Prophets Figure It Out as They Go

Anointing David to Become King

When YHWH decides to choose a king to succeed the disgraced King Saul (1 Sam 16:1), he tells the prophet Samuel to anoint one of the sons of Jesse, the Bethlehemite. Samuel objects that he is afraid Saul will kill him if he learns of this plan (v. 2), so YHWH instructs Samuel to visit under the cover story that he is performing a sacrifice:

^{שׁמואל א טז:ג} וְקָרָאתָ לְיִשַׁי בַּזָּבַח וְאָנֹכִי אוֹדִיעֲךָ אֵת אֲשֶׁר תַּעֲשֶׂה וּמָשַׁחְתָּ לִי אֵת אֲשֶׁר אֹמַר אֵלֶיךָ.

^{1 Sam 16:3b} “Invite Jesse to the sacrificial feast, and I myself will make known to you what you are to do: you are to anoint for me the one that I tell you.”^[1]

YHWH is seemingly clear that he will tell Samuel whom to anoint, but the text suggests that Samuel does not fully understand what that means. At first, he assumes that Jesse’s oldest son, Eliab, will be the new king (v. 6), but YHWH instructs him that Eliab is not the one:

^{שׁמואל א טז:ז} וַיֹּאמֶר יְ־הוָה אֶל שְׁמוּאֵל אַל תַּבֵּט אֶל מַרְאֵהוּ וְאֶל גְּבֹהַּ קוֹמָתוֹ כִּי מְאַסְתִּיהוּ כִּי לֹא אֲשֶׁר יִרְאֶה הָאָדָם כִּי הָאָדָם יִרְאֶה לַעֵינַיִם וַי־הוָה יִרְאֶה לַלֵּבָב.

^{1 Sam 16:7} But YHWH said to Samuel, “Do not look at what you see of him, or at the tallness of his stature, for I have rejected him! For [God sees] not as a human being sees—for a human being sees the [outer] aspect, but YHWH sees the heart.”

Jesse then begins to present his other sons to Samuel, one at a time, and Samuel dismisses them:

^{שׁמואל א טז:ח} וַיִּקְרָא יִשַׁי אֶל אֲבִינָדָב וַיַּעֲבִרֵהוּ לִפְנֵי שְׁמוּאֵל וַיֹּאמֶר גַּם בָּזֶה לֹא בָחַר יְ־הוָה.

^{1 Sam 16:8} Then Jesse called Abinadab, and had him pass before Samuel, but he said, “Also this one, YHWH has not chosen.”

Radak (Rabbi David Kimhi, 1160–1235) argues that Samuel rejects them not of his own accord, but because YHWH did not speak and give him direction as he had promised:

^{רד"ק, שמואל א טז:ט} לפי שלא אמר לו ה' ידע כי לא בחר בו כי הוא אמר לו ״אשר אומר אליך״ (שׁמואל א טז:ג).

^{Radak, 1 Sam 16:9} Because God had not told him, he knew that He had not chosen him, for He had said to him, “[the one] that I tell you” (v. 3)

Perhaps Samuel has intuited that YHWH will not speak again until the correct candidate appears, but YHWH has not explicitly told him so. Thus, Samuel is left to his own devices as he proceeds through the next five sons, rejecting them all (vv. 9–10). At that point, Samuel asks if Jesse has any other sons (v. 11), and when the eighth and youngest son, David, is brought forth, YHWH finally identifies him as the next king of Israel:

^{שׁמואל א טז:יב} וַיִּשְׁלַח וַיְבִיאֵהוּ וְהוּא אַדְמוֹנִי עִם יְפֵה עֵינַיִם וְטוֹב רֹאִי. וַיֹּאמֶר יְ־הוָה קוּם מְשָׁחֵהוּ כִּי זֶה הוּא.

^{1 Sam 16:12} He sent and had him come—now he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes, and goodly in appearance. YHWH said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he!”

YHWH could have told Samuel directly to anoint David, but instead he leaves Samuel to work out his intentions piecemeal, as each of Jesse’s sons is presented to him.

