thou shalt be come there into the city, thou shalt meet there a company of prophets (D'') coming down from the high places, with psaltery and timbrel and pipe and harp before them, and they shall be prophesying. And the spirit of Yahweh shall come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be changed into another man." (x, 5, 6). The continuation of the narrative bears out the prophecy of Samuel. In another passage in the same book (xix, 18-24), these same Nebi'im are once more introduced, and Saul too. David had just taken refuge with Samuel to escape the wrath of Saul. When Saul heard of it he sent emissaries to take David. "And when they saw a company of prophets prophesying, and Samuel presiding over them, the spirit of Yahweh came also upon them, and they likewise began to prophesy. And when this was told Saul, he sent other messengers; but they also prophesied. And again Saul sent messengers the third time; and they prophesied also. And Saul being exceeding angry, went also himself to Rama, and came as far as the great cistern which is in Socho, and he asked, and said: In what place are Samuel and David? And it was told him: Behold they are in Najoth in Rama. And he went to Najoth in Rama, and the spirit of Yahweh came upon him also, and he stripped himself also of his garments and prophesied with the rest before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and night." There is no room for mistake in the distinction to be made between the "Seer," the "man of God" and an ordinary member of a company of "Nebi'im." Not only are their functions considerably different; they differ also in the names they bear. This is shown The only passage in the Bible where Samuel is called Nabi is in I Sam. iii, 20: "And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-Sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of Yahweh." But this verse does not convey by any means the early traditional terminology. This latter appears clearly in the narrative contained in I Sam. ix. It should be remarked also that verse 21 is the natural sequence of verse 19, and Nowack, in his commentary admits here an inversion and translates verse 20 after 21. The LXX has after verse 21 a conclusion analogous to verse 20: "And Samuel was established as a prophet from one end of the land to the other...." May it not be that v, 20, was a marginal gloss which was later inserted into the text, and thus placed in the LXX at a different place from that which fell to it in the Hebrew? It is possible. But to the present writer it seems more probable that the entire passage standing by way of conclusion to the prophetic work of Samuel (iii, 19—iv, 1) is the work of the redactor of the Books of Samuel, who wrote at an epoch when the terminology had already changed. It is indeed true that in Genesis (xx, 7) Abraham is called a Nabi, and Moses in Deut. xviii, 15, but these honorific titles reflect the use of the word in later times. Moreover, they are employed but by an ancient gloss (found in I Sam. ix, 9, but which belongs after v, ii), where Samuel is called a "seer." The gloss states that "in times past in Israel when a man went to consult God, he spoke thus: Come, let us go to the seer. For he that is now called a prophet, in time past was called a scer." Moreover, the distinction between the Seer or prophet of a higher order, and the Nabi, or prophet of a lower order, rests on other biblical documents of a pre-exilic date, which we shall examine in due time. The distinction is one which cannot be neglected or misunderstood without leading to an over-estimation of the office of the Nebi'im or an under-estimation of that of the "men of God." From the fact that these Nebi'im are first mentioned in the time of Samuel and are rather closely connected with him, many authors have concluded that he was their founder. We believe this to be rarely and have no justification in the context, for the characteristics of the Nabi or Prophet in the period of the Kings do not belong to either Abraham or Moses as these personages are described in the Bible. Later on we find that in Ecclesiasticus Joshua also is associated with Moses as a prophet, xlvi, 1. "I Sam. ix, 9, interrupts the narrative and furnishes an explanation of verse 11, whence we conclude that its proper place is after verse 11. These two reasons are sufficient to show that verse 9 was a later insertion. On this point the commentators are pretty well agreed, but there is more divergence of opinion wher, it is question of determining the sense of the gloss. E. Koenig (Offenbarungsbegriff ...I, p. 59-60) prefers the rendering of the LXX, viz., "the people formerly called the prophet a 'Seer'." According to this the glossator meant to signify that the people gave