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prophet Summary and Overview

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prophet in Easton's Bible Dictionary

(Heb. nabi, from a root meaning "to bubble forth, as from a fountain," hence "to utter", compare Ps. 45:1). This Hebrew word is the first and the most generally used for a prophet. In the time of Samuel another word, "ro'eh", "seer", began to be used (1 Sam. 9:9). It occurs seven times in reference to Samuel. Afterwards another word, "hozeh", "seer" (2 Sam. 24:11), was employed. In 1 Ch. 29:29 all these three words are used: "Samuel the seer (ro'eh), Nathan the prophet (nabi'), Gad the seer" (hozeh). In Josh. 13:22 Balaam is called (Heb.) a "kosem" "diviner," a word used only of a false prophet. The "prophet" proclaimed the message given to him, as the "seer" beheld the vision of God. (See Num. 12:6, 8.) Thus a prophet was a spokesman for God; he spake in God's name and by his authority (Ex. 7:1). He is the mouth by which God speaks to men (Jer. 1:9; Isa. 51:16), and hence what the prophet says is not of man but of God (2 Pet. 1:20, 21; compare Heb. 3:7; Acts 4:25; 28:25). Prophets were the immediate organs of God for the communication of his mind and will to men (Deut. 18:18, 19). The whole Word of God may in this general sense be spoken of as prophetic, inasmuch as it was written by men who received the revelation they communicated from God, no matter what its nature might be. The foretelling of future events was not a necessary but only an incidental part of the prophetic office. The great task assigned to the prophets whom God raised up among the people was "to correct moral and religious abuses, to proclaim the great moral and religious truths which are connected with the character of God, and which lie at the foundation of his government." Any one being a spokesman for God to man might thus be called a prophet. Thus Enoch, Abraham, and the patriarchs, as bearers of God's message (Gen. 20:7; Ex. 7:1; Ps. 105:15), as also Moses (Deut. 18:15; 34:10; Hos. 12:13), are ranked among the prophets. The seventy elders of Israel (Num. 11:16-29), "when the spirit rested upon them, prophesied;" Asaph and Jeduthun "prophesied with a harp" (1 Chr. 25:3). Miriam and Deborah were prophetesses (Ex. 15:20; Judg. 4:4). The title thus has a general application to all who have messages from God to men. But while the prophetic gift was thus exercised from the beginning, the prophetical order as such began with Samuel. Colleges, "schools of the prophets", were instituted for the training of prophets, who were constituted, a distinct order (1 Sam. 19:18-24; 2 Kings 2:3, 15; 4:38), which continued to the close of the Old Testament. Such "schools" were established at Ramah, Bethel, Gilgal, Gibeah, and Jericho. The "sons" or "disciples" of the prophets were young men (2 Kings 5:22; 9:1, 4) who lived together at these different "schools" (4:38-41). These young men were taught not only the rudiments of secular knowledge, but they were brought up to exercise the office of prophet, "to preach pure morality and the heart-felt worship of Jehovah, and to act along and co-ordinately with the priesthood and monarchy in guiding the state aright and checking all attempts at illegality and tyranny." In New Testament times the prophetical office was continued. Our Lord is frequently spoken of as a prophet (Luke 13:33; 24:19). He was and is the great Prophet of the Church. There was also in the Church a distinct order of prophets (1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 2:20; 3:5), who made new revelations from God. They differed from the "teacher," whose office it was to impart truths already revealed. Of the Old Testament prophets there are sixteen, whose prophecies form part of the inspired canon. These are divided into four groups: (1.) The prophets of the northern kingdom (Israel), viz., Hosea, Amos, Joel, Jonah. (2.) The prophets of Judah, viz., Isaiah, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah. (3.) The prophets of Captivity, viz., Ezekiel and Daniel. (4.) The prophets of the Restoration, viz., Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

prophet in Smith's Bible Dictionary

The ordinary Hebrew word for prophet is nabi, derived from a verb signifying "to bubble forth" like a fountain; hence the word means one who announces or pours forth the declarations of God. The English word comes from the Greek prophetes (profetes), which signifies in classical Greek one who speaks for another, especially one who speaks for a god, and so interprets his will to man; hence its essential meaning is "an interpreter." The use of the word in its modern sense as "one who predicts" is post-classical. The larger sense of interpretation has not, however, been lost. In fact the English word ways been used in a closer sense. The different meanings or shades of meanings in which the abstract noun is employed in Scripture have been drawn out by Locke as follows: "Prophecy comprehends three things: prediction; singing by the dictate of the Spirit; and understanding and explaining the mysterious, hidden sense of Scripture by an immediate illumination and motion of the Spirit." Order and office. --The sacerdotal order was originally the instrument by which the members of the Jewish theocracy were taught and governed in things spiritual. Teaching by act and teaching by word were alike their task. But during the time of the judges, the priesthood sank into a state of degeneracy, and the people were no longer affected by the acted lessons of the ceremonial service. They required less enigmatic warnings and exhortations, under these circumstances a new moral power was evoked the Prophetic Order. Samuel himself Levite of the family of Kohath, #1Ch 6:28| and almost certainly a priest, was the instrument used at once for effecting a reform in the sacerdotal order #1Ch 9:22| and for giving to the prophets a position of importance which they had never before held. Nevertheless it is not to be supposed that Samuel created the prophetic order as a new thing before unknown. The germs both of the prophetic and of the regal order are found in the law as given to the Israelites by Moses, #De 13:1; 18:20 17:18| but they were not yet developed, because there was not yet the demand for them. Samuel took measures to make his work of restoration permanent as well as effective for the moment. For this