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| Worship of Baal in northern Israel with Jezebel's introduction to it. It became too popular in northern Israel Cutting themselves away from Jerusalem caused them to fill in the need with this opposing religion Jezebel was a native of the Canaanites who worshipped Baal. It was a principal god of the sky and fertility sect. It was originally a name for the many local gods, usually represented in the form of a bull or a man with the main common characteristic of being worshiped as gods of fertility, both of the field and the womb. After the Israelites entered Canaan they tended to adopt the deities or Bealim of the local natives, even though the prophets protested loudly. Later this was identified with the Greek god, Zeus, the Abomination of Desolation set up in the Temple by Antiochus which was that of a Baal Shamin, the Lord of Heaven. |
King Ahab had married her to keep the peace of the area, something kings did in those days. He was weak and didn't stop her. She was beautiful and clever. She could get him to give her anything she wanted. Sexy doesn't describe her enough.
The Canaanites were steeped in sacrificing human beings in the cult of Moloch. For starters this was the name of one of the many gods, later for one of the aspects of Baal-used for the Sidonian god of hell. The Canaanites sacrificed first born children to Moloch by passing them through fire. The practice is strictly forbidden in the bible in Leviticus, but persisted both in the northern kingdom and even for a time in Jerusalem where altars were built to Moloch at Topheth in the valley of Hinnom. To the ancient mind, a cult without sacrifice was unthinkable, but the Jews gave sacrificing a monotheistic tendency and concentrated them in the Jerusalem Temple instead. No animals were slaughtered except by sacrifice until the time of the Mosaic Law. Moses or G-d attempted to wean them away from human sacrifice. The sacrifices were of either animal, meal-offerings, or libations. All animal-offerings had to be perfect and unblemished and were divided into the highest class of sacrifice; burnt offerings, sin-offerings, guilt-offerings, congregational peace offerings, and sacrifices of a minor grade-a person's sin offering, the first born, animal tithes, and the paschal lamb.
The prophetical condemnation of sacrifice can perhaps be connected with its similarities to Canaanite worship and the desire of the prophets to purify the Jewish cult. As explained by Maimonides, the true objective was to attain to the worship that is in the heart. He was Abraham ben Moses ben Maimon (1186-1237) Court physician to the Sultan Alkamil, who wrote many works in Arabic including the book of Satisfaction for the G-dfearing, an encyclopedic work on Judaism and commentaries on the Pentateuch, the Talmud and his father's book .
The prophet Elijah, in that 9th century BCE, known as the Tishbite, was striving his best to restore the purity of Divine worship, something losing out to the many distractions found in northern Israel from the natives. Ahab felt it had to be this way to help out his political objectives to tolerate the cults of the neighboring peoples in the country, and now with Elijah's interference, he was livid, actively opposing Elijah.
Ahab's rebuttal was so strong that it forced Elijah to flee the land and take refuge in the desert.. The climax of his efforts to free Divine worship from alien influences was the great assembly on Mt. Carmel when Elijah turned to the people asking, "HOW LONG HALT YE BETWEEN 2 OPINIONS?" Eventually, with the help of his supporters, slew the prophets of Baal.
Today's people share the same temptations of putting their trust into other areas such as drugs, money, and getting away from all the things that make up a safe community and there are very few Elijah's around to slay the tempters offering these things. Instead, we have TV and radio commercials singing their praises for them and urging people to do them.
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| Elijah |
What surprises me is that Elijah , with his supporters, which sounds like a small unit of armed men, killed the opposing prophets. Isn't that the same as murder? Was it okay to do because they were interfering with the laws of Moses? We'd never be able to do this today; we've come to no excuse except for self defense.
Elijah also fought very hard in the interests of social justice and rebuked the king for murdering Naboth in order to get possession of his vineyard. Here we see a murderer rebuking another murderer for an unjustified murder.
People in those days must have thought of nothing for committing murder in order to get what they wanted. It was the norm. According the the Biblical account, Elijah didn't die but ascended to Heaven in a fiery chariot. He occupies a prominent place in Jewish lore. According to the book of Malachi (3:23-5), Elijah will reconcile fathers and children "before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." this led to Elijah's being depicted in later tradition as the harbinger of the Messiah.
At the Passover Seder, a glass of wine is traditionally poured for Elijah into a special cup referred to as "Elijah's cup" and at the circumcision ceremony, a chair is prepared for him. He is popularly believed to come to the help of Jewish communities, and also individuals, in die distress, and it is believed that he will clarify all obscurities in Talmudic law upon his return. He is one man we share with Christianity and Islam. They also love him and they have included him in their legends as well.
