The Prophets and the Promise

By Willis Judson Beecher

Delve into the profound world of biblical prophecy with Willis Judson Beecher's illuminating work, "The Prophets and the Promise." This scholarly yet accessible book provides a comprehensive exploration of the prophetic tradition within the Bible, examining the lives and messages of the prophets and their enduring significance in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Willis Judson Beecher, a distinguished theologian and biblical scholar, meticulously analyzes the role of the prophets in ancient Israel, offering deep insights into their divine mission and the promises they proclaimed. Through thoughtful exegesis and historical context, Beecher brings to life the powerful messages of these revered figures, from Isaiah and Jeremiah to Ezekiel and Daniel.

"The Prophets and the Promise" explores the nature of prophecy, highlighting how the prophets served as intermediaries between God and His people, delivering messages of warning, hope, and redemption. Beecher delves into the themes of covenant, justice, and divine promise, showing how the prophetic messages were not only relevant in their own time but continue to resonate through the ages.

Central to Beecher’s analysis is the concept of the promise—the assurance of God's faithfulness and the anticipation of future fulfillment. He examines how this promise unfolds through the prophetic writings, culminating in the Messianic hope that finds its ultimate expression in the New Testament. Beecher's work underscores the continuity and coherence of the biblical narrative, connecting the Old Testament prophecies with their New Testament fulfillment."The Prophets and the Promise" is a valuable resource for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of the Bible's prophetic literature.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Porirua Publishing
• Release date: Jun 28, 2024
• ISBN: 9781991312631

Book preview

PART I — THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL

CHAPTER II — TERMS USED IN DESCRIBING THE PROPHETS

Prophet in Greek and English

OUR English word prophet is, of course, the Greek word προϕήτης, from πρό, and ϕημί. The word needs no discussion here, as it is fully considered in dictionaries and other accessible works.{2} It denotes, not one who speaks beforehand, though the prophet was believed to be a foreteller of events; nor one who speaks in behalf of another, though the prophet ordinarily speaks in behalf of Deity; but a person who speaks forth, speaks publicly, speaks out the word that he has to speak. When he predicts, he speaks forth the future verity that would otherwise remain in concealment. When he speaks for another, he speaks forth the message which the other has committed to him, and which would otherwise have remained unknown. The thing uttered is often a divinely given prediction, but the word prophesy does not signify to predict.

Nabhi and its cognates

In the Hebrew, the prophet and his functions are described in various terms. The standard term, the one that is most distinctive, is the noun nabhi and its cognates of the stem nabha. The words of this stem are used in every part of the Old Testament. In our English versions they are uniformly translated prophet, prophesy, prophecy, and so forth. Except in five verses, no other word is so translated.{3} The instances number some hundreds in all, and they can readily be found for study by the aid of a concordance, either English or Hebrew. We shall have occasion to examine many of them, one by one, in our present study of the prophets. The lexicons attribute to the stem an original physical meaning, to boil up, and from this derive the idea of fervid utterance as characterizing the prophets; but this is an etymologist’s conjecture, and is disputed by other etymologists. It is too uncertain to build upon. What we know as to the meaning of the word is inferred solely from the use of it. Fortunately, the usage is abundant and unequivocal. The whole of our study of prophecy will be really a study of the meaning of the word. We need not anticipate further than to say that the meaning of the Hebrew term is well expressed in its Greek-English equivalent.

In our English versions two different Hebrew words are translated seer, and each of them has a group of cognates widely used for expressing matters concerning the prophets.

Hhozeh and its cognates

Of the two, the one most properly so used is hhozeh. It is the active participle of a verb that is common to the Hebrew and the Aramaic. In the Aramaic it is ordinary word for physical seeing, but in Hebrew it is little used except to express thoughtful insight, or in connection with prophetic matters. David’s friend Gad is described as a seer (2 Sam. xxiv. 11; 1 Chron. xxi. 9, xxix. 29; 2 Chron. xxix. 25). Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun are severally called seers (2 Chron. xxix. 30, xxxv. 15; 1 Chron. xxv. 5). The term is applied to Jedo and Iddo and Jehu and Amos (2 Chron. ix. 29, xii. 15, xix. 2; Am. vii. 12), and is also used in cases where no individual is mentioned (2 Ki. xvii. 13; Isa. xxix. 10, xxx. 10; Mic. iii. 7; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 18, 19).

