Paying Attention To The Sky

Avery Cardinal Dulles

No sophisticated reader today needs to be told that the Old Testament did not drop down ready-made from heaven. It recounts the stages by which a people, originally rather primitive and barbaric, were gradually educated in the ways of God. Christians find in it a divinely intended record of the providential process by which Israel was gradually led toward the fullness of revelation in Christ.

Just as we have preparatory revelation in the Old Testament — in some cases very inadequately grasped by a “stiff-necked” people — so too we have preparatory ideas of revelation. The Old Testament contains legends and sagas which would not pass any contemporary tests for historical accuracy. It likewise preserves here and there the traces of primitive mythical thinking. None of it is the work of critically reflective minds in the modern sense. For the Christian, moreover, the Old Testament does not rank as a revelation complete in itself, but only as a part of the whole process of revelation leading up to the New Testament.

Conversely, the New Testament does not stand by itself; it is organically linked to the Old Testament as the matrix out of which it grows. The same themes are resumed and amplified on continually higher planes until at length all the lines converge in Christ, who in turn illumines — and is illumined by — the entire prehistory that points toward him, though in a veiled manner.

A Variety Of Conceptions About Revelation In The Old Testament
In the Old Testament, which in some respects resembles a great museum, we find a fascinating variety of conceptions about revelation. In some of the early books we may detect evidences of superstitious resort to magical practices — divination, dreams, lots, and omens. In facing decisions regarding wars, alliances, and internal political matters, the Israelite leaders were accustomed to consult Yahweh; and this in practice meant obtaining oracular statements from the priests. The priest would normally don a kind of waistcloth called the “ephod” and employ mysterious instruments known as the “urim and thummim” — possibly small sticks or stones which were so marked as to indicate affirmative or negative replies (see Exodus. 28:30; 1 Samuel 30:71., and so forth). Israel differed markedly from other nations in the ancient Near East in that it did not indulge in elaborate divinatory techniques such as hepatoscopy [examination of the livers of sacrificed animals as a technique of divination]. Still more remarkable is the Israelite prohibition of images, which most of the surrounding nations regarded as principal bearers of revelation

Stages Of Salvation History In The Biblical Tradition

(1) The Call of Abraham (Genesis. 12:1-7). The call comes to Abram quite suddenly, it would appear. This revelation, so far as the records disclose, did not rest upon previous events. It is sheer promise, and looks forward to a future fulfillment that is to answer the present word and thus complete the revelation itself by a concrete historical embodiment. The revelation involves Abraham in a partnership with Yahweh, and in this covenant Abraham’s posterity is destined to share (see Genesis. 17:1-4). In the revelation to Abraham attention is focused on the word, which comes gratuitously because God in His mercy wishes to call a particular people to a happier destiny. There are “theophanies” in the Abraham cycle, such as the apparition of the three men in Gen 18 1ff, but in these stories attention is concentrated not on the visible manifestation but on the word God appears in order to speak, and his word is given to inaugurate a new era of history. In later patriarchal narratives, such as the stories of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, God continues to show His favor to Abraham’s posterity and thus proves his fidelity to his pledged word.

(2) Exodus and Sinai. This is unquestionably the central event in the Old Testament, and hence commends itself to special scrutiny. The cycle begins with the “inaugural vision” and the call of Moses in Exodus 3. The attention of Moses is drawn by a theophany, the symbolic vision of the burning bush. The sign is a miraculous one: the bush, though afire, is not consumed. But God, here again, appears only in order to speak. He identifies himself historically as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and goes far beyond all previous self-revelations by imparting knowledge of his own name (Yahweh). The vision both looks back to patriarchal times and points forward in hope to the future. God’s speech is, as in the case of Abraham, a summons to action. Moses is called to play a decisive role in salvation history. The ultimate aim of this revelation, as of others, is soteriological. Most proximately, it aims to liberate Israel from its Egyptian servitude.

The theophany of Mount Sinai completes what was begun in the initial call of Moses. In Exodus 19: if. Moses receives God’s law for his people amid thunder and lightning, clouds of smoke and trumpet blasts. The revelation essentially consists not in these phenomena but in the word of God: the ten debarim (words) of the Law. And the purpose of the Law is to bring the whole people into a covenant relationship with Yahweh so that they may indeed be “my very own out of all the peoples, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation” (Ex. 19: ff.). Thus the Sinai revelation is ultimately directed to the entire nation and is intended for their salvation.

(3) The Prophets. In a wide sense of the term, Moses himself is a prophet, and he might indeed be called the very prototype of Old Testament prophecy, insofar as he has a direct and familiar relationship to God. Whereas other prophets may know God in dreams and visions, Moses is privileged to speak to him face to face (Numbers 12:6-11.).

