Upon hearing the selection of the spirit, the instinctive responses from Moses and Jeremiah
are bewilderment and refusal. Even in the moment of closest contact with God, the nominees express their doubts and concerns, which indicates that ‘they are not merely passive
recipients, but active, even opposing respondents. There is true address and response, genuine give and take. The human partner has a say in shaping the direction and outcome of events’.120 In a similar vein, Craigie argues that ‘in fact, despite the deterministic tone of the opening statement, the undertones throughout the narrative are those of human freedom and the capacity to respond to the divine call’.121
In the narrative of Moses, trial and conflict in particular play an important role in developing a renewed sense of identity and responsibility as a newly consecrated prophet.
Moses repeatedly expresses doubts and objections to the vocation (Exod 3.11, 13; 4.1, 10, 13) audience’s sympathy and confidence in the chosen one (cf. Jer 15.10; 20.7-10). R. P. Carroll, Jeremiah: A Commentary (London: SCM, 1986), 97-98.
120 M. Greenberg, Understanding Exodus (New York: Berhman House, 1969), 94.
121 Craigie, Jeremiah 1-25, 10.
103 that range from insecurities about himself - ‘Who am I?’ and ‘I am not eloquent, I am slow of
speech and of tongue’ – to those about his connection with the people of Israel and the success of the mission: ‘Who am I that I should go and bring the people of Israel out of Egypt?’, ‘If I say, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you” and they ask me, “What is his name?” what shall I say to them?’, and ‘they will not believe me or listen to my voice’. 122
Despite the fact that God reveals Moses’ true identity and his connection to the people of Israel by referring to the Israelite patriarchy (3.6) and giving repeated divine assurances (3.12, 14-22; 4.5, 8-10, 12, 15-17), Moses’ doubts are not easily dispelled: ‘Oh, my Lord, send, please, some other person’ (3.13).
Similarly, Jeremiah replies to the message of God with reluctance: ‘Ah, Lord God! I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth’ (Jer 1.6). Jeremiah’s response to the prophetic calling conveys a similar feeling of despair and panic,123 but the difference is that
122 Moses’ personal history perhaps explains his sense of insecurity: Moses may be a prince, but his true identity, a Hebrew boy who survived the nation-wide massacre of the male Hebrew children (Exod 1.15-22), and his name (‘[being] drawn out of water’, v.10) betrays any privilege the prince might inherit naturally. The name of his first child (Gershom: ‘I have been a sojourner in a foreign land’, v.22) also transmits the restless and rootless situation of Moses after his murder of the violent Egyptian (Exod 2.11-15).
123 The phrase ‘Ah, Lord God!’ appears ten times in the OT (besides the present passage: 4.10; 14.13;
32.17; Josh 7.2; Judg 6.22 and Ezek 4.14; 9.8; 11.13; 21.5) to express dismay or alarm, and the sentiment is analogous to Gideon’s objection (Judg 6.22) and that of Moses (Exod 4:10, 13). W.
Holladay, Jeremiah 1: A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, Chapters 1-25 (Hermeneia; Philadelphia, PA.: Fortress Press, 1986), 34. Also, the word ההא which opens Jeremiah’s response connotes the stressful condition that motivates Jeremiah’s desperate appeal to God (cf. Josh 7.7; Judg 6.22; 11.35 and Jer 4.10; 14.31; 32.17). Y. Gitay, ‘The Projection of the Prophet: A Rhetorical Presentation of the Prophet Jeremiah (According to Jer 1:1-19)’, in Gitay (ed.), Prophecy and Prophets The Diversity of Contemporary Issues in Scholarship (SBLSS; Atlanta, GA.:
Scholars Press, 1997), 46-47.
104 whereas Moses resists strongly even the possibility of the commissioning, Jeremiah’s concerns are more about his inaptitude for the mission that determines the future of the whole nation and kingdom. If Moses is reluctant to carry out the mission because the nominee believes that he has no connection with the community to which he is sent, Jeremiah is hesitant because he is already a part of the community which will be severely judged by God.
In this regard, when it comes to the deliverance of the message of doom, prophets seem to find it necessary to emphasise the fact that they are compelled to do it, not because they wish to but because ‘The Lord God has spoken, who can but prophesy?’ (Amos 3.8).
The nominee is chosen by the spirit before realising his or her own potential, and the initial doubts and conflicts function as a necessary check mechanism before the neophyte embraces the new identity. The primary aim of the Korean shamanic-sickness is a transformation of the previous ego into a new one infused with supernatural power and a connection to the spirits, and in the narratives of Moses and Jeremiah, God eventually employs magic and signs to prove the authenticity of the event and to dispel any lingering doubts.124 However, before moving onto signs and visions as means of divine assurance, we need to be aware of the danger of a direct comparison between the prophetic neophytes and
124 Craigie shares a similar view: ‘Such a visionary experience would be significant at the very beginning of the prophet’s ministry, in response to the reluctant prophet’s hesitation about proclaiming a word concerning the substance of which he had no guarantee of fulfilment’. Craigie, Jeremiah 1-25, 16.
105 Korean novice shamans as in trying to fit biblical characters into a sociological model of the Korean religious system. Unlike Korean novice shamans and their spirit-sickness, which is accompanied by depression, a journey into the netherworld, and various physical and psychological illnesses, the biblical prophets show no sign of schizophrenia and appear to be able to conduct a rational debate with the deity. The question ‘Who am I?’ asked by Moses and Jeremiah, is not commensurate with the same degree of identity crisis felt by Korean novice shamans, and may demonstrate the undercurrent of perturbation in confronting the call of the spirit, but it does not reach the point of physical or symbolic death, when the pain is so great that the nominee has no choice but to accept the divine selection in order to survive.
However, there is possibly one exception in the call narratives that shows similar symptoms to the spirit-sickness of Korean shamans, that of Ezekiel.