The verb of this stem is commonly translated see. It is often used in cases where an object is thought of as presented to the eye, but it does not necessarily imply that. It may denote any form of mental perception, whether through the senses or not. The following are examples. The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw (Isa. i. 1, cf. ii. 1, xiii. 1; Am. i. 1; Mic. i. 1; Hab. i. 1). The diviners have seen falsely (Zech. x. 2, cf. Lam. ii. 14; Ezek. xiii. 6, 7, 8; and the Aramaic of Dan. vii. 1, 2, 7, 13, etc.). In one passage the English versions render this noun and verb by prophet and prophesy, in order to distinguish them from the other words for seer and see (Isa. xxx. 10).

Several different nouns of this stem are also in use, and each of them is sometimes rendered vision in the English versions.{4}

Roeh and its cognates

The other noun translated seer is roeh. It is the active participle of the verb which is in most common use for physical seeing. The persons who in the use of this word are called seers are Samuel, Zadok, and Hanani (1 Sam. ix. 9. et al.; 2 Sam. xv. 27; 2 Chron. xvi. 7, 10). The word is also used in this sense without particularly mentioning the person (Isa. xxx. 10). As a participle the word is used dozens of times. The stem is used hundreds of times.

The English versions make no difference in translation between this word with its cognates and hhozeh with its cognates. For the sake of distinction, even at the cost of somewhat ungainly English, I shall translate the words of this stem by the English words behold, beholder, a beholding, appear, appearance, semblance, reserving the words see, seer, vision, for rendering the Hebrew words of the stem hhazah.

The verb in the simple active voice is used of a person beholding something, and thus receiving a revelation from Deity. Ezekiel says: The heavens opened themselves, and I beheld divine beholdings (i. 1). Zechariah says: I lifted my eyes and beheld, and lo, four horns (i. 18). Jeremiah is asked: What art thou beholding? He replies: I am beholding a pot that boils, its face being from the direction of the north (i. 13).{5} In the reflexive or passive stem the verb is used of Deity appearing to men for purposes of revelation. Yahaweh appeared unto Abram; and Deity appeared unto Jacob again; Yahaweh appeared to Solomon the second time; the Angel of Yahaweh appeared unto Moses at the burning bush (Gen. xii. 7, xvii. 1, xviii. 1, xxxv. 1, 9; 1 Ki. ix. 2; Ex. iii. 2). In the causative-active stem the verb is used of Deity, causing one to behold something that constitutes a divine revelation. Amos says: Thus the Lord Yahaweh caused me to behold, and lo, he formed locusts. Again he says: Thus the Lord Yahaweh caused me to behold, and lo, he called to contend by fire. And again: Thus he caused me to behold, and lo, the Lord stood beside a plumb wall, with a plumbline in his hand (vii. 1, 4, 7). Jeremiah says: Yahaweh caused me to behold, and lo, two baskets of figs (xxiv. 1). Finally, there are two nouns from this causative stem, a masculine, mareh, and a feminine, marah (măr-eh and măr-ah), which denote either the divine process of causing one to behold, or the human act of beholding so caused, or the object which one is thus made to behold.{6}