purpose he instituted companies or colleges of prophets. One we find in his lifetime at Ramah, #1Sa 19:19,20| others afterward at Bethel, #2Ki 2:3| Jericho, #2Ki 2:2,5| Gilgal; #2Ki 4:38| and elsewhere. #2Ki 6:1| Their constitution and object similar to those of theological colleges. Into them were gathered promising students, and here they were trained for the office which they were afterward destined to fulfill. So successful were these institutions that from the time of Samuel to the closing of the canon of the Old Testament there seems never to have been wanting due supply of men to keep up the line of official prophets. Their chief subject of study was, no doubt, the law and its interpretation; oral, as distinct from symbolical, teaching being thenceforward tacitly transferred from the priestly to the prophetic order. Subsidiary subjects of instruction were music and sacred poetry, both of which had been connected with prophecy from the time of Moses #Ex 15:20| and the judges. #Jud 4:4; 5:1| But to belong to the prophetic order and to possess the prophetic gift are not convertible terms. Generally, the inspired prophet came from the college of prophets, and belonged to prophetic order; but this was not always the case. Thus Amos though called to the prophetic office did not belong to the prophetic order. #Am 7:14| The sixteen prophets whose books are in the canon have that place of honor because they were endowed with the prophetic gift us well as ordinarily (so far as we know) belonging to the prophetic order. Characteristics. --What then are the characteristics of the sixteen prophets thus called and commissioned and intrusted with the messages of God to his people? 1. They were the national poets of Judea. 2. They were annalists and historians. A great portion of Isaiah, of Jeremiah, of Daniel of Jonah, of Haggai, is direct or in direct history. 3. They were preachers of patriotism, --their patriotism being founded on the religious motive. 4. They were preachers of morals and of spiritual religion. The system of morals put forward by the prophets, if not higher or sterner or purer than that of the law, is more plainly declared, and with greater, because now more needed, vehemence of diction. 5. They were extraordinary but yet authorized exponents of the law. 6. They held a pastoral or quasi-pastoral office. 7. They were a political power in the state. 8. But the prophets were something more than national poets and annalists, preachers of patriotism moral teachers, exponents of the law, pastors and politicians. Their most essential characteristic is that they were instruments of revealing God's will to man, as in other ways, so specially by predicting future events, and in particular foretelling the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ and the redemption effected by him. We have a series of prophecies which are so applicable to the person and earthly life of Jesus Christ as to be thereby shown to have been designed to apply to him. And if they were designed to apply to him, prophetical prediction is proved. Objections have, been urged. We notice only one, vis., vagueness. It has been said that the prophecies are too darkly and vaguely worded to be proved predictive by the events which they are alleged to foretell. But to this might be answered, 1. That God never forces men to believe, but that there is such a union of definiteness and vagueness in the prophecies as to enable those who are willing to discover the truth, while the willfully blind are not forcibly constrained to see it. 2. That, had the prophecies been couched in the form of direct declarations, their fulfillment would have thereby been rendered impossible or at least capable of frustration. 3. That the effect of prophecy would have been far less beneficial to believers, as being less adapted to keep them in a state of constant expectation. 4. That the Messiah of revelation could not be so clearly portrayed in his varied character as God and man, as prophet, priest and king, if he had been the mere teacher." 5. That the state of the prophets, at the time of receiving the divine revelation, was such as necessarily to make their predictions fragmentary figurative, and abstracted from the relations of time. 6. That some portions of the prophecies were intended to be of double application, and some portions to be understood only on their fulfillment, Comp. #Joh 14:29; Eze 36:33| How the prophetic gift was received --We learn from Holy Scripture that it was by the agency of the Spirit of God that the prophets received the divine communication; but the means by which the divine Spirit communicated with the human spirit, and the conditions of the latter under which the divine communications were received, have not been clearly declared to us. They are however, indicated. In #Nu 12:6-8| we have an exhaustive division of the different ways in which the revelations of God are made to man. 1. Direct declaration and manifestation: "I will speak mouth to mouth, apparently, and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold." 2. Vision. 3. Dream. not though it must be allowed that Scripture language seems to point out the state of dream and of trance or ecstasy, as a condition in which the human instrument received the divine communications, it does not follow that all the prophetic revelations were thus made. Had the prophets a full knowledge of that which they predicted? It follows from what we have already said that they had not, and could not have. They were the "spokesmen" of God, #Ex 7:1| the "mouth" by which his words were uttered, or they were enabled to view and empowered to describe pictures. Presented to their spiritual intuition; but there are no grounds for believing that, contemporaneously with this miracle, there was wrought another miracle, enlarging the understanding of the prophet so as to grasp the whole of the divine counsels which he was gazing into, or which he was the instrument of enunciating. Names. --Of the sixteen prophets, four are usually called the great prophets, namely, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, and twelve the Minor prophets, namely, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakuk,Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. They may be divided into four groups: the prophets of the northern kingdom --Hosea, Amos, Joel, Jonah; the prophets of the southern kingdom --Isaiah, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah; the prophets of the captivity --Ezekiel and Daniel; the prophets of the return --Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. They may be arranged in the following chronological order, namely, Joel, Jonah, Hoses, Amos, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Obadiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. Use of prophecy. --Predictive prophecy is at once a part and an evidence of revelation; at the time that it is delivered and until its fulfillment, a part; after it has been fulfilled, an evidence. As an evidence, fulfilled prophecy is as satisfactory as anything can be; for who can know the future except the Ruler who disposes future events? and from whom can come prediction except from him who knows the future? Development of Messianic prophecy. --Prediction, in the shape of promise and threatening, begins with the book of Genesis. Immediately upon the Fall, hopes of recovery and salvation are held out, but the manner in which this salvation is to be effected is left altogether indefinite. All that is at first declared is that it shall come through a child of woman. #Ge 3:15| By degrees the area is limited: it is to come through the family of Shem, #Ge 9:26| through the family of Abraham, #Ge 12:3| of Isaac, #Ge 25:18| of Jacob, #Ge 28:14| of Judah, #Ge 49:10| Balaam seems to say that it will be wrought by a warlike Israelitish King, #Nu 24:17| Jacob, by a peaceful Ruler of the earth, #Ge 49:10| Moses, by a Prophet like himself, i.e. a revealer of a new religious dispensation. #De 15:15| Nathan's announcement, #2Sa 7:16| determines further that the salvation is to come through the house of David, and through a descendant of David who shall be himself a king. This promise is developed by David himself in the Messianic psalms. Between Solomon and Hezekiah intervened some two hundred years, during which the voice of prophecy was silent. The Messianic conception entertained at this time by the Jews might have been that of a King of the royal house of David who would arise and gather under his peaceful sceptre his own people and strangers. Sufficient allusion to his prophetical and priestly offices had been made to create thoughtful consideration, but as yet there was, no clear delineation of him in these characters. It was reserved for the prophets to bring out these features more distinctly. In this great period of prophetism there is no longer any chronological development of Messianic prophecy, as in the earlier period previous to Solomon. Each prophet adds a feature, one more, another less clearly combine the feature, and we have the portrait; but it does not grow gradually and perceptibly under the hands of the several artists. Its culminating point is found in the prophecy contained in #Isa 52:13-15| and Isai 52:53 Prophets of the New Testament. --So far as their predictive powers are concerned, the Old Testament prophets find their New Testament counterpart in the writer of the Apocalypse; but in their general character, as specially illumined revealers of God's will, their counterpart will rather be found, first in the great Prophet of the Church and his forerunner, John the Baptist, and next in all those persons who were endowed with the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit in the apostolic age, the speakers with tongues and the interpreters of tongues, the prophets and the discerners of spirits, the teachers and workers of miracles. #1Co 12:10,28| That Predictive powers did occasionally exist in the New Testament prophets is proved by the case of Agabus, #Ac 11:23| but this was not their characteristic. The prophets of the New Testament were supernaturally illuminated expounders and preachers.

prophet in Schaff's Bible Dictionary

PROPH'ET (from a Greek word signifying speaker-, utterer). The term is used in a wider sense, signifying simply "interpreter," in close correspondence with its etymology, and thus it is applied to every one who has received a communication from God which he utters or interprets. Abraham is called a prophet, Gen 20:7, in this sense of the word, and in the same manner Aaron is called the prophet of Moses. Ex 7:1. As a communication from God is most likely, however, to refer to the future it becomes naturally a prediction in the mouth of the interpreter, and this element of prediction, added to that of interpretation, gives a more special sense to the term, "prophet" signifying a man who is authorized by God to reveal something with respect to the future.
The prophets of the O.T., at once interpreters and predictors, formed a special institution in the Hebrew theocracy, an independent link of the great providential scheme which made the children of Israel, the chosen people among whom the Messiah was to be born, a transition between the old and the new dispensations. Resting on Moses, they pointed toward Christ; preaching the Law, they promised the Gospel. Scattered prophecies occur even before Moses, but it was not until the time of Samuel that the prophets became a regular order in the Hebrew theocracy, like the priests, and afterward the kings. During the period of the- Judges the priesthood seems to have become somewhat degenerate, and its influence on the people was lowered. Under these circumstances, Samuel undertook to create or develop a new moral power in the nation by the organization of the prophetical institution, and so successful was he in this undertaking that in Holy Scripture he is ranked beside Moses as one of the pillars of the people. Jer 15:1; Ps 97:6; Acts 3:24. Schools or colleges - in fact, the first theological seminaries - were established first at Ramah, 1 Sam 19:19; afterward at Bethel, 2 Kgs 2:3, Jericho, 2 Kgs 2:5, Gilgal, 2 Kgs 4:38, and in other places. 2 Kgs 6:1. Under the leadership of some elderly prophet, who was called their "father" or "master," 1 Sam 10:12; 2 Kgs 2:3, promising young men were gathered into these schools and instructed in the interpretation of the Law, in music, and in poetry. The connection between prophecy and poetry and music was old, Ex 15:20; Jud 4:4; Jud 5:1, and continued to the last. 1 Sam 10:5; 2 Kgs 3:15; 1 Chr 25:6. Having gone through the school and completed his instruction, the prophet entered on his office as an instructor of the people, leading all the while a stern and austere life. 2 Kgs 4:9, 2 Kgs 4:38; 1 Kgs 19:8; Matt 3:4.
