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scarcely be determined, though the probability seems in its favor (comp. 1 Kings
18:13).
It is of more importance to understand the difference between "prophets" and "sons
of the prophets," the circumstances under which these orders or unions originated,
and the peculiar meaning attached to this prophetic calling. The first point seems
sufficiently clear. The "sons of the prophets" were those who of set purpose devoted
themselves to this work, and were, on the one hand, disciples of prophets, and on the
other, the messengers or ministers to carry out their behests. Dedication and
separation to the work (symbolized even by a common abode, and by a distinctive
appearance and dress), religious instruction, and, above all, implicit obedience, are
the historical features of those "sons of the prophets." Quite other was the "union,"
"company," or rather "congregation^187 of prophets" (1 Samuel 19:20) near Ramah.
There is no evidence of their having all permanently dedicated themselves to the
office; the contrary seems rather implied. No doubt from among them sprung those
who were afterwards "seers," such as Gad, Nathan, and Iddo; but the majority seem
to have joined the union under a temporary constraining influence of the mighty
Spirit of God. And although, as we gather from many passages of Holy Scripture (as
1 Samuel 22:5; 1 Chronicles 29:29, and other passages in the Books of Kings), they
were occupied with the composition and the study of sacred history, and no doubt
with that of the law also, as well as with the cultivation of hymnology, it would be a
great mistake to regard them as a class of students of theology, or to represent them
as a monastic order.
In point of fact, the time of Samuel, and that of Elijah and Elisha, were great turning-
points, periods of crisis, in the history of the kingdom of God. In the first, the
tabernacle, the priesthood, and the God-appointed services had fallen into decay,
and, for a time, may be said to have been almost in abeyance. Then it was that God
provided other means of grace, by raising up faithful, devoted men, who gathered
into a living sanctuary, filled not by the Shechinah, but by the mighty Spirit of God.
Under the direction of a Samuel, and the influence of a "spiritual gift," - like those of
apostolic days - their presence and activity served most important purposes. And, as
in apostolic days, the spiritual influence under which they were seems at times to
have communicated itself even to those who were merely brought into contact with
them. This, no doubt, to prove its reality and power, since even those who were
strangers to its spiritual purpose, and unaffected by it, could not resist its might, and
thus involuntarily bore witness to it. And something analogous to this we also
witness now in the irresistible influence which a spiritual movement sometimes
exercises even on those who are and remain strangers to its real meaning.^188
(^)