ISRAELITE PROPHECY FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE EXILE

Israelite prophets were regarded as influential figures in Israelite society and often clashed with Israelite kings. These clashes stemmed from the different leadership niches that the kings and prophets occupied. These different niches led to differing ideologies, which remained relatively constant through the centuries of Israelite kingship. While the prophets sought to preserve the values of pre-monarchic Israelite society, including limiting social stratification and eschewing entanglement with empires, Israelite kings sought to maximize the economic benefits society enjoyed from such entanglement. Many of the clashes between false and true prophets in the biblical narratives seem to be connected to these differing ideologies. This article surveys Israelite prophecy from its origins in pre-monarchic Israel down to the period of the destruction of the first Jerusalem Temple, in the early 6th century BCE. It argues that the prophetic tradition represents a consistent group of societal beliefs. Prophets brought these beliefs to the fore from the earliest periods of Israelite prophecy down to the last stages of the Judahite monarchy, in the lifetime of the prophet Jeremiah.