Page Content (OCR)
323 ciously hath the prophet spoken it—not the words of Yahweh." That it was not an easy matter to distinguish between true and false prophets was thus anticipated right from the begin- ning; the ensuing events offered bitter confirmation of the problem. "And there arose not a Nabih in Israel like Moses, whom Yahweh hath known face to face," it is stated at the conclu- sion of the Book of Deuteronomy (and thus the conclusion of the Pentateuch, the so-called Five Books of Moses); for Moses, as decreed for all those who had known the servitude in Egypt, was doomed not to enter the Promised Land. Before dying, the Lord made him go up Mount Nebo that was on the eastern side of the Jordan facing Jericho, to see from there the Promised Land. Significantly or ironically, the mount chosen for that final act. Mount Nebo, was named after Nabu, the son of Marduk. Il Nabium, the "God who is a spokesman," Babylonian in- scriptions called him; for as historical records show, it was he who, while his father Marduk was in exile, roamed the lands bordering on the Mediterranean, converting the people to the worship of Marduk in preparation for the seizing of the supremacy by Marduk at the time of Abraham. the prophet spoken it—not the words of The function, the mission of the Prophets of Yahweh winds its way through the era of the Judges, finds expression in the biblical books of Samuel and Kings, and reaches its high ground, moral and religious message and its prophetic visions for humanity in the books of the Prophets. Guidance, rage, and solace; teaching, reprimanding, and reassuring, the words and symbolic deeds of these "spokesmen" of Yahweh gradu- ally fashion, as the years and the events march by, an image of Yahweh and His role in the past and in the future of Earth and its inhabitants. "It was after the death of Moses the servant of Yahweh, that Yahweh spoke unto Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, saying: Moses my servant died; now therefore arise and cross the Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, the Children of Israel ... as I was with Moses so will I be with thee; I will not fail thee nor Prophets of an Unseen God