The uses of raah and hhazah

The nature of the functions denoted in these two groups of words is reserved for a future chapter. For the, present we note that the words of the two stems are not properly interchangeable. At first sight, especially in the book of Daniel, the words of one stem seem to be confused with those of the other, but closer examination shows that this is not the case. For example, the verb hhazah never has mareh or marah as its object. When this verb is used of the seeing of a vision, the word for vision is always of its own stem. The verb raah, however, a few times takes as its object a word of the stem hhazah. Your young men shall behold visions (Joel ii. 28 [iii. 1]). As I Daniel was beholding the vision (Dan. viii. 15). In this context in Daniel the reflexive voice of raah is also used with derivatives of hhazah. A vision appeared unto me...after the one that had appeared unto me at the beginning (viii. 1). But these expressions are explained by the parallel expression, I beheld in vision (viii. 2, 2, ix. 21), and also by the use of the nouns in these chapters of Daniel. Hhazon here denotes the whole transaction (viii. 1, 2, 2, 13, 15, 17, ix. 21, x. 14, xi. 14). It is something that can be put into written form, and sealed or closed up (ix. 24, viii. 26). Mareh and marah, on the other hand, designate certain parts of the transaction, parts that may be thought of as presented to the eye (viii. 15, 16, 26, 27, x. 1, 6, 18, 7, 7, 8, 16). The use of the verbs is quite congruous with this. It is everywhere true that the words of the raah stem imply the possibility of presentation to the eye or to the senses, while those of the hhazah stem are capable of being used independently of that implication, in the sense of insight or reflection or other mental processes, as distinguished from physical seeing.{7} It further illustrates the difference to observe that the derivatives of hhazah are frequently employed, as we have seen, in the literary titles of the prophetic writings, but the words from raah never.

Man of God

The phrase man of God, ish elohim, ish haelohim, occurs often in the Old Testament as the equivalent of nabhi, and is probably never employed except in this use. Moses is many times called a man of God (e.g. Deut. xxxiii. 1; Josh. xiv. 6; 1 Chron. xxiii. 14).{8} So are Samuel and Shemaiah and David and Elijah and Elisha and many others (1 Sam. ix. 6, 7, etc.; 1 Ki. xii. 22, etc.; 2 Chron. viii. 14, etc.; 2 Ki. 1. 9, 10, etc.; 2 Ki. iv. 7, etc., and concordance). The Angel that appeared to Manoah and his wife is by them described as a man of God (Jud. xiii. 6, 8, JE). The person who spoke against Jeroboam’s altar (called Jadon by Josephus, probably Jedo the seer of 2 Chron. ix. 29) is several times called man of God, and once prophet (1 Ki. xiii. 1, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, etc., and 18, 23), while the term prophet is uniformly used of the resident prophet who brought him back (11, 18, 20, etc.).

Word of Yahaweh

Corresponding in form to the phrase man of God is the phrase word of Yahaweh, d’bhar yahaweh, the usual designation for a message given by Deity to or through a man endowed with the prophetic gift. The word of Yahaweh came unto Abraham in a vision (Gen. xv. 1, 4 E). Moses is represented as saying: I stood between Yahaweh and you at that time, to tell to you the word of Yahaweh (Deut. v. 5). Isaiah says: Out of Zion law shall go forth, and the word of Yahaweh from Jerusalem (ii. 3). The phrase appears in the titles of prophetic books: The word of Yahaweh that came to Micah (Mic. i. 1). It is habitually used for opening the prophetic narratives: The word of Yahaweh came unto Jonah; the word of Yahaweh came unto Jonah the second time (Jon. i. 1, iii. 1). The phrase is probably never employed in any other meaning, and at least this is its ordinary use.{9} The parallel term word of God, d’bhar elohim, or d’bhar haelohim, sometimes occurs, though but seldom.

Saith Yahaweh

Cognate with this are the phrases of asseveration, amar yahaweh and n’um yahaweh, each occurring hundreds of times, and in our versions both translated saith Jehovah. Both are commonly, perhaps exclusively, applied to prophetic utterances (e.g. Jer. ii. 2, 5, iv. 3 and i. 8, 15, 19), though it is in many cases doubtful whether amar yahaweh is used as an asseveration or as giving a mere statement of fact. In asseverations of this kind the word elohim, God, Deity, is not often used, except in combination with other words. The different expression yomar yahaweh, Yahaweh is saying, sometimes appears (e.g. Isa. i. 11, 18, xxxiii. 10, xl. 1), though it is not distinctively translated in the English versions. In numberless instances we find the merely descriptive statement that Yahaweh, or Deity, spake, or said.