the name of Seer to Samuel, who was a Nabi, and thus explain why Saul and his comrade made use of that term. To the present writer this explanation of the learned exegete does not seem to be the true one. Taken in its obvious sense I Sam. ix, 9b, does not indicate an opposition between the popular terminology and the ancient one as more correct. This notion could hardly have been in the mind of the glossator, else he would have expressed it more clearly, and besides, he would not have omitted the correction of verse 19, where Samuel himself calls himself a Seer. If the reading of the LXX is to be preferred, it should not be made to express an opposition to that of the Hebrew text. Franckh (Die Prophetie in der Zeitvor Amus. Beitrage zur Forderung christlichen Theologie. 1205, p. 31-32) is entirely mistaken with regard to the sense of I Sam. ix, 9, when he says: "The remark indicates clearly that the term Nabi replaced the older term Roch... . It follows that down to the time of Samuel, the word Nabi was not used, even if we suppose that it was known. If this be the case, we cannot escape the conclusion that the change in the terminology was brought about only by the introduction of a new institution or form of prophecy." Whence he concludes that before Samuel there was no Nabi! It was not, however, so hard to see that I Sam. ix, 9, has reference only to the use of the word Roch; the verse says nothing as to the term Nabi, and the following chapter shows clearly that there were then associated with the Seer Samuel, and far inferior to him, a great number of Nebiim. We shall see also by reason of what circumstances the change of terminology took place. "Frankh, Die Prophetie in der Zeit vor Amos, p. 32-53, 85. J. Réville, l. c., p.13; incorrect. They existed before the period of Samuel. This opinion is not based exclusively, nor even primarily, on the Elohistic passage in Numbers xi, 25-30. For the narrative itself gives proof that the seventy elders were not 'prophets" in any lasting or regular way. It may be added that not all authors admit the historical value of the narrative. But what seems to be a decisive argument in favor of our view can be drawn from the narrative in I Sam. ix, in which the Nebi'im are first introduced to our attention. Here they are spoken of as an institution which no longer excites the wonder of the people, no more than the meeting with some Israelites, who are on their way to the sanctuary to offer their kids, loaves, and wine (x, 4). The relations between Samuel and the Nebi'im were not perhaps as int mate as has generally been supposed. For it is well to note that they are not attested by any other texts than the narrative in I Sam. xix, 19-24, which is generally conceded to be of relatively recent origin. We are of the opinion that this sort of prophetism existed in Israel before the times of Samuel. In view of the silence of the oldest texts, it will be more profitable not to delay over conjectures about the origins of the Lower Prophetism in Israel. There The documents on the history of David and Solomon do not speak of the companies of Nebi'im. However, they had not disappeared. For we learn that in the ninth century, when the impious Jezabel caused the slaughter of the prophets of Yahweh, Abdias concealed fifty of them in each of two caves (I Kings xviii, 3-5). must therefore have been a good number of them in the Northern Kingdom. In spite of the recent massacre, Achab was able to consult four hundred of them on the war which he was undertaking with Josaphat against the Syrians. At this epoch, we may here remark, the Nebi'im were already consulted about the future. And this we take to be a pretty clear indication that they had gained in importFor their brethren of the days of Samuel did not seem to busy Mgr. Meignan, l. c., p. 13, 14; F. Vigouroux (La Sainte Bible polyglotte, ii, p. 391) also affirms that Samuel was the founder of the schools of the prophets, but critics are more and more ranging themselves on the opposite side. See v. g., Cornill, 1. c., p. 27-28. ance. "This narrative as well as the story in I Sam. x, 10-13, has for its object to give an explanation of an old saying, viz: Is Saul also among the prophets?" It is in a way a replica of the first, but it is to be remarked that the situation is far more strange and marvelous. Saul begins to prophesy before he has seen the Nebiim on the route to Ramah! See in this connection the commentaries of Budde, Smith, Nowack, etc., who are agreed that the story in I Sam. xix, 18 24, is very recent and of no historical value. themselves about predicting the future, nor were they consulted about it. They seem now to have gotten nearer to the type of the Seer. If this view be correct, we can more easily