THE THEOLOGIANS TO THEOLOGIANS
This is the second part of the introduction to the book of Isaiah. Read the first part here.
I have used Isaiah to introduce the general theological view of all the canonical prophets in the Bible. Prophets are the theologians of the Bible. They are the custodians of the oracles of God and most importantly, the interpreters of the will and message of God. Whoever attempts the study of God is a theologian; however, every theologian needs a theologian to help him appreciate his task.
Who were the Prophets?
The prophets of Israel were the theologians to all the believers (theologians) and their role was to guide and interpret what they (Believers) taught and thought about God. Prophets were not predictors of the future events, neither were they fortune-tellers. Prophets were analysts, change agents, and public whistleblowers. Prophets were theologians and men who challenged the status quo both in church and state in relation to the will of God. Biblical prophets are not healers, prosperity preachers and celebrities like the modern prophets are; Biblical prophets are a voice of opposition to the apostasy as concealed, exhibited and practised in the public and private life.
Allow me to paraphrase Walter G Williams (Prophets – Pioneers to Christianity, P. 38).
The prophets were outspoken on three issues. First, they denounced in no uncertain terms the corruption of the priesthood wherever it was seen, even to charging priests with murder and other sins (Hosea 6:9, 4:6-9, 5:1; Micah 3:11; Zephaniah 3:4). Second, the prophets protested against the increasing emphasis upon liturgical rites and elaborate ceremonies (Isaiah 1:11-15). Third and of greatest concern to the prophets was the whole problem of Morality. They drew a contrast between Morality and Ethics. They stated what is (Moral) but advanced in their arguments what ought (Ethics). They saw the danger that mechanical procedures could be especially such was replacing spiritual worship grounded in an ethical conviction (Amos 4:4, 5:22; Hosea 4:13-14; 12:11).
Prophecy was the vehicle that drove the religion of Israel from magic to a worship relationship between God and man. This God-Man relationship was presented in six ways as briefly shared below:
Yahweh in the Prophets
1-Yahweh as Law: In the Old Testament (OT) Prophecy what we know as the Lord is not understood by Jews as a modern Christian would understand the Law. In the OT, the prophets present the Law of God as the will of God and therefore who he is substantially (Exodus 20, Psalm 119). The prophetic understanding of Yahweh as the Law was not restricted to the dictates of the law, however, to appreciate Yahweh as the Law was to establish this God as the PRINCIPAL CAUSE and REGULATOR of everything. He was not just the moral law, but the principal cause and determinant of all functionality moral and amoral (Isaiah 46:10).
2- Yahweh as the Lord of Nature: The prophets found a religion that worshipped nature as god and they replaced it with a God of Nature. They replaced the worship of natural phenomenon with the worship of the creator of that natural phenomenon. Idol worship in the old primitive belief was demonstrated in the worship of nature and the rise of prophets rectified this when it launched Yahweh as the sole creator and that is how we ended up with the creation accounts in Genesis 1. The prophets taught that God was the creator and creatures couldn’t be gods, and they also taught that God was behind natural disasters and all seasons.
3- Yahweh as the Lord of History: The Yahweh that was presented by the Prophets was one with a historical relationship with humankind together with their success and failures. The prophets argued that our problem was a result of a broken relationship with our principal cause (God the creator) Genesis 2-4, and remedy could only be a reunion with the same. Prophets insisted that this was not a particular race predicament and neither was the solution going to be exclusive, but a universally accepted history. They taught that Yahweh is not merely involved in nature but in choices as well (Isaiah 45:11-12). Yahweh is being enthronement and dethronement, it is the prophets that popularized theocracies and warned leaders. Yahweh as the Lord of History also involved what theologians call; heilsgeschichte which means the salvation historical Journey of God with us sinners. (He became flesh=Isaiah 7. Dwelt among us = Isaiah 9. Died for sinners = Isaiah 53).
4- Yahweh as the Lord of Ethics: Religion, in its primitive stage, had believed an amoral God but the emergence of prophets launched a moral God. However, to the Prophets, God was not moral (set of written rules) but an ethical God (internal humane quotients). We learn for the first time the difference between Morals and Ethics. Morals are doing what is (on paper), while ethic is doing what ought to be (on a personal level). Many times the Prophets denounced the legal policies claiming they were oppressive even though they were politically, culturally and religiously agreed upon (Amos 1:3-15). The prophets condemned rituality, pretence and hypocrisy harshly. To the prophets, it was not about doing what the law states (whether it was ecclesiastical or not), but what ought to be in the general will of God.
5- Yahweh as the God of Israel: To the prophets, Israel was something bigger than a race. Israel meant all believers (Israelites and Gentiles) in the one true God. When you read through the Prophets you realize the divide between their faith and Judaism, and fundamentally that divide is based on how each group understood the theology of the Church. To Judaism, the Church of God was the racial Israel into which all had to be proselytized at least while to the Prophets the Israel of God was whoever believed in Yahweh. It the prophets that we first learn what the Church of God is.
6- Yahweh as the Lord of Last Things: Though eschatology was much older than the canonical prophets, they found it necessary to correct men’s ideas on the subject (Amos 5: 18-20). The prophets reminded men what they (men) knew, that since the world began, it will end. However, they established the truth that he who began it is the only one who can end it. There were, however, three fundamental peculiarities to the eschatological understanding of the then world in contrast to that of the prophets. First, they believed in a political and national eschatology but the prophets emphasized an ethical and universal eschatology. Secondly, the world’s eschatology interpreted human beings as the end time victim and villain, but the prophets established the side of God and the side of Satan and ones eternal fate depended highly on the final side they stand. Finally, the eschatology of then had no what we call the eschaton (last of Last things), but the eschatology of the prophets taught the dismissal of this world and the creation of a new one (Isaiah 65:17).
Next, I will say a few more things about Isaiah specifically and we will go to another prophet.
God bless you I invoke TRUTH, REASON and FAITH (2Tim 2:7)
Priest Isaiah White (+256-793/775 822833 for further inquiries)
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24)
@Think & Become
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24) 