Difference between revisions of "Prophet"

<p> <b> [[Prophet]] </b> </p> <p> <b> I. The [[Messiah]] a prophet.—1. </b> Our Lord’s redemptive work is usually divided into the threefold—prophetic, priestly, and kingly functions; and for this there is <i> ancient precedent </i> . [[Eusebius]] ( <i> Historia Ecclesiastica </i> i. 3) speaks of Him as ‘the only <i> High [[Priest]] </i> of all men, the only <i> King </i> of all creation, and the Father’s only supreme <i> Prophet </i> of prophets’ (see also [[Ambrose]] on Ps 118:79, and Cassiodorus on &nbsp;Psalms 132:2). The Church has rightly felt that the unction bestowed on Jesus as the Messiah separated and endowed Him to these offices. She recognized that the old dispensation was established and preserved by those who were anointed to be prophets, priests, and kings, and she believed that each of these offices found its perfection in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. When, therefore, we dwell separately on any one of these three vocations of the Messiah (as we do in this article), we must remember that we are necessarily taking a partial view of His Person; for to hold that He is <i> only </i> a prophet, is to fall into a heresy that has ever faced the Church. </p> <p> Early in the Church’s history the [[Gnostic]] [[Ebionites]] rejected the [[Catholic]] doctrine of Christ’s Person, but felt no difficulty in believing Him to be an inspired prophet of the highest order. They regarded Him as one of the προφῆται ἀληθείας, and as superior to προφῆται συνέσεως οὐκ ἀληθείας; and, as such, placed Him in line with Adam, Enoch, Noah, etc. etc., upon all of whom had rested the pre-existent Christ; and in their [[Gospel]] we find the following words ascribed to Him: ‘I am he concerning whom Moses prophesied, saying, A prophet shall the Lord God raise unto you, like unto me’ ( <i> Clem. Hom. </i> iii. 53; cf. Dorner, <i> Hist. of Person of Christ </i> , i. i. 208 ff.); but they refused to accept the Church’s teaching as to His Deity. Similarly, the Mohammedan [[Koran]] says: ‘The Messiah, the son of Mary, is only a prophet’ (v. 79, also iv. 160 and xix. 30); and the Racovian [[Catechism]] (a.d. 1605) of the [[Socinians]] (§ 5) accepts and accentuates the prophetic aspect of His work. </p> <p> <b> 2. </b> But while the Church thus early classified the redemptive activities of our Lord under this threefold division, it must not be assumed that <i> the [[Jews]] of His own time </i> had reached this full conception. It is clear from our [[Gospels]] that His contemporaries did not regard the ‘coming prophet’ as one with the coming Messiah; for when the multitude were astonished at Jesus’ discourse at the Feast of Tabernacles, and were divided in opinion regarding Him, some saying, ‘This is of a truth the Prophet,’ and others, ‘This is the Christ’ (&nbsp;John 7:40), none declared Him to be the Christ, and <i> therefore </i> the Prophet. </p> <p> A similar distinction is found in their view of the [[Baptist]] (&nbsp;John 1:21). The only exception in the Gospels is the words of the woman of Samaria: ‘Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.… When Christ is come, he will <i> declare </i> unto us all things’ (&nbsp;John 4:19; &nbsp;John 4:25). But probably the [[Samaritans]] generally had small reason to expect the coming of a <i> kingly </i> Messiah (see Westcott, <i> Study of the Gospels </i> , note 2, ch. 2; Stanton, <i> [[Jewish]] and [[Christian]] Messiah </i> , pp. 126, 293). </p> <p> <b> 3. </b> Nor does this separation of the offices of ‘the Prophet’ and ‘the Messiah’ seem to be due to any special obtuseness on the part of our Lord’s contemporaries; <i> the OT prophets </i> themselves appear also to have been unable to rise above it. Isaiah, prophesying during the monarchy, pictures the Messiah as a Davidic king, and foretells the outpouring of a fuller revelation during His reign, predicting that <i> then </i> the God of Jacob would teach [[Israel]] His way (&nbsp;Isaiah 2:3), and <i> then </i> Israel’s teacher(s) would not be hidden any more, but the people would see their teacher(s), and hear a word behind them saying, ‘This is the way’ (&nbsp;Isaiah 30:20); but he does not unite these kingly and prophetic endowments in the one person of the Christ. [[Fuller]] light of truth is to be a mark of the Messianic reign, but Isaiah does not recognize the Messiah as the organ of the revelation. </p> <p> The fullest references to a coming prophet are found in Deutero-Isaiah; and here He is clearly identified with ‘the <b> [[Servant]] of the Lord.’ </b> There enters largely into the prophet’s conception of this great Personality the idea of His being an anointed revealer of truth. [[Jehovah]] makes ‘his mouth like a sharp sword’ (&nbsp;Isaiah 49:2), and ‘puts his spirit upon him, so that he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles’ (&nbsp;Isaiah 42:1, also &nbsp;Isaiah 59:21, &nbsp;Isaiah 61:1). But, clear as is <i> our </i> identification of ‘the Servant’ with Jesus, we yet know that this union of ‘the [[Suffering]] One’ with the Messianic King has ever been the great stumbling-block to Israel. The truth appears to be: the prophets of Israel, influenced by the national circumstances and needs of their own day, predicted under the Spirit’s influence, now a coming king, now a prophet, now a priestly sufferer with prophetic functions; and these parallel lines of yearning thought found together their satisfaction in the Person of Jesus. </p> <p> The Book of Malachi closes with a prediction of the return of [[Elijah]] (&nbsp;Malachi 4:5), and Israel’s prophetic expectations centred thenceforth chiefly in him. </p> <p> <b> 4. </b> With the silence of prophecy, there came to Israel a deep yearning for the living voice of Jehovah. This was a characteristic of the Maccabaean age, when the anticipation of a coming prophet overshadows that of the Messiah (&nbsp;1 [[Maccabees]] 4:46; &nbsp;1 Maccabees 14:41; &nbsp;1 Maccabees 9:27, also &nbsp;Sirach 48:10). </p> <p> The same longing is found in &nbsp;Psalms 74:9 ‘We see not our signs, there is no more any prophet, neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.’ This Psalm is therefore thought to belong to the Maccabaean period; on the other hand, similar complaints are found in the writings of the [[Exile]] (&nbsp;Lamentations 2:9, &nbsp;Ezekiel 7:26). </p> <p> The <i> [[Apocalyptic]] literature </i> is mostly silent on the point. But in the Book of [[Enoch]] ( <i> Simil. </i> 45:3–6) the Son of Man is portrayed as revealing ‘all the treasures of that which is hidden, and there are seen an inexhaustible fountain of righteousness, and round about many fountains of wisdom.’ These promises of fuller revelation presumably imply a personal agent for its dissemination. The prophetic gift is advanced in the Test. of the XII. [[Patriarchs]] (Levi 8:15) as an implicit claim of John [[Hyrcanus]] to the Messiahship; and he alone was said by the Jews to have held the threefold office (Josephus <i> BJ </i> i. ii. 8). </p> <p> <b> 5. </b> If the abeyance of prophecy added to the gloom of Israel during the interval between the time that the last OT prophet delivered his message and the beginning of the Christian era, <i> the coming of Christ was heralded by an outburst of the prophetic gift </i> . It is recorded as first appearing in the priestly house of [[Zacharias]] (&nbsp;Luke 1:41; &nbsp;Luke 1:67); it was granted to the Virgin, to Simeon, and to Anna (&nbsp;Luke 2:25; &nbsp;Luke 2:36), and reached its most notable height in the person of John the Baptist. The nation, galled by a foreign yoke, and meditating on the predictions found in their sacred books, and, above all, picturing the return of Elijah as a herald of emancipation, ‘mused in their heart’ whether the Baptist were himself the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet, or one of the old prophets returned (&nbsp;Luke 3:15, &nbsp;John 1:20 ff.). But John, realizing himself to be only a forerunner, and wishing to turn the thoughts of the people from himself to Jesus, refused to be anything save an impersonal voice crying in the wilderness. Fittingly thus was the world’s supreme Prophet ushered upon His prophetic career by a volume of reawakened prophecy. </p> <p> <b> 6. </b> Whatever difficulty His contemporaries felt in acknowledging His Messiahship, they had <i> none in recognizing Him as a prophet </i> . Both at the commencement and at the close of His career, this was the popular view of His ministry. As soon as He became known, the general judgment was pronounced