understand the change in the meaning of the word Nabi'. The interpolation I Sam. ix, 9, informs us that the Israelites of olden day applied the term Seer N to those who in the writer's own time were called Nabi.' This change is more easy to account for if in the course of history the Nebi'im had raised themselves in respect and importance.' The view we have advanced is also in perfect accord with the story of the taking up of Elias (III Kings ii, 1-18); and with that of the miracle of Eliseus (ibid. iv, 38-41). In the first narrative we learn that the "sons of the prophets" whom Elias and Eliseus, on their way from Gilgal (the Gilgal south-west of Silo) to Jericho, met at Bethel and at Jericho, knew the future (3, 5). But here also, as in the passages examined above, a difference can be noted between the sons of the prophets and Elias and Eliseus. "Seeing this (the separation of the waters of Jordan) the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho, over against him, said: The spirit of Elias hath rested on Eliseus. And coming to meet him, they worshipped him, falling to the ground." The man of God was far superior in dignity to the Nabi,' or member of the company of prophets. Eliseus even seems to have been at the head of a company of prophets (II Kings iv, 38; vi, 7); and the relations of the latter with Elias seem to have been very intimate (II Kings ii, 3, 5, 15). From the eighth century on we find but little said about the Nebi'im. Amos, when attacked by the priest of Bethel for prophesying evils to the Northern Kingdom, says that he is not a Nabi' nor a son of a prophet; that on the contrary Yahweh has called him and given him the mission to prophesy, without any previous training (ch. vii). It can be inferred from this dialogue between a schismatic priest and a prophet in.the eighth century that certain prophets by personal vocation came forth from the societies of Nebi'im. And this too helps to explain the change of title noted in I Sam. x, 9. The fall of Samaria and the suppression of the Northern Kingdom, in 722, the exile of a large part of its inhabitants, and the Assyrian 'Also I Kings xiii, and xx, 35-40, can be quoted in favor of that opinion. It is hard to determine the epoch of the change in the signification of the word Nabi. According to the Hebrew and English Lexicon of Brown, Driver and Briggs, "the change probably occurred in the times of Elijah," and we are of the opinion that this judgment is not far from the truth. colonization naturally tended to smother the religious enthusiasm which characterized the Nebi'im of old. Even in the Southern Kingdom during the century and a half that it survived the fall of the Kingdom of Israel, the Nebi'im seem to have dwindled in numbers and influence. At least the texts make mention of them no more. Perhaps the reform of Josias and the centralization so energetically carried out by that pious monarch had an influence on the decline of the Nebi'im. However this may be, the literature of the Restoration period no longer presents the picture of the Nabi' enthusiast whose songs and music and ecstatic poses are described in the ancient sources of the books of Samuel and Kings. Having now seen the history of the Nebi'im, we must proceed to study them at closer range in order to estimate the institution from the point of view of its religious significance. Through lack of a clear distinction between the prophets by profession and the prophets by vocation, Mgr. Meignan has given a description of the ancient Nebi'im which is altogether fanciful. "In the quiet retreats which the Bible calls Nayoth' (the dwellings)...took refuge the young Israelites whom God called to a life of piety and study; they lived under the care of a master who taught them the Law. They were trained to sing to the accompaniment of the Kinnor. Despite the fact of their life in common, most of them were married men; but they left their families, lived in very narrow cells, and ate together their frugal meals. At stated times all met together in spacious halls. There they performed their exercises of piety and listened to the words of the master, the father....They worked also in the fields, and built their own dwelling-places. But the basis of their life was prayer and study. They devoted themselves to the task of penetrating the secret of the destinies of Israel, of knowing the present and the future. They kept alive the recollection of the olden prophecies and promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But this life of discipline and rule did not rob them of all liberty and initiative. They were allowed to give vent to special inspirations of zeal and of the love of. God, especially in their songs and addresses." Les Prophètes d'Israel, p. 15, 16. |