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Jesus the Seer: The Progress of Prophecy, by Ben Witherington III. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1999. Pp. xvii + 427. $29.95.
Craig Evans's review of Ben Witherington III's Jesus the Sage remarks, "The title of the book is somewhat misleading, since only a portion of the book deals with `Jesus the sage."' This applies even more to Jesus the Seer: the chapter on Jesus is the book's eighth, and the author's exposition of his understanding of Jesus' prophetic role is set out on pp. 277-92. The real aim of the book, stated in the preface, is "to examine larger issues concerning the nature of prophecy and the development of prophetic traditions, especially paying attention to the cross-cultural nature of the prophetic phenomenon" (p. xii).
The first chapter surveys prophecy at Mari and looks at the figures of Balaam, Deborah, Moses, and Aaron. Part of the author's interest is in describing what is required and what is optional for a person to be considered a prophet; prophets need not receive or transmit their message by ecstatic utterances, do not necessarily act as intercessors, and need not do miracles; prophecy is normally in poetic form, and prophets receive oracles or visions from God. The second and third chapters continue this line of inquiry through the Samuel and Saul material, the David and Nathan material, and the stories of Elijah and Elisha. The author shows that the biblical traditions assign many roles to prophets and that we cannot assume that all or most prophets were organized into guilds.
In chapter 4 Witherington treats Amos, Micah, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and in chapter 5, Second Isaiah and Ezekiel. The author continues to touch on the general nature of prophecy in these chapters, but fingers on certain specific texts: the Bethlehem oracle of Mic 5; Isa 7-11; 24-27; Jer 3 1; and the Servant Songs of Second Isaiah.
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