that ‘a great prophet had arisen, and that God had visited his people’ (&nbsp;Luke 7:16); and when at the close of His ministry He allowed the populace openly to express their feelings regarding Him, they, in answer to the question ‘Who is this?’ replied, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth’ (&nbsp;Matthew 21:11; also &nbsp;Mark 6:15, &nbsp;Matthew 21:46, &nbsp;Luke 24:19, &nbsp;John 4:19; &nbsp;John 6:14; &nbsp;John 7:40; &nbsp;John 9:17). Indeed, only those who were biassed by ecclesiastical bigotry could have concluded otherwise, for His miracles of mercy were external credentials recalling the powers of Moses and Elijah; and the authoritative tone of His teaching showed that He claimed for Himself at least the position of a God-sent teacher. </p> <p> <b> 7. </b> But not only was the title generally given to Him; He also <i> claimed it for Himself </i> . Thus He opened His ministry in His native village by reading in the synagogue the words of Isaiah (61:1), ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor,’ and commenced His discourse upon them by saying, ‘To-day hath this scripture been fulfilled in your ears’ (&nbsp;Luke 4:18; &nbsp;Luke 4:21). Later in His ministry, when His death was imminent, He openly placed Himself in line with the ancient prophets of Israel, foretelling that, similarly to them, He could not perish out of [[Jerusalem]] (&nbsp;Matthew 23:29 ff., &nbsp;Luke 13:33); and when He used, in the parable of the Vineyard, the familiar OT figure of the [[Kingdom]] of God, He deliberately made Himself the last of the long line of God’s martyr messengers to His people; and told the Jews that, notwithstanding the fact that they had ‘shamefully handled’ His predecessors the prophets; yet He had been sent to them by God with a final call to repentance. </p> <p> <b> II. Jesus had the essential marks of a prophet. </b> —When we turn to the records of the life of Jesus, we find predicated of Him every characteristic that marked the [[Hebrew]] prophets. 1. If Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel were all introduced to their prophetic career by a <i> vision </i> granted and a <i> voice </i> heard (&nbsp;Isaiah 6:1-8, &nbsp;Jeremiah 1:4-10, &nbsp;Ezekiel 3:10-14), so Jesus commenced His ministry by receiving at His baptism a vision from heaven and by hearing His Father’s voice. </p> <p> <i> The Gospel according to the Hebrews </i> gives the words then spoken to Him in a form different from that given by the Evangelists, and interesting in the present connexion. We read: ‘It came to pass when our Lord had ascended out of the water, the whole fountain of the [[Holy]] Spirit came down and rested upon him and said unto him, “My Son, in all the prophets I was looking for thee, that thou mightest come and that I might rest in thee. For thou art my rest, thou art my firstborn Son who reignest to eternity.” ’ This form shows how strong was the belief in the earliest days of the Church that Jesus at His baptism was anointed specially to the office of Prophet. </p> <p> <b> 2. </b> The OT prophets were <i> men of God </i> . This title, doubtless, was frequently used, as conveying little more than a customary appellation of those holding the office; yet the fact of its having been chosen as a title shows the underlying conviction, on the part of the nation, that sanctity of character was a necessary condition of receiving communications from Jehovah; and it thus suggests not only the [[Divine]] purport of their message, but also the personal religiousness of the prophets. Isaiah felt that, in order to hold intercourse with God, personal holiness was requisite (&nbsp;Isaiah 6:5); and indeed so fully was this felt that the prophetic state was looked upon as closely related to <i> communion with God in prayer </i> ; and the expression which was generally used in the OT for the answering of prayer was frequently applied to prophetic revelation (עָנָה &nbsp;Micah 3:7, &nbsp;Habakkuk 2:1 ff., &nbsp;Jeremiah 23:35. See Oehler, <i> OT Theol </i> . ii. 336). </p> <p> That Jesus bore this characteristic of the prophetic office needs no showing. He, the one sinless Man, whose whole life was lived in conscious communication, full and continuous, with His Father, must necessarily, as regards the fitness of holiness, be the very Prophet of prophets. His perfect sinlessness rendered possible uninterrupted fellowship with God, and guaranteed the perfection of the message He delivered. The pre-eminence of that message rests on the fact that whereas ‘God of old times spake unto the fathers in the prophets, he hath in these last times spoken unto us in his Son’ (&nbsp;Hebrews 1:1). </p> <p> <b> 3. </b> Further, as men of God, the message of the prophets was one of <i> moral import </i> . They, as Micah (&nbsp;Micah 3:8), could say, ‘I am full of power to declare unto Jacob his transgressions and to Israel his sins.’ The greater prophets had developed far beyond the earlier prophets and still earlier seers, who used their gifts to reveal matters of mere personal interest: their message to the individual or to the nation was filled, as occasion required, with moral teachings; rebuking sin, calling to repentance, and threatening Divine judgment. </p> <p> It is evident that Jesus fulfilled this characteristic continuously and perfectly. For not only did He, like the prophets before Him, utter words pregnant with moral enlightenment but also by His every word and act He constantly manifested the perfection of moral being. Being Himself the revelation of God, His whole incarnate life was a continuous teaching of infinite moral import. </p> <p> <b> 4. </b> The prophets were conscious of being recipients of <i> direct communications from Jehovah </i> . In Amos (&nbsp;Amos 3:7) it is said, ‘The Lord God docth nothing without revealing his counsel to his servants the prophets’; and in Jeremiah (&nbsp;Jeremiah 23:22) we are told that the prophet stands in ‘the counsel of Jehovah.’ God spoke to them, and they received His words into their hearts and heard them with their ears (&nbsp;Ezekiel 3:10). It might seem that here is a characteristic of the prophetic office that is not applicable to Christ. It might be thought that as He is very and eternal God, He required no revelation, having in Himself all the fulness of Divine knowledge, and that therefore when He taught, He taught not what He had <i> received </i> , but what was intrinsically His own. A careful study, however, of the Gospel of St. John, where naturally we seek for light on the mystery of His Person, as it is the Gospel of His self-manifestation, leads us to conclude otherwise. In a remarkable number of passages Jesus speaks of <i> receiving from the Father </i> the truths He disclosed. He says, ‘I speak to the world those things which I have heard’; ‘as my Father hath taught me, I speak.’ ‘I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest me’; ‘I spake not from myself, but the Father which sent me, He hath given me a commandment what I should say’ (&nbsp;John 8:26; &nbsp;John 8:28; &nbsp;John 8:38; &nbsp;John 8:40; &nbsp;John 12:49; &nbsp;John 15:15; &nbsp;John 17:8; &nbsp;John 17:14). </p> <p> In such words Jesus seems clearly to teach that His supernatural knowledge was a gift given to Him from the Father, ‘administered to Him in His human nature on some economic principle,’ so that He might be fitted perfectly to perform the functions of Teacher and Prophet to the Church. In emptying Himself of His glory in the Incarnation, He appears so to have self-limited His Divine [[Powers]] as to have been dependent upon His Father for supernatural illumination: while the reception by Him of that revelation must have been perfect through the complete sympathy that essentially existed between Him and His Father. Like the prophets of old, He received communications from God: but in virtue of His Divine Personality He perfectly heard and faithfully expressed every thought revealed to Him. (See, especially, a valuable charge by O’Brien, Bp. of Ossory, 1865 (Macmillan); and A. B. Davidson, <i> Biblical Essays </i> , p. 179). </p> <p> <b> 5. </b> A further characteristic of prophecy was its power of <b> prediction. </b> The apologetic use of prophecy in the past no doubt led to a too exclusive consideration of this aspect of the prophetic books; and the Church has gained much by regarding the prophets as men inspired by Jehovah with special moral messages to the age in which they lived. But it is not less one-sided so to over-emphasize this aspect of their work as to exclude their undoubted predictive powers. The writings of the Hebrew prophets are saturated with prediction. They foresee and announce as much of the secret purposes of Jehovah as was needful for His people to know. And the power of Jehovah to reveal to them the future raises Him, in the eyes of Israel, at once above the heathen gods, and proves to them that He is the true God (&nbsp;Isaiah 41:21-28; &nbsp;Isaiah 42:9; &nbsp;Isaiah 43:9-13; &nbsp;Isaiah 44:25 ff; &nbsp;Isaiah 48:3-7). No doubt their predictions usually announced the <i> general </i> results rather than detailed accounts of Jehovah’s future dealings; nevertheless their predictions were clear unveilings of coming events. So that it may be said that a teacher without the power of foretelling would be no <i> prophet </i> (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 18:21-22), for the prophet has ‘his face to the future,’ and can see more or less clearly, by the inspiration granted to him, the results that God’s love and righteousness are about to accomplish. </p> <p> Now, full of prediction as are the writings of the prophets, the sayings of Jesus are even more so. With clear vision He was able to follow throughout future time the workings of the principles He taught, and was able to state as a matter of certain knowledge that their adoption would be universal. With an unparalleled insight He disclosed to the world the mysteries of eternity. He drew back the curtain not only from coming events of time, but with equal certainty from the hidden secrets of the invisible world. Hades, heaven, hell are all open to Him. And with a calm boldness, found only with absolute certainty, He tells us of Dives and [[Lazarus]] (&nbsp;Luke 16:19), of the many stripes and the few (&nbsp;Luke 12:47), and of the principles upon which the Final [[Judgment]] will be carried out (&nbsp;Matthew 25:40). </p> <p> If the Hebrew prophets received at times illumination which revealed to them glimpses of coming events, Jesus was at all times able to reveal hidden things of the future with as much certainty as He could speak of the things clearly seen in the present. </p> <p> In addition to the predictions of <i> general </i> events, there is also found, but less frequently, among the Hebrew prophets, the power of foretelling <i> particular </i> events to individuals. Thus [[Micaiah]] foretells the death of [[Ahab]] (1 Kings 22), and Jeremiah the death of [[Hananiah]] (&nbsp;Jeremiah 28:16). Here also Jesus surpasses them. With a certainty and clearness far beyond theirs, He was able to announce particular coming events to His disciples. Following the Gospel narrative, we find that the treachery of [[Judas]] was open to Him for long (&nbsp;John 6:70 f.). The fall of Peter and his final martyrdom, and the prolonged life of John, were all equally clear (&nbsp;Luke 22:31, &nbsp;John 21:18; &nbsp;John 21:22). </p> <p> [[Allied]] to His knowledge of the future of individuals was His unerring insight into character. This gift was partially granted to the prophets, and may in a measure account for their predictions. It may have been insight into character that enabled Micaiah to predict the coming cowardice of [[Zedekiah]] (&nbsp;1 Kings 22:25), and it certainly seems to have been this that gave [[Elisha]] power to read the future of [[Hazael]] (&nbsp;2 Kings 8:12). Similarly, only in an infinitely greater degree, Jesus read the inner depths of those around Him. At once He saw the guilelessness of [[Nathanael]] (&nbsp;John 1:47) and the strength of Peter (&nbsp;John 1:42), and was able to read the thoughts of Simon the [[Pharisee]] while Simon was misreading His (&nbsp;Luke 7:39-40). The records of His life show repeated instances that exemplify the statement of John, ‘He knew all men … he knew what was in man’ (&nbsp;John 2:24-25). </p> <p> <b> 6. </b> As a final mark of His fulfilment of the prophetic office, His <i> fate </i> , must be mentioned. In His own Person He gathered together every insult and cruelty that had been shown in the past to the messengers of God. And if it seems strange that Israel, which more than all other nations had spiritual instincts, should have habitually rejected those sent to them with the very message they above all should have received, and if it be stranger still that they should have crucified the Messiah whom they so passionately desired, it must be remembered that mankind at all times has been unable to receive, with patience, rebukes that shattered its self-conceit and truth that attacked its vested interests. New light ever discloses ignorance, reveals the inadequacy of much that is thought perfect, and shows the sinfulness of much that is looked upon as innocent. And thus it follows that the fuller the new light, the greater the hatred and opposition its bearer will have to endure at the hands of those who fail to recognize its truth. If, then, the preaching of Isaiah raised the gibes of the drunkards of Ephraim, and if the unwelcome predictions of Jeremiah led to bitterest persecution, is it any wonder that the clear light of the revelation of Jesus infuriated ‘the blind Pharisee,’ and ended in His cruel mockings and death? </p> <p> <b> III. Jesus is above all other prophets. </b> —But while Jesus fulfils every prophetic characteristic perfectly, and is thus the world’s [[Supreme]] Prophet, it is also evident, from this very perfection, that He is essentially distinct from all others who bore the title. For not only is there found in Him a man called of God to receive communications from heaven and to give them forth, when received, to his fellow-men, but in Him we have God revealing Himself directly to His creatures. As the personal, uttered ‘ <i> Word of God </i> ’ (λόγος προφορικός), He manifests Himself (that is, He manifests God) to mankind. And if the essence of the prophetic office consists in revealing the [[Almighty]] to His children, then, clearly, He alone is the one perfect Prophet, who from His very nature must have (1) constantly, (2) completely, (3) infallibly, and (4) finally revealed all that mankind may know of their Creator. </p> <p> <b> 1. </b> His revelation was <i> constant </i> . OT prophets, receiving their revelation only at such times as Jehovah desired to reveal His will, could exercise their functions only intermittently; whereas Jesus, living in uninterrupted communion with His Father, was in receipt of a constant revelation of the purposes and will of God. Indeed, even in His hours of silence, He must be thought of as fulfilling His prophetic office. His every <i> act </i> was a message, and His miracles, not less than His parables, were revelations to teach men of His Father. His spontaneous lovingkindness, as exhibited to the sinful and the suffering, revealed even more powerfully than His words the fact that ‘God is Love’; the beauty of His sinless life, not less than the depth of His matchless utterances, ever taught men this, the central truth of His message. Jesus, <i> simply by being what He was </i> , constantly delivered His prophetic message to the world. </p> <p> <b> 2. </b> His revelation was <i> complete </i> . The OT prophets could be recipients of only a partial revelation. As their writings are studied, it is seen how gradually God revealed His truth through them. Their knowledge of God is seen to develop, through progressive stages, from little to fuller light; prophet after prophet being sent to add his quota of truth, each being granted that amount of illumination necessary to enable him to advance the hopes and knowledge of Israel beyond the stage already reached. With Jesus it was far otherwise. He came to raise the spiritual wisdom and knowledge of men, once and for all, to the highest point attainable by them on earth. And if we find Him, at any time during His ministry, withholding truth which He might have revealed, we know that the cause of such reserve is to be found, not in His inability to declare, but in His hearers’ inability to receive (&nbsp;John 16:12). </p> <p> <b> 3. </b> His revelation was <i> infallible </i> . Great as was the usefulness of the prophets to God’s chosen people, yet it is clear that in them they had no infallible guides. They had to distinguish between ‘the false prophets’ and those who truly represented Jehovah. For succeeding generations it may have been comparatively easy to separate them, for time would demonstrate, by events, the correctness or incorrectness of prophetic utterances; but not so for contemporaries. The false prophets were not as a class mere impostors trading on the religious feelings