Man of the Spirit

As the prophetic gift is constantly represented as bestowed by the Spirit of Yahaweh (1 Ki. xviii. 12 Isa. lxiii. 10, 11; Joel ii. 28-29; 2 Chron. xv. 1; Num. xi. 25-29, etc.), the prophet is very naturally designated by the descriptive phrase the man of the Spirit (Hos. ix. 7).

Massa

The word massa, burden, is used to denote a prophecy of a certain kind, from the days of Elisha, and later. A massa is poetic in form, and in most cases minatory in character, and always relatively brief. Jehu is represented as saying to Bidkar his captain that Yahaweh had lifted up this burden upon Ahab:—

"Surely the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons

I beheld yesterday, so saith Yahaweh!

And I will make requital to thee

in this plat, so saith Yahaweh!"

Jehu mentions this as a reason for casting the corpse of Ahab’s son, whom he has just slain, into the plat of Naboth (2 Ki. ix. 25-26). In Isaiah, the Burden of Babylon, Burden of Moab, Burden of Damascus (xiii. I, xv. I, xvii. 1), are poems of threatening upon those countries. The instances of burdens are numerous (e.g. Ezek. xii. 10; Nah. i. 1; Zech. ix. 1, xii. 1; Mal. i. 1; Isa. xiv. 28; 2 Chron. xxiv. 27 and concordance). In Prov. xxx. 1, xxxi. 1, where the poems are not minatory, the King James’s version translates massa in the title by prophecy. The revised version everywhere proposes oracle as the alternative translation of the word. Massa seems to be used in 1 Chron. xv. 22, 27, to denote the singing when David brought the ark to Jerusalem, and this may possibly indicate the nature of its use in matters prophetic.

Hittiph mattiph

Certain forms of the causative-active stem of nataph are sometimes applied to prophetic utterance. The verb means to drip, to fall in drops, as in, the case of drippings of honey, or a gentle shower. When used of human speech (Prov. v. 3; Cant. iv. 11; Job xxix. 22) the idea seems to be that of sweet or smooth or persuasive talk. When the words of this stem are applied to prophets (Am. vii. 16; Mic. ii. 6, 11; Ezek. xx. 46 and xxi. 2 [xxi. 2, 7], they can be forcibly translated by the English words preach, preacher. In Micah ii these words seem to be used by enemies, and ironically.

Preach ye not! They will be preaching! They shall not preach to these! One never ceaseth uttering reproaches!

And a few verses farther on appears this statement:—

If a man going in wind and falsehood has lyingly said, I will preach for thee of wine and of strong drink, then he will become the preacher of this people (Mic. ii. 6, 11).{10}

Metaphorical terms

A prophet is also sometimes called an angel of Yahaweh (e.g. Hag. i. 13), or a shepherd or a servant or a watchman, or by other like names; but these terms are properly figures of speech rather than appellations. Other like forms of expression might be added.

Three general observations are to be made in regard to the use of these several terms in the Old Testament—observations that are equally true whether we apply them to the history or to the records that contain the history, and in the main equally true whether we follow the old tradition concerning the dates of the records, or follow some form of the newer tradition.

The several terms not confined to particular dates

In the first place, there is no definite succession of dates at which the various terms describing the prophets come successively into use. In a general sense it is true that all the principal are employed in all parts of the record. One critic may infer from this that the prophetic phenomena were practically all in existence before the earliest records were written; and another may account for it by some theory of interpolation into the records by later writers; but in any case the fact exists. It is true that particular words have a limited range of use. For example, roeh in the sense of seer appears only in the literature treating of the times from Samuel to Isaiah; while hhozeh first appears in the history of David, and may possibly be said to supersede roeh for the later times. In the time of Samuel roeh was the appellative in common use in place of nabhi (1 Sam. ix. 9, 10, 11, cf. x. 5, 10, 11, 12, 13). Massa appears only from the time of Elisha and onward. But it is doubtful how far an absence of these terms from any part of the Old Testament is really significant. Their not being used in the writings which we have for any period does not necessarily prove that they were at that time unknown. And one may see, by running over the references given in this chapter, that the phrase man of God is applied to Moses, and to other men from his time on; and that the phrase word of Yahaweh, with words of the stems nabha, raah, and hhazah, are used in describing divine revelations to men from the times of Abraham. And these several terms are in frequent use, not only in those parts of the Old Testament which the critics of the Modern View regard as of relatively late origin, but in those which they assign to the times of Amos and Hosea and earlier. For example, the references include passages from those parts of the book of Judges that are regarded by the men of the new tradition as early, and also passages from those parts of the hexateuch which they assign to J or E or JE or independent early sources. Follow what critical theory you please, there is a somewhat extensive vocabulary of prophetic terms from a time as early as the earliest surviving records of the earliest times in Israelitish history.