Elisha’s Unplanned Miracle

A more striking case of a prophet working out a plan in real time is when Elisha is approached by a woman who asks him to rescue her from an impending crisis. She fears that her late husband’s creditor is about to seize her sons as indentured servants, or perhaps permanent slaves, to satisfy their late father’s debt:

^{מלכים ב ד:א} וְאִשָּׁה אַחַת מִנְּשֵׁי בְנֵי הַנְּבִיאִים צָעֲקָה אֶל אֱלִישָׁע לֵאמֹר עַבְדְּךָ אִישִׁי מֵת וְאַתָּה יָדַעְתָּ כִּי עַבְדְּךָ הָיָה יָרֵא אֶת יְ־הוָה וְהַנֹּשֶׁה בָּא לָקַחַת אֶת שְׁנֵי יְלָדַי לוֹ לַעֲבָדִים.

^{2 Kgs 4:1} Now a woman from the wives of the Sons of the Prophets cried out to Elisha, saying: “Your servant, my husband, is dead. You yourself know that your servant held YHWH in awe. But a creditor has come to take away my two children as slaves for himself!”

Elisha responds with a disjointed set of directions, inserting crucial details and adding important caveats as he goes along. He begins with what sounds like a rhetorical question:

^{מלכים ב ד:ב} וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלֶיהָ אֱלִישָׁע מָה אֶעֱשֶׂה לָּךְ...

^{2 Kgs 4:2} Elisha said to her: “What can I do for you?”...

Yael Shemesh (Bar-Ilan University) observes: “The form of the question…makes us fear that he cannot help her.”^[2] Indeed, Mordechai Cogan (Professor Emeritus, Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and Hayim Tadmor (1923–2005) note that the phrasing of Elisha’s question “implies being at a loss and unable to help.”^[3] They cite a similar question asked by Isaac after Jacob tricks Isaac into giving him Esau’s birthright:

^{בראשׁית כז:לז} וַיַּעַן יִצְחָק וַיֹּאמֶר לְעֵשָׂו הֵן גְּבִיר שַׂמְתִּיו לָךְ וְאֶת כָּל אֶחָיו נָתַתִּי לוֹ לַעֲבָדִים וְדָגָן וְתִירֹשׁ סְמַכְתִּיו וּלְכָה אֵפוֹא מָה אֶעֱשֶׂה בְּנִי.

^{Gen 27:37} Isaac answered, saying to Esau: “Here, I have made him master to you, and all his brothers I have given him as servants, with grain and new-wine I have invested him—so for you, what then can I do, my son?”

Before the widow can even respond, Elisha shifts to asking what resources she possesses. He seems to be buying time, with no clear idea of how to proceed:

^{מלכים ב ד:ב} ...הַגִּידִי לִי מַה יֶּשׁ (לכי) [לָךְ] בַּבָּיִת. וַתֹּאמֶר אֵין לְשִׁפְחָתְךָ כֹל בַּבַּיִת כִּי אִם אָסוּךְ שָׁמֶן.

^{2 Kgs 4:2} “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She said: “Your handmaid has nothing at all in the house, except for a cruse of oil.”

The woman initially responds that she has nothing, but then, at the last moment, she notes that she remains in possession of the most modest of items, a single cruse of oil. That information seems to inspire Elisha with a solution. Don Isaac Abarbanel (1437–1509, Spain) argues that the oil makes it possible for Elisha to perform the miracle:^[4]

^{אברבנאל, מלכים ב ד:ב} לפי שהיה מנהג הנביאים לסמוך הנס על דבר מה כדי שלא יהיה בריאת יש מאין, והיה עניותה כל כך שאמרה שלא היה לה דבר אחר כי אם אסוך שמן (ג-ד).

^{Abarbanel, 2 Kgs 4:2} Because it was the custom of the prophets to base a miracle upon some existing thing, so that it would not be a creation ex nihilo (“something from nothing”), and her poverty was so great that she said she had nothing else except a small jug of oil (vv 3–4).

