Why Are Prophets Reluctant?
The reluctant prophet is common trope in the Bible. Moses, Jeremiah, and Jonah all express a desire not to be leaders. Homer’s Iliad centers around Achilles’s refusal to fight. Melville’s Bartleby is a copyist who refuses to work.
Why are so many prophets reluctant, not just in the Bible, but cross-culturally?
Take Jonah—who is commanded to proclaim against a great city. Why might he, or someone like him, flee?
Here’s a preliminary list of possible motivations. What would you add?
Fear of being laughed at or ignored.
Fear of being called a hypocrite.
Fear of personal sacrifice.
Empathy for the sinners—not believing they should be condemned.
Anger at God about something else, leading to resentment and feet dragging.
Dislike of being/feeling “used.” The prophet may feel like a tired person being asked to get a glass of water by someone closer to the pitcher.
Maybe the reluctance is performative, not genuine; a bluff; or, a cry for attention.
In modern context, a prophet might be reluctant because
He lacks moral conviction.
He lacks belief in his efficacy.
He doubts the purity of his motivation (maybe this is all just virtue signaling).
He is cynical about the possibility of social transformation.
He doubts the mechanism of prophecy as adequate to his his theory of social change.
He is afraid of his own success, the gravity of responsibility that comes from being singularly capable.
P.S. Here’s my new mega thread on Spinoza.
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