of the people, but rather they were men who, prophets by profession, lacked the spiritual discernment to interpret the mind of Jehovah. Their messages therefore rose no higher than current spiritual ideas. The people of Israel thus had constant need of spiritual discernment on their part to select the true and to reject the untrue in messages proffered to them, which claimed to come from Jehovah. But when experience had marked out to them a prophet as a true revealer of Jehovah’s will, they were not even then certain of receiving infallible guidance. The true prophet might at times confuse his own natural judgment with the voice of God. Thus Samuel at first mistook [[Eliab]] for the Lord’s anointed (&nbsp;1 Samuel 16:6); and [[Nathan]] too hastily sanctioned the project of David to build a temple (&nbsp;2 Samuel 7:1 ff.). </p> <p> But the revelation of Jesus comes to us with infallible certainty. He does not, indeed, reveal <i> everything </i> ; for on earth He was not omniscient. He distinctly told His disciples that there was at all events one thing He did not know (&nbsp;Mark 13:32). Thus He willingly limited His knowledge while on earth; and it is well for us to remember that He Himself was aware of the limitation, for He knew that He did not know. But this self-limitation in no way weakened His claim to infallibility in all He taught. <i> [[Ignorance]] </i> is one thing, <i> error </i> quite another. And being the Son of God, and so the perfect recipient of all that the Father willed to teach Him during His state of humiliation, He <i> knew perfectly all He knew </i> . Similarly, if He did not foresee everything, yet what He did foresee, <i> that </i> He foresaw perfectly. Very remarkable is the calm certainty of conviction with which He claims infallibility. The tone of authority in His utterances, the repeated ‘I say unto you’ astounded the multitude (&nbsp;Matthew 7:29); while the claim itself could not have been more strongly put forth than in His words, ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my words shall not pass away’ (&nbsp;Mark 13:31). </p> <p> It is here especially that He stands pre-eminent. Throughout the whole course of His utterances there can be found no hesitation due to a possible conflict between His own judgment and His Father’s will, but rather a claim in unmistakable language to absolute infallibility as a Teacher. In truth, His consciousness told Him that He could not be wrong, for He knew <i> where </i> He had received that which He taught. The words which He spake were not His own, but the Father’s who sent Him. He spake that which He had seen with the Father,— <i> that </i> Father who was ever with Him (&nbsp;John 14:24; &nbsp;John 14:10; &nbsp;John 8:38). He knew, as none else could know, the truth regarding ‘the heavenly things,’ for He was ‘the Son of Man, who had come down from heaven’ (&nbsp;John 3:12-13). He is the one infallible Teacher of our race. </p> <p> Jesus, in His interview with Nicodemus, draws a distinction between ‘earthly things’ (τὰ ἐπίγεια) and ‘heavenly things’ (τὰ ἐπουρανια). The former are spiritual truths within the range of human spiritual knowledge; the latter, spiritual truths which man can learn only by a revelation granted from God. Of these latter, Jesus is the one infallible revealer (see Adamson, <i> Mind in Christ </i> , p. 77 ff.). </p> <p> <b> 4. </b> His revelation is <i> final </i> . If the message of Jesus is thus complete and infallible, it is necessarily final. No doubt, the prophetic office of Christ is still an activity in the love of God for us; and the Church has ever the presence of the Holy Spirit leading her into fuller truth; nevertheless, the message that Jesus brought was complete in itself, and therefore final. For the office of the Holy Spirit is not to teach men something new, something outside that message, but rather to disclose truths which, though hitherto unrecognized, were implicit in His teaching. The [[Apostolic]] Church was furnished with prophets, and in a true sense prophets have appeared at intervals throughout the Christian era, and doubtless will yet appear; but, no matter how new their message may seem to the men of their own day, they are, unless they are false prophets, in reality only ‘taking of the things of Christ, and declaring them’ to His people (&nbsp;John 14:26; &nbsp;John 16:14-15). </p> <p> <b> IV. Christ’s prophetic utterances. </b> —When considering the prophetic utterances of Jesus, we must not confine ourselves to His predictions alone. If, as we have seen, foretelling is an essential element of prophecy, it is evident that forthtelling is no less so. The OT prophets not only foretold coming events, but also were the religious teachers of their own age; each in turn adding to the moral and religious knowledge of the nation. So Jesus, speaking as the world’s Prophet, not only revealed the future, but once and for ever delivered potentially all truth to the world. The prophetic utterances of Jesus, therefore, include not only His predictions but all His teachings, and, as such, come within the scope of this article. As, however, His teaching is dealt with in a separate article, it is sufficient to refer the reader to the latter, and only to add some general remarks on the subject. </p> <p> A. <i> Didactic utterances </i> .— <b> 1. </b> The moral teaching of Christ concerned itself with general <i> principles </i> rather than with <i> precepts </i> . The [[Sermon]] on the Mount, which contains the chief elements of His ethical teaching, is not a code of injunctions, but a declaration of the fundamental principles that underlie His Kingdom; and the particular instances of right conduct mentioned in that discourse are not commandments, but illustrations of these principles. When He teaches His disciples regarding righteousness and sin, He avoids laying down laws regarding special acts, but goes at once to the very heart of moral distinctions, revealing the general principles which rule all special cases. Thus He solved all questions of meat by a single sentence, which ‘made all meats clean’ (&nbsp;Mark 7:19 Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885); and He answered all questions of casuistry regarding [[Sabbath]] observance by pointing out the beneficent principle which led to its institution. In a word, He reduced all right action, whether towards God or towards man, to a fulfilling, and all wrong action to an outraging, of the one all-embracing commandment of Love. And thus His teaching finds its application in every act in every age. </p> <p> There is but one exception recorded in our Gospels,—that in reference to divorce (&nbsp;Mark 10:11-12, cf. &nbsp;Matthew 5:32; &nbsp;Matthew 19:9). In this case He gives a concise and direct precept; but a precept, obedience to which purifies the human race at its source. </p> <p> <b> 2. </b> But Jesus not only revealed the true principles underlying all sin and righteousness, He also taught that <i> in Himself </i> , and particularly in Himself <i> dying </i> , was to be found the true atonement for sin. As soon as He was able to teach His disciples, even if it were in dark words, regarding His coming death, He connected that ‘death with the world’s salvation. Comparatively early in His ministry He announced that He would give His body ‘for the life of the world’ (&nbsp;John 6:51); later, He told them that, as the Good Shepherd, He would ‘lay down his life for the sheep’ (&nbsp;John 10:15); and as the fatal result of His ministry drew nearer, He declared, with still greater clearness, that He would give ‘his life a ransom for many’ (&nbsp;Mark 10:45). It is clear, then, that Jesus explicitly taught that His death was in the highest sense sacrificial; that there was a necessary connexion between that death and man’s salvation. </p> <p> It is true that Jesus does not explain <i> how </i> His death wrought the Atonement, and that we must turn to the [[Epistles]] for this knowledge; but we may with confidence assume that the early Church derived its light on the matter from Jesus Himself; for St. Luke (&nbsp;Luke 24:47) tells us that among the truths taught the disciples by Jesus during the forty days were those regarding His ‘death’ and ‘repentance and remission of sins.’ Therefore the developed doctrine of the Atonement, as found in the writings of the early Church, are not mere subjective theorizings, but are based on the teaching of the risen Lord. </p> <p> <b> 3. </b> Jesus in His teaching taught the absolute <i> value of the individual </i> . The prophets of Israel felt the majesty of their nation as the chosen people of God, and dwelt upon Jehovah’s Fatherly care of the Jewish race; but not until the preaching of Jeremiah was the Fatherhood of God over the individual brought into prominence. It was Jesus who first fully revealed the infinite value of the single soul. He insisted frequently on the madness of risking its loss, even if thereby the gain should be ‘the whole world’; and He warned men that it were better that they should miserably perish than that they should cause to stumble even one of God’s ‘little ones’ (&nbsp;Mark 8:36; &nbsp;Mark 9:42). </p> <p> <b> 4. </b> But His teaching was also <i> social </i> . The individual who was so precious in his Father’s sight was not to be left unsupported in isolation. [[Wide]] and manifold as are the meanings of ‘Kingdom of God’ as established by Jesus, it is certain that underlying all else is the thought of its members united in love by a common life. This is essential to the very idea of a <i> kingdom </i> . And in it is ideally presented the thought of a spiritual nation composed of spiritual individuals. </p> <p> The Kingdom of heaven from its spiritual nature, and as a Kingdom of ideas and principles, rather than of codified laws, is necessarily invisible, save as to its results. But man ever wants the outward or concrete; and Jesus therefore not only founded the <i> Kingdom of God </i> , but established a <i> Church </i> (&nbsp;Matthew 16:18; &nbsp;Matthew 18:17); the latter being an embodiment of the idea of the former, <i> visibly </i> presenting to the world its truths. <i> The Kingdom </i> is thus, in the teaching of Jesus, much wider and more fundamental than <i> the Church </i> . </p> <p> <b> 5. </b> When we pass from the ethical to the spiritual side of the didactic prophecies of Jesus, we enter upon an unparalleled field of revelation. As we have seen, He alone among men—and that because He was more than man—could disclose ‘the heavenly things’ (&nbsp;John 3:12) to the world. When, therefore, He speaks of the nature and acts of God, our attitude is that of reverent humble reception; and our activities are to be exercised rather in the devout investigation of the meaning of His words than in the questioning of their truth. </p> <p> When we turn to the teaching itself, we find little regarding the essential <i> nature </i> of God. It was His method rather to describe how God <i> acts </i> than to define what God <i> is </i> . Indeed, the only statement approaching to an abstract definition of His Being is found in His words to the woman of Samaria, ‘God is Spirit’ (&nbsp;John 4:24). </p> <p> The titles chiefly used by Jesus to describe the character of God are ‘King’ (&nbsp;Matthew 5:35; &nbsp;Matthew 18:23; &nbsp;Matthew 22:2) and ‘Father.’ God is <i> Father </i> : in a unique sense in relation to Himself (&nbsp;Matthew 10:32; &nbsp;Matthew 11:27, &nbsp;John 5:17; &nbsp;John 10:30 etc.); in a special sense of His disciples (&nbsp;Matthew 5:16, &nbsp;Luke 12:32 etc.); and in a general sense of mankind (&nbsp;Matthew 5:45, &nbsp;Luke 15:11 ff.). </p> <p> Further, His teaching concerning God reveals the doctrine of the Trinity. His own Deity, and the [[Deity]] and Personality of the Holy Spirit are plainly taught by Him; and the three [[Persons]] of the [[Godhead]] are with equal emphasis combined in the formula for baptism (&nbsp;Matthew 28:19). </p> <p> There seems no reason sufficiently weighty to cause us to regard this latter verse as an amplification of the actual words of Jesus, after the Church had grasped fully the theological doctrine of the Trinity. Rather it appears necessary to assume that some such statement must have been made by Him in order that this belief, which is found so distinctly stated in the earliest Epistles of St. Paul, may be accounted for (see Sanday in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible, vol. ii. p. 624). </p> <p> <b> 6. </b> Christ as Prophet chiefly <i> revealed God by revealing Himself </i> . It is customary to emphasize as His prime revelation of God, His teaching regarding the Fatherhood of the Almighty; but rather would we emphasize His revelation of Himself as His chief prophetic work. He stood before men, and said not, ‘I will teach you about God,’ but, ‘I will teach you about Myself, and then you will know God.’ Throughout the Gospel of St. John this self-manifestation of Jesus is the one central subject. His ministry, in that Gospel, commences with His convincing self-revelation to Peter and John, Andrew and Philip, and Nathanael (ch. 1); His first miracle ‘manifested forth his glory’ (&nbsp;John 2:11); He closes His interview with [[Nicodemus]] by declaring His mission as a bearer from heaven of spiritual truths (&nbsp;John 3:12-13); the highest point in ch. 4 is the declaration to the woman of Samaria, ‘I that speak unto thee am he’ (&nbsp;John 4:26); in ch. 5 He declares His oneness in power with the Father by saying, ‘What things soever the Father doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise’ (&nbsp;John 5:19); the teaching of ch. 6 centres round the self-revelation of ‘I am the bread of life’ (&nbsp;John 6:48); at the Feast of [[Tabernacles]] He cried concerning Himself, ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink’ (&nbsp;John 7:37); in ch. 8 He asserts His own pre-existence, saying, ‘Before [[Abraham]] was, I am’ (&nbsp;John 8:58); while the lengthy account of the cure of the blind man reaches its climax in the declaration, ‘Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee’ (&nbsp;John 9:37). Every section of the Gospel up to this point culminates and finds its reason in a self-revelation of Jesus made to an individual or to a few chosen ones (&nbsp;John 2:2) who were capable, by reason of their sincerity, of receiving it; while the succeeding chapters record a similar revelation granted to groups of listeners and disciples. He is ‘the Good [[Shepherd]] ‘; ‘the Door’; ‘one with the Father’; ‘the Resurrection’ … (&nbsp;John 10:7; &nbsp;John 10:11; &nbsp;John 10:30, &nbsp;John 11:25 …). [[Clearer]] and clearer grows the revelation of Himself, until at last the real fulness and power, humility and truth of His self-disclosure are seen in the words, ‘He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father’ (&nbsp;John 14:9, &nbsp;John 12:45); that is to say, ‘I have revealed God while I revealed Myself.’ It is this that makes Him in Himself, as also in His deeds and words, the Supreme Prophet, as forthteller of the truth of God. </p> <p> B. <i> Christ’s predictions </i> .—The predictive element enters very largely into the utterances of Christ. Not only do the Gospels contain prophecies spoken with the express intention of revealing the future to the disciples, such as those relating to His own death and the destruction of Jerusalem, but also numerous prophecies which occur incidentally. An example of the latter is found in His rebuke to those that ‘troubled’ Mary because of her costly offering; a rebuke that foretells the universality of His Kingdom and the perpetual memorial of her deed (&nbsp;Mark 14:9). </p> <p> If the Gospels be studied with a view to noting those sayings of Jesus which are predictive, surprise will be felt at their number. It will be seen that the parables grouped in Matthew 13 are predictions of the history of the Kingdom; that His promises not only exhibit His love and power, but also are fore-tellings of His future action ( <i> e.g. </i> &nbsp;Matthew 18:20; &nbsp;Matthew 28:20). It will be found that His miracles are often prefaced by announcements beforehand of the cure to be wrought ( <i> e.g. </i> &nbsp;Luke 8:50, &nbsp;John 11:11); that His discourse in John 6 is based on a prediction of His own sacrificial death, and that in John 14-16 on His foreknowledge of the Holy Spirit’s descent. And, further, even in His High-Priestly prayer He shows knowledge of the future by pleading for those whom He foresees as His disciples in the coming age (&nbsp;John 17:20); and, if His first recorded word during His ministry is a prophecy of the immediate advent of the Kingdom (&nbsp;Mark 1:15), His last is a prophecy of its spread to the uttermost part of the world (&nbsp;Acts 1:8). His words are saturated with prediction. </p> <p> The predictions of Jesus may be classified as follows: Those referring (1) to individuals, (2) to His Kingdom, (3) to the material world, (4) to His own career, (5) to the destruction of Jerusalem, (6) to the [[Parousia]] and the consummation of the age. </p> <p> <b> 1. </b> As His <i> predictions regarding