In Old Testament usage, the term nabi (a term of obscure etymology which is generally translated “prophet”) covers a wide variety of personages who receive divine communications and inform others of God’s hidden plans and emotions. In the earlier traditions preserved for us in the books of Samuel and Kings, we learn of “speaking prophets,” such as Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, and Elisha. They are gifted with clairvoyance and frequently fall into ecstasies; many of them also perform remarkable miracles. Some of the prophets of this period entered prophetic guilds (the “sons of the prophets”) which seem to have been, in part, hereditary.

In the eighth and seventh centuries, with the advent of the so-called “writing prophets,” prophecy receives what is often referred to as its “classical” form. Clairvoyance and other preternatural phenomena become rarer, and prophecy assumes more clearly its religious role of recalling the nation to fidelity to its covenant promises. Sixteen of our biblical books — the four major (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel) and the twelve minor prophets — are attributed to prophetic authorship. The greater part of these books, it would seem, were written not by the prophets themselves, but by their disciples.

As a study of these works will show, prophecy does not essentially consist in the prediction of future events. The prophets are God’s spokesmen, who receive his word, and pass it on for weal or woe. They are, par excellence, the mediators of the word, and in view of the central place of the word of God in the Israelite view of revelation, special attention must be given to the prophets for a biblical theology of revelation.

The prophets commonly attribute their calling to a sudden action on the part of God, not preceded by any kind of human preparation. This call revolutionized their lives, and demanded utter obedience on their part. A number of rather detailed descriptions of the prophetic call are preserved in the Old Testament. Isaiah in chapter 6 tells of his inaugural vision, including the cleansing of his lips by a burning coal. Jeremiah, in the opening chapter of his work, attributes his vocation to a sovereignly free choice on the part of God: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). When the prophet remonstrates that he is only a youth, the Lord exhorts him to courage: “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant” (Jeremiah 1:9-10)1 The prophet’s word is powerful since it participates in the omnipotence of God, from whom it comes.

In numerous Old Testament passages allusion is made to severe bodily effects that ensue from the prophetic vision. Ezekiel describes how he sat on the ground overwhelmed for seven days after his call (Ezekiel 3:15) Daniel testifies that after one of his visions he was left pale and trembling, and fell into a deep slumber (Daniel 10:8f.). On another occasion (Daniel 8:27) he was overcome and lay sick for some days. Isaiah writes that his loins were filled with anguish, and that pangs seized him like those of a woman in childbirth (21:3). Jeremiah gives a poignant description of how the prophet feels the power of the word within him, demanding utterance. “There is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot” (Jeremiah 20:9). While these descriptions are in some cases pseudonymous, and are presumably influenced by stylistic conventions, they undoubtedly contain some valid historical indications of the revelatory experiences of the Hebrew prophets.

Accompanied though it is with unusual psychic phenomena, the prophetic message, at least in the classical prophets, does not have to do with recondite matters pertaining to the world beyond. Unlike many of the medieval mystics, who preferred the cloister, the prophets were normally concerned with political and military matters and participated actively in national affairs. The content of their message reflects a keen perception of the contemporary historical situation, appraised in the light of the Covenant, and does not impart information that would seem to be intrinsically beyond the realm of natural knowledge. When the prophets use promises and threats they do so not in order to show their clairvoyant powers, but in order to bring about repentance and reform.

(4) Deuteronomy. The Deuteronomic literature of the eighth century, which seems to reflect a confluence of the priestly and prophetic currents in the Northern Kingdom, represents a new stage in the theology of revelation. Deuteronomy extends the concept of the “word of God” to include the whole corpus of Israelite legislation — religious, civil, and criminal — rather than just the original ten “words” of Sinai, or even the messages of the prophets. The torah, attributed in its entirety to the great legislator, Moses, is presented not simply as a set of abstract regulations, but as an effective vehicle of God’s will, which it makes present to men. “The word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it” (Deuteronomy 30:14).

