Big Ideas · 26 · Prophet and Priest
Why Assyria's oracles were lost and Israel's survived
Assyrian oracles were state secrets, locked away and forgotten when Nineveh fell. We have them only because fire baked the tablets. Israel's prophecies were reworked for communities and copied for millennia.
Open knowledge outlives secret archives.
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Biblical prophets promise a future Davidic king, but as part of a whole people's rebirth: rebuilding cities, planting vineyards. These books were written to be read by and to communities, then studied and commented on, as in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Bible reference: Amos 9:11–15
Source: Why the Bible Began, pp. 414–416
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