In
religion, a
prophet is
a person who has been contacted by, or has encountered, the
supernatural or the
divine, and serves as an intermediary with
humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural
entity to other humans. The message that the prophet conveys is
called a
prophecy.
Claims of prophets have existed in many cultures through history,
including
Christianity,
Judaism,
Islam, the
Sybilline and
Delphic Oracles practices in
Ancient Greece,
Zoroaster, the
Völuspá in
Old
Norse, and many others. Traditionally, prophets are regarded as
having a role in society that promotes change due to their messages
and actions.
In the late 20th century the appellation of a 'prophet' has been
used to refer to individuals particularly successful at analysis in
the field of economics, such as in the derogatory 'prophet of
greed'. Alternatively, social commentators who suggest escalating
crisis are often called 'prophets of doom.' The claim of being able
to communicate with God or have prophetic visions are consistent
with the symptoms of
Schizophrenia.
Judaism
In
Judaism, a prophet is seen as a person
who is selected by, and speaks as a formal representative of
God, and the intention of the message is always
to effect a social change to conform to God's desired standards
initially specified in the
Torah dictated to
Moses.
In
Hebrew, the word that
traditionally translates as
prophet is נְבִיא
(
navi), which means "spokesperson". This forms the second
of the three letters of TaNaKh, derived from Torah, Nevi'im,
Ketuvim. The meaning of
navi is perhaps described in
Deuteronomy 18:18, where
God said, "I will put my words in his mouth and he will
speak to them all that I command him." Thus, the
navi was
thought to be the "mouth" of God. The root nun-vet-alef ("navi") is
based on the two-letter root nun-vet which denotes hollowness or
openness; to receive transcendental wisdom, one must make oneself
“open”. Cf.
Rashbam's comment to
Genesis 20:7.
Fully a third of the TaNaKh is devoted to books about prophetic
experience including a separate book of ‘minor’ prophets known as
The Twelve Prophets (Trei-Assar). In addition to writing and
speaking messages from God, Hebrew prophets often acted out
prophetic parables. For example, in order to contrast the people’s
disobedience with the obedience of the
Rechabites, the has
Jeremiah invite the Rechabites to drink wine, in
disobedience to their ancestor’s command. The Rechabites refused,
and God commended them. Other prophetic parables acted out by
Jeremiah include buring a linen belt so
that it gets ruined to illustrate how the intends to ruin Judah’s
pride. Likewise, Jeremiah buys a clay jar and smashes it in the
Valley of Ben Hinnom in front of elders and priests to illustrate
that the will smash the nation of Judah and the city of Judah
beyond repair. The instructs Jeremiah to make a yoke from wood and
leather straps and to put it on his own neck to demonstrate how the
will put the nation under the yoke of the king of Babylon. In a
similar way, the prophet
Isaiah had to walk
stripped and barefoot for three years to illustrate the coming
captivity, and the prophet Ezekiel had to lay on his side for 390
days and eat measured food to illustrate the coming seige.
The prophetic assignment is not always portrayed as pleasant or
productive in the Hebrew Bible, and prophets were often the target
of persecution and opposition. God’s personal prediction to
Jeremiah, “Attack you they will, overcome you they can’t,” was
fulfilled many times in the Biblical narrative as Jeremiah warned
of destruction of those who continued to refuse repentance and
accept more moderate consequences. In return for his adherence to
God’s disciplines and speaking God’s words, Jeremiah was attacked
by his own brothers, beaten and put into the stocks by a priest and
false prophet, imprisoned by the king, threatened with death,
thrown into a cistern by Judah’s officials, and opposed by a false
prophet. Likewise,
Isaiah was told by his
hearers who rejected his message, “Leave the way! Get off the path!
Let us hear no more About the Holy One of Israel!” The life of
Moses being threatened by Pharaoh is another
example.