Although the prophets formed a regular order like that of the kings or the priests, there was, nevertheless, no uninterrupted succession of prophets. They arose only when specially called by God. What they learnt in these schools was only a preparation to make them fitter instruments in the hands of God; the principal constituent of their office was the divine authorization, given them in the form of inspiration. But this the prophetic gift was quite independent of the prophetic education; Amos was not educated as a prophet when the divine word came to him. Am 7:14. The question of the psychological connection between the divine inspiration and the mind of the prophet in its natural state has been much debated, but is in reality inapproachable, because one part of the combination - the divine inspiration - cannot be made the subject of research. From the prophetic writings, however, the manner in which the divine inspiration took hold of the human mind and used it as its instrument is very apparent. Sometimes it is through dreams, Dan 2; sometimes through visions, Isa 6; Eze 1; sometimes through direct communication. 1 Kgs 13:20-22; 1 Sam 3. Of these various methods, that of the vision is the most common, and, indeed, the writings of the prophets have the general character of visions, as if a curtain had been removed from before the eyes of the prophet, and he had been allowed to see and scan the plans of God in all his dealings with his creatures. Thus endowed, the prophet was in truth within the pale of revealed religion what the oracle attempted to be within the pale of natural religion. But while the oracle, resulting from the natural exaltation of the human mind, never reached beyond an obscure and uncertain conjecture, the prophet, inspired by God, told the certain truths. The prophets saw the future rather in space than in time, and as a picture of events very close together, though they may have been very far apart. They described the future as a common observer would describe the stars, grouping them as they appear to his eye. Thus Isaiah, Isa 10-11, connects the deliverance of the Jews from the yoke of the Assyrians with the deliverance by the Messiah; Zechariah (Zech 9) connects the triumphs of Alexander with the coming of the Messiah, although the events were three hundred years apart; Joel, Joel 2:28, connects the effusion of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost and the last day; and so does Peter. Acts 2. Our Lord's great eschatological discourse. Matt 24-25, is a familiar instance of the same fact.
Sent by Jehovah to reveal and enforce his will, to reform or revise the theocratic constitution, and to prepare the way for Christ, 2 Kgs 17:13; Jer 25:4 the prophet stood as a mighty power among the people, guiding and rebuking them and their rulers. He was the true leader of the people, not only in religious, but also in political and social, movements. He kept the theocracy alive, saved it from stagnation and degeneracy, and led it toward its final completion in Christ.
Besides the prophetical utterances scattered through the historical and poetical books, sixteen of the Hebrew prophets have left us writings which now form parts of the canon. Two of the greatest prophets, Elijah and Elisha, have left no special books, but their acts are recorded in the Kings. In all, the Jews reckoned forty-eight prophets and five prophetesses. The canonical prophets cover a period of over four hundred years, from about b.c. 850 to 420, and fall, according to their chronological order, into three groups, as follows:
I. PROPHETS BEFORE THE BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY. II. PROPHETS DURING THE BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY. III. PROPHETS AFTER THE RETURN FROM THE CAPTIVITY.
Other writers make Obadiah the earliest among the prophets, b.c. 890-880.

prophet in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

nabiy', from naaba' "to bubble forth as a fountain," as Psalm 45:1, "my heart is bubbling up a good matter," namely, inspired by the Holy Spirit; 2 Peter 1:19-21; Job 32:8; Job 32:18-19; Job 32:20. Roeh, "seer," from raah "to see," was the term in Samuel's days (1 Samuel 9:9) which the sacred writer of 1 Samuel calls "beforetime"; but nabi was the term as far back as the Pentateuch, and roeh does not appear until Samuel's time, and of the ten times of its use in seven it is applied to Samuel. Chozeh, "seer," from the poetical chazeh "see," is first found in 2 Samuel 24:11, and is frequent in Chronicles; it came into use when roeh was becoming less used, nabi being resumed. Nabi existed long before, and after, and alongside of roeh and chozeh. Chazon is used in the Pentateuch, Samuel, Chronicles, Job, and the prophets for a prophetic revelation. Lee (Inspir. 