Changing Relations between Prophets and Rulers in the Bible

Abstract

This article discerns a change of tendency in the nature of the relations between prophets (“religion”) and rulers (“state”) in the Bible. The examination concentrates on the differences between pre-exilic and post-exilic prophets. The sample survey shows a change of tendency between the two eras. Pre-exilic prophets act as opposition to the government, while Haggai, as a representative of post-exilic prophecy, endorses the heads of the restoration community. This change is rooted in the communal trauma of destruction and exile, as well as in the social, political and theological changes that followed.