
that this has touched your lips, your guilt
has departed and your sin is blotted out.”
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
“Whom shall I send, and who will go for
us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”
Call of Isaiah
A Few Notes

Isaiah is in the temple.

Sees (v1), hears (v3,
8), touch/maybe taste
(vv6-7), smells (v4)

Heavenly beings in the
sodh or council of God

Commissioned with a
specific message and
a duration of service
(vv 9-13)
Jeremiah’s call
1:4-5
Now the word of the Lord
came to me saying,
“Before I formed you in the
womb I knew you, and
before you were born, I
consecrated you; I
appointed you a prophet to
the nations.”

Note Jeremiah’s priestly
heritage and how that
would shape his life
expectations

Compare 16:1-13 to look
at how his life turned out
differently
Jeremiah’s call (continued)

Then I said, “Ah, Lord
God! Truly I do not know
how to speak, for I am
only a boy.” But the Lord
said to me, “Do not say, ‘I
am only a boy’: for you
shall go to all whom I send
you, and you shall speak
whatever I command you.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver
you says the Lord.”

Compare to Moses in
Exodus 4
Jason Hiles, artist
Jeremiah’s call (continued)

Then the Lord put out his
hand and touched my
mouth; and the Lord said
to me, “Now I have put
your words in your mouth.
See, today, I appoint you
over nations and over
kingdoms, to pluck up and
to pull down, to destroy
and overthrow, to build
and to plant.”

Notice again the touching
of the mouth

Jeremiah is empowered
over the organizations of
nations and states

2/3 of the message is
negative; 1/3 is positive
The Pressure of Such a Life

See Jeremiah 20:7-12




Claims he was seduced
and overpowered by God
Tries to resist God, but
cannot
He is a laughingstock in
the community
Even his friends oppose
him

Jeremiah 26:7ff




Preaches a sermon where
the temple is threatened
People want him dead
Put on trial and must
defend his (God’s) words
Saved due to the memory
of Micah’s words years
before
Jeremiah – Sistine Chapel
Jeremiah Mourning the Fall of
Jerusalem -- Rembrandt
Ezekiel’s Call (chapters 1-3)

He is in exile (1:1-3)
and by the river
Chebar

Has a wild vision of
the throne of God and
all the surrounding
attendants
Laurence Gardner, artist
More on Ezekiel’s Call

“Mortal, I am sending you to
the people of Israel, to a
nation of rebels who have
rebelled against me; they and
their ancestors have
transgressed against me to
this very day”

I looked, and a hand was
stretched out to me, and a
written scroll was on in it. He
spread it before me; it had
writing on the front and on the
back, and written on it were
words of lamentation and
mourning and woe. He said to
me, “O, mortal, eat what is
offered to you, eat this scroll.”

Tasted as sweet as honey
Ezekiel’s Vision -- Raphael
The Vision of the Prophet Ezekiel-Vrubel
Some Life Consequences for Ezekiel

24:16-18 Mortal, with one
blow I am about to take
away from you the delight
of your eyes; yet you shall
not mourn or weep, nor
shall your tears run
down….So I spoke to the
people in the morning, and
at evening my wife died.
And on the next morning I
did as I was commanded.

Forbidding to him to
mourn his own wife’s
death at God’s hands is a
lesson for the people.

His life is a prophecy
What Makes A Prophet

Call of God

Their words come true


Access to the
heavenly council or
sodh

I Kings 22:19-23
Deut 18:22 If a prophet
speaks in the name of
the Lord but the thing
does not take place or
prove true, it is a word
the Lord has not
spoken. The prophet
has spoken
presumptuously; do not
be frightened by it.”