Overview of the role of Prophet in the Old Testament

Qui locutus est per Prophetas.

The Title of Prophet

The title Prophet corresponds to the Hebrew Nabi, the Greek Prophetes. To our minds prophecy generally signifies prediction, hence the earlier derivations, either from Pro and Phaino with the meaning: to manifest beforehand, or from Pro and Phemi, to declare beforehand. These derivations are etymologically doubtful. They contain, however, a great truth, for the predictive element in prophecy is its distinctive feature; but it is more probable that while the derivation from Pro and Phemi is correct, we ought not to regard the preposition Pro as signifying time so much as vice in the sense of proxy. This meaning is demanded, not only by such passages as Exodus 4:16 and 7:1, but also by the way in which the Prophets themselves depict their office. Thus in Deuteronomy 18:16-19, the Prophet is essentially one who is raised up to take the place of God as regards the people; he is one to whom God speaks directly, Numbers 12:2; he is one who is "sent," Isaiah 6:9, Jeremiah 26:15; he is even called the "messenger," Isaiah 44:26, Haggai 1:13, Malachi 3:1; hence the titles "Man of God," 1 Samuel 9:6, etc., "Servant of God," 4 Kings 9:7; "interpreter," according to the Hebrew text of Isaiah 43:27. In Jeremiah 23:22 and in Job 15:8, it is implied that the Prophet "stands in the counsel of God" and in Isaiah 30:2, that the Prophet is the "mouth" of God.

Familiarity with the well-known Prophets whose writings have come down to us should not blind us to the fact that the prophetic gift is presented to us as at least as old as the Hebrew race. Thus Abraham is called a "Prophet," Genesis 20:7, and is depicted as therefore praying for those who offend God. Similarly, Moses prophesies, Deuteronomy 18:15-19; a "prophet" is sent to the children of Israel in the days of the Judges, and he claims to speak in the name of the Lord, Judges 6:8. Indeed the Hebrew word Nabi is doubtless the same as the perhaps older Assyrian "Nebo" the name of a deity, and is radically one with the verb naba, which means "to declare." This same meaning is probably to be given also to the Hebrew root, though the sense of "to bubble up" has long been in possession. Apropos of this word we have in 1 Samuel 9:9, the interesting note "he that is now called a Prophet (Nabi) in time past was called a Seer (ro'eh)." We find this term adhered to in the case of Gad, 1 Paralipomenon 29:29 in the Douay bible, but the Hebrew word is different.

Schools of the Prophets

Bands of Prophets are referred to more than once, e.g. 1 Samuel 10:5-10; their homes are mentioned as at Ramah, 19:18, at Bethel, 4 Kings 2:3, at Jericho, 2:5, and at Gilgal, 4:38. We also read of "sons of the Prophets," 6:1, etc. But while we may regard these schools as training places for men who were to occupy a peculiar place in the economy of the Theocracy, we must not imagine that the fact of living in such communities necessarily involved the possession of the prophetic gift, still less that it gave any exclusive right to it. Thus Amos, in 7:14, says: "I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet," meaning thereby that he was chosen for his high office independently of any previous preparation for the post. It is probably to these Schools that we must trace the existence of the False Prophets, who play so prominent a part even in the earlier history of the kings, cf. 3 Kings 22:6, etc. Trained in these schools, these men had the whole external technique of the Prophet's profession if we may so term it at their finger tips, but they lacked what was the essential, i.e. a mission from God, cf. Jeremiah 23:21, Ezechiel 13:6-7; the whole of Jeremiah 23 should be studied as showing the attitude he adopted towards the false Prophets. The true Prophet is depicted in the words of Micheas 3:8, and Amos 3:7.

In the time of the kings we find the Prophets occupying positions of trust in the court, they interfere directly in the politics of the time, they are court-recorders and chroniclers, and it is to their writings that we are indebted for the annals of the kingdom, see the references in Chronicles to the record's of each king; it is surprising to find even Isaiah occupying a similar position, cf. 2 Paralipomenon 32:32, where the et of the Vulgate is wrong. But in addition to these Prophets who filled the role of public men we find others who seem to have shrunk from the court, but who yet occupied a place in the public estimation such as was accorded to none save Isaiah. Elias "stood up as a fire and his word burnt as a torch." Ecclesiasticus 48:1 And of Eliseus, who anointed two kings at the bidding of Elias, it is said that he "feared not the prince, and no man was more powerful than he," Ecclesiasticus 48:13.

