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“To prophesy” is much more than the prediction of future events. Indeed, the first
concern of the prophet is to speak God’s word to the people of his own time, calling them
to covenant faithfulness. The prophet’s message is conditional, dependent upon the
response of the people. Thus, by their response to this word, the people determine in large
part what the future holds, as is well illustrated by the response of the Ninevites to
Jonah’s preaching. Of course, prediction does enter the picture at times, such as in
Nahum’s prediction of the fall of Nineveh (Nah. 2:13) and in the various messianic
passages (Isa. 9:1-6; 11:1-9; 52:13- 53:12).
B. Noun.
(
, 5030), “prophet.” The word has a possible cognate in Akkadian. It
occurs about 309 times in biblical Hebrew and in all periods.
:
represents “prophet,” whether a true or false prophet (cf. Deut. 13:1-5). True
prophets were mouthpieces of the true God. In 1 Chron. 29:29 three words are used for
“prophet”: “Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the
Book of Samuel the Seer [
] and in the Book of Nathan the Prophet [
], and in
the Book of Gad the Seer [
].” The words translated “seer” emphasize the means by
which the “prophet” communicated with God but do not identify the men as anything
different from prophets (cf. 1 Sam. 9:9). The first occurrence of
does not help to
clearly define it either: “Now therefore restore the man [Abraham] his wife; for he is a
prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live …” (Gen. 20:7).
The second occurrence of
establishes its meaning: “And the Lord said unto
Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy
prophet” (Exod. 7:1). The background of this statement is Exod. 4:10-16, where Moses
argued his inability to speak clearly. Hence, he could not go before Pharaoh as God’s
spokesman. God promised to appoint Aaron (Moses’ brother) to be the speaker: “And he
shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead
of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God” (Exod. 4:16). Exod. 7:1 expresses
the same idea in different words. It is clear that the word “prophet” is equal to one who
speaks for another, or his mouth.
This basic meaning of
is supported by other passages. In the classical passage
Deut. 18:14-22, God promised to raise up another “prophet” like Moses who would be
God’s spokesman (v. 18). They were held responsible for what he told them and were
admonished to obey him (Deut. 18:19). However, if what the “prophet” said proved to be
wrong, he was to be killed (Deut. 18:20). Immediately, this constitutes a promise and
definition of the long succession of Israel’s prophets. Ultimately, it is a promise of the
Great Prophet, Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 3:22-23). The “prophet” or dreamer of dreams might
perform miracles to demonstrate that he was God’s man, but the people were to look to
the message rather than the miracle before they heeded his message (Deut. 13:1-5).
In the plural
is used of some who do not function as God’s mouthpieces. In the
time of Samuel there were men who followed him. They went about praising God
(frequently with song) and trying to stir the people to return to God (1 Sam. 10:5, 10;
19:20). Followers of Elijah and Elisha formed into groups to assist and/or to learn from