numerous to be quoted. “To him gave all the prophets witness.” (Comp.
Micah 5:2; Hag. 2:6-9; Isaiah 7:14; 9:6, 7; 11:1, 2; 53; 60:10, 13; Psalm
16:11; 68:18.)
Many predictions also were delivered by Jesus and his apostles. Those of
Christ were very numerous. (Comp. Matthew 10:23:24; 11:23; 19:28;
21:43, 44; 24; 25:31-46; 26:17-35, 46, 64; Mark 9:1; 10:30; 13; 11:1-6, 14;
14:12-31, 42, 62; 16:17, etc.)
- PROPHET (Hebrews nabi, from a root meaning “to bubble forth, as from
a fountain,” hence “to utter”, comp. Psalm 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 Ch. 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 (Hebrews ) 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; Psalm 105:15), as also Moses
(Deuteronomy 18:15; 34:10; Hos. 12:13), are ranked among the prophets.