Power

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Power

• The Functioning of the Apparatus of the State

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Michel Foucault

• What I want to say is that relations of
  power, and hence the analysis that is to be made
  of them, necessarily extend beyond the limits of
  the state. In two senses first of all because
  the state, for all the omnipotence of its
  apparatuses, is far from being able to occupy the
  whole field of actual power relations, and
  further because the state can only operate on the
  basis of other, already existing power relations.
  The state is superstructural in relation to a
  whole series of power networks that invest the
  body, sexuality, kinship, knowledge, technology,
  and so forth.

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Prophets

• Nabi prophet
• Hozeh visionary
• Roeh seer
• Ish elohim man (person) of God

• Amos 714-15
• I am no prophet, nor a prophets son but I am
  a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and
  the Lord took me from following the flock, and
  the Lord said to me, Go, prophesy to my people
  Israel.

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Isaiah 6 1-5

• In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the
  Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty and the
  hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were
  in attendance above him each had six wings with
  two they covered their faces, and with two they
  covered their feet, and with two they flew. And
  one called to another and said
• Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts
• The whole earth is full of his glory.
• The pivots on the thresholds shook at the
  voices of those who called, and the house filled
  with smoke. And I said, Woe is me! I am lost,
  for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among
  a people of unclean lips yet my eyes have seen
  the Lord of hosts!

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Ms 252, Utrecht (1423-1425)
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Isaiah 6 6-8

• Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a
  live coal that had been taken from the altar with
  a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth
  with it and said Now that this has touched your
  lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is
  blotted out. Then I heard the voice of the Lord
  saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for
  us? And I said, Here am I send me!

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Call of Isaiah
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A Few Notes

• Isaiah is in the temple.
• Sees (v1), hears (v3, 8), touch/maybe taste
  (vv6-7), smells (v4)
• Heavenly beings in the sodh or council of God

• Commissioned with a specific message and a
  duration of service (vv 9-13)

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Jeremiahs call

• 14-5
• Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
  Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and
  before you were born, I consecrated you I
  appointed you a prophet to the nations.

• Note Jeremiahs priestly heritage and how that
  would shape his life expectations
• Compare 161-13 to look at how his life turned
  out differently

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Jeremiahs call (continued)

• Then I said, Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know
  how to speak, for I am only a boy. But the Lord
  said to me, Do not say, I am only a boy for
  you shall go to all whom I send you, and you
  shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be
  afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you
  says the Lord.

• Compare to Moses in Exodus 4
• Jason Hiles, artist

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Jeremiahs call (continued)

• Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my
  mouth and the Lord said to me, Now I have put
  your words in your mouth. See, today, I appoint
  you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up
  and to pull down, to destroy and overthrow, to
  build and to plant.

• Notice again the touching of the mouth
• Jeremiah is empowered over the organizations of
  nations and states
• 2/3 of the message is negative 1/3 is positive

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The Pressure of Such a Life

• See Jeremiah 207-12
• Claims he was seduced and overpowered by God
• Tries to resist God, but cannot
• He is a laughingstock in the community
• Even his friends oppose him

• Jeremiah 267ff
• Preaches a sermon where the temple is threatened
• People want him dead
• Put on trial and must defend his (Gods) words
• Saved due to the memory of Micahs words years
  before

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Jeremiah Sistine Chapel
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Jeremiah Mourning the Fall of Jerusalem --
Rembrandt
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Ezekiels Call (chapters 1-3)

• He is in exile (11-3) and by the river Chebar
• Has a wild vision of the throne of God and all
  the surrounding attendants

Laurence Gardner, artist
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More on Ezekiels Call

• Mortal, I am sending you to the people of
  Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled
  against me they and their ancestors have
  transgressed against me to this very day

• I looked, and a hand was stretched out to me, and
  a written scroll was on in it. He spread it
  before me it had writing on the front and on the
  back, and written on it were words of lamentation
  and mourning and woe. He said to me, O, mortal,
  eat what is offered to you, eat this scroll.
• Tasted as sweet as honey

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Ezekiels Vision -- Raphael
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The Vision of the Prophet Ezekiel-- Vrubel
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Some Life Consequences for Ezekiel

• 2416-18 Mortal, with one blow I am about to
  take away from you the delight of your eyes yet
  you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears
  run down.So I spoke to the people in the
  morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the
  next morning I did as I was commanded.

• Forbidding to him to mourn his own wifes death
  at Gods hands is a lesson for the people.
• His life is a prophecy

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What Makes A Prophet

• Call of God
• Access to the heavenly council or sodh
• I Kings 2219-23

• Their words come true
• Deut 1822 If a prophet speaks in the name of
  the Lord but the thing does not take place or
  prove true, it is a word the Lord has not spoken.
  The prophet has spoken presumptuously do not be
  frightened by it.