Spiritual and
Ethical Issues in the Historical Books of Tanach;
JOSHUA, JUDGES, SAMUEL, KINGS (Nevi’im Rishonim) These four books ostensibly are merely the history of Israel from the entry into the Promised Land until the destruction of the Temple and the temporary loss of independent statehood. In fact they are actually, in a specifically Jewish sense, the most deeply religious and spiritual books of the Bible. One does not have to be specifically Jewish to see or feel the religion and spirituality in the revelations of the prophetic writings or in the words of the Tehillim. They speak to all people, as evidenced by the fact that the Bible is still the world's bestseller and there are millions of non-Jews who regularly recite the Psalms. However, it is specifically and intrinsically Jewish to understand that G-d is revealed in the prosaic material, in the political, social and military events in the lives of ordinary men and women, kings and leaders that are described in the Nevim Rishonim. Here are described the ideology and religious thoughts in Judaism, while in Chronicles we have the purely historical. On Being a Jewish Prophet In contrast, the Ramban, Abarbanel, and other mystics, saw revelation as coming from HaShem, irrespective of the spiritual's training or other individual traits; Yermiyahu, who was chosen as a prophet before his birth, is the classic example of this. The former teaching is in keeping with the Rambam's rationalistic approach as well as his view of Judaism as pertaining to the purification and spiritual perfection of the individual. The other school saw in addition to this purification, the constant interplay and relationship that can exist between HaShem and chosen individuals. Both schools taught that prophecy was granted only to those living in the Land of Israel and that there is no prophecy in Chutz La'aretz.; Yechezkiel, a prophet who lived in Bavel, was either a prophet before the first expulsion of Israel by the Babylonians or else drew his prophecy from the revelations he received on theEuphrates, that is, the Eastern border of the Promised Land, thus insuring the connection between the spiritual relationship with HaShem and the sanctity that exists only in that Land. Both the mystics and the rationalists agree that there is a difference between the prophets of Israel and those whom G-d sent to the nations of the world. It is possible to see the distinguishing features of the all the prophets of Israel by considering Bil'am as typical of the Nations' prophets and Moshe as the father of Jewish prophets. Bil'am arrogantly saw himself as one chosen to prophesy, used divination and magic to foretell Israel's future, required payment for his prophecies and was moved primarily by evil thoughts, not only concerning harm to Israel but even relating to his principles - he was prepared to corrupt Moav by counseling them to sexual immorality, in order to achieve his goal. Furthermore, the message was not given to him directly but through a vision or angel. Moshe's modesty made him reluctant to accept his mission, preferred to be wiped out rather that seeing any harm befalling Israel, and required neither sorcery nor magic to hear and transmit the word of G-d that he received without any intermediary. With regard to Bil'am, the text uses the word VAYIKAR [met or occurred to], that refers to one who transmits a message but neither intends to be sanctified by it nor to draw closer to G-d and thereby improve his ways. Hashem calls [VAYIKRA] to Moshe, denoting him as one who wishes to be elevated by the message and so to draw close to the speaker, and not merely to transmit the message. We can distinguish between three separate
groups of the Jewish prophets. Finally, there are the prophets whose message was never written nevertheless they too have eternal significance. Commonly known as Nevi'im Rishonim, they include Natan, Gad, Eliahu, and Elisha. We shall be concerned only with the latter two, who enjoyed a specific teacher and disciple relationship. The text tells us nothing about Eliahu's family or tribal allegiance. All we know is that he came from the Gilead, without our having any knowledge of the particular town from which he came; there is a tradition that he was from Yavesh Gilead that lay to the east of present day Beit Shean. Rabbinic tradition is that Eliahuwas actually Pinchus ben Eleazar HaKohen. Throughout the tanachic story about him there is the hallmark of zealotry, as with Pinchus who killed Zimri and thereby stopped the plague that was brought on Israel as a punishment for their involvement with the daughters of Moab (Bamidbar 25:7-9). He prophesies a drought in order to prove that natural phenomena like everything else are neither accident nor scientific forces, but rather they are HaShem's work in the affairs of man and in the world. Rambam, being troubled with the lack of a Divine directive for this message, simply assumes that G-d had told him to bring the drought; but the text didn't mention it. The mystics teach that Eliahu brought it on his own initiative; a case of the Tzadik decreeing something and HaShem agreeing. This is in some fashion seeing the all-rational, all-knowing and all- powerful Deity in interaction with pious humans. Eliyahu's appearance in the text is an abrupt one without any introduction and he departs in a chariot of fire to Heaven. Verily, a prophet of the whirlwind. This is the 31st installment in Dr. Tamari’s series on “Tanach and its messages for our times” [The
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