Studying the Hebrew prophets is a regular act of realizing that, as Abraham Heschel addressed, distinguishing between the pathos of the prophet & the pathos God is often impossible. In Jeremiah, for example, it can be unclear if it is Jeremiah who is weeping for his people or God.

Another realization is that God consistently chooses people who mediate between God and his people, even when told not to do so. The prophet is often depicted as the one who sort of talks God down from the peak of anger and wrath. Moses does this, as well as Jeremiah, Isaiah, etc. This mediation is often approached either from angle of appealing to God’s own honor: “for your own Name’s sake don’t do this” or an appeal dyadic favor found in God’s relationship with someone else: “for the sake of David, Abraham, etc, don’t do this.”

In the New Testament, there is a new twist: Jesus also mediates for the people and appeals to the dyadic favor, but due to his own faithfulness, righteousness, and identity.