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343 - Covenant and Promise: The Prophetic Understanding of the Future in Pre-exilic Israel |
Covenant and Promise:
The Prophetic Understanding of the Future
in Pre-exilic Israel
By John Bright
Philadelphia, Westminster Press, 1976. 207 pp. $10.00.
John Bright's latest book represents a much expanded form of the Thomas White Currie Lectures he delivered at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 1971. Like the lectures, it is aimed primarily at pastors and theological students. Although technical discussion is avoided, the breadth and depth of Bright's scholarship are everywhere evident. Specialists in the field of Old Testament as well as non-specialists will find it rewarding reading. Of necessity the author simplifies, but the result is neither simplistic nor superficial. Whereas Bright frequently states that he cannot go into critical details on a particular issue (he usually refers us to pertinent sections of A History of Israel and his Anchor Bible commentary on Jeremiah), he actually includes a remarkable amount of background material. The book is, in a sense, a miniature history of Israel up to the exile. Footnotes, which have been kept to a minimum, contain much helpful information about where to look for alternate positions, special studies, and further reading in general. Each chapter begins with a summary of what has gone before, and the discussion is well illustrated with Scriptural citations, often
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344 - Covenant and Promise: The Prophetic Understanding of the Future in Pre-exilic Israel |
Bright's own with explanatory notes where he differs from the Masoretic text. In the foreword, Bright acknowledges that he does not seek to break new ground or expound a novel thesis; his aim is to contribute to the reader's understanding of the theology of the pre-exilic prophets. It is an aim which has been admirably accomplished.
A major question that the book addresses finds its focus in the life of Jeremiah. Most of the prophet's contemporaries seemed convinced that Jerusalem was inviolable; Jeremiah, however, insisted that Yahweh would destroy the sinful nation. How, asks Bright, did members of the same religious community reach such disparate theological positions? They based their views, he answers, upon two ancient, but quite different, concepts of election and covenant. Jeremiah is rooted in the Mosaic or Sinaitic covenant tradition. This covenant was conditional; the well-being of the nation depended upon faithful observance of the covenant stipulations. Jeremiah's opponents, on the other hand, based their confidence on the sure promises of Yahweh to David. Here we find an unconditional element: Yahweh has chosen Zion as an eternal dwelling and assured David of the perpetual rule of his descendents. These two views of election and covenant-the Sinaitic and the Davidic-are not incompatible, Bright asserts, but stand in tension. Both played an essential role in Israel's faith, but by the time of Jeremiah they have come into open conflict.
To gain a better understanding of this conflict, Bright inquires into the origins of the two covenant traditions and devotes considerable attention to tracing their development through the crucial events of the eighth, seventh, and early sixth centuries. He also introduces the Abrahamic covenant into the discussion, though he does not attempt to relate it to the Davidic beyond observing that the two follow the same pattern and that they seem to have undergone mutual influence. In connection with investigation of the covenant traditions, Bright raises the issue of eschatology in the thought of the pre-exilic prophets.
It is in these covenant concepts that Bright locates the beginnings of eschatology in Israel. Eschatology he defines broadly as the consummation of the divine purpose within history. The prophets of the eighth century found in the Sinaitic and Davidic covenants the patterns for hope for a future beyond the judgment they were sure Yahweh would bring. Hosea, from the North, spoke in terms of Mosaic traditions when he prophesied a new entrance into the land with a new, enduring bond between Yahweh and the people. Isaiah of Jerusalem, steeped in Davidic theology, envisioned an ideal king of the Davidic line under whom Yahweh's rule on earth would be established. Jeremiah, a century later, spoke of a new covenant like the old Sinaitic covenant, but with an important difference: the people will be made new, Yahweh will place the covenant stipulations within them. These prophetic visions, along with those of later prophets and writers, gave Israel its hope beyond the historical destruction of the nation. Indeed, it was in terms of the Sinaitic covenant that Israel found an explanation of the
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tragedy of 587: the destruction of the nation was Yahweh's just punishment for violation of the covenant stipulations. Though the Davidic covenant was not the guarantee of national security Jeremiah's opponents assumed, its emphasis on the immutable purposes of God independent of Israel's action continued to plan an important role in Israel's hope for the future.
The above remarks by no means summarize Bright's comprehensive analysis nor do justice to his insight into the thought of the pre-exile prophets. Appreciation of these features of the book can only be gained by reading it.
Cheryl Exum
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts