Upon hearing Micaiah’s words, the king of Israel irritably turns to the King of Judah: “Didn’t I tell you that he wouldn’t prophesy any good about me, only evil?” (22:18). Micaiah, undeterred, ominously describes God sitting on His throne, asking the heavenly hosts,
“Who will entice Ahab to ascend and fall in Ramoth-Gilead?” One said this and one said that. Then a spirit came…and said, I will entice him…I will go out and be a false spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.” And [God] said, “You will succeed in enticing him. Go out and do so.” [22:20-22]
The strength of the prophet as public intellectual derives from his faith and his deference to the word of God. His intent is never to mollify the masses. Four hundred prophets forecasting in perfect unison do not a true prophecy make. Does society want to hear that other still, small voice? Generally not. Wherever the government, press, and tycoons form a controlling triad, any dissenting opinions will be quickly snuffed out. Worse, prophets are sometimes bought off by interested parties and, through the combined forces of money and media, forcibly mold public opinion.
The voice of God should therefore be sought in those discordant voices that do not toe the party line. Of course, prophetic opposition is not necessarily right. Sometimes the ruling power finds itself torn between two opposing prophets, unable to declare a winner. Jeremiah himself faces such opposition, clashing with serious prophets who present their own systematic worldview, and it is wholly unclear which of them is the true messenger of God.
However, there is another criterion for a true prophet. He must love his people. Even when the harshest reproach is called for, the prophet must consider himself a divine emissary whose role is to help redeem the people, not to stand aloof and condemn. Indeed, journalists today take on the role of moral and social critics, though more often than not their criticism is laced with the venom of loathing. Criticism based on love, of the kind that distinguished Jeremiah, is not often found.
Why Jeremiah?
Some prophets were defrocked or harmed because of their prophecies. First and foremost among these few was Jeremiah. As a prophet, his life was endangered more than once. The inner truth that burned within him took him to such extremes that he eventually betrayed the Kingdom of Judah. Under siege, during an attempt to expel the enemy from the walls of Jerusalem, he called for his people to cross the battle lines and surrender. He thus became despised and disparaged in the streets of Jerusalem, a menace to the public good. All rejected him – kings, priests, noblemen, and the masses.
Three kings were subject to the prophecies of Jeremiah: Josiah, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah. The first barely acknowledged him, possibly due to his tender age; the second sought to eliminate him in order to ensure the stability of his reign; the third actually believed him, but could not overcome his own weakness and fears.
The priests of the Temple regarded Jeremiah as one regards a gadfly – a pest and troublemaker. The Temple wardens restricted his every step. Among the noblemen there were different leanings; some pandered to the king, while most took a belligerent stance against the rising Babylonian Empire. For the latter, Jeremiah was a menace. And the masses? They behaved as masses do. At times they sought to kill the prophet; other times they needed him desperately, their loyalties changing with the wind.
Among the people, Jeremiah’s most formidable opponents were the false prophets. They aroused the men of Zedekiah’s time to rebel against the Babylonians and encouraged the king to form a pro-Egyptian alliance with the surrounding nations. For Jeremiah, these false prophets were the true enemy.
Jeremiah’s descriptions of idol worship in the streets of Jerusalem leave no room for doubt regarding its ubiquity within the city. Josiah’s reformation is still in its infancy, and great efforts must be made to convince people to cast away the idols of their fathers. In chapter 10, Jeremiah uses three rhetorical strategies to help purge the land of idolatry: public relations, parody, and prayer:
Hear the word that the Lord has spoken to you, O House of Israel. Thus said the Lord: Learn not the way of the nations, and fear not signs in the heavens, though the nations fear them. For the laws of the peoples are empty: a tree from the forest is cut down, the work of a craftsman’s hands, with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; with nails and hammers they reinforce it, that it not teeter. They are like a rigid post and cannot speak; they must be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no evil, nor can they do good. [10:1-5]
Jeremiah turns to the “House of Israel,” a collective name for the kingdoms of Judah and Ephraim, and appeals to them to abandon the ways of foreign nations. He contends with those who plan their every move based on the constellations. Astrology was well developed in Babylonian religion, and his plea not to fear the heavens may be the first indication that the people are beginning to absorb a new and increasingly prevalent pagan culture. Jeremiah’s call to Israel not to fear heavenly signs is echoed in a later, well-known rabbinic saying: “Israel is not subject to constellations.” A midrash depicts the human experience of divination based on the stars:
R. Eliezer says: A solar eclipse is an ominous sign for the nations of the world, and a lunar eclipse is an ominous sign for the enemies of Israel [a euphemism for Israel itself], for Israel is likened to the moon, and the nations of the world to the sun…. If [the eclipse] is in the west, it bodes ill for those in the west; if it occurs at the zenith, it bodes ill for the whole world. If its face looks like blood, the sword is coming to the world; if it looks like sackcloth, famine is coming to the world…. When Israel carries out the will of God, [it] shall not fear, as it says, “Thus said the Lord: Learn not the way of the nations, and fear not signs in the heavens, though the nations fear them” – the nations will fear, but [Israel] will not. [Tanna DeVei Eliyahu Zuta 16]
After addressing those who place their faith in horoscopes, Jeremiah turns to those who worship idols of wood and stone. A similar style of mockery can be found in Isaiah 44 as well as other prophetic works. Jeremiah describes the absurdity of idol worship: The worshippers themselves cut down trees, carve statues out of the wood, decorate them with gold and silver, hammer them full of nails, and finally, worship their own creations. Israel’s faith in the God of heaven and earth contrasts with prostration before replaceable, man-made statues: “But the Lord, God, is true, the living God and King of the world; at His wrath the earth shakes, and the nations cannot withstand His fury” (Jer. 10:10).