543) suggests that chozeh designates the king's "seer" (1 Chronicles 21:9; 2 Chronicles 29:25), not only David's seer Gad (as Smith's Bible Dictionary says) but Iddo in Solomon's reign (2 Chronicles 9:29; 2 Chronicles 12:15). Jehu, Hanani's son, under Jehoshaphat (1 Chronicles 19:2). Asaph and Jeduthun are called so (1 Chronicles 29:30; 1 Chronicles 35:15); also Amos 7:12; also 2 Chronicles 33:18. Chozeh "the gazer" upon the spiritual world (1 Chronicles 29:9), "Samuel the seer (roeh), Nathan the prophet (nabi), Gad the gazer" (chozeh). As the seer beheld the visions of God, so the prophet proclaimed the divine truth revealed to him as one of an official order in a more direct way. God Himself states the different modes of His revealing Himself and His truth (Numbers 12:6; Numbers 12:8). Prophet (Greek) means the interpreter (from pro, feemi, "speak forth" truths for another, as Aaron was Moses' prophet, i.e. spokesman: Exodus 7:1) of God's will (the mantis was the inspired unconscious utterer of oracles which the prophet interpreted); so in Scripture the divinely inspired revealer of truths be fore unknown. Prediction was a leading function of the prophet (Deuteronomy 18:22; Jeremiah 28:9; 1 Samuel 2:27; Acts 2:30; Acts 3:18; Acts 3:21; 1 Peter 1:10; 2 Peter 3:2). But it is not always attached to the prophet. For instance, the 70 elders, (Numbers 11:16-29); Asaph and Jeduthun, etc., "prophesied with a harp" (1 Chronicles 25:3); Miriam and Deborah were "prophetesses" (Exodus 15:20; Judges 4:4, also Judges 6:8); John the Baptist, the greatest of prophets of the Old Testament order. The New Testament prophet (1 Corinthians 12:28) made new revelations and preached under the extraordinary power of the Holy Spirit "the word of wisdom" (1 Corinthians 12:8), i.e. imparted with ready utterance new revelations of the divine wisdom in redemption. The "teacher" on the other hand, with the ordinary and calmer operation of the Spirit, had "the word of knowledge," i.e. supernaturally imparted ready utterance of truths already revealed (1 Corinthians 14:3-4). The nabi was spokesman for God, mediating for God to man. Christ is the Antitype. As God's deputed representative, under the theocracy the prophet spoke in God's name. Moses was the highest concentration of the type; bringing in with mighty signs the legal dispensation, as Christ did the gospel (Deuteronomy 18:15; Deuteronomy 34:10-11; John 1:18; John 1:45; John 3:34; John 15:24), and announcing the program of God's redemption scheme, which the rest of the Bible fills up. Prophecy is based on God's unchanging righteousness in governing His world. It is not, as in the Greek drama, a blind fate threatening irrevocable doom from which there is no escape. Prophecy has a moral purpose, and mercifully gives God's loving fatherly warning to the impenitent, that by turning from sin they may avert righteous punishment. So Jonah 3; Daniel 4:9-27. The prophets were Jehovah's remembrancers, pleading for or against the people: so Elijah (1 Kings 17; 1 Kings 18:36-37; Romans 11:2-3; James 5:16; James 5:18; Revelation 11:6). God as King of the theocracy did not give up His sovereignty when kings were appointed; but as occasion required, through the prophets His legates, superseded, reproved, encouraged, set up, or put down kings (as Elisha in Jehu's case); and in times of apostasy strengthened in the faith the scattered remnant of believers. The earlier prophets took a greater share in national politics. The later looked on to the new covenant which should comprehend all nations. Herein they rose above Jewish exclusiveness, drew forth the living spirit from beneath the letter of the law, and prepared for a perfect, final, and universal church. There are two periods: the Assyrian, wherein Isaiah is the prominent prophet; and the Chaldaean, wherein Jeremiah takes the lead. The prophets were a marked advance on the ceremonial of Leviticus and its priests: this was dumb show, prophecy was a spoken revelation of Christ more explicitly, therefore it fittingly stands in the canon between the law and the New Testament The same principles whereon God governed Israel in its relation to the world, in the nation's history narrated in the books of Samuel and Kings, are those whereon the prophecies rest. This accounts for those historical books being in the canon reckoned among "the prophets." The history of David and his seed is part of the preparation for the antitypical Son of David of whom the prophets speak. Daniel on the other hand is excluded from them, though abounding in the predictive element, because he did not belong to the order of prophets officially, but ministered in the pagan court of the world power, Babylon. Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings were "the former prophets"; Isaiah to Malachi "the latter prophets." The priests were Israel's regular teachers; the prophets extraordinary, to rouse and excite. In northern Israel however, where there was no true priesthood, the prophets were God's regular and only ministers, more striking prophetic deeds are recorded than in Judah. Moses' song (Deuteronomy 32) is "the magna charta of prophecy" (Eichhorn). The law was its basis (Isaiah 8:16; Isaiah 8:20; Deuteronomy 4:2; Deuteronomy 13:1-3); they altered not a tittle of it, though looking forward to the Messianic age when its spirit would be written on the heart, and the letter be less needed (Jeremiah 3:16; Jeremiah 31:31). Their speaking in the name of the true God only and conforming to His word, and their predictions being fulfilled, was the test of their' divine mission (Deuteronomy 13; Deuteronomy 18:10-11; Deuteronomy 18:20; Deuteronomy 18:22). Also the prophet's not promising prosperity without repentance, and his own assurance of his divine mission (sometimes against his inclination: Jeremiah 20:8-9; Jeremiah 26:12) producing inward assurance in others. Miracles without these criteria are not infallible proof (Deuteronomy 13). Predictions fulfilled established a prophet's authority (1 Samuel 