Dave Burke

“Kob amar Adonai”

['Thus says the Lord!']

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This session looks at the ministry of the Prophets of the Old Testament. We examine why the first Christians believed that God spoke authentically through them. Jesus’ ministry as a prophet is examined and we consider why he replaced the term ‘prophet’ with 'apostle'. Then we will look at his apostles, the equivalent of the Old Testament prophets, and see why we should believe their words are still God’s word for today.

What was a prophet? How did they hear from God and what were they required to do with the things they heard? What, if anything, do these ancient oracles have to do with us today? Are there any prophets in the modern world, or did it all happen a long time ago in a far distant land…..

Moses and Aaron are a useful God given Illustration of how a prophet was expected to function in ancient Israel.

Exodus 7:1-2

Moses spoke to Aaron who then transmitted his words on to Pharaoh. Moses represents God and Pharaoh the human race. That is what prophets do; they are receivers of Gods words and transmitters of those same words to the target audience. Of course, God does not have a speech impediment! He has chosen to speak through human agents. But how are those words received?

Numbers 12:6-8

Prophets could receive by several means; visions or dreams, an audible or an internal voice. Moses was unique in his generation; God spoke with him directly, face to face, that is why he was not pleased that Israel doubted Moses' words!

Whether a prophet receives his message by direct or indirect means, he functioned as an accredited messenger, under obligation to pass on the message. By the same token, his hearers were required to listen to the prophet and act on what they heard. Ignoring a prophet could have serious consequences [see verse 9 and 1 Samuel 8:7 where to reject the prophet is to reject God himself].

Moses was not the first prophet mentioned in the history of Israel. Enoch [Jude 14] and Abraham [Genesis 20:7] are both given the title. But it is Moses whom God used to define the role and provide a model for how the job was to be done. The key passage of the law is found in Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 18:14-22

As we will see, this passage has a unique application to Jesus. Yet it is at the same time a law for every prophet who ministered in Israel.

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Group discussion

Deuteronomy 18: 14-22 and 13:1-5 set out four qualifications for a prophet in Israel. Work through the passages and see if you can put down what they are.

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How did it work in practice?

As we have seen the prophets received their insights from God in a number of ways including visions, dreams and voices. Transmission to the target audience was usually by word of mouth; only later did they begin to write down their oracles.

King David had his own court prophet in Nathan, who would advise and even confront the king from time to time.

2 Samuel 7:1-7 Nathan's original enthusiasm for David to build a temple is tempered by his sensitivity to God .

2 Samuel 12:1-7 Nathan takes his life in his hands and confronts the king about his adultery with Bathsheba.

Not all kings were godly, and not all prophets were officially recognised. Elijah and Elisha operated without official sanction from the crown or the temple. Yet both could be so accurate in their insights that it caused problems for Israel's enemies [2 Kings 6:8-12].

However impressive the Prophets became at predicting the future, we must not forget that their priority was to remind Israel of what God had said in the past and apply it to their lives. In total, about one third of the prophetic material in the Bible is predicting the future [foresight], and two thirds is applying the law to people's lives [Insight]. A prophet's bread and butter was telling the people what their bibles already said in a vivid and relevant way!

Most early prophets left little written record of their ministry but the later ones began to record their oracles. These were preserved to become the scriptures of Judaism alongside the law and wisdom books. These Canonical Prophets had names that have become very familiar today; Jonah was the earliest, Haggai and Zechariah the last, and the great writings of Isaiah and Jeremiah in between.

"We do not have a full record of the words of the prophets, but only of those messages that could make latter generations wise to salvation"

H. L. Ellison - The Message of the Old Testament

Word of mouth was the prophet's main method of transmission, but to reinforce they sometimes used prophetic drama. Here are some examples:

· Hosea’s marriage [Hosea 1 and 3]

· Isaiah’s three years of nakedness [Isaiah 20:3-4]

· Ezekiel acting out exile [Ezekiel 12:1-7]

· Jeremiah’s yoke [Jeremiah 27]

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Group discussion - Jesus and the Prophets

Let’s see what the writings of the canonical prophets meant to Jesus and his team.

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Jesus the Prophet

Another look at Deuteronomy 18:15-19 leaves the Christian with the distinct impression that, whatever it is saying about prophets in general, Jesus is the person in view when this was written. Jewish scholars have suggested that this passage really refers to Joshua, Moses successor, but their own scriptures rule this out [Deuteronomy 34:10-12]. The people of Jesus' day were in no doubt at all that Jesus was the one [John 6:14, Jesus hinted that this was the case in John 5:47].

Jesus prophetic ministry was expressed in these ways:

· His call to Israel to obey the Law [Matthew 5:17 onwards]

· His prediction of the future [Matthew 24]

· His use of prophetic drama [Matthew 26:26-29]

Yet though Jesus never contradicted previous revelation, his message contained so much that was new and that focused on himself as the Son of God and Saviour of the world. He was more than a prophet, he was God incarnate.

So why did Jesus not call his team of messengers 'prophets'? The answer seems to lie in the meaning of that word in Greco-Roman culture. Here, a 'prophet' was anyone who acted under any kind of inspiration, not necessarily God' s. [Paul’s usage in Titus 1:12, and the way the Roman soldiers use the word during Jesus’ trial in Luke 22:64 illustrates this nicely]. The word 'prophet' may have cut the mustard with Jews, but not the sophisticated pagans of Athens or Rome! So the Son of God called his accredited messengers… 'messengers'! That is what the word 'apostle' means. When these men wanted to establish their authority they always used the word 'apostle' and never 'prophet'.

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Group work - apostles

Review these passages and try to summarise the ways in which the role of an apostle is the same as that of the prophets we have been thinking about.

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So Peter naturally refers to the prophetic writings as scriptures and uses the same term for Paul's letters [2 Peter 1:20 and 3:15-16], and he naturally refers to the apostles and prophets as equals [2 Peter 3:2].

Conclusion

A Christian should regard the prophetic books of the Old Testament as God's word because Jesus and the apostles did. God's Spirit was inspiring them in such a way that they would often begin their oracles with the words, 'Kob amar Adonai!', 'Thus says the Lord!'

We should also regard the writings of the New Testament in the same way because they were equally inspired and created by the activity of the Holy Spirit working through the apostles and their associates.

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Group Discussion

Can some members of the group read a passage from one of the Old Testament prophets that has helped or inspired them?

Share a few of these and then spend a few minutes in prayer