The personal terms all applicable to the same person

Further, it is in general true that the terms we have been considering are interchangeable, so far as their application to any given person is concerned. Each term has of course its own differential meaning. The terms differ in meaning when they denote the functions of the prophet. The seers seem to be distinguished from the beholders. As we have seen above, the men who are spoken of by name as seers are different men from those who are spoken of as beholders. Samuel the beholder is specifically distinguished from Gad the seer, and beholders in general are distinguished from seers in general (1 Chron. xxix. 29; Isa. xxx. 10). But Samuel was both a roeh and a nabhi. Gad was both a hhozeh and a nabhi (1 Sam. xxii. 5; 2 Sam. xxiv. 11, etc.). So was Amos (Am. vii. 12-16). So probably was Jehu, the son of Hanani (1 Ki. xvi. 7, 12, etc., cf. 2 Chron. xix. 2), the alternative being that Hanani was both roeh and hhozeh (2 Chron. xvi. 7, 10, cf. xix. 2). With perhaps some limitation in the case of roeh and hhozeh, a person who was regarded as having certain supernatural gifts was called indifferently man of God, prophet, seer, beholder. One term may have been at certain times current, rather than another, the term roeh, for example, just before the prophetic revival under Samuel, but all four of the terms were current from very early times. The permanent differences between the terms were differences in the form of the thought, and not in the person designated.

What is comprehended in the terms

Finally, it should be noted that these several terms are used in the Old Testament with different degrees of comprehension. First, they are applied to persons who are better known as prophets than in any other capacity, for example, Samuel or Elisha or Jeremiah or Isaiah. Such prophets were also eminent as judges, priests, statesmen, and the like; but the mention of any one of these names suggests to us the services of the man as a prophet, rather than in any other capacity. Second, the terms are applied to persons who are better known in some other capacity than as prophets, but who exercised prophetic gifts. Some of these, as Moses the lawgiver or David the king, stand very high in the prophetic ranks. By parity the character of prophet belongs to other men of like position, for example, such men as Joshua and Solomon and Ezra and Nehemiah. It will sometimes be convenient, for distinction’s sake, to call such men prophetic men, rather than prophets. That is partly a question of convenience in the use of language. But when we are discussing the prophets as a subject, we must take into the account all persons who have the prophetic character. Third, the terms are applied to persons who were prophets only in a secondary sense, to the pupils or disciples or assistants of the men who were strictly prophets. As we advance in our study we shall find much said concerning certain prophetic companies, and certain so-called sons of the prophets, men who were banded together into organizations under such great prophets as Samuel or Elijah, men who were recognized as disciples of such a prophet as Isaiah. A person of this type may naturally be spoken of as a prophet or a man of God, especially when he is sent by his superior on some prophetic errand. The secondary prophets were at times much more numerous than the primary prophets, and it sometimes becomes important to distinguish between the two.

In addition to these uses, many assert that the words that denote the prophet and his functions are also used to denote mere frenzied utterance, and that primarily the prophetic gift is conceived of as a kind of insanity. We shall find that there is no ground for this, and that herein there is a difference between the prophets of Israel and the prophets of the nations.

