Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ORACLE

A message from God to an individual or group of people, usually delivered by a prophet. Heb. maśśāʾ, in its basic meaning “burden,” frequently refers to the prophetic communication from God to humankind (cf. the double usage in Jer. 23:33-40). When associated with prophetic speech, maśśāʾ usually, but not always, has a negative connotation. It is frequently associated with oracles of judgment against the nations (e.g., Isa. 13:1; Nah. 1:1), but also of oracles against Judah (Isa. 22:1) and Israel (Ezek. 12:10). Later texts associate maśśāʾ with the “word of Yahweh,” effectively removing any negative connotation (Zech. 9:1; 12:1; Mal. 1:1).

Richard D. Weis has suggested that maśśāʾ should be understood as a distinct prophetic genre in which the words of the prophet rather than the words of Yahweh predominate. Thus the term would be more accurately translated “a prophetic exposition of divine revelation” and the initiative for a maśśāʾ would lie neither with God nor the prophet, but with the community that was requesting clarification concerning the divine will.

While texts labeled maśśāʾ are properly distinguished from other types of prophetic speech such as messenger speeches or prophetic judgment speeches, it is unclear whether they are sufficiently distinct from others not so designated but which contain similar material (cf. esp. the various units in Isa. 13–23).

Bibliography. R. D. Weis, A Definition of the Genre Maśśāʾ in the Hebrew Bible (diss., Claremont, 1986).

James R. Adair, Jr.

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ORACLE

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)