CHAPTER 2
Early Prophets
After the fire, a still small voice.
1 KINGS 19:12
ULTIMATELY, UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF JOSHUA and his successors, the Israelites became settled in the “promised land.” Prophets appeared from time to time to bring the word of God and remind them of the importance of obeying God’s commandments and living ethically and morally.
The phenomenon of prophecy was not uncommon in the ancient Near East, and it encompassed different types of behavior.33 In the Bible, the most frequently used term for “prophet” is navi, which probably comes from the Akkadian nabi’um – “the called one,” pointing to the prophets’ experience of being called by God.34 The term was generally used for prophetic speech on behalf of God, and sometimes for the ecstatic behavior of the bands of prophets associated with the early prophets Samuel and Elijah, in the eleventh and ninth centuries BCE. Other terms used in the Bible for the prophet are hozeh (seer), ro’eh (seer), ish elohim (man of God), eved (slave or servant of God), and ro‘eh (shepherd)*, but navi became the most widely used and all-inclusive term.
The nevi’im (plural of navi) of the ancient Near East generally upheld the forms of worship prevalent in their communities and provided optimistic predictions for the aristocracies. They reassured the monarchs, priests, and military leaders by casting oracles, interpreting dreams, “divining,” and the like. Biblical writings reveal that some Israelite prophets probably also began their careers in this way, but once they were truly called by God and had personal experience of ruah ha-kodesh, God’s word, they broke away from their origins and adopted the transmission of the divine will as their only purpose.35
Inevitably, once they had the direct experience of the divine, they became a destabilizing influence on the social hierarchy. They didn’t hesitate to express their disgust at the exploitation of the downtrodden and the corruption of the aristocratic and wealthy classes. Criticizing the sacrifices, pilgrimages, and other forms of worship, they urged greater moral action as a way of adhering to God, focusing on the rights of the widow, orphan, poor, and disadvantaged. They also preached against syncretistic cults which combined the devotion to YHWH with worship of the fertility goddess Asherah and other deities. It has been said that the mission of the Hebrew prophets was one of truth, not of validation or flattery. They acted as the conscience of the community. Their voice was cacophonous, like thunder and bolts of lightning that disturb a calm summer evening. This is because they were galvanized by their personal experience of God which would not let them rest. In speaking about the power of the prophet’s speech, A. J. Heschel, the noted twentieth-century philosopher and teacher, wrote in his inspiring work The Prophets: “The prophet not only conveys; he reveals; … in his words, the invisible God becomes audible.… Divine power bursts in the words. The authority of the prophet is in the Presence his words reveal.”36
The writings of the prophets are full of references to their personal experience of the divine, of the word or holy spirit of God. It has been suggested by scholars like Aryeh Kaplan that these experiences came to them through the practice of various forms of meditation, which raised them to a “prophetic state.” No doubt the stages they reached in this meditative state may have differed from individual to individual, but it would be safe to say that they reached some degree of spiritual attainment. It is possible to conclude, even from a casual reading of the texts, that they had inner experiences of light and sound, of fire and storm, visions of angels and other nonphysical beings, and even of God seated on his throne.
So while it seems evident that the biblical prophets engaged in inner spiritual practice, it is hard to determine what their meditation techniques consisted of. The term hitbodedut is most commonly associated with the prophets’ form of meditation. It was this term that was used, for example, in relationship to Moses and Joshua’s inner meditation. Another term used is hagut or hagah, which may refer to a type of “mantra meditation, in which a word or sound is repeated over and over.”*Hagah can also mean to contemplate, and was used in association with the experience of spiritual light and sound, as in the prophet Ezekiel’s vision.
The difficulty in identifying the precise techniques used by the prophets is that over time the terms used to describe their meditation have been used for various external types of worship or contemplation, and thus have lost their mystical meaning in the modern context. There are few scholars who have taken it upon themselves to trace back the original, authentic meanings of these terms. One of these scholars was Aryeh Kaplan, a respected twentieth-century rabbi and practicing mystic, who focused on the mystical dimension of the prophets’ writings. Thus, while many contemporary religious authorities emphasize only the prophets’ moral teachings, scholars like Kaplan reveal the prophets’ strong inner spiritual focus. Kaplan remarked:
Many people consider the prophets of the Bible to be nothing more than spokesmen and agitators, who spoke out against the wrongs of their people and governments. What is not generally known is the fact that these prophets were among the greatest mystics of all times, actively engaged in the loftiest meditative techniques.37
The biblical texts, with a few bold brushstrokes, paint the prophets as larger than life, revealing intimate emotions and spiritual yearning, their states of higher consciousness and inner communion with the divine, their anguish and frustration at the resistance they encountered as they sacrificed themselves in fulfilling God’s mission. And in these texts we get a sense of the divine presence revealing itself to them and, through them, to their followers and ultimately to us.
