The Phenomenon of Israeli-Judah Prophecy and Elements of Ancient “Philosophical Prophetism” in the “Axial Epoch”

Abstract

The article makes an attempt to reveal a number of the most significant features of the Israeli-Judah prophecy (VIII–VI cent. BCE), which in effect turned out to be the key worldview phenomenon of the first half of the “axial epoch” in the history of mankind, when “man of such a type appeared, which has survived to this day” (K. Jaspers). The mission of the Hebrew prophet is much broader than a simple prediction of the future, for his prophecies touch upon the whole basic spectrum of man’s spiritual and material life: questions of life and death, theology and worship, ethical norms, problems of domestic and world politics, social and economic antagonisms, legal conflicts, family relationships, he develops elements of eschatology, etc. It is possible that the phenomenon of prophecy in Ancient Israel and Judah correlates with the processes associated with the appearance of a new type of state in the historical arena – the empire. Comparison with the types of prophecy, common in Ancient Greece, demonstrates the difference in the areas that are subject to the prophetic wisdom of Greece and Israel. Only in the image of Socrates, created by Plato, we see the traces of prophetic and mediumship chosenness, which gives him wisdom precisely in the spiritual realm of human existence. However, despite the strong influence that Plato’s texts had on the evolution of European philosophy and culture, they did not become the “style” of Western thought. Starting with Aristotle, it clearly distinguishes the discourses of “mythologists” and “theologians” from the “first philosophy”