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KING JAMES BIBLE DICTIONARY

 

Prophets

The Bible

Bible Usage:

Dictionaries:

  • Included in Eastons: Yes
  • Included in Hitchcocks: No
  • Included in Naves: Yes
  • Included in Smiths: Yes
  • Included in Websters: Yes
  • Included in Strongs: Yes
  • Included in Thayers: Yes
  • Included in BDB: Yes

Strongs Concordance:

Easton's Bible Dictionary
Prophet

(Heb. nabi, from a root meaning "to bubble forth, as from a fountain," hence "to utter", comp. Psalms 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 Samuel 9:9). It occurs seven times in reference to Samuel. Afterwards another word, hozeh, "seer" (2 Samuel 24:11), was employed. In 1 Chronicles 29:29 all these three words are used- "Samuel the seer (ro'eh), Nathan the prophet (nabi'), Gad the seer" (hozeh). In Joshua 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 Numbers 12:6, 8.) Thus a prophet was a spokesman for God; he spake in God's name and by his authority (Exodus 7:1). He is the mouth by which God speaks to men (Jeremiah 1:9; Isaiah 51:16), and hence what the prophet says is not of man but of God (2 Peter 1:20, 21; comp. Hebrews 3:7; Acts 4:25; 28:25). Prophets were the immediate organs of God for the communication of his mind and will to men (Deuteronomy 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 (Genesis 20:7; Exodus 7:1; Psalms 105:15), as also Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15; 34:10; Hosea 12:13), are ranked among the prophets. The seventy elders of Israel (Numbers 11:16-29), "when the spirit rested upon them, prophesied;" Asaph and Jeduthun "prophesied with a harp" (1 Chronicles 25:3). Miriam and Deborah were prophetesses (Exodus 15:20; Judges 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 Samuel 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 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 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.


Smith's Bible Dictionary
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." 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, (1 Chronicles 6:28) and almost certainly a priest, was the instrument used at once for effecting a reform in the sacerdotal order (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 Isr'lites by Moses, (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, (1 Samuel 19:19,20) others afterward at Bethel, (2 Kings 2:3) Jericho, (2 Kings 2:2,5) Gilgal; (2 Kings 4:38) and elsewhere. (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. 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 (Exodus 15:20) and the judges. (Judges 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. (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 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,
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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."
  13. 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.
  14. That some portions of the prophecies were intended to be of double application, and some portions to be understood only on their fulfillment, Comp. (John 14:29; Ezekiel 36:33)


Webster's 1828 Dictionary
Prophet

PROPH'ET, noun [Latin propheta.]

1. One that foretells future events; a predicter; a foreteller.

2. In Scripture, a person illuminated, inspired or instructed by God to announce future events; as Moses, Elijah, David, Isaiah, etc.

3. An interpreter; one that explains or communicates sentiments. Exodus 7:1.

4. One who pretends to foretell; an imposter; as a false prophet Acts 13:6.

of the prophets, among the Israelites, a school or college in which young men were educated and qualified for public teachers. These students were called sons of the prophets.


Webster's 1828 Dictionary
Prophetess

PROPH'ETESS, noun A female prophet; a woman who foretells future events, as Miriam, Huldah, Anna, etc. Exodus 15:20. Judges 4:4. Luke 2:36.


Naves Topical Index
Prophetesses

General references
Ezekiel 13:17; Joel 2:28-29

Miriam
Exodus 15:20

Deborah
Judges 4:4

Huldah
2 Kings 22:14

Noadiah
Nehemiah 6:14

Isaiah's wife
Isaiah 8:3

Elizabeth
Luke 1:41-45

Anna
Luke 2:36-38

Daughters of Philip
Acts 21:9

Jezebel
Revelation 2:20
Women


Webster's 1828 Dictionary
Prophetic

PROPHET'IC

PROPHET'ICAL, adjective Containing prophecy; foretelling future events; as prophetic writings.

