Reference: Prophecy, Prophets
Hastings
Hebrew prophecy represents a religious movement of national and worldwide importance, not paralleled elsewhere in history. Most significant in itself, it has acquired deeper and wider import through its connexion with Christianity and the philosophy of religion generally. The present article will deal in brief outline with (1) the history, (2) the inspiration, and (3) the functions and specific teaching, of the prophets of the OT; also (4) with the special topic of Messianic prophecy and its fulfilment in the NT.
1. History and prophecy.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
So now restore to the man his wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her [to him], know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.
And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.
The Lord said to Moses, Behold, I make you as God to Pharaoh [to declare My will and purpose to him]; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land. read more. And I will make Pharaoh's heart stubborn and hard, and multiply My signs, My wonders, and miracles in the land of Egypt.
The Lord will reign forever and ever.
But Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why does Your wrath blaze hot against Your people, whom You have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?
Yet now, if You will forgive their sin -- "and if not, blot me, I pray You, out of Your book which You have written!
And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him and put It upon the seventy elders; and when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied [sounding forth the praises of God and declaring His will]. Then they did so no more. But there remained two men in the camp named Eldad and Medad. The Spirit rested upon them, and they were of those who were selected and listed, yet they did not go out to the Tent [as told to do], but they prophesied in the camp. read more. And a young man ran to Moses and said, Eldad and Medad are prophesying [sounding forth the praises of God and declaring His will] in the camp. Joshua son of Nun, the minister of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, My lord Moses, forbid them! But Moses said to him, Are you envious or jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!
The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the Tent door and called Aaron and Miriam, and they came forward. And He said, Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make Myself known to him in a vision and speak to him in a dream.
And He said, Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make Myself known to him in a vision and speak to him in a dream. But not so with My servant Moses; he is entrusted and faithful in all My house. read more. With him I speak mouth to mouth [directly], clearly and not in dark speeches; and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?
If a prophet arises among you, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder,
If a prophet arises among you, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder he foretells to you comes to pass, and if he says, Let us go after other gods -- "gods you have not known -- "and let us serve them,
And the sign or the wonder he foretells to you comes to pass, and if he says, Let us go after other gods -- "gods you have not known -- "and let us serve them,
There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, or who uses divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, Or a charmer, or a medium, or a wizard, or a necromancer. read more. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and it is because of these abominable practices that the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless [and absolutely true] to the Lord your God. For these nations whom you shall dispossess listen to soothsayers and diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet (Prophet) from the midst of your brethren like me [Moses]; to him you shall listen.
And if you say in your [minds and] hearts, How shall we know which words the Lord has not spoken?
Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at that time.
The Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites, who said to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt and brought you forth out of the house of bondage.
But the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon with Himself and took possession of him, and he blew a trumpet, and [the clan of] Abiezer was gathered to him.
Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. The word of the Lord was rare and precious in those days; there was no frequent or widely spread vision.
(Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, Come, let us go to the seer, for he that is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.)
After that you will come to the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is; and when you come to the city, you will meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily, and you will show yourself to be a prophet with them; and you will be turned into another man.
When they came to the hill [Gibeah], behold, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily upon him, and he spoke under divine inspiration among them.
When they came to the hill [Gibeah], behold, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily upon him, and he spoke under divine inspiration among them.
When they came to the hill [Gibeah], behold, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily upon him, and he spoke under divine inspiration among them. And when all who knew Saul before saw that he spoke by inspiration among the [schooled] prophets, the people said one to another, What has come over [him, who is nobody but] the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? read more. One from that same place answered, But who is the father of the others? So it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets? When [Saul] had ended his inspired speaking, he went to the high place.
So David fled and escaped and came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth.
The Spirit of the Lord spoke in and by me, and His word was upon my tongue.
When David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,
Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred men of the Lord's prophets by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water?
The hand of the Lord was on Elijah. He girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel [nearly twenty miles].
Then [Ahab] king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about 400 men, and said to them, Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I hold back? And they said, Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.
The Lord said to him, By what means? And he said, I will go forth and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets. [The Lord] said, You shall entice him and succeed also. Go forth and do it.
Now the acts of King David, from first to last, are written in the recorded words of Samuel the seer, Nathan the prophet, and Gad the seer,
He made the Most Holy Place, its length equaling the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and its breadth twenty cubits; he overlaid it with 600 talents of fine gold.
Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first to last, are they not written in the history of Nathan the prophet and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?
But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was blameless all his days.
If evil comes upon us, the sword of judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You -- "for Your Name [and the symbol of Your presence] is in this house -- "and cry to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.
Hezekiah stationed the Levites in the Lord's house with cymbals, harps, and lyres, as David [his forefather] and Gad the king's seer and Nathan the prophet had commanded; for the commandment was from the Lord through His prophets.
O God, why do You cast us off forever? Why does Your anger burn and smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?
We do not see our symbols; there is no longer any prophet, neither does any among us know for how long.
Saying, Touch not My anointed, and do My prophets no harm.
Then [my enemies] said, Come and let us devise schemes against Jeremiah; for the law [of Moses] shall not perish from the priest [as this false prophet Jeremiah predicts], nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us smite him with the tongue [making a charge against him to the king], and let us not pay any attention to his words.
Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch (Sprout), and He will reign as King and do wisely and will execute justice and righteousness in the land.
Thus says the Lord of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the [false] prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility) and fill you with vain hopes; they speak a vision of their own minds and not from the mouth of the Lord.
It may be that they will make their supplication [for mercy] before the Lord, and each one will turn back from his evil way, for great is the anger and the wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.
The word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was there upon him.
So will I break down the wall that you have daubed with whitewash and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundations will be exposed; when it falls, you will perish and be consumed in the midst of it. And you will know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord.
When I, even I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it; then behold, there stood before me one [Gabriel] with the appearance of a man.
The days of visitation and punishment have come; the days of recompense have come; Israel shall know it. The prophet is [considered] a crazed fool and the man who is inspired is [treated as if] mad or a fanatic, because of the abundance of your iniquity and because the enmity, hostility, and persecution are great.
And I raised up some of your sons for prophets and some of your young men for dedicated ones [Nazirites]. Is this not true, O you children of Israel? says the Lord.
Surely the Lord God will do nothing without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets.
Thus says the Lord: Concerning the false prophets who make My people err, when they have anything good to bite with their teeth they cry, Peace; and whoever gives them nothing to chew, against him they declare a sanctified war.
Her prophets are light [lacking truth, gravity, and steadiness] and men of treachery; her priests have profaned the sanctuary; [defrauding God and man by pretending their own word is God's word] they have done violence to the law.
And in that day the [false] prophets shall each be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies, nor will he wear a hairy or rough garment to deceive,
Being however a prophet, and knowing that God had sealed to him with an oath that He would set one of his descendants on his throne,
Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel and those who came afterwards, as many as have spoken, also promised and foretold and proclaimed these days.