Victor H. Matthews - The Hebrew Prophets and Their Social World: An Introduction

General

E xamining any text in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible from a social world perspective requires an understanding that this material has a particular place in history and a social context that may be difficult for modern readers to interpret. The authors and editors of the biblical materials reflect their own time period even when they are editing a story or narrative originating from an earlier era. Similarly, when prophets speak, they do so within the social, economic, and historical context of their own time. They are primarily concerned either with current events or recent happenings, and not the far future. Therefore, as we explore the social world of the Hebrew prophets, we must first recognize that these persons, both male and female, spoke within their own time, to an audience with a frame of reference very different from ours. This is not to say that their message had no influence on prophets and writers centuries after their deaths. The many references to earlier prophetic speech (e.g., Jer. 26:18 quoting Mic. 3:12) or the reuse of their words in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament (e.g., Matt. 1:23 quoting Isa. 7:14; and Matt. 2:18 quoting Jer. 31:15) demonstrate both the power of these statements and the way in which they became proof texts for events occurring in later periods.

Although the world and words of the Hebrew prophets and their audiences often revolved around urban centers like Jerusalem, Bethel, and Samaria, the country as a whole was rural and agriculturally based. During the period 1000587,fruit to people who had had no experience of them. This insider perspective, however, presents some problems for modern readers and scholars. For readers who did not grow up on farms or live in rural areas, many of the images and metaphors employed by the Hebrew prophets will not have as great an impact as they did on the original audience. One task of this survey of the prophetic materials therefore will be to shed some light on what it might have been like to live in ancient Israel during the time of the Hebrew prophets.

With that said, it must be understood that the life of an average Israelite was not an easy one: the Mediterranean climate with which these people had to contend brought rain only during the winter months (October through March), and the land they occupied was hilly, badly eroded, and rocky. Thus their lives were hard, often quite short, and too often dominated by environmental and political forces beyond their control. Their ability to feed their families and occasionally produce a surplus for trade or as a hedge against future privations was often limited. In addition, political and economic forces from outside their immediate areaalong with the demands of temple and palace for sacrifices and taxesadded to the pressures of daily existence.