According to I
Samuel 9:9, the old
name for navi is ro'eh, ראה, which literally means "
Seer". That could document an ancient shift, from
viewing prophets as seers for hire to viewing them as moral
teachers. Allen (1971) comments that in the First Temple Era, there
were essentially seer-priests, who formed a guild, divined,
performed rituals and sacrifices, and were scribes, and then there
were canonical prophets, who did none of these (and were against
divination) and had instead a message to deliver. The seer-priests
were usually attached to a local shrine or temple, such as Shiloh,
and initiated others as priests in that priesthood: it was a
mystical craft-guild with apprentices and recruitment. Canonical
prophets were not organised this way. The similar term "ben-navi"
("son of the prophet") means "member of a seer-priest guild".
Some examples of prophets in the
Tanakh
(Hebrew Bible) include
Abraham,
Moses,
Miriam,
Isaiah,
Samuel,
Ezekiel,
Malachi, and
Job. In Jewish tradition,
Daniel is not counted in the list of
prophets.
A Jewish tradition suggests that there were twice as many prophets
as the number which left Israel, which was 600,000 prophets. The
Talmud recognizes the existence of 48 male
prophets who bequeathed permanent messages to mankind.
[4099] According to the
Talmud
there were also seven women who are counted as prophets whose
message bears relevance for all generations:
Sarah,
Miriam,
Devorah,
Hannah
(mother of the
prophet Samuel),
Abigail (a
wife of
King David),
Huldah (from the time of
Jeremiah), and
Esther.
Rashi points out that
Rebecca,
Rachel, and
Leah were also prophets.
Among adherents to the Jewish faith, non-Jewish prophets naturally
have a far lower status than Jewish prophets. This is possibly
demonstrated in the story of Balaam in Numbers 22, , but not
demonstrated in the story of Balaam in Numbers 24, in which Balaam
the non-Jewish prophet received a prophecy laudatory of Israel,
which has been accepted, quoted and revered by Jewish believers
ever since.
Malachi's full name was Ezra Ha'Sofer (the scribe), and he was the
last prophet of Israel if one accepts the opinion that Nechemyah
died in Babylon before 9th Tevet 3448 (313 BCE).
- See also
Divine Pathos
In his book
The Prophets,
Abraham Joshua Heschel describes the
unique aspect of the Jewish prophets as compared to other similar
figures. Whereas other nations have soothsayers and diviners who
attempt to discover the will of their gods, according to Heschel
the Hebrew prophets are characterized by their experience of what
he calls theotropism — God turning towards humanity. Heschel argues
for the view of Hebrew prophets as receivers of the "Divine
Pathos," of the wrath and sorrow of God over
his nation that has forsaken him.
He writes:
Prophecy is the voice that God has lent to the silent
agony, a voice to the plundered poor, to the profane riches of the
world.
It is a form of living, a crossing point of God and
man.
God is raging in the prophet's words.
(The Prophets Ch.
1)
Christianity
In Christianity a prophet (or seer — ) is one inspired by God
through the Holy Spirit to deliver a message for a specific
purpose. It is often associated with predicting future events, but
in Biblical terms it is wider and can include those given the power
to preach repentance to those who do not want to hear the message
and to warn of God's wrath for disobedience. God's calling as a
prophet is not considered to elevate an individual for their glory,
but for the glory of God and to turn people to him. Some Christian
denominations would limit
that and exclude those who receive a personal message not intended
for the body of believers, but in the Bible on a number of
occasions prophets were called to deliver personal messages . The
reception of a message is termed
revelation and the delivery of the message is
termed
prophecy.
Anyone who claims to speak God's words or teach in his name and is
not a prophet the Bible terms a false prophet. One test given in
the Old Testament in
Deuteronomy
contains a warning of those who prophecy events which do not come
to pass and said they should be put to death. Elsewhere a false
prophet may be someone who is purposely trying to deceive, is
delusional, under the influence of Satan (for detail, see main
article
False prophet) or is
speaking from his own spirit.
