Bible Lexicons

Girdlestone's Synonyms of the Old TestamentGirdlestone's OT Synonyms

Prophet

It has always been part of the system of the Divine government to employ men as instruments for the conveyance of heavenly truth and blessing to the world at large. Whether it be as the announcers of the Revealed Message, as the writers of the inspired Scripture, as the official representatives of God in matters relating to the atonement; or as teachers and guides of the people, human instruments have been employed, human voices have been heard, 'the pen of a man' has been used, the agent has been 'taken from among men,' the treasure has been conveyed in 'earthen vessels.' There has, indeed, been a constant tendency in those that have been selected for these important services to constitute themselves into a caste, and to assume to themselves powers and rights which God never gave them; and by a natural reaction, many persons, resenting such claims, have thrown discredit on sacred offices, and have sought to break through the distinctions which God Himself has marked out.

The practical advantages of a settled order of ministry are denied by comparatively few; but how many there are who differ, and that hotly, concerning the names, relative positions, and spiritual powers of the ministry! Metaphysical questions have intruded themselves, to add to the entanglement. Not only has the nature of the special prophetic gifts of the O. and N.T. been earnestly investigated, but such points as the following are raised: - Does the grace of God's Spirit come direct to each member of the Church, or only through certain privileged persons t Does the spiritual efficacy of baptism and the Lord's Supper depend up on the presence and superintendence of a person who has received special gifts by the laying on of hands? Are the spiritual gifts referred to in the N.T. transmitted through Episcopal consecration? or are they vested in the Holy Catholic Churc has a body, to be exercised through such representatives as may be appointed from time to time by the Christians of each locality? is a threefold order of ministry - bishops, presbyters, and deacons - essential to the exercise of such gifts? is Episcopal succession from the Apostles' days, by a continuous laying on of hands, necessary in order to convey these gifts?

The animosity raised by such questions is endless, and we need over and over again to be reminded that the great object of the ministry is not that men should set themselves up as a privileged caste, but that they should lead others to Christ; whilst the object of Christ in dispensing his gifts to men is to make them conformable to the will of God. Whatever helps forward that conformity, whether it be the faithful use of the Lord's Supper, the reading and meditating on Scripture, public prayer and preaching, or private spiritual intercourse between man and man, that is to be regarded as a gift, and as a means whereby the life of God penetrates the soul.

Prophet

The general name for a prophet in the O.T. is Nabi [ in Assyrian the Nabû proclaimed the will of the gods; hence Nabû or Nebo (?annap) 'the prophet-god.' The predicter of the future was the asipu ().] (נביא ). The original meaning of this word is uncertain; but it is generally supposed to signify the bubbling-up of the Divine message, as water issues from a hidden fountain. It is used both of prediction, properly so called, and of the announcement of a Divine message with regard to the past or present; also of the utterance of songs of praise. It is applied to messengers of false gods (e.g. 'the prophets of Baal'), and to a man who acts as the mouthpiece of another, as when the Lord says to Moses (Exodus 7:1), 'Aar on thy brother shall be thy prophet.' The first passage in which the word occurs is Genesis 20:7, where it is used of Abraham in Deuteronomy 18:15; Deuteronomy 18:18, the title is applied to the Messiah, who was to have God's words in his mouth, and who thus became the Mediat or of the New Covenant, taking a position analogous in some respects to that of Moses. The LXX almost always adopts the rendering προφητεύω and προφήτης for Nabi.

In Micah 2:6; Micah 2:11, the word nathaph (נטף ), to drop, is used. Some commentators suppose that it is adopted as a word of contempt. It is used, however, of a discourse distilling in drops in the following passages: - Job 29:22, 'My speech dropped up on them;' Proverbs 5:3, 'The lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb;' , 'Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb;' 5:13, 'H is lips, like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh;' Ezekiel 20:46, 'Drop thy word towards the south;' 21:2, 'Drop thy word towards the holy places;' Amos 7:16, 'Drop not thy word against the house of Isaac.'

The word Masa (מסא ), a burden, is used in Proverbs 30:1; Proverbs 31:1, where the A. V. renders it 'prophecy.' by a burden we ale to understand the message laid up on the mind of the prophet, and by him pressed on the attention of the people. The message of the Lord ought not to have been regarded as a burden by the people (see Jeremiah 23:33-38); but it could not fail to be realised as such by the prophets, who at times felt heavily laden with the weight of their message. See Jeremiah 20:9, and compare Nahum 1:1, Habakkuk 1:1, and Matthew 1:1.

In Hosea 9:7 the prophet is described as the 'man of the spirit,' or the 'spiritual men,' en expression which reminds us of St. Peter's declaration that 'holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.'