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.
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Now therefore restore the man his wife, for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live. And if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that are thine.
Then Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great vision, why the bush is not burnt.
The LORD said unto Moses, See, I have constituted thee as god unto Pharaoh; and Aaron, thy brother, shall be thy prophet. Thou shalt speak all that I shall command thee; and Aaron, thy brother, shall speak unto Pharaoh that he send the sons of Israel out of his land. read more. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
The LORD shall reign for ever and ever.
Then Moses grieved before the LORD his God and said, LORD, why shall thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
that thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me now out of thy book which thou hast written.
Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke unto him and took of the spirit that was in him and gave it unto the seventy elders, and it came to pass that when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied and did not cease. But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad and the name of the other Medad, upon whom the spirit also rested; and they were of those that were written, but they had not gone unto the tabernacle; and they began to prophesy in the camp. read more. And a young man ran and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp. Then Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses said unto him, Art thou jealous for my sake? It would be good that all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!
Then the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forth. And he said, Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in dreams.
And he said, Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in dreams. My slave Moses is not so, who is faithful in all my house. read more. With him I will speak mouth to mouth and by sight not by enigmas; he shall see the similitude of the LORD. Why then were ye not afraid to speak against my slave Moses?
When there arises among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives thee a sign or a wonder,
When there arises among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them,
and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them,
There shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire or that uses divination or an observer of times or an enchanter or a witch or a charmer or a spiritist or a diviner or a necromancer. read more. For anyone that does these things is an abomination unto the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD thy God drove them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. For these Gentiles, whom thou shalt inherit, hearkened unto observers of times and unto diviners, but as for thee, the LORD thy God has not allowed thee to do so. The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken,
And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?
And a woman judged Israel at that time, Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth.
the LORD sent a prophet unto the sons of Israel who said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt and brought you forth out of the house of slavery;
And the Spirit of the LORD clothed himself in Gideon, who when he had blown the shofar, Abiezer joined with him.
And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision.
(Beforetime in Israel when anyone went to enquire of God, he spoke thus, Come, and let us go to the seer, for he that is now called a Prophet was called a Seer before.)
After that thou shalt come to the hill of God where the garrison of the Philistines is, and it shall come to pass when thou art come there to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery and a tambourine and a pipe and a harp before them; and they shall prophesy. And the Spirit of the LORD will prosper thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them and shalt be turned into another man.
And when they came there to the hill, behold, the company of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God prospered him, and he prophesied among them.
And when they came there to the hill, behold, the company of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God prospered him, and he prophesied among them.
And when they came there to the hill, behold, the company of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God prospered him, and he prophesied among them. And it came to pass when all that knew him beforetime saw that, behold, he prophesied among the prophets, then the people said one to another, What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? read more. And one of the same place answered and said, But who is their father? Therefore, it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets? And he ceased prophesying and came to the high place.
So David fled and escaped and came to Samuel in 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 has spoken by me, and his word has been in my tongue.
And in the morning when David had risen, the word of the LORD came unto 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 one hundred men of the LORD's prophets in groups of fifty in caves and sustained them with bread and water?
And the hand of the LORD was upon Elijah, who girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up, for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
And the LORD said unto him, In what manner? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also; go forth and do so.
Now the acts of David, the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Samuel, the seer, and in the book of Nathan, the prophet, and in the book of Gad, the seer,
And he made the house of the holy of holies, its length was twenty cubits, according to the breadth of the house, and its breadth was twenty cubits, and he covered it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.
Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the books of Nathan, the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah, the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo, the seer against Jeroboam, the son of Nebat?
But with all this the high places were not taken away out of Israel; nevertheless, the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.
If evil comes upon us or the sword of judgment or pestilence or famine, we shall stand before this house and in thy presence (for thy name is in this house) and cry unto thee out of our tribulations, and thou wilt hear us and save us.
And he set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad, the king's seer, and of Nathan, the prophet, for that commandment was by the hand of the LORD, by the hand of his prophets.
O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why does thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
We no longer see our own banners; there is no longer any prophet: neither is there among us any that knows. How long shall this be?
Saying, Touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm.
Then they said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not consider any of his words.
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.
if peradventure their prayer will fall into the presence of the LORD, and they shall turn each one from his evil way; for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD has pronounced against this people.
the word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and there the hand of the LORD came upon him.
So I will break down the wall that ye have plastered with loose mud and bring it down to the ground, and its foundation shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
And it came to pass, as I, Daniel, was considering the vision and seeking to understand it, behold, there stood before me the likeness of a man.
The days of visitation are come, the days of recompense are come; Israel shall know it; the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is a fool, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.
And I raised up of your sons for prophets and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye sons of Israel? said the LORD.
Because the Lord GOD will do nothing unless he reveals his secret to his slaves the prophets.
Thus hath the LORD said concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that does not give them something to eat, they even prepare war against him.
Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary; they have falsified the law.
And it shall come to pass in that time, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision when he has prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive:
Therefore being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne;
And all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.
Of which saving health the prophets, (who prophesied of the grace that was to come in you) have enquired and searched diligently;