3:19; Jeremiah 22:11-12; Ezekiel 12:12-13; Ezekiel 12:24). As to symbolic actions, ninny are only parts of visions, not external facts, being impossible or indecent (Jeremiah 13:1-10; Jeremiah 25:12-38; Hosea 1:2-11). The internal actions, when possible and proper, were expressed externally (1 Kings 22:11). The object was vivid impressiveness. Christ gave predictions, for this among other purposes, that when the event came to pass men should believe (John 13:19). So Jehovah in the Old Testament (Isaiah 41:21-23; Isaiah 43:9; Isaiah 43:11-12; Isaiah 44:7-8.) The theory of a long succession of impostors combining to serve the interests of truth, righteousness, and goodness from age to ago by false pretensions, is impossible, especially when they gained nothing by their course but obloquy and persecution. Nor can they be said to be self deceivers, for this could not have been the case with a succession of prophets, if it were possible in the case of one or two. However, various in other respects, they all agree to testify of Messiah (Acts 10:43). Definiteness and curcumstantiality distinguish their prophecies from vague conjectures. Thus Isaiah announces the name of Cyrus ages before his appearance; so as to Josiah, 1 Kings 13:2. Prophets as an order. The priests at first were Israel's teachers in God's statutes by types, acts, and words (Lee, 10:11). But when under the judges the nation repeatedly apostatized, and no longer regarded the acted lessons of the ceremonial law, God sent a new order to witness for Him in plainer warnings, namely, the prophets. Samuel, of the Levite family of Kohath (1 Chronicles 6:28; 1 Chronicles 9:22), not only reformed the priests but gave the prophets a new standing. Hence he is classed with Moses (Jeremiah 15:1; Psalm 99:6; Acts 3:24). Prophets existed before: Abraham, and the patriarchs as recipients of God's revelations, are so designated (Psalm 105:15; Genesis 15:12; Genesis 20:7); but Samuel constituted them into a permanent order. He instituted theological colleges of prophets; one at Ramah where he lived (1 Samuel 19:12; 1 Samuel 19:20), another was at Bethel (2 Kings 2:3), another at Jericho (2 Kings 2:5), another at Gilgal (2 Kings 4:38, also 2 Kings 6:1). Official prophets seem to have continued to the close of the Old Testament, though the direct mention of "the sons of the prophets" occurs only in Samuel's, Elijah's, and Elisha's time. A "father" or "master" presided (2 Kings 2:3; 1 Samuel 10:12), who was "anointed" to the office (1 Kings 19:16; Isaiah 61:1; Psalm 105:15). They were "sons." The law was their chief study, it being what they were to teach, Not that they were in antagonism to the priests whose duty it had been to teach the law; they reprove bad priests, not to set aside but to reform and restore the priesthood as it ought to be (Isaiah 24:2; Isaiah 28:7; Malachi 2:1; Malachi 1:14); they supplemented the work of the priests. Music and poetry were cultivated as subordinate helps (compare Exodus 15:20; Judges 4:4; Judges 5:1). Elijah stirred up the prophetic gift within him by a minstrel (2 Kings 3:15); so Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun (1 Chronicles 25:5-6). Sacred songs occur in the prophets (Isaiah 12:1; Isaiah 26:1; Jonah 2:2; Habakkuk 3:2). Possibly the students composed verses for liturgical use in the temple. The prophets held meetings for worship on new moons and Sabbaths (2 Kings 4:23). Elisha and the elders were sitting in his house, officially engaged, when the king of Israel sent to slay him (2 Kings 6:32). So Ezekiel and the elders, and the people assembled (Ezekiel 8:1; Ezekiel 20:1; Ezekiel 33:31). The dress, like that of the modern dervish, was a hairy garment with leather girdle (Isaiah 20:2; Zechariah 13:4; Matthew 3:4). Their diet was the simplest (2 Kings 4:10; 2 Kings 4:38; 1 Kings 19:6); a virtual protest against abounding luxury. Prophecy. Some of the prophetic order had not the prophetic gift; others having the gift of inspiration did not belong to the order; e.g., Amos, though called to the office and receiving the gift to qualify him for it, yet did not belong to the order (Amos 7:14). Of the hundreds trained in the colleges of prophets only sixteen have a place in the canon, for these alone had the special call to the office and God's inspiration qualifying them for it. The college training was but a preparation, then in the case of the few followed God's exclusive work: Exodus 3:2, Moses; 1 Samuel 3:10, Samuel; Isaiah, Isaiah 6:8; Jeremiah, Jeremiah 1:5; Ezekiel. Ezekiel 2:4. Each fresh utterance was by "vision" (Isaiah 6:1) or by "the word of Jehovah" (Jeremiah 2:1). The prophets so commissioned were the national poets (so David the psalmist was also a prophet, Acts 2:30), annalists (2 Chronicles 32:32), theocratic patriots (Psalm 48; 2 Chronicles 20:14-17), promoters of spiritual religion (Isaiah 1), extraordinarily authorized expounders of the spirit of the law (Isaiah 58:3-7; Ezekiel 18; Micah 6:6-8; Hosea 6:6; Amos 5:21) which so many sacrificed to the letter, official pastors, and a religious counterpoise to kingly despotism and idolatry, as Elijah was to Ahab. Their utterances being continued at intervals throughout their lives (as Isaiah in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah) show that they did not earn their reputation as prophets by some one happy guess or oracle, but maintained their prophetical character