The Writing Prophets

It is often remarked that we have no trace of any writings due to Prophets earlier than the eighth century B.C. Yet this is a misleading statement; as we have already seen, the court-Prophets were responsible for the compilation of the annals of the kingdom, and though these annals cannot be called "predictive," they are certainly Prophetical in the truest sense of the word. This is shown by the terminology adopted by the Hebrew Bible which regards all the Historical Books as Prophetical. It remains true, however, that it is not till the eighth century that we have written prophecies in the commonly accepted sense of the term. Various explanations of this fact have been put forward: it may, for instance, be the case that during the comparatively peaceful times of David and Solomon, when the Davidic kingdom had as yet shown no sign of decay, and the necessarily spiritual fulfillment of the promises had not needed to be pointed out, formal predictive prophecies in writing were not called for. However this may be, we cannot regard the appearance of written prophecies as the first step in a new development, for one of the earliest of the strictly prophetic writings we possess, viz. that of Amos, shows us that in his time Prophecy was no new thing and the committal to writing of such lyrics as his was evidently something well understood. When we read Amos we feel that we are in the presence of a fully developed art, and not merely of tentative efforts. We have left to us writings due to seventeen of these Prophets, of whom four, viz. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezechiel, and Daniel, by reason of the greater bulk of their writings which remain, are generally termed the Major Prophets, though this title was unknown to the Jews. Baruch stands apart as Jeremiah's secretary; the remaining twelve are known as the Minor Prophets.

The prophecy of Baruch had no place in the Hebrew Canon, and that of Daniel was not included among the Prophets but found a place among the "Hagiographa" or "Sacred Writings." It should be noted that these Prophets were drawn indiscriminately from all classes of society, just as were their predecessors who have not left us any writings. Thus Isaiah, and probably Daniel, be longed to the royal stock; Jeremiah and Ezechiel were priests; Amos was a shepherd.

While the Prophetic gift must be regarded as identical in the writing and in the non-writing Prophets, there are certain points of difference between them; thus the latter are wonder-workers in a remarkable degree; they predicted events which were to be speedily fulfilled -- hence perhaps the fact that they committed nothing to writing; and, most noticeable of all, they do not seem to have produced any directly Messianic Prophecy.

The chronology of the Prophetic writings is a vexed question; but to understand the Prophets the student must have clear ideas of their precise place in history; and conversely, to understand the historical books, full use must be made of the light thrown on them by the Prophetical writings.

A tabulated list of the Prophets whose writings have come down to us will consequently be of use; and, first of all, it will be convenient to group them according to the historical periods in which they lived and wrote:

Jonas Amos Osee Isaiah Abdias Joel Micheas	may be referred to the Assyrian period, C. 880-700 B.C.
Nahum Habacuc Jeremiah Sophonias Ezechiel Daniel	may be assigned to the Babylonian and Exilic period, c. 630-586 B.C.
Aggeus Zacharias Malachias	may be assigned to the time of the Restoration, viz. to the Persian period, c. 519-516 B.C.

This list may be drawn out in fuller detail as here.

DATE	NAME	KINGS	PEOPLES TO, OR AGAINST, WHOM THEY PROPHESIZED
Circa 800 B.C.	Abdias	No Kings mentioned. (Azarias and Jeroboam II ?)	Edom
800	Jonas	No Kings mentioned. (Jeroboam II, 4 Kg 14:25)	Ninive
800	Joel	(same as preceding)	Juda
800-750	Amos	Azarias and Jeroboam II	Israel
790-720	Osee	Azarias, Joatham, Achaz, Ezechias, and Jeroboam II	Israel
750-720	Micheas	Joatham, Achaz, Ezechias	Israel and Juda
759-699	Isaiah	Azarias, Joatham, Achaz, and Ezechias	Syria, Assyria, and Babylonia
640	Nahum	No Kings mentioned. (? Manasses-Josias)	Ninive
640	Habacuc	(? same as preceding)	The Chaldeans
640	Sophonias	Josias	Jerusalem
628-585	Jeremiah	Josias, Joakim, and Sedecias	Jerusalem and the Chaldeans
595-574	Ezechiel	Joachin	To the Captives by the R. Chobar
606-534	Daniel	Joakim and Nebuchodonosor II
519	Aggeus	Darius the Great	To Zorobabel and Josue, the leaders of those who returned from Babylon
519	Zacharias	Darius the Great	To those returning from Babylon
450(?)	Malachias		To the Priesthood in Jerusalem

By Very Rev. Hugh Pope, O.P., S.T.M.
Doctor in Sacred Scripture,
Member of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, and
late Professor of New Testament Exegesis at the Collegio Angelico, Rome.