Prophets are recognised to still be human and fallible, they may
make wrong decisions, have incorrect personal beliefs or opinions,
or sin from time to time. Their hearing of revelation does not
remove all their humanity or perfect them, nor do they always want
to deliver the messages they have heard (example
Jonah). Nevertheless, some Christians believe the
minimum requirements of a true prophet can be summarized as clear
and not vague prophecies, 100% accuracy in predicting events and
present day prophets must not contradict the Bible.
Many Christians believe these standards create difficulties for
other Christians who have actively support high profile ministers
and who have large followings and who claim to have received
prophecies that have later turned out to be mistaken (see
Unfulfilled
historical predictions by Christians). Other Christians claim
that these standards would disqualify several Biblical prophets,
whose prophecies, though clearly stated, appear to be unfulfilled .
Some sects of Christianity would also use these guidelines to
disqualify the heads of other sects as prophets of God. It can also
seem to favour certain views of Biblical inspiration and limit the
way that God can act. It also raises the issue of whose
interpretation received prophecy is measured by.
Some Christians who believe in
dispensationalism believe prophecy ended
along with the rest of the sign gifts shortly after the coming of
Jesus, who delivered the "fullness of the
law." Within this group, many Protestants believe that prophecy
ended with the last of the Hebrew prophets of the
Torah of the Hebrew Bible, leaving a gap of about 400
years between then and the life of Jesus. The majority, including
the
Eastern Orthodox, allow
an exception for
John the Baptist
as a prophet contemporary with Jesus.
New Testament passages that explicitly
discuss prophets existing after the death and resurrection of
Christ include , and , and , and , and . Christians believe that
the Holy Spirit leads people to faith in Jesus and gives them the
ability to lead a
Christian life and to
give gifts (i.e. abilities) to Christians. These may include the
charismatic gifts such as
prophecy,
tongues,
healing, and knowledge. Christians holding a view known as
cessationism believe these gifts were given
only in New Testament times and ceased after the last apostle died.
Historical records, however, contradict this theory. Christians
almost universally agree that "
spiritual
gifts" such as the gifts of ministry, teaching, giving,
leadership, and mercy (see, e.g. ) are still in effect today.
Some Christians also believe that the title "prophet" encompasses
others than those who receive visions from God. A more modern
definition of prophet is someone who spreads God's truths. These
can be revealed in a number of ways not only visions.
Many who believe God still uses prophets today point to Ephesians
where the Bible declares that 'God gave the church apostles,
prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the perfecting of
the saints. While many Christian sects recognize the existance of a
"modern-day" prophet, the largest denomination by far is
the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or "
Mormons"), who claim that God still communicates with
mankind through prophecy. (Whether or not the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christian or a cult is subject to
dispute, see
Mormonism and
Christianity.)
Other Christians claim that Jesus Christ fulfilled some 300 of the
messianic prophecies of the Hebrew scriptures, thus demonstrating
the authenticity of the Bible's unique truth claim.
Islam
The
Qur'an identifies a number of men as
Prophets of Islam ( ; pl. anbiyaa'
أنبياء ).
Muslims believe such individuals were
assigned a special mission by God (
Arabic:
Allah)
to guide humanity. Besides
Muhammad, this
includes
Tanakh prophets such as
Moses and
David, and
Jesus from the Christian religion.
The Islamic concept of prophethood includes validation of a
prophet's authenticity by the assigning of miraculous powers to
that prophet by the Creator. The prophetMuhammad performed a number
of miracles that were mentioned by Muslims.
[4100]The main one being the Quran
[4101]
The Quran never describes Muhammad as anything but a normal human
being who was assigned by God to deliver the message of Islam to
mankind.
Surah 18:110
[4102] :Say, I am but a man like yourselves.
Surah 17:94
[4103] :What kept men back from belief when Guidance
came to them, was nothing but this: they said, "Has Allah sent a
man (like us) to be (His) Apostle?"
