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 to the man his wife, for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou shalt not restore her, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that are thine.
And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
And the LORD said to Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak to Pharaoh, that he send the children 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.
And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast forth from the land of Egypt, with great power, and with mighty hand?
Yet now, if thou wilt, forgive their sin: and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it to 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: and the spirit rested upon them, and they were of them that were described, but went not out to the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp. read more. And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord, Moses, forbid them. And Moses said to him, Enviest thou for my sake? I would that all the LORD'S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them.
And 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 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 the LORD will make myself known to him in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all my house. read more. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: why then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
If there shall arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and give thee a sign or a wonder.
If there shall arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and give thee a sign or a wonder. And the sign or the wonder shall come to pass, of which he spoke to thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
And the sign or the wonder shall come to pass, of which he spoke to 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 maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. read more. For all that do these things are an abomination to the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened to observers of times, and to diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do. The LORD thy God will raise up to thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like to me; to him ye shall hearken.
And if thou shalt say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?
And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
That the LORD sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth from the house of bondage;
But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was called after him.
And the child Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision.
(Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he spoke, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was formerly called a Seer.)
After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou hast come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp before them; and they will prophesy: And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.
And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.
And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.
And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. And it came to pass when all that formerly knew him saw, that, behold, he prophesied among the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that hath come 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 when he had made an end of prophesying, he came to the high place.
So 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 dwelt in Naioth.
The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, and his word was on my tongue.
For when David had risen 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 fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
Then the king of Israel assembled the prophets, about four hundred men, and said to them, Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.
And the LORD said to him, With what? 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 most holy house, the length of which was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the breadth of it twenty cubits: and he overlaid 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 book 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 the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.
If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry to thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.
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 Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the LORD by his prophets.
Maschil of Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thy anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
Saying, Touch not my anointed, and do my prophets no harm.
Then said they, 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 give heed to any of his words.
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice upon the earth.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not to the words of the prophets that prophesy to you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not from the mouth of the LORD.
It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD hath 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 Kebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.
So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation shall be made bare, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst of it: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then behold, there stood before me as the appearance 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 mad, for the multitude of thy 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 children of Israel? saith the LORD.
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret to his servants the prophets.
Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him:
Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive:
Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn to him with an oath, that from the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
And all the prophets also from Samuel, and those that follow, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold these days.