All the remaining parts of the Bible, generally known by the
name of the Prophets, are the works of the Jewish poets and
itinerant preachers, who mixed poetry,* anecdote, and devotion
together- and those works still retain the air and style of poetry,
though in translation.
*As there are many readers who do not see that a composition is
poetry unless it be in rhyme, it is for their information that I add
this note.
Poetry consists principally in two things- imagery and
composition. The composition of poetry differs from that of prose in
the manner of mixing long and short syllables together. Take a long
syllable out of a line of poetry, and put a short one in the room of
it, or put a long syllable where a short one should be, and that line
will lose its poetical harmony. It will have an effect upon the line
like that of misplacing a note in a song. The imagery in these books,
called the Prophets, appertains altogether to poetry. It is
fictitious, and often extravagant, and not admissible in any other
kind of writing than poetry. To show that these writings are composed
in poetical numbers, I will take ten syllables, as they stand in the
book, and make a line of the same number of syllables, (heroic
measure) that shall rhyme with the last word. It will then be seen
that the composition of these books is poetical measure. The instance
I shall produce is from Isaiah:
"Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth!"
'Tis God himself that calls attention forth.
Another instance I shall quote is from the mournful Jeremiah, to
which I shall add two other lines, for the purpose of carrying out the
figure, and showing the intention the poet:
"O! that mine head were waters and mine eyes"
Were fountains flowing like the liquid skies;
Then would I give the mighty flood release,
And weep a deluge for the human race.
There is not, throughout the whole book called the Bible, any word
that describes to us what we call a poet, nor any word that
describes what we call poetry. The case is, that the word prophet,
to which latter times have affixed a new idea, was the Bible word
for poet, and the word prophesying meant the art of making poetry.
It also meant the art of playing poetry to a tune upon any
instrument of music.
We read of prophesying with pipes, tabrets, and horns- of
prophesying with harps, with psalteries, with cymbals, and with
every other instrument of music then in fashion. Were we now to
speak of prophesying with a fiddle, or with a pipe and tabor, the
expression would have no meaning or would appear ridiculous, and to
some people contemptuous, because we have changed the meaning of
the word.
We are told of Saul being among the prophets, and also that he
prophesied; but we are not told what they prophesied, nor what he
prophesied. The case is, there was nothing to tell; for these prophets
were a company of musicians and poets, and Saul joined in the
concert, and this was called prophesying.
The account given of this affair in the book called Samuel is,
that Saul met a company of prophets; a whole company of them!
coming down with a psaltery, a tabret, a pipe and a harp, and that
they prophesied, and that he prophesied with them. But it appears
afterward, that Saul prophesied badly; that is, he performed his
part badly; for it is said, that an "evil spirit from God"* came
upon Saul, and he prophesied.
*As those men who call themselves divines and commentators, are
very fond of puzzling one another, I leave them to contest the
meaning of the first part of the phrase, that of an evil spirit from God.
I keep to my text- I keep to the meaning of the word prophesy.
Now, were there no other passage in the book called the Bible than
this, to demonstrate to us that we have lost the original meaning of
the word prophesy, and substituted another meaning in its place,
this alone would be sufficient; for it is impossible to use and
apply the word prophesy, in the place it is here used and applied,
if we give to it the sense which latter times have affixed to it.
The manner in which it is here used strips it of all religious
meaning, and shows that a man might then be a prophet, or he might
prophesy, as he may now be a poet or a musician, without any regard
to the morality or immorality of his character. The word was originally
a term of science, promiscuously applied to poetry and to music, and
not restricted to any subject upon which poetry and music might be
exercised.
Deborah and Barak are called prophets, not because they
predicted anything, but because they composed the poem or song that
bears their name, in celebration of an act already done. David is
ranked among the prophets, for he was a musician, and was also
reputed to be (though perhaps very erroneously) the author of the
Psalms. But Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are not called prophets; it
does not appear from any accounts we have that they could either
sing, play music, or make poetry.
We are told of the greater and the lesser prophets. They might
as well tell us of the greater and the lesser God; for there cannot be
degrees in prophesying consistently with its modern sense. But there
are degrees in poetry, and therefore the phrase is reconcilable to the
case, when we understand by it the greater and the lesser poets.
It is altogether unnecessary, after this, to offer any
observations upon what those men, styled prophets, have written. The
axe goes at once to the root, by showing that the original meaning
of the word has been mistaken and consequently all the inferences
that have been drawn from those books, the devotional respect that
has been paid to them, and the labored commentaries that have been
written upon them, under that mistaken meaning, are not worth
disputing about. In many things, however, the writings of the Jewish
poets deserve a better fate than that of being bound up, as they now
are with the trash that accompanies them, under the abused name of
the word of God.
From "The Age of Reason"
By Thomas Paine
Posted By: Adam Fate
Thursday, September 16th 2010 at 6:37PM
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