Elisha begins to tell the woman how to proceed, starting with the general instruction for her to go and borrow vessels:

‏^{מלכים ב ד:ג} וַיֹּאמֶר לְכִי שַׁאֲלִי לָךְ כֵּלִים מִן הַחוּץ מֵאֵת כָּל (שכנכי) [שְׁכֵנָיִךְ] כֵּלִים רֵקִים אַל תַּמְעִיטִי.

^{2 Kgs 4:3} He said: Go! Borrow for yourself vessels, from outside, from all your neighbors, empty vessels! Do not skimp!

His syntax as he continues is far from smooth and elegant. His initial command could have specified borrowing empty vessels from the neighbors. Instead, these details are added one at a time in the next three phrases:

מִן הַחוּץ, “from outside,” which seems to add little information to the command to borrow vessels;

מֵאֵת כָּל שְׁכֵנָיִךְ, “from all your neighbors,” now more usefully descriptive; and

כֵּלִים רֵקִים, “empty vessels,” which returns to the primary command, but adds an additional adjective that is crucial to the plan he is offering: the vessels are to be empty.

Traditional and modern scholars have, for the most part, not commented on the awkward structure of Elisha’s command. Only Rabbi David Altshuler (1687–1769, Prague) notes:

^{מצודת דוד, מלכים ב ד:ג} מן החוץ – מן האנשים שחוץ לביתך, ולתוספות ביאור אמר: מאת כל שכניך.

^{Metzudat David, 2 Kgs 4:3} “From outside” – From the people outside your house, and to add clarification, he said, “from all your neighbors.”

Shemesh calls Elisha’s instruction to collect empty vessels “astonishing” because the reader is left wondering: “How can she be saved by empty vessels, which seem to be part and parcel of the sad picture of her empty house?” She interprets this as an indication, both to the widow within the story and for the reader, that a miracle is about to take place, a point that may not have been obvious until then.^[5]

Finally, in a new sentence not syntactically linked to what came before, Elisha adds a brief imperative (in the negative)—אַל תַּמְעִיטִי, “Do not skimp!” The woman is to borrow as many vessels as she can.

The awkward syntax of his instructions gives the impression that Elisha does not have the entire solution worked out when he begins to speak—that he is filling in the details as he thinks of them.

Next, with the conjunction “and,” Elisha adds additional directives:

‏^{מלכים ב ד:ד} וּבָאת וְסָגַרְתְּ הַדֶּלֶת בַּעֲדֵךְ וּבְעַד בָּנַיִךְ וְיָצַקְתְּ עַל כָּל הַכֵּלִים הָאֵלֶּה וְהַמָּלֵא תַּסִּיעִי.

^{2 Kgs 4:4} And come in, close the door behind you and behind your children, and pour [oil] into all these vessels, while the full ones set aside.

The woman follows Elisha’s instructions, and is able to fill with oil all of the jars that she had borrowed:

‏^{מלכים ב ד:ה} וַתֵּלֶךְ מֵאִתּוֹ וַתִּסְגֹּר הַדֶּלֶת בַּעֲדָהּ וּבְעַד בָּנֶיהָ הֵם מַגִּשִׁים אֵלֶיהָ וְהִיא (מיצקת) [מוֹצָקֶת]. ^ד:ו וַיְהִי כִּמְלֹאת הַכֵּלִים וַתֹּאמֶר אֶל בְּנָהּ הַגִּישָׁה אֵלַי עוֹד כֶּלִי וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלֶיהָ אֵין עוֹד כֶּלִי וַיַּעֲמֹד הַשָּׁמֶן.

^{2 Kgs 4:5} So she went from him and closed the door behind her and behind her sons; as they were bringing them to her, she kept on pouring. ^4:6 And it was, when the vessels were filled up, that she said to her son: “Bring me another vessel.” He said: “There is no other vessel!.” And the oil stopped.