1. Unfolding future events; as prophetic dreams.

It has of before the thing foretold.

And fears are oft prophetic of th' event.


Webster's 1828 Dictionary
Prophetically

PROPHET'ICALLY, adverb By way of prediction; in the manner of prophecy.


Webster's 1828 Dictionary
Prophetize

PROPH'ETIZE, verb intransitive To give prediction. [Not used]


Naves Topical Index
Prophets

Called Seers
1 Samuel 9:19; 2 Samuel 15:27; 2 Samuel 24:11; 2 Kings 17:13; 1 Chronicles 9:22; 1 Chronicles 29:29; 2 Chronicles 9:29; 2 Chronicles 12:15; 2 Chronicles 29:30; Isaiah 30:10; Micah 3:7

Schools of
1 Kings 20:35; 2 Kings 2:3-15; 2 Kings 4:1; 2 Kings 4:38; 2 Kings 9:1

Kept the chronicles
1 Chronicles 29:29; 2 Chronicles 9:29; 2 Chronicles 12:15

Counsellors to kings
Isaiah 37:2-3

Not honored in their own country
Matthew 13:57; Luke 4:24-27; John 4:44

Inspired by angels
Zech 1:9; Zech 1:13-14; Zech 1:19; Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 2:2

Persecutions of
2 Chronicles 36:16; Amos 2:12

Martyrs
Jeremiah 2:30; Matthew 23:37; Mark 12:5; Luke 13:34; 1 Thessalonians 2:15; Hebrews 11:37; Revelation 16:6

Emoluments (compensations) of:

Presents
1 Samuel 9:7-8; 1 Kings 14:3; 2 Kings 4:42; 2 Kings 8:8-9; Ezekiel 13:19

Presents refused by
Numbers 22:18; 1 Kings 13:7-8; 2 Kings 5:5; 2 Kings 5:16

False:

General references
1 Kings 13:18; Nehemiah 6:12; Jeremiah 23:25-27; Jeremiah 23:30-32; Lamentations 2:14

Admonitions to
Deuteronomy 13:1-3

Denunciations against
Deuteronomy 18:20; Jeremiah 14:15

Punishment of
Jeremiah 14:13-16; Jeremiah 20:6; Jeremiah 28:16-17; Jeremiah 29:32; Zech 13:3

Instances of:

Noadiah
Nehemiah 6:14


Four hundred in Samaria
1 Kings 22:6-12; 2 Chronicles 18:5
Minister, A Sacred Teacher, False