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| Prophet Elisha |
Elisha was another Israelite prophet who lived in the 9th century BCE. He lived in the days of King Jehoram (853-843 BCE). He was held in esteem by the people who told of many miracles that are attributed to him including the resurrection of the dead.
His chief importance was that he was the disciple and successor of Elijah, and, like Elijah, is depicted as earnest, brave and forceful. He was also interested in politics, so foretold Hazael's accession to the Syrian throne. Then he anointed Jehu (843- 816 BCE) as king over Israel. His activity as a prophet lasted some 60 years.
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| Moses (1391 BCE) , a lawgiver and prophet, founder of the Jewish religion. He was born in Egypt to Jewish slaves, then taken away to save his life from a pogrom of killing little babies. G-d communicated with him through a burning bush that was not consumed. He had received a divine command to lead his people out of Egypt at the age of 80. It took him 40 years to do the job. |
Prophets served a purpose in those days. They were designed by G-d to convey His message to men and to give guidance for the future. I don't remember ever reading about a prophet who shirked his duty. Prophecy was an ancient institution originating in primitive times. Though the 800s BCE seems primitive to me, it was a part of civilization then. Prophecy appeared among early Semitic people in Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Canaan, but in Israel it took on a distinctive form. The Hebrews implicitly believe that they had been chosen by G-d who had sent them prophets to point out the right path.
The prophet was primarily the protagonist of monotheism and morality and fulfilled a decisive role in Jewish religious life and development alongside the PRIEST (with the Cohen genes) and the sages. Only hints and mutilated information throw light on the pre-Mosaic period but thereafter there were main periods;
The prophecy of Moses decided the main content of the late prophecies and by the means of the Torah-the nation's spiritual content, the way of life and their mission in life. It was continuous and not the result of a sudden inspiration. Moses brought on religious leaders guiding the nation in times of difficulty, and they had a lot of that.
Deborah, a female, and Samuel came with the rise of the monarchy when policy was now handled by rulers and ministers of the rulers, and the prophet became increasingly prominent as a fighter for social morality, with necessary rebuking the King for his moral lapses. We see Nathan, and Ahijah the Shilonite in this role. Together with their disciples or sons of the prophet, they zealously opposed any manifestation of paganism, in which Elijah and Elisha were trying to do. They were fighting against the pagan religion that was about to take over. The rhapsodic prophet appeared early in the 8th century BCE, first in Israel and later in Judah, of the south. Before, the prophets had mainly contented themselves with the spoken word, while prophetic circles committed accounts of earlier prophets to writing. from the time of Amos, the prophets wrote their own words, generally in a lofty language that made up the culmination of biblical poetry. As before, the central motif is the attack on religious corruption, but Concomitantly the drive against social corruption arises. The prophet saw national disaster which was followed by consolation. The rhapsodic seers also told about visions concerning the gentiles, but the central subject was still Israel.
During the Messianic age, the faculty of prophets would be renewed, so the good book tells us. In the Hebrew Bible the title FORMER PROPHETS applies to the historical books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. In the Christian tradition, other historical portions of the bible are also comprised; LATTER PROPHETS is applied to Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets.
"G-d communicated to people through prophecy for nearly the entire biblical period, from Adam until Malachi. According to a prevalent Jewish tradition, prophecy ceased with Malachi, not to be renewed until the messianic age. In this article, we will consider a few traditional explanations of why prophecy ceased and some spiritual implications for Judaism over the ensuing 2,500 years and counting." He was a prophet who lived from 460 to 450 BCE. Some people identify him with Ezra. Modern scholars also hold the view that Malachi is not a proper name. the prophet protested against transgressions in matters of sacrifice and tithes. The priest must turn the multitude from sin and himself maintain a high level of morality. Malachi also complained of mixed and broken marriages. His thoughts were about the vision of the "Day of the Lord" preceded by the advent of Elijah. It seems all 3 prophets were involved in thoughts of the END OF TIMES AND THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH.
I suppose that if someone comes along and gives us a successful prophecy about world events, we might think he has prophetic ability. So far the pundits haven't been batting 100%. What they might tell us to do might be received with a shudder.
Resource: the New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://www.jewishideas.org/article/end-prophecy-malachis-position-spiritual-development-israel
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