individuals </i> present no special difficulties, it will be sufficient simply to mention them. In giving Simon the name of Peter (&nbsp;John 1:42), Jesus not only revealed his character, but foretold his pre-eminence; a prediction justified at [[Caesarea]] [[Philippi]] (&nbsp;Matthew 16:18). On this latter occasion He foretold that the [[Apostle]] would become the porter of the Church, and the Acts of the [[Apostles]] records the fulfilment. Jesus also predicted his fall and restoration (&nbsp;Luke 22:31, &nbsp;Mark 14:30), and finally announced in hidden language the death by which he should ultimately glorify God (&nbsp;John 21:18). At this time He also used words which obscurely foretold to the Apostle John a prolonged life (&nbsp;John 21:22). From an early period in His ministry Jesus read the heart of Judas (&nbsp;John 6:64; &nbsp;John 13:18), shortly after the [[Transfiguration]] He announced His coming betrayal (&nbsp;Mark 9:31), in the Upper Room He declared that the betrayer was one of the Twelve (&nbsp;Mark 14:18), and finally by the sign of the given sop He marked Judas as the traitor (&nbsp;John 13:26). To Nathanael He foretold that he would see ‘heaven opened’ (&nbsp;John 1:51); to Caiaphas, that he would see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven (&nbsp;Mark 14:62); to James and John, that they would be baptized with His baptism (&nbsp;Mark 10:39); and to all the Apostles, that they would be persecuted like Himself, excommunicated, and in peril of death (&nbsp;John 15:20; &nbsp;John 16:2), that they would forsake Him in the hour of His greatest need (&nbsp;Mark 14:27), but that after His death they would do even greater works than He Himself had done (&nbsp;John 14:12), and ultimately would sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (&nbsp;Matthew 19:28, &nbsp;Luke 22:30). </p> <p> <b> 2. </b> <i> Predictions regarding the Kingdom </i> .—The position of Jesus in reference to the idea of the Kingdom of God is partly that of a fulfiller and partly that of a foreteller. He established during His ministry the Kingdom in its simplest stage, and so far fulfilled what the OT prophets had foretold; but having established it, He made it the subject of His own predictions, projected it into the future, with the OT limitations removed, revealed its struggles throughout time, and announced its ultimate victory. </p> <p> That Jesus did establish the Kingdom of God during His lifetime can hardly be doubted. To make it entirely future, as some do, seems impossible in the face of such passages as ‘The kingdom of God is among you’ (or ‘ <i> within </i> you,’ ἐγτὸς ὑμῶν, &nbsp;Luke 17:21; see art. Ideas (Leading), vol. i. p. 770b); ‘The—kingdom of God is come upon you’ (ἐθʼ ὑμᾶς, &nbsp;Matthew 12:28); ‘From the days of John the Baptist the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence’ (&nbsp;Matthew 11:12, see Wendt’s <i> Teaching of Jesus </i> , vol. i. p. 364 ff.). </p> <p> In the parable of the Sower (Matthew 13, see also &nbsp;Luke 14:18 ff.) He foretold the different classes of people that would become its subjects, and the varied reception they would give to its claims; and in the parables of the [[Tares]] and the Draw-net (Matthew 13), the presence within it of unworthy members. He marked out for it a long career of struggle with evil, within,—false prophets deceiving (&nbsp;Matthew 7:15; &nbsp;Matthew 7:22), without,—malignant foes opposing (&nbsp;Matthew 10:16; &nbsp;Matthew 10:33, &nbsp;Luke 21:12, &nbsp;John 15:20; &nbsp;John 16:2); but He promised the support of His abiding presence (&nbsp;Matthew 28:20), and guaranteed its invincibility (&nbsp;Matthew 16:18). </p> <p> Though its beginning is unobserved (&nbsp;Luke 17:20), yet He predicted, in the parable of the Seed [[Growing]] [[Secretly]] (&nbsp;Mark 4:26), its reaching through steady growth its consummation; in the parable of the [[Mustard]] Seed (&nbsp;Matthew 13:31), its universal extension as a visible society; and in that of the Leaven, its gradually acquired power over the hearts of men (&nbsp;Matthew 13:33). No longer will its bounds be confined to the Chosen Race, for adherents from every quarter of the globe will enter it (&nbsp;Matthew 8:11), humanity becoming one flock under one Shepherd (&nbsp;John 10:16); and towards this great end it will itself work, for it will evangelize the world before His return (&nbsp;Matthew 28:19; &nbsp;Matthew 24:14). And when He comes in the clouds, its struggles will cease, and He will gather its members to that heavenly feast which will celebrate His marriage with His bride, and then, purged from evil, it will enter upon its career of eternal glory (&nbsp;Matthew 24:31, &nbsp;Matthew 22:1 ff., &nbsp;Matthew 25:1 ff., &nbsp;Matthew 13:41, &nbsp;Matthew 25:34). </p> <p> <b> 3. </b> <i> Predictions regarding the material world </i> .—A renewal of the face of nature enters largely into the prophecies of the OT (&nbsp;Isaiah 11:6-9; &nbsp;Isaiah 30:23 ff., Isaiah 35; Isa_65:17, &nbsp;Hosea 2:21 f., &nbsp;Ezekiel 34:25; &nbsp;Ezekiel 34:28), and reappears in wider form in the [[Epistle]] to the Romans (&nbsp;Romans 8:21), where St. Paul predicts the delivery of creation from the bondage of corruption; and in the [[Apocalypse]] (&nbsp;Revelation 21:1), where a new heaven and a new earth are foretold (see also &nbsp;2 Peter 3:13). Nor can the Church look forward to any less comprehensive issue, believing as she does in the [[Incarnation]] which for ever glorifies <i> matter </i> by its union with the Godhead. The comparative silence of Jesus upon this subject is remarkable. He cannot be said to have alluded to it except in two passages, neither of which is of certain interpretation. The one is in the Sermon on the Mount, where we read, ‘The meek shall inherit the earth’ (&nbsp;Matthew 5:5). These words may mean no more than that meekness here on earth wins more than self-assertion; but, seeing that the meek do not, as yet at all events, receive their due, the words more probably may be eschatological in reference, and predict their ultimate recognition on a renewed earth. In the other passage Jesus promises His Apostles that ‘in the regeneration’ they shall sit upon twelve thrones (&nbsp;Matthew 19:28). But here again there is uncertainty of interpretation; for, while He calls the culmination of the Kingdom of Grace in the Kingdom of Glory ‘the regeneration,’ He leaves it uncertain whether that regeneration concerns merely the whole body of the redeemed (cf. Briggs, <i> Mess. of Gospel </i> , pp. 228, 315), or whether it includes, as seems more probable, the physical transformation of nature (cf. Schwartzkopff, <i> Proph. of Christ </i> , pp. 219, 232).* [Note: Jesus tells us that not only the brute creation (&nbsp;Matthew 10:29; &nbsp;Matthew 6:26), but even the vegetable kingdom is under the Father’s care (&nbsp;Matthew 6:30).] </p> <p> <b> 4. </b> <i> Predictions regarding Himself </i> .—We find in the Gospels frequent predictions by Jesus of His death, and almost invariably in connexion with them allusions to His resurrection. There may be difficulty in deciding as to when He Himself first became conscious of the fatal end to His ministry, but there can be no doubt that as soon as He realized His death as imminent, He must have realized His resurrection as certain. To suppose Him to have recognized Himself as the true Messiah and then to have regarded His death as the end of all, is to suppose the impossible. Living as He lived in uninterrupted communion with the Father, He must have been conscious of the indestructibility of the Divine life that was His, and of the eternal value of His Person and work (cf. Schwartzkopff, <i> Proph. of Christ </i> , pp. 64, 147). And if a dead Messiah was a contradiction in terms to any one holding Messianic hopes, how much more was it so to the Messiah Himself? </p> <p> It was not until after the confession of Peter at Caesarea Philippi (see &nbsp;Matthew 16:21 ‘From that time forth …’) that Jesus plainly foretold His death; but having done so, He repeated the warning three times at short intervals, each time adding more definiteness to the prediction. (1) He outlined the Passion, foretelling the Sanhedrin’s rejection of Him, His death, and resurrection (&nbsp;Mark 8:31); (2) after the Transfiguration, where the highest point of His ministry was reached, He repeated the prediction, adding the fact of the betrayal (&nbsp;Mark 9:31); (3) on the journey to Jerusalem He foretold in very full detail the sufferings that awaited Him (&nbsp;Mark 10:33), enumerating in their actual order the stages of contumely through which He was to pass. The betrayal, the judicial condemnation, the delivery to the Roman power, the mocking and spitting, the killing (&nbsp;Matthew 20:19 ‘crucifying’), and, finally, the resurrection, all in turn are mentioned (cf. Swete’s <i> St. Mark, l.c. </i> ). See, further, art. Announcements of Death. </p> <p> It is assumed by some that Jesus commenced His ministry with </p>

