PowerThe Functioning of the Apparatus of

the State

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.”

Prophets Nabi – prophet

Hozeh – visionary

Roeh – seer

Ish elohim – man (person) of God

Amos 7:14-15

“I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s 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.”

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!”

Ms 252, Utrecht (1423-1425)

Isaiah 6: 6-8Then 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!”

Call of Isaiah

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)

Jeremiah’s call1:4-5

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 Jeremiah’s priestly heritage and how that would shape his life expectations

Compare 16:1-13 to look at how his life turned out differently

Jeremiah’s 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

Jeremiah’s 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

The Pressure of Such a Life See Jeremiah 20:7-12

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 26:7ff

Preaches a sermon where the temple is threatened

People want him dead Put on trial and must

defend his (God’s) words Saved due to the memory

of Micah’s words years before

Jeremiah – Sistine Chapel

Jeremiah Mourning the Fall of Jerusalem -- Rembrandt

Ezekiel’s Call (chapters 1-3) He is in exile (1:1-3)

and by the river Chebar

Has a wild vision of the throne of God and all the surrounding attendants

Laurence Gardner, artist

More on Ezekiel’s 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

Ezekiel’s Vision -- Raphael

The Vision of the Prophet Ezekiel-- Vrubel

Some Life Consequences for Ezekiel 24:16-18 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 wife’s death at God’s hands is a lesson for the people.

His life is a prophecy

What Makes A Prophet Call of God

Access to the heavenly council or sodh I Kings 22:19-23

Their words come true Deut 18:22 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.”