Chapter VI, Judaism, Meaning in Justice, Summary and Analysis

The prophets (derived from the prefix pro meaning "for" and phete meaning "speak"), established the system of Jewish moral order by "speaking for" God to the people. Moses, of course, is in a class by himself among prophets who later were organized into kinds of guilds. The early major prophets were addressed directly by God rather than through a kind of mystical ecstasy. These prophets established a precedent of denouncing misuse of ruling authority. These early prophets are written about, but did no writing themselves. Later prophets were "writing prophets" and there are biblical books that bear their names. The main theme of these writers deals with the social inequities and the moral delinquency of the Jewish people. The clear idea here is that political stability depends on social justice. The...