Freeing the Burden of Prophecy 339 The most common route to determine this in the past has been through a lexical investigation of the etymological roots of the word. Most have concluded that the word is intimately related to the lexeme ma¢¢˝’ (burden, responsibility) either because it is an ominous prophecy (2), because it was something carried by the prophet and laid upon an individual or nation (3), or because it was part of the responsibility of the prophet (4). Others, however, have not been convinced by this explanation and instead have located the origins of this word in the verbal root n¢’. One view is that ma¢¢˝’ developed from the threatening gesture expressed by n¢’ (to lift) + yad (hand) (Deut 32,40-42; Ezek 36,7; cf. Rev 10,5.6), thus, the ma¢¢˝’ is a “threatening oracle” (5). Another view is that ma¢¢˝’ refers to the practice of “taking up” lots for divination (6). Many have linked ma¢¢˝’ to the collocation n¢’ (to raise) + qôl (voice), arguing that ma¢¢˝’ is (2) F. STOLZ, “acn”, Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament (ed. E. JENNI – C. WESTERMANN) (Peabody 1997) II, 769-774; P.A.H. DE BOER, “An Inquiry into the Meaning of the Term Massa’”, OTS 5 (1948) 197-214; G. LAMBERT, “‘Mon joug est aisé et mon fardeau léger’: Note d’exégèse”, NRT 77 (1955) 963-969; H.S. GEHMAN, “The Burden of the Prophets”, JQR 31 (1940-41) 107-121; cf. GenR 44,6 in which the Rabbis note that prophecy went by ten names, the severest of which was ma¢¢˝’. See recently, P.D. MISCALL, Isaiah (Readings: a new biblical commentary; Sheffield 1993), 46: “burden indicates that what follows weighs down on us; it is a nightmare”. (3) GEHMAN, “Burden”, 171-121, similarly R. WEIS, “A Definition of the Genre Ma¢¢˝’ in the Hebrew Bible”, (Ph.D. diss., Claremont Graduate School 1986) 353, although he does not approve of this view in the end; as J.A. THOMPSON, The Book of Jeremiah (NICOT; Grand Rapids 1980) 505: “an imposed burden, imposed by a master, an overlord, or a deity on beasts or men. Metaphorically it can mean a burden of leadership or of religious duty, and at times the heavy burden of God’s judgment. Often in prophetic writings it suggests a judgment or catastrophe. The same word appears as a heading of prophetic oracles; but there it has acquired a technical sense, ‘argument,’ ‘thesis,’ even though the content of the passage that follows preserves the original sense of the term”. (4) D.R. JONES, Jeremiah (NCB; London 1992) 314: “the heavy responsibility of the prophetic word, like a burden on the shoulders of the prophet”. (5) R.B.Y. SCOTT, “The Meaning of massa’ as an Oracle Title”, JBL 67 (1948) v-vi, who pointed to Isa 21,1-2, where ma¢¢˝’ is used in v. 1 and “a severe/harsh vision” is used in v. 2; cf. J.D.W. WATTS, Isaiah 1–33 (WBC 24; Waco 1985) 190-191, who claims that in Isaiah it “means that which Yahweh signals (by hand or word) against someone or some group”. (6) See O. PROKSCH, Jesaia I (KAT 9; Leipzig 1930) 184; see WEIS, “Definition”, 2, n. 1.