Surah 11:12
[4104] :Perchance thou mayest (feel the inclination)
to give up a part of what is revealed unto thee, and thy heart
feeleth straitened lest they say, "Why is not a treasure sent down
unto him, or why does not an angel come down with him?" But thou
art there only to warn! It is Allah that arrangeth all
affairs!
According to the
Islamic creed, the essence
of all the prophets’ messages is what Islam calls for: worshipping
God alone and rejecting false deities. The message of Islam
resembles the messages of all previous prophets of God. The Qur'an
states: "Abraham was not a Jew nor a Christian, but he was (an)
upright (man), a Muslim (submission to God's will), and he was not
one of the polytheists" ( ). There were at least 4 Sharia which
were revealed to
Noah,
Abraham,
Moses and
Jesus. Each of the prophets is believed to have been
assigned a special mission by God (
Arabic:
Allah)
to guide the whole or a group of the mankind, depending on the
mission assigned to each.
God is believed to have instructed each of these prophets to warn
his community against evil and urge his people to obey God.
Although only 25 prophets are mentioned by name in the Qur'an, a
Hadith (no. 21257 in
Musnad Ibn Hanbal) mentions that there were
124,000 of them in total throughout history,
and the
Qur'an says that God has sent a
prophet to every group of people throughout time, and that Muhammad
is the last of the Prophets.( ) In general, Muslims regard the
stories of the Qur'an as
historical. The
message of all the prophets is believed to be the same. Many of
these prophets are also found in the texts of
Judaism (The Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings;
collectively known as the Old Testament to Christians) and
Christianity.
While Islam shares the Jewish tradition that the first prophet is
Adam, it differs in that the last
prophet is
Muhammad, who in Islam is called
Seal of the Prophets.
Jesus is the result of a
virgin birth in Islam as in
Christianity, and is regarded as a prophet like the others.
Traditionally, five prophets are regarded as especially important
in Islam with distinctive title were given to each of them for
example:
Noah,
Abraham,
Moses,
Jesus, and
Muhammad. Also, only a tiny minority of
prophets are believed to have been sent
holy books (such as the
Tawrat,
Zabur,
Injil and the
Qur'an), and those
prophets are considered
"messengers" or
rasul. However, other main Prophets are
considered a Messenger or a Nabi even if they didn't receive a Book
from God. An example can be the Messenger-Prophet Aaron "Haroon",
the Messenger-Prophet Ishamel "Isma'eel" or the Messenger-Prophet
Joseph "Yousuf".
Muhammad is regarded in
Islamic belief as having undertaken a
prophetic mission addressed to all of humanity rather than a
specific populace. Prophets were required to call all people to
God; The-Lord of the Worlds. However, the laws they brought may
have been limited to a certain community at some Era.
Malaysia
's Multimedia University claimed that
Islam is one set of divine teachings sent down to humans from the
Supreme Creator and that there have
been many other divine teachings sent down before the coming of
Islam for the guidance of mankind. Thus, thousands of
messengers have been appointed before
Muhammad whose duty were to deliver the divine
message from the Supreme Creator. In fact the Quran recognizes
these messengers and it is imperative upon all Muslims that they
also believe in these messengers too.
[4105]
Although it offers many incidents from the lives of many prophets,
the Qur'an focuses with special narrative and rhetorical emphasis
on the careers of the first four of these five major prophets. Of
all the figures before Muhammad, Moses is referred to most
frequently in the
Qur'an. As for the fifth,
the Qur'an is frequently addressed directly to Muhammad, and it
often discusses situations encountered by him. Direct use of his
name in the text, however, is rare. Rarer still is the mention of
Muhammad's contemporaries. Besides the four Holy Books sent by God
to the four messengers, Muslims believe that God also had granted
Scrolls
Suhuf (contains basic Divine Laws to
guide the people) to
Abraham and
Moses.