Textual scholars have found that the sayings and poetic writings of the prophets are the most authentic parts of the prophetic books of the Bible. They have demonstrated that the narratives, colored by predictions of forthcoming natural disasters and political upheavals, were heavily altered by later compilers and editors who sought to bolster the agenda of the political and religious establishment. Fortunately, through the powerful and inspiring eloquence of the prophets’ poetic writings, the spiritual dimension of their teachings reveals itself, and the reality of their relationship with the divine can become as immediate to us as it was for their own disciples.38
Of the early prophets, however, little of their authentic teaching is available to us, while of the later prophets we have texts of their original words, published in their names. The early prophets, who lived between the eleventh and ninth centuries BCE, are mostly known to us through legends and miracle stories recounted in the books of Samuel and Kings. But despite this, what comes through is their intense and often-ecstatic experience of God, and their extreme loyalty to him despite danger to themselves.
Samuel
Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth
with all your heart.
1 SAMUEL 12:24
In the eleventh century BCE, the child Samuel, who ministered to Eli, the high priest in the city of Shiloh (a northern shrine), heard God calling him by name. This was at a time when “the word of the Lord was rare” among the Israelites (1 Samuel 3:1), implying that the community had lost touch with the spiritual teachings. In the story, Samuel doesn’t realize God is calling him, but ultimately God calls again and Samuel answers, “Speak; for your servant is listening.… And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground” (1 Samuel 3:19).
And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew
that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord.
And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh;
for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh
by the word of the Lord.
1 SAMUEL 3:20–21
The prophets were God’s emissaries to the people with a divine mission to convey his will. They were the leaders in spiritual and worldly realms. But after some time the people clamored for a king. The Bible narrates that God eventually agreed, and mandated that the king would share in the prophetic responsibility. The prophet anointed the king, and by so doing he shared his power and influence with the worldly ruler. Anointing symbolized his divine selection. Samuel anointed the first kings of Israel – Saul and David.
Thus even the king’s worldly tasks were divinely ordained, and the king needed to be spiritually prepared to undertake them. This is because the temporal leadership of the people was derived from spiritual experience. God guided the prophets, and once the monarchy was established, he guided the kings also, through the prophets. Samuel’s anointing of Saul would become the hallmark of divine selection of prophet, king, and priest in early Israelite religion, which would be carried over into the concept of the messiah – the anointed one. The king becomes a spiritual leader or master, at least potentially or symbolically. In practice, as we see in reading the Bible, they often did not live up to their anointing.
The historic account emphasizes that Samuel provided spiritual guidance to the people at a time when they were becoming a nation and gaining a political and national identity. He reminded them not to forget who their real King was, and of their deep and abiding relationship with Him.
The essence of the prophetic teaching is the spiritual guidance the prophet provides to the people. Samuel spoke humbly of his role as prophet in teaching the people and in intervening on their behalf:
Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way. Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart; and consider how great things he has done for you. But if you shall still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.
1 SAMUEL 12:23–25
But Saul was weak and disobedient, distrusted Samuel, and then became depressed. The spirit of God left Saul and went to David, his son’s friend and fellow warrior, and an evil spirit took hold of Saul. Saul became jealous of David and tried to kill him. Eventually, when he felt unable to get guidance from the prophet nor directly from God himself, he sought the help of a spirit medium, which was prohibited under the covenantal law that allowed only the worship of YHWH.
When Saul sent his messengers to find David in order to kill him, they found him in the company of Samuel and his band of disciples, all “prophesying” – inspired and transformed by the spirit of the Lord. So Saul’s messengers also prophesied – they all entered into the ecstatic prophetic state, overcome by the consciousness of the divine presence. Finally, Saul himself came to Samuel, and he too experienced the divine ecstasy. This was Samuel’s way of taking Saul’s consciousness away from the negative act he was about to perpetrate, and keeping him within God’s will. And Saul became transformed by his inner experience in meditation.
