02.04 - Prophets as Inspired Agents

(4) Prophets as Inspired Agents

While the Holy Spirit is the agent, men ordinary men are the organs of divine inspiration. They were men of their own age, nation, and people; but called and chosen of God for a special purpose, and fitted and prepared by Him for that purpose. Hence they were called “ messengers of the Eternal/ They were not men of any special class, tribe, or family; nor were they chosen because of any social, educational, or intellectual fitness they might possess; nor because of any special art, power or peculiarity that was theirs. They were intelligent, honest, keen-witted, pure-minded men: men capable of coming into contact with God, of receiving His message, knowing His mind and will, and declaring it to their fellowmen; but they were ordinary men.

Primarily the Prophet was a proclaimer of truth, of righteousness, and justice; the Greek name prop he tes meaning one who “ speaks for another/ rather than one who speaks to or in the presence of another. The prophet was a “ forthteller,” rather than a “ foreteller “one who proclaims or pours forth the message of the Lord which he has received, rather than one “who predicts” something to come. The “message of the Eternal “ he received and proclaimed might be one of counsel or instruction, of admonition or warn ing: but he delivered it as from God, and from God to men. Whether the message had a personal, national, or universal bearing; whether it was of social, political, moral, or religious significance; whether it concerned divine and spiritual truths that related to the prophet’s own age, and people, or foretold future events of God’s providence and kingdom; whether that message was communicated to him by God with or without any known media, or whether it was knowledge acquired in some other way, that message was equally prophecy a prophetic word, a divine message for the people. The Hebrew prophet was before and above ever) other thing the “messenger of the Eternal,” the mouthpiece or spokesman of God to the people. So though prediction is an element of Scripture prophecy, yet it is not by any means its main clement: the Prophet’s message was for the most part a present message for the people than the prediction of some future event.

Foresight was part of God’s inspiration to the prophet, but insight into the divine plan and purpose was no less so. Professor Sanday says: “ Prophetic inspiration is the type of all inspiration, and is the one mode in which the most distinctive features of Biblical inspiration can be most clearly recognised.” In the days of Samuel the prophets formed a kind of religious order; there was a school, guild, or corporate body, called the “ Sons of the Prophets “ men who formed a brotherhood and dwelt together near by the ancient sanctuaries, and rendered special services to Church and kingdom; but as the messenger, or spokesman of God, the Prophet belonged to the earliest times. Abraham is called a prophet because, as the friend of God, God spake to him, declared to him His will, and gave him visions and revelations of things to come. Enoch, the tenth from Adam, is called “ a preacher of righteousness “; while Moses was a prophet of the highest order, and the type and earnest of the true succession of Prophets who from time to time God would raise up and send in His name, for God spoke to him face to face, and he was the mouth of God to men. In Samuel and the prophetic guild we have the first stages in the development of Prophetism, as also some of its most distinguishing features. Men who hitherto had been called “ seers “ were now called prophets, and assumed the duties of priest and states man as well as religious teacher. Samuel, as Prophet, was not only the mouthpiece and messenger of God to men, but he is spoken of as a discerner of spirits and a discoverer of secrets, and as such was sought unto and consulted by the men of his time. He was a man of God, but also a man of prayer, and made intercession for the people. He was, moreover, a religious reformer, and restored the worship of Jehovah at Shiloh and Ramah, rebuilt the deserted and forsaken altars, offered sacrifices, and performed other priestly rites and functions. Samuel was the type of a true Prophet of the Lord, and he acted in the capacity of prophet and priest, judge and states man.