Bahá'í
The
Bahá'í Faith refers to
what are commonly called prophets as
Manifestations of God
who are directly linked with the concept of
Progressive
revelation. Bahá'ís believe that God expresses this will at all
times and in many ways, including through a series of divine
messengers referred to as
Manifestations of God or
sometimes
divine educators. In expressing God's intent,
these Manifestations are seen to establish religion in the world.
Thus they are seen as an intermediary between God and
humanity.
The Manifestations of God are not seen as an incarnation of God,
but they are also not seen as an ordinary mortals. Instead, the
Bahá'í concept of the Manifestation of God emphasizes
simultaneously the humanity of that intermediary and the divinity
in the way they show forth the will, knowledge and attributes of
God; thus they have both human and divine stations.
In addition to the Manifestations of God, in the Bahá'í view, there
are also minor prophets. While the Manifestations of Gods, or major
Prophets, are compared to the sun, which produces its own heat and
light, minor prophets are compared to the moon which receives its
light from the sun.
Moses, for example, is
taught as having been a Manifestation of God and his brother
Aaron a minor prophet. Moses spoke on behalf
of God, and Aaron spoke on behalf of Moses (
Exodus 4:14-17). Other Jewish prophets are
considered minor prophets, in the Bahá'í view, as they are
considered to have come in the shadow of the dispensation of Moses
to develop and consolidate the process he set in motion.
Modern prophetic claims
In modern times the term "prophet" can be somewhat controversial.
Many Christians with Pentecostal or charismatic beliefs believe in
the continuation of the gift of prophecy and the continuation of
the role of prophet as taught in Ephesians 4. In many churches
throughout the world, certain members of the congregation will give
prophecies during the church meeting. Prophecies like this are
often directed toward the congregation. Prophecies can also be
directed toward individuals, known as a personal prophecy. The
content of prophecies can vary widely. Prophecies are often spoken
as quotes from God. They may contain quotes from scripture,
statements about the past or current situation, or predictions of
the future. Prophecies can also 'make manifest the secrets' of the
hearts of other people, telling about the details of their lives.
Sometimes, more than one person in a congregation will receive the
same message in prophecy, with one giving it before another.
Other movements claim to have prophets. In France,
Michel Potay says he received a revelation,
called
The Revelation of
Arès, dictated by Jesus in 1974, then by God in 1977. He
is considered, by his followers, a prophet.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints
Joseph Smith, Jr. of
The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, established in 1830, is
considered a prophet by members of the LDS church, but is denounced
in some other branches of
Christianity.
Additionally, the Latter-day Saints believe in a succession of
living prophets (accepted by Latter-day Saints as "
prophets, seers, and
revelators") since the time of Joseph Smith. They also regard
the members of their
Quorum of the
Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators. The current
living prophet is
Thomas S.
Monson.
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses do not
consider any single person in their modern-day organization to be a
prophet. Their literature has referred to their organization
collectively as God's "prophet" on earth; this is understood,
however, in the sense of declaring their interpretation of God's
judgments from the Bible along with God's guidance of His Holy
Spirit. The Jehovah's Witnesses publish an official reader,
The Watchtower, which has asserted:
"Ever since 'The Watchtower' began to be published in July of 1879
it has looked ahead into the future... No, 'The Watchtower' is no
inspired prophet, but it follows and explains a Book of prophecy
the predictions in which have proved to be unerring and unfailing
till now. 'The Watchtower' is therefore under safe guidance. It may
be read with confidence, for its statements may be checked against
that prophetic Book." They also claim that they are God's one and
only true channel to mankind on earth, and used by God for this
purpose.
They have made many
eschatological
forecasts, some of which have led people (including followers)
to incorrect assumptions. One example is their original belief of
the end of the "
Gentile times" or "times of
the nations" in 1914. Their Biblical studies showed that the
enthronement of Jesus would be in the year 1914 (Daniel 4:10-16;
Revelation [Apocalipsis] 12:6,14; Ezequiel 4:6), however they at
one time incorrectly assumed that the world would also be destroyed
(although on this year,
World War One
would begin). As a result the editors of the Watchtower have
acknowledged that Jehovah's Witnesses "have made mistakes in their
understanding of what would occur at the end of certain time
periods."