And Saul sent messengers to take David; and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as chief over them, the spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also. Then went he also to Ramah, and came to a great pit that is in Sechu; and he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? And one said, Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah. And he went there to Naioth in Ramah; and the spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. And he also stripped off his clothes, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?
1 SAMUEL 19:20–24
It is interesting that in this poignant story of prophet and king, we can see at close hand the role of the prophet with his disciples – as mediator with God, as teacher, conveyer of the holy spirit, spiritual guide, anointer of the king, and as comforter.
David: The prophet-king
By day the Lord will command His lovingkindness,
And in the night His song shall be with me.
psalms 42:9
In David, the roles of prophet and king come together, and it is his anointing as king that later becomes a metaphor for the messiah in the Jewish imagination.
What were the qualities that were combined in David that made him the ideal prophet-king? He is portrayed in his youth as sensitive and spiritually minded, a shepherd who plays on the harp, “the beloved of God.” Tending sheep, as we have seen, was a common occupation of the prophets as it kept them humble, trained to care for their flock of disciples, and gave them ample time for meditation. David is portrayed as beautiful, with a pure heart. With his anointing, “the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.” From then on, he was a receptacle for the ruah ha-kodesh, the holy spirit.
David’s spiritual stature is underscored in another beautiful passage from the book of Samuel, in which David speaks to his people just before his death. The narrator uses three metaphors for David’s spiritual calling – as “the man who was raised up on high,” “the anointed of the God of Jacob,” and “the sweet singer of Israel.” David addresses the people, declaring that it was the spirit of the Lord, the word of God, that spoke through him in ruling them. It was this spirit that laid down certain spiritual principles and qualities needed in a divinely appointed ruler.
And these are the last words of David.
David the son of Jesse said,
and the man who was raised up on high,
The anointed of the God of Jacob,
and the sweet singer of Israel, said,
The spirit of the Lord spoke by me,
and his word was in my tongue.
The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me,
He who rules over men must be just,
ruling in the fear of God.
And he shall be as the light of the morning,
when the sun rises, a morning without clouds;
As the tender grass springing out of the earth
by clear shining after rain.
2 SAMUEL 23:1–4
The biblical Psalms are a large body of hymns that are attributed to David, and contribute to the tradition of his being a prophet-king, appropriately called the “sweet singer of Israel” who played the harp and danced for God.* Many of the psalms have a mystical strength and seem connected with a practice of meditation and the experience of the spiritual light and source of life within. For example:
Be still and know that I am God.
PSALMS 46:11
I recall You on my couch,
I meditate [hagah] on you in the night watches.
PSALMS 63:7
For with Thee is the fountain of life;
in Thy light do we see light.
PSALMS 36:10
In others psalms, he appeals to God to protect him from his enemies, which can be understood symbolically as his own weaknesses that assailed him. Here is one psalm that is well loved by people from all cultures and religious backgrounds as it speaks to the inner peace and strength that come from the Lord:
A Psalm of David.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul;
he leads me in the paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; for you are with me;
your rod and your staff comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness shall follow me
all the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
PSALMS 23:1–6
The Psalms were generally sung in the Temple, and later were also recited by individuals at home. Devotional music was associated with the state of prophecy, and so the linking of David with the Psalms establishes him not just as a worldly monarch but as a spiritual adept who plunged within his own mind and soul and drew on the divine music and light he experienced. Joseph Blenkinsopp remarks that there is a tradition that David founded the guild of Temple musicians, who discharged their functions by “virtue of prophetic inspiration … the composition and rendition of liturgical music was a form of prophecy. In the act of worship, prophetic and poetic inspiration came together.”39
The biblical stories about David’s life are contradictory: some present him as a spiritually elevated soul, a prophet, some as a man who struggled with his own weaknesses. There is a rather candid story, for example, that he sinned through lust for another man’s wife, had her husband killed, and then deeply repented for his actions. There are a number of instances where he suffered greatly on account of his weaknesses and sought God’s forgiveness. Since these stories were compiled at least four centuries after David would have lived, it is possible that legends ascribed to several people have been combined, creating contradictions. Or perhaps the stories are meant as morality tales to demonstrate that no one, not even a king, stands above moral laws. Even the king has to pay for his actions.
