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
Now therefore, restore his wife to the man. For he is a prophet, and he shall pray for you, and you shall live. And if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you, and all that are yours.
And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the thorn bush is not burned up.
And Jehovah said to Moses, See, I have made you a god to Pharaoh. And Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you. And Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh, he will 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.
Jehovah shall reign forever and ever.
And Moses prayed to Jehovah his God, and said, Jehovah, why does Your wrath become hot against Your people whom You have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
And now will You forgive their sin! And if not, I pray You, blot me out of Your book which You have written.
And Jehovah came down in a cloud and spoke to him, and took of the spirit on him and gave it to the seventy elders. And it happened when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they never did so again. But two of the men stayed in the camp; the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other was Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. And they were of those who were written, but did not go out to the tabernacle. And they prophesied in the camp. read more. And a young man ran and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, make them cease. And Moses said to him, Are you jealous for my sake? Would God that all Jehovah's people were prophets, that Jehovah would put His Spirit upon them!
And Jehovah 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 Jehovah will make Myself known to him in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream.
And He said, Hear now My words. If there is a prophet among you, I Jehovah will make Myself known to him in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream. Not so, My servant Moses. He is faithful in all My house. read more. I will speak with him mouth to mouth, even clearly, and not in dark speeches. And he shall behold the likeness of Jehovah. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?
If a prophet rises among you, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder,
If a prophet rises among you, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder which he foretold to you occurs, saying, Let us go after other gods which you have not known, and let us serve them,
and the sign or the wonder which he foretold to you occurs, saying, Let us go after other gods which you have not known, and let us serve them,
There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, an observer of clouds, or a fortune-teller, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or one who calls to the dead. read more. For all that do these things are an abomination to Jehovah. And because of these abominations Jehovah your God drives them out from before you. You shall be perfect with Jehovah your God. For these nations whom you shall possess listened to observers of clouds and to diviners. But as for you, Jehovah your God has not allowed you to do so. Jehovah your God will raise up to you a Prophet from the midst of you, of your brothers, One like me. To Him you shall listen,
And if you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which Jehovah has not spoken?
And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, judged Israel at that time.
Jehovah sent a man, a prophet to the sons of Israel, who said to them, So says Jehovah, the God of Israel: I brought you up from Egypt and brought you forth out of the house of bondage.
But the spirit of Jehovah came to Gideon, and he blew a ram's horn. And he called the Abiezrites after him.
And the child Samuel served Jehovah before Eli. And the Word of Jehovah was rare in those days. There was no open vision.
(In the old days in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said this: Come, let us go to the seer, for the prophet of today was before called a seer.)
After that you shall come to the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is. And it will happen to you when you come there to the city, even you shall meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a harp and a tambourine and a flute and a lyre before them. And they shall prophesy. And the spirit of Jehovah will come powerfully on you, and you shall prophesy with them, and shall be turned into another man.
And they came there to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him. And the Spirit of God came on him, and he prophesied among them.
And they came there to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him. And the Spirit of God came on him, and he prophesied among them.
And they came there to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him. And the Spirit of God came on him, and he prophesied among them. And it happened when all who knew him before saw him, behold, he prophesied among the prophets. And the people said to one another, What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? read more. And a man from there answered and said, And who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets? And he finished from prophesying, and he came to the high place.
And David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel, to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived in Naioth.
The Spirit of Jehovah spoke by me, and His Word was in my tongue.
And David rose up in the morning. And the Word of Jehovah came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,
Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of Jehovah, how I hid a hundred men of Jehovah's prophets by fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water?
And the hand of Jehovah was on Elijah. And he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
And the king of Israel gathered the prophets, about four hundred men, and said to them, Shall I go against Ramoth in Gilead to battle, or shall I hold back? And they said, Go up! For Jehovah shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
And Jehovah said to him, With what? And he said, I will go forth and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And He said, You shall entice him and succeed also. Go forth and do so.
And 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 Most Holy Place. Its length was by the front, of the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and its breadth, twenty cubits. And he overlaid it with fine gold, to six hundred talents.
And the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah of Shiloh, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat?
But the high places were not taken away out of Israel. But the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.
If evil comes on us, whether the sword, judgment, or plague, or famine, and we stand before this house and in Your presence (for Your name is in this house) and cry to You in our affliction, then You will hear and help.
And he set the Levites in the house of Jehovah with cymbals, with harps, and with lyres, according to the command of David, and of Gad the king's seer and Nathan the prophet. For the commandment was by the hand of Jehovah by His prophets.
An Instruction of Asaph. O God, have You cast us off forever? Will Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?
We did not see our signs; there is no prophet any more; neither is there among us any who knows how long.
saying, Touch not my anointed, and do My prophets no harm.
Then they said, Come and let us plot schemes against Jeremiah. For the Law shall not perish from the priest, nor wisdom from the wise, nor the Word from the prophet. Come and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.
Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and act wisely, and shall do judgment and justice in the earth.
So says Jehovah of Hosts, Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you vain; they speak a vision from their own heart, not out of the mouth of Jehovah.
It may be they will present their prayer before Jehovah, and will return, each one from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that Jehovah has spoken against this people.
Coming the Word of Jehovah became known to Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, the priest in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar. And the hand of Jehovah was on him there.
And I will break down the wall that you have daubed with lime, and touch it to the ground; yea, I will bare its base. And it shall fall, and you shall be destroyed in her midst; and you shall know that I am Jehovah.
And it happened when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me the form of a man.
The days of her judgment have come; the days of vengeance have come; Israel shall know it. The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is insane, because of the greatness of your iniquity and the great hatred.
And I raised up prophets from your sons and Nazarites from your young men. Is it not even so, O sons of Israel? says Jehovah.
For the Lord Jehovah will do nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.
So says Jehovah concerning the prophets who make My people err, who bite with their teeth and cry, Peace! And whoever does not give for their mouth, they even sanctify a war against him.
Her prophets are proud, men of deceit; her priests have defiled the sanctuary; they have done violence to the Law.
And it shall be in that day, the prophets shall be ashamed, each one of his vision, when he prophesies. And they shall not wear a hairy 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 Christ to sit upon his throne,
And also all the prophets from Samuel and those following after, as many as spoke, have likewise foretold of these days.