Seventh-day Adventist
The
Seventh-day Adventist
Church, established in 1863, believes
Ellen G. White,
one of the church's founders, was given the spiritual gift of
prophecy, and are generally skeptical toward
other claims.
Tenrikyo
Tenrikyo's prophet,
Nakayama Miki or
Oyasama [4106], is believed by Tenrikyoans to have been
a kind of microphone of God, as God spoke through Oyasama,
directly, to whomever was in the vicinity. She had three aspects:
the Shrine of Tsukihi (the body of the woman was occupied by the
mind of God), The Parent of the Divine Model (Oyasama taught the
people by instructions and examples), and The Truth of the
Everliving Oyasama (she continues to watch humanity develop, even
after shedding her body).
Other religious
Other individuals
Other people throughout history have been described as prophets in
the sense of foretelling the future (as opposed to forthtelling a
religious message). Examples of such prophets include:
Science-fiction and fantasy
See also
Further reading
Notes
- prophet - definition of prophet by the Free Online
Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia
- prophet - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online
Dictionary
- The British Journal of Psychiatry
- Early Signs of Schizophrenia
- p.1571, Alcalay
- All the Parables of the Bible, Herbert Lockyer, Zondervan,
1963.
- Jeremiah 35:13-16, The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford University
Press, 2004
- Commentary on Jeremiah 35, The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford
University Press, 2004
- Jeremiah 13, The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford University Press,
2004
- Comment on Jeremiah 13, Jeremiah, The Anchor Bible, Doubleday,
1984
- Jeremiah, Lamentations, Tremper Longman, Hendrickson
Publishers, 2008.
- Commentary on Jeremiah 13, The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford
University Press, 2004
- Jeremiah 19, The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford University Press,
2004
- Jeremiah 27-28, The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford University
Press, 2004
- Isaiah 20, The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford University Press,
2004
- Ezekiel 4, The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford University Press,
2004
- Commentary on Jeremiah, The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford
University Press, 2004
- Isaiah (Commentary), John Goldingay, Hendrickson, 2001
- Commentary on Isaiah 6:8-13, The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford
University Press, 2004
- ’’Jeremiah (Prophet)’’, The Anchor Bible Dictionary Volume 3,
Doubleday, 1992
- Jeremiah 1:19, The Anchor Bible, Doubleday, 1984
- ’’Jeremiah, Lamentations’’, F.B. Huey, Broadman Press,
1993
- ’’Jeremiah (Prophet)’’, The Anchor Bible Dictionary Volume 3,
Doubleday, 1992
- Jeremiah 12:6, The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford University Press,
2004
- Jeremiah 20:1-4, The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford University
Press, 2004
- The NIV Study Bible, Zondervan, 1995, p. 1501
- Jeremiah 37:18, Jeremiah 38:28, The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford
University Press, 2004
- Jeremiah 38:4, The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford University Press,
2004
- Jeremiah 38:6, The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford University Press,
2004
- Jeremiah 28, The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford University Press,
2004
- Isaiah 30:11, The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford University Press,
2004
- Isaiah (Commentary), John Goldingay, Hendrickson, 2001
- Exodus 2, Exodus 10:28, The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford
University Press, 2004
- Rashi on Genesis 29:34.
- http://www.jewfaq.org/prophet.htm
-
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Num&c=24&v=1&t=KJV#top
- ,
- Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that
follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
- , ,
- The Bible; containing
both the Old and New Testaments (see Biblical narratives and the
Qur'an)
- See the Qur'an
- The Watchtower 1 January 1969
- Reasoning From the Scriptures p.136
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