continuously; which excludes the probability of imposture, time often detecting fraud. Above all, the prophets by God's inspiration foretold concerning Jesus the Messiah (Matthew 1:22-23 with Isaiah 7:4; Isaiah 8:8). The formula "that it might be fulfilled" implies that the divine word spoken through the prophets ages before produced the result, which followed in the appointed time as necessarily as creation followed from the creative word. Christ appeals to the prophets as fulfilled in Himself: Matthew 13:14 (Isaiah 6:9), Matthew 15:7 (Isaiah 29:13), John 5:46; Luke 24:44. Matthew (Matthew 3:3) quotes Isaiah 40:3 as fulfilled in John the Baptist; so Matthew 4:13-15 with Isaiah 9:1-2; Matthew 8:17 with Isaiah 53:4; Matthew 12:17 with Isaiah 42:1. So also Jeremiah, Matthew 2:18; Hebrews 8:8; Daniel, Matthew 24:15; Hosea, Matthew 2:15; Romans 9:25; Joel, Acts 2:17; Amos, Acts 7:42; Acts 15:16; Jonah, Matthew 12:40; Micah, Matthew 12:7; Habakkuk, Acts 13:41; Haggai, Hebrews 12:26; Zechariah, Matthew 21:5; Mark 14:27; John 19:37; Malachi, Matthew 11:10; Mark 1:2; Luke 7:27. The Psalms are 70 times quoted, and often as predictive. The prophecies concerning Ishmael, Nineveh, Tyre, Egypt, the four empires Babylon, Medo-Persia, Graeco-Macedonia, and Rome, were notoriously promulgated before the event; the fulfillment is dear; it could not have been foreseen by mere human sagacity. The details as to Messiah scattered through so many prophets, yet all converging in Him, the race, nation, tribe, family, birthplace, miracles, humiliation, death, crucifixion with the wicked yet association with the rich at death, resurrection, extension of His seed the church, are so numerous that their minute conformity with the subsequent fact can only be explained by believing that the prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit to foretell the event. What is overwhelmingly convincing is, the Jews are our sacred librarians, who attest the prophets as written ages before, and who certainly would not have corrupted them to confirm Jesus' Messianic claims which they reject. Moreover, the details are so complicated, and seemingly inconsistent, that before the event it would seem impossible to make them coincide in one person. A "son," yet "the everlasting Father"; a "child," yet "the mighty God"; "Prince of peace," sitting "upon the throne of David," yet coming as Shiloh (the peace-giver) when "the sceptre shall depart from Judah"; Son of David, yet Lord of David; a Prophet and Priest, yet also a King; "God's Servant," upon whom He "lays the iniquity of us all," Messiah cut off, yet given by the Ancient of days "an everlasting dominion." The only key that opens this immensely complicated lock is the gospel narrative of Jesus, written ages after the prophets. The absence of greater clearness in the prophets is due to God's purpose to give light enough to guide the willing, to leave darkness enough to confound the willfully blind. Hence the prophecy is not dependent for its interpretation on the prophet; nay, he was often ignorant of the full meaning of his own word (2 Peter 1:20-21). Moreover, if the form of the prophecies had been direct declaration the fulfillment would have been liable to frustration. If also the time had been more distinctly marked believers would have been less in a state of continued expectancy. The prophecies were designedly made up of many parts (polumeros; Hebrews 12:1); fragmentary and figurative, the temporary and local fulfillment often foreshadowing the Messianic fulfillment. The obscurity, in some parts, of prophecies of which other parts have been plainly fulfilled is designed to exercise our faith, the obscure parts yet awaiting their exhaustive fulfillment; e.g. prophecies combining the first coming and the second coming of Christ, the parts concerning the latter of course yet require patient and prayerful investigation. Moreover, many prophecies, besides their references to events of the times of the sacred writer, look forward to ulterior fulfillments in Messiah and His kingdom; for "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Revelation 19:10). Thus the foretold deliverance from Babylon by Cyrus foreshadows the greater deliverance from the antitypical Babylon by Cyrus' Antitype, Messiah (Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 45:1-5; Isaiah 45:13; Isaiah 45:22-25; Jeremiah 51:6-10; Jeremiah 51:25; compare Revelation 18:4; Revelation 17:4; Revelation 14:8; Revelation 8:8). So the prophet Isaiah's son is the sign of the immediate deliverance of Judah from Rezin and Pekah; but language is used which could not have applied to him, and can only find its full and exhaustive accomplishment in the antitypical Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14-16; Isaiah 8:3-12; Isaiah 8:18; Isaiah 9:6-7; Matthew 1:18-23). So too our Lord's prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem is couched in language receiving its exhaustive fulfillment only in the judgments to be inflicted at His second coming (Matthew 24); as in the sky the nearer and the further off heavenly bodies are, to the spectator, projected into the same vault. The primary sense does not exclude the secondary, not even though the sacred writer himself had nothing in his thought; beyond the primary, for the Holy Spirit is the true Author, who often made the writers unconsciously utter words reaching far beyond the primary