Some time passes, and then the woman reports to Elisha her experience pouring the oil:^[6]

^{מלכים ב ד:ז} וַתָּבֹא וַתַּגֵּד לְאִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים וַיֹּאמֶר לְכִי מִכְרִי אֶת הַשֶּׁמֶן וְשַׁלְּמִי אֶת (נשיכי) [נִשְׁיֵךְ] וְאַתְּ (בניכי) [וּבָנַיִךְ] תִחְיִי בַּנּוֹתָר.

^{2 Kgs 4:7} Then she came and told the man of God. He said: “Go, sell the oil and pay off your debt; you and your children will live on the rest.”

Elisha’s coherent, step-by-step directions for selling the oil to solve her financial woes reflect his more settled state of mind at that time. He is now composed and confident. At a crucial moment in the story, however, Elisha’s directions to the distressed mother—expressed in a disjointed fashion—convey Elisha’s uncertainty about how to proceed.

Pharaoh’s Sputtering Response to Moses

We see a similar chaotic syntax in Pharaoh’s dramatic face-to-face encounter with Moses in the wake of the plague of locusts. After Pharaoh asks Moses which of the Israelites he wants to take out of Egypt to worship YHWH, we read:

^{שׁמות י:ט} וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה בִּנְעָרֵינוּ וּבִזְקֵנֵינוּ נֵלֵךְ בְּבָנֵינוּ וּבִבְנוֹתֵנוּ בְּצֹאנֵנוּ וּבִבְקָרֵנוּ נֵלֵךְ כִּי חַג יְ־הוָה לָנוּ.

^{Exod 10:9} Moses replied, “With our young ones and with our elders we will go, with our sons and with our daughters, with our sheep and with our oxen we will go—for it is YHWH’s pilgrimage-festival for us.”

Pharaoh’s reply to this statement seems erratic, with brief, unclear expressions, and short clauses punctuated by emotional outbursts:

^{שׁמות י:י} וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם יְהִי כֵן יְ־הוָה עִמָּכֶם כַּאֲשֶׁר אֲשַׁלַּח אֶתְכֶם וְאֶת טַפְּכֶם רְאוּ כִּי רָעָה נֶגֶד פְּנֵיכֶם.

^{Exod 10:10} He said to them: “May YHWH be thus with you, the same as I mean to send you free along with your little-ones! You see—yes, your faces are set toward ill!

William H. C. Propp (University of California, San Diego) calls Pharaoh’s language here “disjointed and difficult to translate,” wondering “May we imagine the once cool monarch sputtering in frustration?”^[7] Attempting to make sense of the speech, Propp suggests that Pharaoh’s point is sarcastic: “God help you if I ever release all of you!”^[8]

Indeed, Pharaoh’s response seems to veer quickly from granting much of Moses’ request to offering a much more limited approval that only the males may go:

^{שׁמות י:יא} לֹא כֵן לְכוּ נָא הַגְּבָרִים וְעִבְדוּ אֶת יְ־הוָה כִּי אֹתָהּ אַתֶּם מְבַקְשִׁים וַיְגָרֶשׁ אֹתָם מֵאֵת פְּנֵי פַרְעֹה.

^{Exod 10:11} “Not thus—go now, O males, and serve YHWH, for that is what you (really) seek!” And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s face.

In the cases of Elisha and Pharaoh, the use of fitful rhetoric and overlapping phrases in dialogue is the authors’ way of indicating indecision on the part of the speaker.

Prophecy: An Evolving Process

The story of Elisha facing the challenge of assisting the distraught widow provides us with an insight into the experience of the prophet—and perhaps of other prophets as well.

We cannot tell how or why the divinely inspired plan becomes clear to the prophet in piecemeal fashion:^[9] Does it take the prophet time to notice all the details as a scene is revealed before him in almost cinematic fashion? Must the prophet himself construct the details of the plan on one foot, while the distraught woman stands before him and he is offered only a general instruction—e.g., “she can pour out oil ceaselessly from a limited supply”—to which he has to fill in the details?

The narrative does not answer these questions, but as with Samuel in the selection of David to succeed Saul, we do get a clear sense of Elisha constructing his instructions as he goes along.