The Israelite king was meant to be an extension of the divine will in the temporal sphere. He was, after all, anointed by the prophet to extend the prophet’s influence into the worldly sphere, to fulfill God’s will in the world. That was the origin of the monarchy in Israel.
As king, David was considered the starting point of a divinely appointed perpetual lineage, but few of his successors could live up to the standard of spirituality demanded by God and the prophets. Because David conquered the city of Jerusalem from the Jebus tribe and made it his capital, Jerusalem later became associated with the idea of a king-prophet-messiah – a spiritual leader who would retrieve his people from exile and rule from Jerusalem, a prophet who would have not only spiritual influence but worldly power as well.
There is a continuing debate among scholars as to whether references in the prophetic books to the Davidic covenant, in which God promises the eternal leadership of Israel to a king-messiah from David’s lineage, may have been added to these texts after the fact. It would appear that the reputation of David was greatly embellished by later writers who wished to establish his stature in both spiritual and worldly spheres, and also to validate the claims of later kings to divine appointment and approval. Despite this, however, we can still get an idea of the type of living spiritual teacher being projected in the Bible through the figure of David.
Prophets and their disciples
Scholars agree that there were lines of succession among the
Israelite prophets even where they do not refer to their predecessors by
name.40 The “sons of the prophets” is a term used for groups of
prophets-in-training or junior prophets associated with the earlier
ecstatic prophets like Samuel, Elijah, and Elisha. As the prophets
wandered from place to place among the people, their “sons” or disciples
would accompany them. Similarly, many centuries later, “schools” of
prophets gathered around the anonymous visionaries whose writings have
come down to us under the name of Isaiah.
The eighteenth-century kabbalist Rabbi Moshe Hayim Luzzatto wrote about what was required of a biblical prophet:
One must realize that a prophet does not attain this highest level all at once. He must elevate himself step by step until he actually attains full prophecy.
Prophecy therefore requires a course of apprenticeship, just as other disciplines and crafts, where one must advance step by step until the subject is mastered thoroughly. This explains what the Bible means when it speaks of the “sons of the prophets.” These were the ones who apprenticed themselves to recognized prophets in order to learn the necessary techniques of prophecy.
Those who train themselves for prophecy must do so through a number of specific disciplines. The purpose of these is to bring the Highest Influence to bear on them, nullifying the effects of their physical nature, which restricts it. In this manner, they attach themselves to God and bring upon themselves a revelation of his light.
These disciplines can include various meditations, reciting certain divine names, and praising God with prayers containing such Names, combined in a specific manner.
The main initiation into prophecy, however, depends on the neophyte’s devotion to God. To the degree that they make themselves worthy through their deeds and continually purify themselves through the above-mentioned disciplines, they bring themselves closer and closer to God. The prophetic influence begins to come on them, and they finally attain true prophecy.
All this, however, requires the guidance of a master prophet. He must have an adequate knowledge of the prophetic methods, and be able to teach his disciples what each one must do to attain the desired result, according to each one’s particular level of readiness.41
Blenkinsopp writes that “Samuel was the leader or ‘father’ of an ecstatic brotherhood, not unlike the sheik presiding at a later date over the Sufi dervish community.”42 The philosopher and commentator Abarbanel writes about the Academy of the Prophets who were attached to Samuel and followed a meditation practice: “It appears that Naioth was a place near Ramah, where the prophets stayed. It was a place set aside for their meditations, where they would go and seek the word of God. The Targum (Commentary) therefore states that it was the ‘Academy of the Prophets.’”43 And Kaplan also writes that “Samuel taught and directed the ‘sons of the prophets,’ his disciples, … preparing them to perceive the prophetic influx. They would go to this hill to meditate (le-hitboded) and seek prophecy because of the influence of the Ark of God, which was kept there.”44
Elijah and Elisha: The ecstatics
Almost two centuries after Samuel and David, in the early ninth
century BCE, the prophets Elijah and Elisha appeared in the north. Many
of the legends about them and their miracles were also told about other
“holy men” preceding them, so it is difficult to make any claims to
historical accuracy. These were legends current in that period about
spiritual masters of myth and pre-history. That said, Elijah and Elisha
remain important prophets in Israelite history and Jewish
consciousness.
