77 ISRAEL’S RETREAT FAILURE PROPHECY 2 KINGS 3 AND THE OF IN deceptive prophecy to Jerusalem in the days of Jeremiah, delivered through false prophets who were denied access to YAHWEH’s heavenly assembly, was a bold-faced lie (Jer 4,10). Elisha himself sent a deceptive message to Ben-Hadad via Hazael, assuring the king he would recover from an illness, when in reality he would die (2 Kgs 8,10.14) 29. Once again, the deceptive message is an outright lie. Elisha’s oracle in 2 Kings 3 does not fit the pattern we see elsewhere, where deceptive prophecy is an outright lie, not an ambiguous oracle capable of dual interpretations. The parallels between 1 Kings 22 and 2 Kings 3 are undeniable, but their significance can be explained differently than Long has done. 5. An Alternative Proposal I would like to offer an alternative proposal for understanding the strange case of Israel’s retreat in 2 Kings 3,27. As stated earlier, my thesis is that the prophecy did indeed fail. But like most prophecies, the fulfill- ment of Elisha’s oracle of victory was contingent upon Israel’s willing- ness to bring it to completion. This is not a story about the failure of YAHWEH’s promise, but rather an account of Israel’s dismal failure in the face of opposition. 6. Contingency in prophecy Prophetic discourse is typically expository-hortatory and predictive 30. The former evaluates the recipient’s character and appeals for a positive response. Predictive discourse can be dynamic or performative in func- tion. When predictive discourse announces God’s intentions uncondition- ally, it is performative, since it sets in motion an inevitable outcome. But prophetic predictive discourse is more often dynamic. It announces God’s intentions conditionally and is intended to motivate a positive response to the hortatory discourse it typically accompanies 31. In this case the proph- ecy’s predictive element is designed to prevent (in the case of a judgment In verse 10 the Kethib reads : “Go, say: ‘You will surely not get well’”. 29 The Qere, which is supported by some Hebrew manuscripts and the ancient versions, reads: “Go, say to him: ‘You will surely get well’.” In the Kethib version Elisha gives Hazael a true message, but Hazael falsely communicates the oracle to Ben-Hadad. In the Qere version Elisha tells Hazael to lie to the king. R. CHISHOLM, “When Prophecy Appears to Fail, Check Your Herme- 30 neutic ”, JETS 53 (2010) 562. E. CLENDENEN, “Textlinguistics and Prophecy in the Book of the 31 Twelve ”, JETS 46 (2003) 388-90.