CHAPTER III — THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE PROPHETS

The attractiveness of the subject

THIS subject, though we must dismiss it with a single chapter, is a fascinating one. Some of the older treatments of it are dull through the lack of imagination, or through the wrong use of imagination. They regard the prophets as unearthly revealers of the divine will, with no human blood in them. Some of the more recent treatments are yet more faulty, rejecting half the biblical data, filling in the gaps thus made from conjecture or by inference from theory, and thus giving portraits utterly different from those in the bible, and immeasurably inferior. In contrast with both these modes of treatment would be that of one who should simply take the trouble to find out just what the biblical statements mean, using his imagination only to render the facts distinct and vivid. What we need is a treatment at once correct and imaginative. Why does not someone write a history of Israel in the form of a series of biographies of the prophets, working it up, not from Bible Dictionaries, not from volumes, not from Josephus, not from commentaries, not from theories of the evolution of religion, but purely from the data given in the bible? There are no heroes in history more picturesque or interesting or full of vitality than these same prophets, provided we picture them rightly.

The division into periods

Many of the books of reference affirm that the succession of the prophets began with Samuel. In proof they cite passages from the Acts and from 1 Samuel. But the context in Samuel, as we shall see below, implies that prophecy was previously in existence, and that in the Acts affirms that prophecy had been in existence from the days of Moses, and, indeed, from the beginning of the world.{11} Other parts of the record give details in abundance. Certainly the biblical view is that what occurred in Samuel’s time was not an origination but a revival. There was then a new beginning in the progress of an ancient institution.

The biblical presentation of the history of the prophets is in very clearly marked chronological periods. The first great period, that before Samuel, includes as subordinate periods the pre-Abrahamic times, the patriarchal times, the times of the exodus, and the times of the Judges before Samuel. The prophets of the second great period, from Samuel to the close of the Old Testament, fall into six groups, namely, the group in which Samuel and Nathan and David were eminent, the Elijah and Elisha group, the Isaiah group, the Jeremiah group, the exilian prophets, and the postexilian prophets. Then any survey of these two great periods is incomplete unless supplemented by obtaining, in part from extrabiblical sources, some account of the closing of the succession of the prophets.{12}

I. We take up the first great period. The Old Testament agrees with the New in representing that the patriarchs exercised prophetic gifts, that such gifts were abundant in the time of Moses, and that they continued during the time between Moses and Samuel.

Prophecy before Abraham

Books on the subject have been very free in ascribing prophetic phenomena to the times before Abraham. Jude says that Enoch prophesied (14), and in Luke and the Acts it is affirmed that there have been holy prophets from the beginning of the world (Lc. i. 70; Acts iii. 21). Parts of the first eleven chapters of Genesis have figured largely in discussions concerning prophecy; for example, the protevangelium, the sacrifice of Abel, some of the experiences of Noah (Gen. iii. 15, iv, vi-ix, and New Testament parallels). Something very like prophetic character has been attributed to Adam, Seth, Enoch, Abel, Noah, and others. Any detailed consideration of these matters belongs to a later stage in our investigation. For the present it is sufficient to note that the various terms denoting prophetic function are not used in the accounts of the times before Abraham; but that there is nothing to forbid the opinion that the writers of these accounts thought of pre-Abrahamic men as possessing prophetic gifts.{13}

Old Testament history, however, properly begins with Abraham. From Abraham onward the Israelite literature is familiar with the distinctive titles and duties and powers that belong to a prophet.

The patriarchs were prophets

It is represented that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob had prophetic gifts, though this representation is not very greatly emphasized. Abraham is once expressly called a prophet. In the time when he led a migratory life, going from one country to another, we are told that Abimelech took possession of Abraham’s wife. To him a revelation was made:—

And now, restore thou the wife of the man, for he is a prophet, that he may make his prayer in thy behalf, etc. (Gen. xx. 7 E).

One of the psalmists, centuries later, cites this incident in the following lines:—

"And they went about from nation unto nation,

from one kingdom unto another people.

He suffered no man to wrong them,

and he rebuked kings for their sakes:

Touch ye not mine anointed ones,

and to my prophets do ye no harm."

