THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Most people think of prophecy as predicting the future. Though this later became the primary meaning of the word, in fact the Hebrew prophets were mainly concerned with social injustice and the consequences that would follow from it. This is no different from sociologists today "predicting" a catastrophe if underprivileged citizens are not educated or if those with more money exploit those with less. (We can see the results in today's economic crisis.) This is not prophecy, it's common sense.Some of the best writing in world literature appears in the prophetic books of the Bible, including the three major and twelve minor prophets ("minor" in the sense of shorter, not lesser). Apart from prophecy, the level of poetic inspiration in these books is very high; there's hardly a weak or dull verse in them.
Yet Hebrew poetry is based mainly on parallelism (repeating the same idea in different words) and concrete images, similar to the free verse of Walt Whitman (Leaves of Grass). This is good, because less is lost in translation, though there are puns that may need footnotes and assonance (sound repetitions) that are lost. But compared to other poetry, more survives translation.
Thousands of years later the anger over social injustice can still be heard in these books. Unfortunately, the problems (especially exploitation of the poor) continue to this day.
For good reason these books have had influence down to the present. Below are two songs by the US folksinger, Bob Dylan, which draw heavily on prophetic rhetoric. Included here are links to two videos of Dylan's songs. The videos are subtitled so you can follow along, but the lyrics are also below.
The first is "Blowin' in the Wind," probably the most famous protest song of the second half of the 20th century. It uses the conventional image of a "wind" that will uproot the unjust unless they change their ways.
As you read the prophets you will see this image of a punishing wind frequently. Jesus (a later prophet) speaks of the people who build their homes on sand, so their homes are destroyed when the heavy rains come. Disney used the same image for his early cartoon short, The Three Little Pigs (1933), also available on youtube.
The second song, "The Times They Are A-changin'," borrows directly from Jesus' words in the Gospels ("the first one now will later be last"; "the slow one now will later be fast"; "the loser now will be later the win") as well as the storm image already mentioned ("the waters around you have grown"). The theme of a new order the song warns of is based on the Hebrew prophets and the New Kingdom that Jesus spoke of, which is not built on sand but on solid rock.
Blowin' in the Wind
The Times They Are A-changin'
BLOWIN' IN THE WIND
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'
Come gather 'round peopleHow many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.
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