Prophets in the Old Testament

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Introduction to the Prophets and the Prophecy
(prophet's saying = prediction)

People have always tried to find out something about their future, and in order to do so they have even favoured consulting numinous (simultaneously trustworthy and frightening) divine sources.  However, the means of investigating the future differed considerably in the various cultures (Babylon, Egypt, Assyria).  In the area of Syria/Palestine, using the intuition of certain talented persons was the predominant way of investigating and determining the future, especially when military decisions were involved.  The term “prophet” – the German word for it is derived from the Greek – is the word used to describe a person who interprets divine oracles.  According to a well-known catchword, “prophet” (man of God, seer, in the early days of Israel even tribe leaders were so called) is not so much one who foresees events, but one who evokes them.  With God’s authorization, he confronts his contemporaries with the latest message from the living God.  During the course of four and a half centuries, sixteen prophets - major and minor – confront rulers, priests and Israelites and proclaim God’s word.  Most prophets, however, found no recognition during their lifetime.  Their social and cultural criticism, their attestation of the people’s inability to uphold the bond with Yahweh and their prophecies of doom outraged their contemporaries.  Many prophets suffered under this rejection, Jeremiah more so than all others. 

Before long, in the time of Hellenism, prophecy no longer played any role (see Subject 13), until the apocalypse, in its own way, re-animated it.  In the New Testament one finds important characteristic features of prophecy summarized in a late form by the following: John the Baptist, in parts Jesus Christ, then too the Prophets of the earliest decades of the first Christian community.  Apostles 2, 11 + 21; 1; Corinthians 14, 1-5).  The prophet’s prediction is usually written in a certain form:

1. It begins with the current situation of those being addressed (warning, admonishment), then 2. It forecasts consequences visible in God’s future actions (prediction of salvation or doom
    or making a threat (as the case may be) and it
3. leads to a final characterization (example: Second Book of Kings 1, 6ff)

Apart from the patriarchs and the kings, the prophets are the most prominent personalities of the Old Testament.  They were God’s spokespersons, the preachers of His will for the present day and of his decrees for the future.  For those who held office this required a sound character, the courage to speak up and be tolerant, a dedication to God even as far as self-sacrifice, an incorruptible love for the people and to be undeterred by ingratitude or pursuit.  So the prophets wandered through life mostly lonely.  More often than not, the personality of these “men of God” was removed from all social life and placed in the exalted solitude of proximity to God.  Rarely is there mention of a family life, the joys of which they usually renounced.  Hardly anything is known of their origins or their homeland.
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