(Ps. cv. 14-15, repeated in 1 Chron. xvi. 20-22.)

In addition to this one instance in which the word prophet is used, it is represented that Abraham had visions, and that the word of Yahaweh came to him in vision (Gen. xv. 1, 4 E). A very prominent part of his experiences consists in those when Yahaweh appeared to him.{14}

And Yahaweh appeared unto him at the oaks of Mamre, followed by extended details (xviii. 1 J).

It is further represented that Isaac and Jacob had similar experiences. Yahaweh appeared unto Isaac, forbidding him to go down into Egypt as Abraham had done; and again appeared to him, promising to bless and multiply him (Gen. xxvi. 2, 24 J). Jacob had a prophetic dream, wherein the Angel of God commanded him to return to Palestine (Gen. xxxi. 11, E). God appeared to him at Bethel, after his return from Paddanaram (Gen. xxxv. 9 P). When he was about to go down into Egypt,—

God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night (Gen. xlvi. 2 E).

Look up these instances in detail, and it will be evident that the patriarchs are here represented as having personal interviews with the supreme Being, essentially the same as were enjoyed by the prophets of later times.

This is not a matter which depends wholly on the critical theories one may hold. If the hexateuch was written by Moses and Joshua and their associates, then we have the testimony of that generation to the facts in the case. But how is it on the theory of those who analyze Genesis into the three documents, J and E and P, dated respectively 800, 750, and 400 B.C.? On the basis of their partition some of the passages that have been cited are taken from J, some from E, and some from P. That is, all three alike testify to the prophetic gifts of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. It is not unimportant which theory of the hexateuch we hold; but on any theory the oldest Hebrew literature testifies to the view we are advocating.

Prophecy in the time of Moses and Joshua

In the records of the times of Moses and Joshua the mention of prophecy is very abundant. In the account of the exodus, for example, the stem nabha occurs seventeen times, and the other terms that denote prophetic phenomena are much used. Instances will presently be given. Perhaps we habitually think of Moses as a statesman, a warrior, a lawgiver; but, none the less, the record says that he was remarkably endowed with the prophetic gift. He is described as the greatest of prophets.{15} He is frequently spoken of, both in the hexateuch and elsewhere, as the man of God (e.g. Deut. xxxiii. 1; Josh. xiv. 6; Ezra iii. 2; 1 Chron. xxiii. 14; 2 Chron. xxx. 16). He has the various experiences that characterize a prophet. Habitually he has supernatural communication with God. Yahaweh appeared unto him (Ex. iii. 2, 16, and many places). Yahaweh caused him to see in the prophetic sense (Ex. xxvii. 8; Num. viii. 4 et al.). Using words of the stem raah, the beholding of visions is attributed to Moses (Num. xii. 8; Ex. iii. 3). In certain instances presently to be cited, he is the typical prophet with whom others are compared. The prophet who is to be raised up he describes as like unto me. Yahaweh enables other men to prophesy by taking of the Spirit that was upon Moses and placing it upon them. He is so superior to other prophets as to be fairly in contrast with them.

The records represent that Moses was not the only prophet of this period. We read that Miriam the prophetess took a timbrel in her hand, and celebrated the overthrow of Pharaoh at the Red Sea (Ex. xv. 20 E). Miriam appears again in the narrative in which she and Aaron find fault with Moses on account of the Ethiopian woman. Yahaweh rebukes them, in language that implies that Miriam is a prophet with whom Yahaweh communicates in beholdings or in dreams, and that persons of this sort were not unfamiliar to that generation of Israelites.{16} This same fact of the multiplication of prophecy appears in the story of the prophesying of Eldad and Medad and the seventy, and in the wish then expressed by Moses that all Yahaweh’s people were prophets.{17}

Besides these passages, in which certain persons are spoken of as prophets, there are others which make such mention of prophetic functions as to imply that prophets were something well known in that generation.

Words of the stem hhazah are less used in the records for this period than in those of later periods. But it is said of the elders of Israel:—

They had vision of Deity, and did eat and drink (Ex. xxiv. 11 J).