Elijah is portrayed as a passionate ecstatic and a miracle worker. In the scriptural account, he is in perennial conflict with the Israelite King Ahab, the evil queen Jezebel, and all the prophets of the Ba’al cult, whose worship involved temple prostitution and other immoral behavior. Elijah is the truth-teller, the challenger of authority; he is charismatic and fearless. He warns the people to reaffirm their devotion to God and the moral life embodied in the covenant. He draws his strength from his direct communion with God, from his experience of the holy name or word.
In the text, Elijah is called the “servant” of God. What does this term reveal about his relationship with the divine?
And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things by thy word.
1 KINGS 18:36
The Bible says that the true servant of God is the one who “walks before Him with all his heart,”45 in other words, the one who follows the path that God has indicated for him, in total devotion. God’s servant is he who has “done all these things at thy [God’s] word.” He has totally surrendered himself to the divine will. His actions are only the implementation of His will.
Throughout the narrative, we read that the word of God “comes” to Elijah. This means that the ruah ha-kodesh manifests within him; that he rises to the level of consciousness saturated with the divine presence, and that it guides his teachings and his actions.
After an incident in which he prevailed over the 450 prophets of the Canaanite god Ba’al, he ran to Mount Horeb. There he hid in a cave where he meditated for a lengthy period, and “the word of the Lord came to him” and asked him what he had been doing. He explained that he was defending the covenant, the divine teaching, and now the prophets of Ba’al sought to kill him. Then God’s power manifested itself to him in the form of earthquake, strong wind, fire, and violent sounds. These may be symbolic references to the lights and sounds of the inner planes of consciousness, experienced in the state of mystic awareness. Ultimately, within the power of these spiritual lights and sounds he clearly heard “the still small voice,” the voice of God – the will of God.
And he said, Go out, and stand upon the mount
before the Lord.
And, behold, the Lord passed by,
and a great and strong wind tore the mountains,
and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord;
But the Lord was not in the wind;
and after the wind an earthquake;
But the Lord was not in the earthquake;
And after the earthquake a fire;
but the Lord was not in the fire;
And after the fire, a still small voice.
1 KINGS 19:11–12
Kaplan writes that the visions of the biblical prophets, their experiences of God, came about through the deep meditation and tranquility achieved with the state of hitbodedut:
The spiritual power and enlightenment that is the most important element of the prophetic experience is not found in the whirlwind or earthquake, but in the “still small voice” of utter tranquility. This is a state that is attained through deep meditation.46
At Elijah’s time of death, he did not experience a physical death. Rather, we are told that he ascended to heaven in a chariot of light and sound. This vision was interpreted by later Jewish mystics as an inner spiritual journey to the higher realms or stages of consciousness, not a physical ascent. Along with the other-worldly chariot vision of the prophet Ezekiel (sixth century BCE), it became the reference point or paradigm for the meditation practice and inner spiritual journey of later generations of Jewish mystics. Elisha, Elijah’s disciple, had the vision of Elijah’s ascent in the chariot. Elijah’s power – a double portion of his spirit – came to Elisha. Elisha assumed Elijah’s role as prophet; symbolizing his succession, he took Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen to the ground. The text also says that Elisha poured water on the hands of Elijah, a poetic metaphor for his relationship of devotion and service to his master (2 Kings 3:11). At the moment of Elijah’s death, Elisha saw him ascend bodily in the chariot of fire.
And it came to pass, as they still went on,
and talked, that, behold,
There appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire,
and separated them one from the other;
And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven.
And Elisha saw it, and he cried,
My father, my father, the chariot of Israel,
and its horsemen.
And he saw him no more;
and he took hold of his own clothes,
and tore them in two pieces.
He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him,
and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan;
And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him,
and struck the waters, and said,
Where is the Lord God of Elijah?
And when he also had struck the waters,
they parted to one side and to the other;
and Elisha went over.
And when the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho
saw him,
They said, The spirit of Elijah does rest on Elisha.
And they came to meet him,
and bowed to the ground before him.
2 Kings 2:11–15
The biblical narrative doesn’t give much detail about what these early prophets taught or about their day-to-day relationship with their disciples. We see them more as miracle-workers, clairvoyants, challengers to moral evil manifested in the physical world. Many of the stories about Elijah and Elisha, such as the revival of a dead child, are ancient legends that have been ascribed to them. However, we do get glimpses here and there, in the descriptions of their inner visions and experiences of God’s word or voice, that it was their inner communion with God that guided them in ministering to their community.