What was the role of the prophets in Old Testament history?
Question:
What was the role of the prophets in Old Testament history?
Answer:
To understand the role of the prophets in the Old Testament (OT) one must begin with the origin of the word “prophet”. This word stems from the Greek “propheme” which literally means “to speak”. Often one thinks of a prophet in terms of predictions of the future and this is not always the case of the prophets. God called the OT prophets to speak of Him and heed warnings upon His people if they strayed. In effect they served as His messengers. In the earlier times, often prophets were “ordained” by “the spirit of the Lord” as they spoke on God’s behalf (e.g., 1 Samuel 10:10; 1 Kings 22:24). In later times, the language used to describe the anointing of the prophets became phrased as “the word of the Lord came to” the person (e.g., Jeremiah 1:2, 4; Ezekiel 1:3). Regardless of the terminology, the prophet was one who spoke in the name of God. Interestingly, the professions of these prophets varied from sheepherder, priest, agriculturalist, to scribe and as such wasn’t a distinguishing trait. In terms of message delivery, many of the early prophets spoke only to individuals, especially kings or other officials, while other, later prophets heralded their message to large crowds or an entire city.
Simply put, the prophets acted as God’s guiding and rebuking voice to His peoples. In the OT, it is all about the land and the people. When the people obeyed and were diligent in their acknowledgment of God they were blessed and would be brought into the land. When they were rebellious in sin and complacent they were taken out of the land. Throughout these experiences of Israel as a nation, the OT prophets continually warned of the future in conjunction with declaring what needed to be done in the present day to stay under God’s blessings.
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