<p> nabiy' , from naaba' "to bubble forth as a fountain," as &nbsp;Psalms 45:1, "my heart is bubbling up a good matter," namely, inspired by the Holy Spirit; &nbsp;2 Peter 1:19-21; &nbsp;Job 32:8; &nbsp;Job 32:18-19; &nbsp;Job 32:20. Roeh , "seer," from raah "to see," was the term in Samuel's days (&nbsp;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 &nbsp;2 Samuel 24:11, and is frequent in Chronicles; it came into use when roeh was becoming less used, nabi being resumed. Νabi 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" (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 21:9; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 29:25), not only David's seer [[Gad]] ''(As Smith'S Bible Dictionary Says)'' but [[Iddo]] in Solomon's reign (&nbsp;2 Chronicles 9:29; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 12:15). </p> <p> Jehu, Hanani's son, under [[Jehoshaphat]] (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 19:2). [[Asaph]] and [[Jeduthun]] are called so (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 29:30; &nbsp;1 Chronicles 35:15); also &nbsp;Amos 7:12; also &nbsp;2 Chronicles 33:18. Chozeh "the gazer" upon the spiritual world (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;Numbers 12:6; &nbsp;Numbers 12:8). Prophet (Greek) means the interpreter ''(From '' pro '', '' feemi '', "Speak Forth" Truths For Another, As Aaron Was Moses' Prophet, I.E. Spokesman: '' &nbsp;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 (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 18:22; &nbsp;Jeremiah 28:9; &nbsp;1 Samuel 2:27; &nbsp;Acts 2:30; &nbsp;Acts 3:18; &nbsp;Acts 3:21; &nbsp;1 Peter 1:10; &nbsp;2 Peter 3:2). </p> <p> But it is not always attached to the prophet. For instance, the 70 elders, (&nbsp;Numbers 11:16-29); Asaph and Jeduthun, etc., "prophesied with a harp" (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 25:3); [[Miriam]] and [[Deborah]] were "prophetesses" (&nbsp;Exodus 15:20; &nbsp;Judges 4:4, also &nbsp;Judges 6:8); John the Baptist, the greatest of prophets of the Old [[Testament]] order. The New Testament prophet (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 12:28) made new revelations and preached under the extraordinary power of the Holy Spirit "the word of wisdom" (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;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. </p> <p> Moses was the highest concentration of the type; bringing in with mighty signs the legal dispensation, as Christ did the gospel (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 18:15; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 34:10-11; &nbsp;John 1:18; &nbsp;John 1:45; &nbsp;John 3:34; &nbsp;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; &nbsp;Daniel 4:9-27. The prophets were Jehovah's remembrancers, pleading for or against the people: so Elijah (1 Kings 17; &nbsp;1 Kings 18:36-37; &nbsp;Romans 11:2-3; &nbsp;James 5:16; &nbsp;James 5:18; &nbsp;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. </p> <p> 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. </p> <p> 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 (&nbsp;Isaiah 8:16; &nbsp;Isaiah 8:20; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 4:2; &nbsp;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 (&nbsp;Jeremiah 3:16; &nbsp;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; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 18:10-11; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 18:20; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 18:22). </p> <p> Also the prophet's not promising prosperity without repentance, and his own assurance of his divine mission ''(Sometimes Against His Inclination: '' &nbsp;Jeremiah 20:8-9''; '' &nbsp;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 (&nbsp;1 Samuel 3:19; &nbsp;Jeremiah 22:11-12; &nbsp;Ezekiel 12:12-13; &nbsp;Ezekiel 12:24). As to symbolic actions, ninny are only parts of visions, not external facts, being impossible or indecent (&nbsp;Jeremiah 13:1-10; &nbsp;Jeremiah 25:12-38; &nbsp;Hosea 1:2-11). The internal actions, when possible and proper, were expressed externally (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;John 13:19). So Jehovah in the Old Testament (&nbsp;Isaiah 41:21-23; &nbsp;Isaiah 43:9; &nbsp;Isaiah 43:11-12; &nbsp;Isaiah 44:7-8.) </p> <p> 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 (&nbsp;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, &nbsp;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]] (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 6:28; &nbsp;1 Chronicles 9:22), not only reformed the priests but gave the prophets a new standing. </p> <p> Hence he is classed with Moses (&nbsp;Jeremiah 15:1; &nbsp;Psalms 99:6; &nbsp;Acts 3:24). Prophets existed before: Abraham, and the patriarchs as recipients of God's revelations, are so designated (&nbsp;Psalms 105:15; &nbsp;Genesis 15:12; &nbsp;Genesis 20:7); but Samuel constituted them into a permanent order. He instituted theological colleges of prophets; one at [[Ramah]] where he lived (&nbsp;1 Samuel 19:12; &nbsp;1 Samuel 19:20), another was at [[Bethel]] (&nbsp;2 Kings 2:3), another at [[Jericho]] (&nbsp;2 Kings 2:5), another at [[Gilgal]] (&nbsp;2 Kings 4:38, also &nbsp;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 (&nbsp;2 Kings 2:3; &nbsp;1 Samuel 10:12), who was "anointed" to the office (&nbsp;1 Kings 19:16; &nbsp;Isaiah 61:1; &nbsp;Psalms 105:15). </p> <p> 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 (&nbsp;Isaiah 24:2; &nbsp;Isaiah 28:7; &nbsp;Malachi 2:1; &nbsp;Malachi 1:14); they supplemented the work of the priests. Music and poetry were cultivated as subordinate helps (compare &nbsp;Exodus 15:20; &nbsp;Judges 4:4; &nbsp;Judges 5:1). Elijah stirred up the prophetic gift within him by a minstrel (&nbsp;2 Kings 3:15); so Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 25:5-6). [[Sacred]] songs occur in the prophets (&nbsp;Isaiah 12:1; &nbsp;Isaiah 26:1; &nbsp;Jonah 2:2; &nbsp;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 (&nbsp;2 Kings 4:23). Elisha and the elders were sitting in his house, officially engaged, when the king of Israel sent to slay him (&nbsp;2 Kings 6:32). </p> <p> So Ezekiel and the elders, and the people assembled (&nbsp;Ezekiel 8:1; &nbsp;Ezekiel 20:1; &nbsp;Ezekiel 33:31). The dress, like that of the modern dervish, was a hairy garment with leather girdle (&nbsp;Isaiah 20:2; &nbsp;Zechariah 13:4; &nbsp;Matthew 3:4). Their diet was the simplest (&nbsp;2 Kings 4:10; &nbsp;2 Kings 4:38; &nbsp;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 (&nbsp;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: &nbsp;Exodus 3:2, Moses; &nbsp;1 Samuel 3:10, Samuel; Isaiah, &nbsp;Isaiah 6:8; Jeremiah, &nbsp;Jeremiah 1:5; Ezekiel. &nbsp;Ezekiel 2:4. </p> <p> Each fresh utterance was by "vision" (&nbsp;Isaiah 6:1) or by "the word of Jehovah" (&nbsp;Jeremiah 2:1). The prophets so commissioned were the national poets ''(So David The [[Psalmist]] Was Also A Prophet, '' &nbsp;Acts 2:30'')'' , annalists (&nbsp;2 Chronicles 32:32), theocratic patriots (Psalm 48; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 20:14-17), promoters of spiritual religion (Isaiah 1), extraordinarily authorized expounders of the spirit of the law (&nbsp;Isaiah 58:3-7; Ezekiel 18; &nbsp;Micah 6:6-8; &nbsp;Hosea 6:6; &nbsp;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 (&nbsp;Matthew 1:22-23 with &nbsp;Isaiah 7:4; &nbsp;Isaiah 8:8). </p> <p> 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: &nbsp;Matthew 13:14 (&nbsp;Isaiah 6:9), &nbsp;Matthew 15:7 (&nbsp;Isaiah 29:13), &nbsp;John 5:46; &nbsp;Luke 24:44. Matthew (&nbsp;Matthew 3:3) quotes &nbsp;Isaiah 40:3 as fulfilled in John the Baptist; so &nbsp;Matthew 4:13-15 with &nbsp;Isaiah 9:1-2; &nbsp;Matthew 8:17 with &nbsp;Isaiah 53:4; &nbsp;Matthew 12:17 with &nbsp;Isaiah 42:1. So also Jeremiah, &nbsp;Matthew 2:18; &nbsp;Hebrews 8:8; Daniel, &nbsp;Matthew 24:15; Hosea, &nbsp;Matthew 2:15; &nbsp;Romans 9:25; Joel, &nbsp;Acts 2:17; Amos, &nbsp;Acts 7:42; &nbsp;Acts 15:16; Jonah, &nbsp;Matthew 12:40; Micah, &nbsp;Matthew 