PROPHETS

Prophet "one who speaks forth or openly" , "a proclaimer of a divine message," denoted among the Greeks an interpreter of the oracles of the gods. In the Sept. it is the translation of the word roeh, "a seer;" 1Sa 9:9, indicating that the "prophet" was one who had immediate intercourse with God. It also translates the word nabhi, meaning "either one in whom the message from God springs forth" or "one to whom anything is secretly communicated." Hence, in general, "the prophet" was one upon whom the Spirit of God rested, Num 11:17-29, one, to whom and through whom God speaks, Num 12:2; Amo 3:7,8. In the case of the OT prophets their messages were very largely the proclamation of the Divine purposes of salvation and glory to be accomplished in the future; the "prophesying" of the NT "prophets" was both a preaching of the Divine counsels of grace already accomplished and the foretelling of the purposes of God in the future. In the NT the word is used (a) of "the OT prophets," e.g., Mat 5:12; Mar 6:15; Luk 4:27; Jhn 8:52; Rom 11:3; (b) of "prophets in general," e.g., Mat 10:41; 21:46; Mar 6:4; (c) of "John the Baptist," Mat 21:26; Luk 1:76; (d) of "prophets in the churches," e.g., Act 13:1; 15:32; 21:10; 1Cr 12:28,29; 14:29,32,37; Eph 2:20; 3:5; 4:11; (e) of "Christ, as the aforepromised Prophet," e.g., Jhn 1:21; 6:14; 7:40; Act 3:22; 7:37, or, without the article, and, without reference to the Old Testament, Mar 6:15, Luk 7:16; in Luk 24:19 it is used with aner, "a man;" Jhn 4:19; 9:17; (f) of "two witnesses" yet to be raised up for special purposes, Rev 11:10,18; (g) of "the Cretan poet Epimenides," Tts 1:12; (h) by metonymy, of "the writings of prophets," e.g., Luk 24:27; Act 8:28.