I've enjoyed the past few weeks' discussions of Saruman, his deception regarding the fate of the One Ring, and the probability that he intentionally misled Gandalf and others into believing that the Valar (or, if we want to stick to the concepts explicit in this text, some power for good that exists beyond Middle-earth) had dealt with the Ring pretty permanently. I've been struck in a new way by what a profound betrayal this really is, both of Saruman's peers, and of those he is ostensibly serving. It occurred to me that Saruman has many of the characteristics of the "false prophets" often discussed in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.
Simply put, a false prophet would be someone who falsely claims to speak for (or at least with direct knowledge from) the divine. That seems to fit Saruman's intimation that the Ring had been intentionally carried out to sea. Further, false prophets often make claims that are directly antithetical to the truth (i.e., the divine message listeners should actually be absorbing), and tend to lure people away from what they've already been told about what they should be doing. Again, this seems to fit with Saruman's actions in trying to convince Gandalf et al. that the Ring isn't actually their problem...even though they're supposed to be working against Sauron and all his devices. Moreover, false prophets' messages tend to be self-serving (in biblical precedents, false prophets tend to fare well in the world by telling political leaders just what they want to hear). This certainly fits for Saruman, assuming he had an eye on finding the Ring for himself all along.
What really makes this comparison work for me, though, is our discussion of how Saruman's words "lulled" Gandalf into a false sense of security. This seems like a classic false prophet move: convince people in power that everything's fine and they don't need to change what they're doing--when, in fact, they need to take action against evil. As Gandalf narrates Saruman's reassurances that the Ring isn't a problem, alongside his admonishments to patience, I keep thinking of the famous indictment of biblical false prophets who "speak 'peace, peace,' but there is no peace."
For me, looking at Saruman as something like a false prophet raises a lot of interesting questions and further trains of thought. For one thing, it would cast Gandalf as (among other things) a true prophet. This works rather well, too, I think, insofar as he is a character who gives insight into the divine will (e.g., "you were meant to find the Ring...") and urges others to oppose evil and defend good.
Any thoughts as to the value of this analogy? In particular, I wonder if this paradigm could be at all helpful for thinking about Tolkien's evolving conception of the Wizards (Gandalf and Saruman in particular). As we've often noted, when he wrote LoTR, Tolkien hadn't yet identified the Wizards as Maiar or angelic beings. Yet they they seem to have evolved beyond the "old guys who do cool magic things," and to have some sort of knowledge or connection with the transcendent. Could the role or image of a prophet provide a sort of conceptual bridge between "just some guy" and "full-on angelic power"? I wouldn't assume this to be conscious on Tolkien's part, but given his religious worldview, I would think the idea of prophets--true or false--could feed his imagination (much as one could point to various messianic themes or images in his work, without seeing any one character as a Christ-figure).
I realize this is a pretty niche perspective, but I'm curious as to whether anyone else has thought along these lines.
Simply put, a false prophet would be someone who falsely claims to speak for (or at least with direct knowledge from) the divine. That seems to fit Saruman's intimation that the Ring had been intentionally carried out to sea. Further, false prophets often make claims that are directly antithetical to the truth (i.e., the divine message listeners should actually be absorbing), and tend to lure people away from what they've already been told about what they should be doing. Again, this seems to fit with Saruman's actions in trying to convince Gandalf et al. that the Ring isn't actually their problem...even though they're supposed to be working against Sauron and all his devices. Moreover, false prophets' messages tend to be self-serving (in biblical precedents, false prophets tend to fare well in the world by telling political leaders just what they want to hear). This certainly fits for Saruman, assuming he had an eye on finding the Ring for himself all along.
What really makes this comparison work for me, though, is our discussion of how Saruman's words "lulled" Gandalf into a false sense of security. This seems like a classic false prophet move: convince people in power that everything's fine and they don't need to change what they're doing--when, in fact, they need to take action against evil. As Gandalf narrates Saruman's reassurances that the Ring isn't a problem, alongside his admonishments to patience, I keep thinking of the famous indictment of biblical false prophets who "speak 'peace, peace,' but there is no peace."
For me, looking at Saruman as something like a false prophet raises a lot of interesting questions and further trains of thought. For one thing, it would cast Gandalf as (among other things) a true prophet. This works rather well, too, I think, insofar as he is a character who gives insight into the divine will (e.g., "you were meant to find the Ring...") and urges others to oppose evil and defend good.
Any thoughts as to the value of this analogy? In particular, I wonder if this paradigm could be at all helpful for thinking about Tolkien's evolving conception of the Wizards (Gandalf and Saruman in particular). As we've often noted, when he wrote LoTR, Tolkien hadn't yet identified the Wizards as Maiar or angelic beings. Yet they they seem to have evolved beyond the "old guys who do cool magic things," and to have some sort of knowledge or connection with the transcendent. Could the role or image of a prophet provide a sort of conceptual bridge between "just some guy" and "full-on angelic power"? I wouldn't assume this to be conscious on Tolkien's part, but given his religious worldview, I would think the idea of prophets--true or false--could feed his imagination (much as one could point to various messianic themes or images in his work, without seeing any one character as a Christ-figure).
I realize this is a pretty niche perspective, but I'm curious as to whether anyone else has thought along these lines.