Inspiration of
Genesis 40:8; Genesis 41:16; Genesis 41:38-39; Exodus 3:14-15; Exodus 4:12; Exodus 4:15; Exodus 4:27; Exodus 6:13; Exodus 6:29; Exodus 7:2; Exodus 19:3; Exodus 19:9; Exodus 19:19; Exodus 24:16; Exodus 25:22; Exodus 33:9; Exodus 33:11; Exodus 35:31; Exodus 35:35; Numbers 7:89; Leviticus 1:1; Numbers 1:1; Numbers 9:8-10; Numbers 11:17; Numbers 11:25; Numbers 12:6-8; Numbers 16:28-29; Numbers 22:18; Numbers 22:38; Numbers 23:5; Numbers 23:12; Numbers 23:20; Numbers 23:26; Numbers 24:2-4; Numbers 24:15-16; Deuteronomy 1:5-6; Deuteronomy 5:4-6; Deuteronomy 5:31; Deuteronomy 34:9-11; Joshua 3:7; Judges 6:7-10; Judges 6:34; Judges 11:29; 1 Chronicles 12:18; Judges 13:25; Judges 14:6; Judges 14:19; 1 Samuel 3:1; 1 Samuel 3:4-10; 1 Samuel 3:19-21; 1 Samuel 9:6; 1 Samuel 9:15-20; 1 Samuel 10:6-7; 1 Samuel 10:10; 1 Samuel 16:13; 1 Samuel 19:20; 1 Samuel 19:23-24; 2 Samuel 7:3-7; 2 Samuel 12:1; 2 Samuel 23:2-3; Acts 2:30; 1 Kings 13:20; 1 Kings 14:5; 1 Kings 17:1; 1 Kings 17:24; 1 Kings 18:36; 1 Kings 18:46; 1 Kings 19:9; 1 Kings 22:14; 1 Kings 22:28; 2 Chronicles 18:27; 2 Kings 1:12; 2 Kings 2:9; 2 Kings 2:15; 2 Kings 3:11-12; 2 Kings 3:15; 2 Kings 4:27; 2 Kings 5:8; 2 Kings 6:8-12; 2 Kings 6:17; 2 Kings 6:32; 2 Kings 10:10; 1 Chronicles 21:18; 1 Chronicles 28:11-12; 1 Chronicles 28:19; Exodus 25:9; Exodus 26:30; 2 Chronicles 8:14; 2 Chronicles 20:14; 2 Chronicles 15:1; 2 Chronicles 24:20; 2 Chronicles 26:5; 2 Chronicles 33:18; Ezra 5:1-2; 2 Chronicles 36:12; 2 Chronicles 36:15; Nehemiah 9:30; Job 32:8; Job 33:14-16; Psalms 103:7; Isaiah 6:1-9; Isaiah 8:11; Isaiah 44:26; Isaiah 63:11; Jeremiah 1:1-2; Jeremiah 2:1; Jeremiah 7:1; Jeremiah 11:1; Jeremiah 13:1-3; Jeremiah 16:1; Jeremiah 18:1; Jeremiah 24:4; Jeremiah 26:1; Jeremiah 26:12; Jeremiah 27:1-2; Jeremiah 29:30; Jeremiah 33:1; Jeremiah 34:1; Obadiah 1:1; Jonah 1:1; Micah 1:1; Zech 1:1; Zech 1:7; Jeremiah 1:4-10; Jeremiah 7:25; Jeremiah 25:3; Jeremiah 11:18; Jeremiah 20:9; Jeremiah 23:9; Jeremiah 26:2; Jeremiah 42:4; Jeremiah 42:7; Ezekiel 1:1; Ezekiel 1:3; Ezekiel 1:20; Ezekiel 2:1-2; Ezekiel 2:4-5; Ezekiel 3:10-12; Ezekiel 3:14; Ezekiel 3:16-17; Ezekiel 3:22; Ezekiel 3:24; Ezekiel 3:27; Ezekiel 8:1; Ezekiel 11:1; Ezekiel 11:4-5; Ezekiel 11:24; Ezekiel 33:22; Ezekiel 37:1; Ezekiel 40:1; Ezekiel 43:5; Daniel 1:17; Daniel 2:19; Daniel 7:16; Daniel 8:16; Daniel 9:1-22; Daniel 10:7-9; Hosea 1:1-2; Hosea 12:10; Joel 2:28-29; Amos 3:7-8; Amos 7:7; Amos 7:14-15; Amos 9:1; Jonah 3:1-2; Micah 3:8; Habakkuk 3:2; Habakkuk 3:16; Haggai 1:13; Zech 2:9; Zech 7:12; Mark 12:36; Luke 1:15; Luke 1:41; Luke 1:67; Luke 1:70; Luke 2:25-27; Luke 3:2; John 1:6; Acts 2:2-4; Acts 3:18; Acts 7:55-56; Acts 8:29; Acts 8:39; Acts 11:28; Acts 21:4; Acts 21:10-11; Acts 28:25; Romans 1:1-2; 1 Corinthians 12:7-11; 1 Corinthians 14:32; Hebrews 1:1; Hebrews 3:5; James 5:10; 1 Peter 1:10-11; 2 Peter 1:21; Jude 1:14; Revelation 2:7; Revelation 10:7; Revelation 14:13; Revelation 22:6; Revelation 22:8
Revelation; Word of God, Inspiration of