Prophecy and politics in the Old Testament

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to discuss aspects which concern the religious legitimation of the state, with a focus on the period of the Israelite monarchy, partly because it is during this particular period—the reigns of David and Solomon, and the time of the divided kingdom down to the exile—that the political organization of Israel may safely be called a state, and partly because the golden age of the prophetic movement falls precisely in this period. The author provides a sketch of the historical and ideological background and then says something about three different groups of prophets: the professional cultic prophets, the early Yahwistic prophets of the type of Elijah and Elisha, and the great prophets.