- We tend to focus on one or more of the following:
- Prediction
- Emotional preaching
- Social activism
- Power to enlighten or give insight, like the leader of a sect -
insight is typically confined to millenarian and apocalyptic interpretation
- From the Hebrew - nabi' (plural nebi'im)
- Derivation is still disputed
- Possible meanings
- "the called one"
- "one who speaks"
- Came to be standard term since it referred to professional
practitioners in the Temple and cult
- A catchall term
- Other Hebrew terms used for prophets
- hozeh - visionary
- ro'eh - seer
- 'ish 'elohim - man of God
- Hebrews were aware of a wide range of prophetic phenomena including
dream interpretation, divination, incubation in a shrine, necromancy, etc. (cf. Deut.
18:9-14)
- From the Greek - prophetes
- One who proclaims a message on behalf of another, generally a deity
- Could refer to giving oracles in a trance or in a normal, rational
way
- Could refer to group ecstasy or foretelling the future
- Septuagint translators avoided use of words mantis and manteuomai
which connoted more ecstatic behavior - this was probably due to their desire to
differentiate Israelite prophecy from prophecy in other nations
- The Messenger
- Use of the messenger formula "Thus says the LORD"
- Taken from established protocol of official messages and letters in
Ancient Near East
- Royal messenger was an important official, often a member of the
court
- Task was to relay a message or command from the king verbatim -
messenger could add words of his own, however
- A simple but important clue as to how the prophets understood
themselves