CHAPTER II.
Sphere and Position of the Prophets.
§ 7.
Difference between the Prophetic and Priestly Office.
The prophetic office of instruction is essentially different from that of the priestly (Mal. II, 7) which was confined to the teaching of the laws of the Tora, and to their casuistical application to ritualistic and legal questions (Lev. X, 11; Deut. XXXIII, 9. 10; XXIV, 8; Hag. II, 11; Ezek. XLIV, 23. 24), according to which we must presuppose that codex and tradition had been perpetuated within the priesthood. This supposition is confirmed by Deut. XVII, 19, compare XXXI, 9. When therefore we see priests appear as prophets, like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the two Zechariahs, or even Levites, like Hanan (Jer. XXXV, 4), and probably Habakkuk it is quite likely that their priestly and Levitical training afforded a fitting reason for the divine call, but the prophetic office in every age was radically distinguished from the priestly.
Remark. Preaching never had a place in temple worship, in which only certain passages from the Scriptures were occasionally read. Not until after the Babylonian exile was it introduced as a part of the divine service in the synagogues. Compare Zunz, Die gottesdienstlichen Vorträge der Juden, Berlin 1832.
§ 8.
The Prophets as Guardians of the Spirit of the Law.
While the calling of the priest seeks to realize the letter of the law, that of the prophet endeavours to realize its spirit. The prophets in general demand obedience to God's will as revealed in his laws, and are fond of emphasizing the pre-Mosaic and decalogic command respecting the observance of the Sabbath, but Malachi's censure with reference to the malobservance of the sacrificial Tora (I, 10 etc.) stands absolutely alone. In every case the exhortations of the prophets do not refer to the externals, but to the substance of the law. They are zealous against the heartless and spiritless opus operatum of dead works. With biting sarcasm they depreciate ceremonial sacrifice and fasting (Hosea VI, 6; Jer. VII, 21—23; Joel II, 13; Is. LVIII). In brief the priest is the guardian of the external letter of the law, and the prophet of its internal, spiritual fulfilment.
