Ecstatic prophecy in the Old Testament

The paper argues that modern readers often draw too sharp a distinction between 'primitive' ecstatic prophets (like Saul or Elijah) and the classical writing prophets of the Old Testament. The author contends that the biblical books of Chronicles, which mention chronicles, prophecies, visions, and narratives of various non-classical prophets, suggest that such a rigid separation was not made in Old Testament times. The paper treats ecstasy on its own terms, without forcing it into a comparative or developmental framework.

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Abstract

When speaking of prophets in our culture, we usually have the Old Testament classical prophets in mind. At the mention of prophetic ecstasy the immediate reaction is often, "That would be Saul and the asses or Elijah and the prophets of Baal". A sharp distinction is often made between the so-called primitive prophets and the classical prophets. Bearing in mind that the Chronicles mention chronicles, prophesies, visions and narratives of various non-classical prophets there is a certain danger that we make a distinction between different prophetic types more sharply than was done in Old Testament times. In this paper ecstasy is treated purely in its own terms.