Why do prophets intervene?

Answer 1

A:Scholars define a prophet as an individual bearer of charisma, who by virtue of his mission proclaims a religious doctrine or divine commandment. Hebrew prophets claimed to be the instrument for the proclamation of God and his will. However, Robert P. Carroll (The World of Ancient Israel: Sociological, Anthropological and Political Perspectives, Prophecy and society) says that for the modern reader the ancient Israelite writers had no clear image of what a prophet is or should be.

Carroll says the legends of the prophets in the Deuteronomic History (Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Kings) may come from any period of history, post-Exilic or otherwise, and therefore may only be used with great caution, if at all, for any reconstruction of the history, structure or nature of biblical prophecy. And due to extensive editing, it is not possible to say whether the prophetic books reflect reliable historical information or represent editorial inventions of biographies of the prophets whose names they bear.

The main agenda of the prophets seems to have been the introduction of monotheism, even before the Deuteronomistic reforms of the seventh century BCE established Yahweh-only monotheism as the official religion of Judah. Andrew D. H. Mayes (The World of Ancient Israel: Sociological, Anthropological and Political Perspectives, Sociology and the Old Testament) says the prophets formed an active pressure group which came into dominance particularly in times of crisis, and the breakthrough to monotheism was achieved only in the setting of that final catastrophe when the prophetic demand for Yahweh's exclusive worship, with its threat of punishment for disobedience, was vindicated. In the turbulent period leading up to the Babylonian Exile, the prophets strenuously urged one course of action or another on the king of Judah. Some prophets seem to have taken opposing sides on important issues of their day, and the successful prophet was more likely to be seen in a positive light in the biblical narrative.