12:7; Habakkuk, &nbsp;Acts 13:41; Haggai, &nbsp;Hebrews 12:26; Zechariah, &nbsp;Matthew 21:5; &nbsp;Mark 14:27; &nbsp;John 19:37; Malachi, &nbsp;Matthew 11:10; &nbsp;Mark 1:2; &nbsp;Luke 7:27. </p> <p> 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. </p> <p> 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 (&nbsp;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. </p> <p> The prophecies were designedly made up of many parts (polumeros; &nbsp;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" (&nbsp;Revelation 19:10). Thus the foretold deliverance from [[Babylon]] by Cyrus foreshadows the greater deliverance from the antitypical Babylon by Cyrus' Antitype, Messiah (&nbsp;Isaiah 44:28; &nbsp;Isaiah 45:1-5; &nbsp;Isaiah 45:13; &nbsp;Isaiah 45:22-25; &nbsp;Jeremiah 51:6-10; &nbsp;Jeremiah 51:25; compare &nbsp;Revelation 18:4; &nbsp;Revelation 17:4; &nbsp;Revelation 14:8; &nbsp;Revelation 8:8). </p> <p> 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]] (&nbsp;Isaiah 7:14-16; &nbsp;Isaiah 8:3-12; &nbsp;Isaiah 8:18; &nbsp;Isaiah 9:6-7; &nbsp;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 &nbsp;Hosea 11:1, compare &nbsp;Matthew 2:15; so Caiaphas, &nbsp;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 (&nbsp;Daniel 12:8-9; &nbsp;Zechariah 4:5; &nbsp;1 Peter 1:10-12). </p> <p> The prophet, like his Antitype, spoke not of himself (&nbsp;John 7:17-18; &nbsp;Numbers 11:17; &nbsp;Numbers 11:25; &nbsp;Numbers 11:29; &nbsp;1 Samuel 10:6; &nbsp;1 Samuel 19:20; &nbsp;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 &nbsp;Exodus 33:11 with &nbsp;Joel 2:28; &nbsp;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" (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;Acts 22:17; &nbsp;Acts 22:2 Corinthians 12); Job (&nbsp;Job 4:13-16; &nbsp;Job 33:15-16); John (&nbsp;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. </p> <p> [[Whereas]] the prophet speaks in the Spirit the apocalyptic seer is wholly in the Spirit, he intuitively and directly sees and hears (&nbsp;Isaiah 6:1; &nbsp;Zechariah 2:1; &nbsp;Micah 1:1; &nbsp;Habakkuk 1:1; &nbsp;Acts 10:11; &nbsp;Acts 22:18; &nbsp;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 (&nbsp;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 &nbsp;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: '' &nbsp;2 Peter 1:19-21'' Greek, Compare '' &nbsp;2 Samuel 23:2''; '' &nbsp;Hosea 9:7'')'' . </p> <p> 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 (&nbsp;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, (&nbsp;Genesis 9:26; &nbsp;Genesis 12:3; &nbsp;Genesis 22:18; &nbsp;Genesis 28:14) of the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;Numbers 24:17); a prophet, like Moses (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 18:15); a king, of David's seed, reigning forever (&nbsp;2 Samuel 7:16; Psalm 18; 61; 89); the Son of God, as well as Son of David (&nbsp;Psalms 2:2; &nbsp;Psalms 2:6-7; &nbsp;Psalms 2:8; &nbsp;Psalms 110:1-4, etc.). </p> <p> [[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. </p> <p> 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. &nbsp;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. </p>

<p> '''Prophet.''' 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".'' </p> <p> 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 has 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." </p> <p> '''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. </p> <p> Samuel, himself Levite of the family of Kohath, &nbsp;1 Chronicles 6:28, and almost certainly a priest, was the instrument used, at once, for effecting a reform in the sacerdotal order, &nbsp;1 Chronicles 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, &nbsp;Deuteronomy 13:1; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 17:18; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 18:20, but they were not yet developed, because there was not yet the demand for them. </p> <p> 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, &nbsp;1 Samuel 19:19-20, others, afterward, at Bethel, &nbsp;2 Kings 2:3, Jericho, &nbsp;2 Kings 2:2; &nbsp;2 Kings 2:5, Gilgal; &nbsp;2 Kings 4:38, and elsewhere. &nbsp;2 Kings 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. </p> <p> 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, &nbsp;Exodus 15:20, and the judges. &nbsp;Judges 4:4; &nbsp;Judges 5:1. </p> <p> 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. &nbsp;Amos 7:14 . The sixteen prophets, whose books are in the canon, have that place of honor because they were endowed with the prophetic gift as well as ordinarily, (so far as we know), belonging to the prophetic order. </p> <p> '''Characteristics.''' - What then are the characteristics of the sixteen prophets thus called, and commissioned, and intrusted with the messages of God to his people? </p> <p> They were the national poets of Judea. </p> <p> They were annalists and historians. A great portion of Isaiah, of Jeremiah, of Daniel of Jonah, of Haggai, is direct or in direct history. </p> <p> They were preachers of patriotism, - their patriotism being founded on the religious motive. </p> <p> 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. </p> <p> They were extraordinary, but yet authorized exponents of the law. </p> <p> They held a pastoral or quasi-pastoral office. </p> <p> They were a political power in the state. </p> <p> 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, namely, 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. </p> <p> 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. </p> <p> 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. </p> <p> 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. </p> <p> 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." </p> <p> 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. </p> <p> That some portions of the prophecies were intended to be of double application, and some portions, to be understood only on their fulfillment. Compare &nbsp;John 14:29; &nbsp;Ezekiel 36:33. </p>

<div> '''1: προφήτης ''' (Strong'S #4396 — Noun Masculine — prophetes — prof-ay'-tace ) </div> <p> "one who speaks forth or openly" (see Prophecy , A), "a proclaimer of a divine message," denoted among the [[Greeks]] an interpreter of the oracles of the gods. In the Sept. it is the translation of the word roeh, "a seer;" &nbsp;1 Samuel 9:9 , indicating that the "prophet" was one who had immediate intercourse with God. It also translates the word nabhi, meaning "either one in whom the message from God springs forth" or "one to whom anything is secretly communicated." Hence, in general, "the prophet" was one upon whom the Spirit of God rested, &nbsp;Numbers 11:17-29 , one, to whom and through whom God speaks, &nbsp;Numbers 12:2; &nbsp;Amos 3:7,8 . In the case of the OT prophets their messages were very largely the proclamation of the Divine purposes of salvation and glory to be accomplished in the future; the "prophesying" of the NT "prophets" was both a preaching of the Divine counsels of grace already accomplished and the foretelling of the purposes of God in the future. </p> &nbsp;Matthew 5:12&nbsp;Mark 6:15&nbsp;Luke 4:27&nbsp;John 8:52&nbsp;Romans 11:3&nbsp;Matthew 10:41&nbsp;21:46&nbsp;Mark 6:4&nbsp;Matthew 21:26&nbsp;Luke 1:76&nbsp;Acts 13:1&nbsp;15:32&nbsp;21:10&nbsp;1 Corinthians 12:28,29&nbsp;14:29,32,37&nbsp;Ephesians 2:20&nbsp;3:5&nbsp;4:11&nbsp;John 1:21&nbsp;6:14&nbsp;7:40&nbsp;Acts 3:22&nbsp;7:37&nbsp;Mark 6:15&nbsp;Luke 7:16&nbsp;Luke 24:19&nbsp; John 4:19&nbsp;9:17&nbsp;Revelation 11:10,18&nbsp;Titus 1:12&nbsp;Luke 24:27&nbsp;Acts 8:28 <div> '''2: ψευδοπροφήτης ''' (Strong'S #5578 — Noun Masculine — pseudoprophetes — psyoo-dop-rof-ay'-tace ) </div> <p> "a false prophet," is used of such (a) in OT times, &nbsp;Luke 6:26; &nbsp;2 Peter 2:1; (b) in the present period since Pentecost, &nbsp;Matthew 7:15; &nbsp;24:11,24; &nbsp;Mark 13:22; &nbsp;Acts 13:6; &nbsp;1 John 4:1; (c) with reference to a false "prophet" destined to arise as the supporter of the "Beast" at the close of this age, &nbsp;Revelation 16:13; &nbsp;19:20; &nbsp;20:10 (himself described as "another beast," &nbsp; Revelation 13:11 ). </p>

<li> The prophets of the Restoration, viz., Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. <div> <p> '''Copyright Statement''' These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by [[Thomas]] Nelson, 1897. Public Domain. </p> <p> '''Bibliography Information''' Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Prophet'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/p/prophet.html. 1897. </p> </div> </li>