What part did nationalism play in the prophecy of Israel?

Answer 1

The problem with this question is in defining what is meant be the word prophecy, which can have so many nuanced meanings. Nationalism is apparent throughout The Bible, much of it to do with justifying a claim to the Promised Land, mainly on religious grounds.

To understand the history of nationalism in the Bible, it is necessary to recognise that the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) was written much later than popularly believed, and that it had multiple authors.

The source now known as the Yahwist was concerned with the interests of the southern kingdom of Judah. So even when writing about events supposed to have occurred before the founding of Judah, he still wrote from a Judahite perspective. The Elohist similarly wrote from the perspective of the northern kingdom of Israel. The Deuteronomist wrote after the defeat and destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel and the substantial influx of Israelite refugees into Judah. He was concerned with national unity. The Priestly Source was probably somewhat later than the Deuteronomist and was concerned with justifying a claim on the land of the former kingdom of Israel.

At various times, the Bible has God promise the Hebrews their own land, but the size of that promised land varied from time to time, with the most ambitious claim being from the Nile to the Euphrates, while a less ambitious claim was that which could be seen looking west across the River Jordan from a high mountain.

The spies narrative in the Book of Numbers give two interesting nationalistic points of view about the land they would conquer and claim as their own. This narrative is actually two slightly different stories woven together to seem as if it is really only one story, but it is still possible, with a little care, to separate the stories verse by verse. According to the Yahwist (Numbers 13:22-25), the spies travelled only as far north as Hebron (in the future kingdom of Judah): he was not interested in the much larger land of Israel that lay to the north. According to the Priestly Source (Numbers 13:21), the spies toured the entire Promised Land, "from the Wilderness of Zin to the entrance to Hamath."

The story of the United Monarchy under Kings Saul, David and Solomon ends with the people of the northern kingdom of Israel rebelling against Rehoboam's continuation of the swingeing taxes of his forebears. Here were a downtrodden people who accepted almost a century of oppressive rule by kings from Judah, although they greatly outnumbered the population of Judah. Israel Finkelstein estimates the entire population of Judah during the period attributed to the United Monarchy as only around 40,000 people. The story of the United Monarchy served two important nation-building purposes during the time of the late monarchy: it gave the people of Judah a sense of pride in the greatness of Judah and the greatness of the kings of Judah; and it reminded the Israelite refugees that Judah was struggling to integrate, that they had a shared and glorious past. Many scholars now believe that there was never a United Monarchy of Israel.