GAMAVISION Entrevistados:

The Hebrew word for prophet, nābî’ means, “one who is called”, “one who is commissioned”. The prophetic call or vocation was not received through hereditary. The call was felt by an individual as a powerful inner drive to speak on God’s behalf. One who received the vocation to be a prophet had to abandon his job and engage in prophecy. Thus, an Israelite prophet was regarded as one called by God in a special way and sent on a full-time prophetic mission. This is clearly manifested in some of the call stories of the prophets. Samuel was specially called as a boy ministering under Eli (1 Sam 3:1-14). Amos declared to Amaziah: “I am no prophet nor a prophet’s son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘God, prophesy to my people Israel’” (Amos 7:14-15).

Isaiah, a nobleman, described the nature of his call thus: “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’ And he said, ‘Go and say to this people...’” (Isa 6: 8-9).

In other call stories, Jeremiah, a priest, was hesitant to answer the call, and so protested: “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy” (Jer 1:6). He, however, had to succumb to God’s call when he heard the reply: “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord” (Jer 1:7-8). Similarly, Ezekiel, a priest, received a divine vision in which he was told: “Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have transgressed against me to this very day. The descendants are impudent and stubborn. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God’. Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them” (Ezek 2:3-5). There were also prophetesses, such as Miriam (Exod 15:20) and Deborah (Judg 4:4).

In view of their conviction that they were called and commissioned by God to speak on his behalf, Israelite prophets considered that their

words came from God, and not from themselves. They were ever conscious that their authority to minister to the people as prophets came from God. On account of this, they were careful, in delivering their oracles, to introduce them with phrases such as: “Hear the word of the Lord” (Isa 1:10), and “Thus says the Lord” (Isa 66:1). They would also usually conclude their oracles with: “Says the Lord” (Jer 49:6).

Early Israelite prophecy was quite ecstatic in nature. Ecstasy is an experience of being overcome with such a powerful emotion that a person’s self control and reason is momentarily suspended. Ecstatic prophets were “seized” or “possessed” by God’s spirit which took full control of their persons, and it was in that state that they uttered their prophecy. They usually belonged to a roving band of prophets, such that if one member of the band was seized by an ecstatic experience, others, even non-prophets would be seized too (1 Sam 10:5-6; 19:18-24). It is notable that ecstasy could be induced by music and dancing (2 Kings 3:15).

Some prophets were attached to the king’s court as court prophets for political and professional purposes, while others were attached to the great sanctuaries of Israel such as in Bethel and Jerusalem. The court prophets were available to the king so that they would discern the will of God for him (1 Kings 22:5-6; 20:35-43). Those attached to sanctuaries served side by side with the priests in a joint ministry. These were known as cultic prophets. Cultic prophets were regarded as experts in prayer. They interceded with God for the people, bringing the people’s petitions before God (Hab 3:1-19). They also communicated God’s answer to the people’s prayers, to the people.

Israelite prophetic ministry attained greater prominence, however, with the classical or canonical prophets. These were the writing prophets.

Their prophetic works or collections have come down to us, either written by themselves or by their disciples, sometimes many years after their death. The sixteen classical prophets are usually classified as major and minor. Four of them regarded as Major Prophets are: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. The remaining twelve, regarded as Minor Prophets are: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Some of them prophesied before the Israelite Babylonian exile in 587-537 BC (pre- exilic), some during the exile (exilic), while some prophesied after the exile (post-exilic).

The classical prophets did not go into ecstasy. There is no indication, for example, that they were out of their minds, or in an abnormal state (See 2 Kings 9:11; Hos 9:7). Rather, they spoke as if they enjoyed a special relationship with God (See Amos 8:1-2). Yet in reality, these prophets

did not necessarily have extraordinary sights and sounds. They were people with remarkable insights, who knew thoroughly the Israelite religious and legal traditions, and who were sufficiently indignant at the unfaithfulness, faithlessness, hopelessness, hypocrisy, manipulations, corruption and evil around them. They dared to speak out! They knew that all these would not go unpunished, and so they urged reform. They challenged the people, encouraged them, consoled them, and expressed hope and promise to them, based on their sound knowledge of the word of God, the will of God, and on God’s special inspiration. They spoke and wrote poetically and symbolically (1 Kings 22:11; Jer 28:12-16).

Sometimes they were commanded to perform symbolic actions which had important pastoral meanings (Hos 1:2-9; Isa 8:1-4; 20:1-6; Jer 13:1-11; 16:1-13; Zech 6:9-15). Some of the prophets suffered enormously for the words that they were inspired to speak (Jer 20:7-10;

Isa 50:4-6).

Little wonder then that many false prophets existed. Such were prophets who did not take time to study the law of God and understand God’s will. They were uninspired prophets with lying lips, who spoke out of their convenience and for personal gains, not according to the challenging demands of the word and will of God. Ezekiel condemned such prophets in these words:

The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are prophesying; say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: ‘Hear the word of the Lord!’ Thus says the Lord God, Alas for the senseless prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! Your prophets have been like jackals among ruins, O Israel....They have envisioned falsehood and lying divination; they say, ‘Says the Lord,’ when the Lord has not sent them, and yet they wait for the fulfilment of their word! Have you not seen a false vision or uttered a lying divination, when you have said, ‘Says the Lord,’ even though I did not speak? (Ezek 13:1-7; see also Ezek 13:8-23; Jer 5:31; 14:13-16; 23:9-40).

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1

i. What was the nature of the prophetic call, since it wasn’t through hereditary?

ii. How did Israelite prophets deliver their oracles in a way that showed that they were speaking God’s word?

iii. Who were the ecstatic prophets?

iv. Name the sixteen classical prophets.