Taking its cue from Rudolf Bultmann’s famous verdict that the Old Testament is a ‘failure’(‘Scheitern’), the article reviews three influential negative readings of Israel’s history as toldin the Former Prophets. It is then argued that awareness of the theological problem posed byIsrael’s history enabled the redactors of both the former and the latter prophetic collectionsto deal with the element of human failure in a way that facilitated Israel’s retaining of herfaith. Next, the sapiential insight in failing human discernment is drawn into the equation.Failure of human action is here interrelated with failure to comprehend God’s order. By virtueof its incorporation into the totality of the Tanak, this insight became a constructive part ofIsrael’s faith. Therefore the concept of failure comprises more than coming to terms withIsrael’s catastrophic history. Since it is encoded in Israel’s Holy Scripture, ‘failure’ is a majorconcept within the Old Testament internally and is therefore not suitable as a verdict over theOld Testament by an external value judgement. ‘Failure’ thus becomes a key hermeneuticalcategory, not merely so that the Old Testament could become a ‘promise’ for the NewTestament to fulfil, but as a manifestation of limits in human religion and thought. Far fromundermining self-esteem, constructive use of the concept of her own failure sustained Israel inher catastrophe and should be adopted by Christianity – not least in South Africa, where thebiblical message was often misappropriated to bolster apartheid.
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