and literal sense; so Hosea 11:1, compare Matthew 2:15; so Caiaphas, John 11:50-52. They diligently inquired as to the deep significancy of their own words, and were told that the full meaning would only be known in subsequent gospel times (Daniel 12:8-9; Zechariah 4:5; 1 Peter 1:10-12). The prophet, like his Antitype, spoke not of himself (John 7:17-18; Numbers 11:17; Numbers 11:25; Numbers 11:29; 1 Samuel 10:6; 1 Samuel 19:20; Numbers 12:6-8). The dream and vision were lower forms of inspiration than Moses enjoyed, namely, "mouth to mouth, not in dark speeches"; directly, without the intervention of dream, vision, or person (compare Exodus 33:11 with Joel 2:28; Daniel 1:17). The prophets did net generally speak in ecstatic unconsciousness, but with self possession, for "the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets" (1 Corinthians 14:32); but sometimes they did (Genesis 15; Daniel 7; Daniel 8; Daniel 10; Daniel 11; Daniel 12, "the visions of Daniel"); "the vision of Isaiah" (Isaiah 6); "the vision of Ezekiel" (Ezekiel 1); "the visions of Zechariah" (Zechariah 1; Zechariah 4; Zechariah 5; Zechariah 6); the vision of Peter (Acts 10); of Paul (Acts 22:17; Acts 22:2 Corinthians 12); Job (Job 4:13-16; Job 33:15-16); John (Revelation 1:10) "in the Spirit," i.e. in a state of ecstasy, the outer world shut out, the inner spirit being taken possession of by God's Spirit, so that an immediate connection was established with the invisible world. Whereas the prophet speaks in the Spirit the apocalyptic seer is wholly in the Spirit, he intuitively and directly sees and hears (Isaiah 6:1; Zechariah 2:1; Micah 1:1; Habakkuk 1:1; Acts 10:11; Acts 22:18; Revelation 1:12); the subjects of the vision are in juxtaposition (as in a painting), independent of relations of time. But however various might be the modes of inspiration, the world spoken or written by the inspired prophets equally is God's inspired infallible testimony. Their words, in their public function, were not their own so much as God's (Haggai 1:13); as private individuals they searched diligently into their far-reaching meaning. Their words prove in the fulfillment to be not of their own origination, therefore not of their own individual (compare 1 Peter 1:10-12) interpretation (idias epiluseos ou ginetai), but of the Holy Spirit's by whom they were "moved"; therefore we must look for the Holy Spirit's illumination while we "take heed to the word of prophecy (now become) more sure" (through the fulfillment of part of it already, namely, that concerning Christ's sufferings; and through the pledge given in His transfiguration witnessed by Peter, that the rest will come to pass, namely, His foretold glory: 2 Peter 1:19-21 Greek, compare 2 Samuel 23:2; Hosea 9:7). Messianic prophecy. Prophecy and miracles are the direct evidences of the truth of revelation; the morals, propagation, and suitableness of Christianity to man's needs, combined together with the two former, are its irrefragable proofs. All subsequent prophecy of Messiah develops the primary one (Genesis 3:15). This only defined the Saviour as about to be the woman's seed. Noah's prophecy that He should be of the Semitic branch of the human race, (Genesis 9:26; Genesis 12:3; Genesis 22:18; Genesis 28:14) of the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, (Genesis 49:10) of the tribe of Judah, a Shiloh or tranquilizer, yet one who will smite with a sceptre and come as a star (Numbers 24:17); a prophet, like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15); a king, of David's seed, reigning forever (2 Samuel 7:16; Psalm 18; 61; 89); the Son of God, as well as Son of David (Psalm 2:2; Psalm 2:6-7; Psalm 2:8; Psalm 110:1-4, etc.). Anointed by Jehovah as David's Lord, King of Zion, Inheritor of the whole earth, dashing in pieces His enemies like a potter's vessel with a rod of iron, "it Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek"; severely afflicted, "hands and feet pierced," betrayed by "His own familiar friend," "His garments parted and lots cast for His vesture," "His ears opened" to "come" and "do God's will" at all costs, when God would not have animal "sacrifice" (Psalm 22; Psalm 40; Psalm 55; Psalm 69; Psalm 102; Psalm 109). Raised from the grave without His flesh seeing corruption (Psalm 16; Psalm 17); triumphant King, espousing the church His bride (Psalm 45); reigning in peace and righteousness from the river to the ends of the earth (Psalm 72). There are four groups of the 16 prophets. Of the northern Israel, Hosea, Amos, Joel, Jonah; of Judah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah; prophets of the captivity, Ezekiel and Daniel; prophets of the restoration, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. Each adds some fresh trait to complete the delineation of Messiah. Isaiah 52:13-15; Isaiah 53, is the most perfect portrait of His vicarious sufferings, the way of salvation to us and of consequent glory to Him, and eternal satisfaction in seeing His spiritual seed. (See ISAIAH.) The arrangement in the canon is chronological mainly. But as the twelve lesser prophets are regarded as one work, Jeremiah and Ezekiel are placed at the close of the greater prophets, and before the lesser, whose three last prophets are subsequent to Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Hosea being longest of the lesser is placed first of them, though not so chronologically.