The Deuteronomic interpretation of history dominates a number of the historical books (including Judges, Samuel, and Kings), which portray the course of events as the working out in time of the covenant relationship between God and Israel. The idea of history as a medium by which God manifests his attributes and attitudes may be found in some of the most ancient creedal statements embedded in Deuteronomy (for example, Deuteronomy 26:5-6). Elsewhere, history is viewed as the effective unfolding of the promises and threats previously contained in God’s word. As time goes on, the hopes of Israel gradually become centered on the monarchy, which is made a center of cult. The books of Chronicles, from another point of view than the Deuteronomic writings, seek to legitimate the cultic offices founded by David

(5) Messianic and Apocalyptic Expectation In much of the historical literature the Davidic dynasty is idealized with strong religious overtones As the fortunes of this dynasty fade under the divided monarchy, the prophets focus the expectations of Israel on some great future intervention of God analogous to his past actions A blessed era is foretold in which there is to be a new David, a new Moses, a new Covenant, or a new Exodus. This eschatological Messianism, which reaches its highest expression in Deutero-Isaiah and Jeremiah, to some degree prepares for a new form of revelational literature Apocalyptic, which becomes widespread under the depressing circumstances of the Babylonian Captivity and the Maccabean period, is exemplified by Daniel and much of the intertestamental literature Unlike classical prophecy, apocalyptic ceases to look upon the catastrophes of history as effects of God’s punitive will, indeed, it abandons all effort to find meaning in history “History, so far from being the medium in which religious ideas could be expressed, had become literally a marking time until the eschaton should come. The view of revelation characteristic of the Apocalypses, while differing sharply from the prophetic, in some ways resembles the sapiential. The apocalyptic seers seek to interpret dreams and visions and thus to penetrate the secret counsels of God. Unlike prophecy, which is proclaimed openly to all, apocalyptic makes much of esoteric knowledge.

(6) Wisdom Literature. Since much of the Israelite sapiential material consists of collections of homely maxims built upon experience and common prudence, this brand of literature might be thought not to pertain to revelation. But the older traditions look upon wisdom as a charism bestowed at God’s good pleasure. In the patriarchal stories, Joseph is depicted as outstripping the sages of Israel thanks to the illuminations imparted to him from on high (Gen. 41:16.38). Later, Solomon is held forth as a prodigy of inspired sagacity (1 Kings 4:29). Job’s would-be comforter, Eliphaz, attributes his counsel to direct inspiration from heaven. In fact, as Gerhard von Rad observes, he gives the fullest description of the psychology of prophetic revelation that occurs in the Old Testament (Job 4:12-17).

The great wisdom collections, such as Proverbs, Qoheleth, Sirach, and Wisdom, while resting upon ancient sources, were compiled in the Persian and Hellenistic periods. The editors, convinced that all human wisdom comes from God and that the. summit of wisdom consists in obedience to him, interpret the patterns of experience in the light of their religious faith. Insofar as this Jewish wisdom rests unequivocally on the self-manifestation of God through history, prophecy, and law, it too may be said to contain revelation, at least indirectly, by reflection.

(7) Psalms. According to our modern way of thinking, we should be inclined to say that the Psalms should be reckoned not as revelation, but as a human response to it. But this distinction is perhaps artificial since it may be argued that revelation does not achieve itself until it is formulated in human words. In any case, the Israelites saw a close link between prophecy and psalmody, as may be seen, for instance, in the canticles of the prophetesses Miriam (Exodus. 15:20- 21) and Deborah (Judges 5).In the. last words of David, as narrated in 2 Samuel, the “sweet psalmist of Israel” claims inspiration for himself: “The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me, his word is upon my tongue” (2 Samuel 23:2). As inspired hymns of prayer and praise, the psalms are revelatory to us — as they were to the Israelites — of the power, majesty, and fidelity of God, which they celebrate. Many of the psalms incorporate oracles and responses from Yahweh into theft structure.

Summary Of Old Testament Revelation
Summarizing the Old Testament view of revelation, one may say that Yahweh progressively manifests himself, through word and work, as Lord of history. He freely raises up spokesmen of his own choosing, whether patriarchs such as Abraham, national heroes such as Moses, or prophets and seers such as Samuel, Isaiah, and Ezekiel He entrusts them with messages which they are to deliver to others, often to the whole people Although the universal significance of Israelite religion is sometimes suggested (especially in Deutero-Isaiah), the horizons are for the most part particular, insofar as the revelation is addressed to a single nation

The Israelite faith is also inchoative, insofar as it is in tension toward a greater and definitive manifestation yet to come While often accompanied by miraculous theophanies, dreams, and visions, revelation for the Old Testament writers is primarily to be found in the “word of God” The word, however, is not mere speculative speech. It refers to the concrete history of Israel, which it recalls and interprets. It commemorates God’s previous dealings with his people and includes promises for the future, thus arousing faith and hope. The word of God, moreover, is powerful and dynamic, it produces a transforming encounter with the Lord who utters it, and imposes stringent demands on the recipient. It opens up to him a new way of life, pregnant with new possibilities of punishment and deliverance. Revelation is ultimately aimed to bring blessings upon the whole nation, including peace, prosperity, and holiness.

The above is taken from the late Cardinal Avery Dulles’ Revelation Theology.

An obituary written by Joseph Bottum is here.