And it is represented that Balaam twice describes himself as—

"He that heareth the sayings of El,

That seeth the vision of the Almighty,

Having fallen, and his eyes having become uncovered" (Num. xxiv. 4, 16 JE).

Whatever the date of the book of Job, its action is located in the time of the exodus or earlier. It affords such instances as the following:—

In thoughts from the visions of the night (iv. 13).

Thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me with visions (vii. 14).

He shall be chased away as a vision of the night (xx. 8).

Passing to the use of other terms, the relations of Aaron to Moses are defined in the words:—

Behold I have given thee for a Deity unto Pharaoh, Aaron thy brother being thy prophet (Ex. vii. 1 P).

Such language presupposes familiarity with the notion of a prophet, and of the relations he sustains to Deity. In Deuteronomy laws are given formally defining the character of a prophet, prescribing how true prophets are to be distinguished from false, forecasting a line of prophets to come (xiii. 1, 3, 5 [2, 4, 6], xviii. 15, 18, 20, 22). There is no need here to consider these passages at length. They will be discussed when we reach the subjects of the functions of a prophet and of messianic prophecy.

In these several passages a prophet is defined, as we have seen, as a spokesman of Deity, divinely inspired through visions, dreams, trances, divine appearings. These affirmations are found not merely in the narrative portions of the books, but in the statements which the books say were made by the persons whose history they narrate. Their validity depends not at all, directly, on the question who wrote the pentateuchal books. If the books are historically true, then the statements are true, no matter when they were written in their present form. And even from the point of view of those who regard them as unhistorical, they testify to what their authors believed to be true of the times of Moses. Further, our citations have been made indifferently from sections which the critical hypotheses ascribe to J, E, JE, P, and D. If there were authors of all these classes, then all alike agree in affirming that prophecy was abundant in the days of Moses.

Prophecy in the times of the Judges

For the times from the settlement of Israel in Canaan to the birth of Samuel the mention of prophecy in the narratives is relatively unusual; but the stream of prophecy through this region of the history is perceptible though slender. Deborah is called a prophetess (Jud. iv. 4). Perhaps we may be at a loss whether to classify her as a statesman sometimes acting the part of a prophet, or as a prophet sometimes doing the duty of a statesman. Gideon and others are occasionally represented as holding communication with God, such as a prophet might hold. We are told of a prophet whom Yahaweh sent to Israel in the days of Gideon (Jud. vi. 8), and we have a record in three verses of his prophecy. We are told of the appearing of the Angel of Yahaweh to Gideon (Jud. vi. 12) and to Manoah and his wife (Jud. xiii. 3, 10, 21). Few instances of theophany in the bible are presented with as much fulness of detail as these two. The Angel, in the book of Judges, is always a supernatural being, and not a prophet. This is particularly the case with the Angel who appeared to the wife of Manoah, and afterward to her and Manoah, announcing the birth of Samson. But, four times in the narrative, they speak of him as a man of God (Jud. xiii. .6, 8, 10, 11). Evidently a man of God, a prophet, was a well-known fact within the range of their experience.

In the time of Eli, just at the close of this period, the dearth of prophecy was deepest.

The word of Yahaweh being precious in those days, there being no widespread vision (1 Sam. iii. 1).

These words affirm that prophecy had then nearly disappeared from Israel. The same fact is implied in the statement concerning the recognition of Samuel.

And all Israel knew, from Dan and even unto Beersheba, that Samuel was made sure for a prophet to Yahaweh. And again Yahaweh appeared in Shiloh; for Yahaweh disclosed himself unto Samuel in Shiloh in the word of Yahaweh (1 Sam. iii. 20-21).

In the time of Eli

From these statements it has been inferred that there was no prophecy in Israel before Samuel. This inference differs from the representations of the bible. If the passage last cited implies that the wealth of prophecy which came in with Samuel was in contrast with the poverty which directly preceded, it equally implies that there had been an earlier time when Yahaweh appeared in Shiloh by his prophetic word. The other passage says that prophecy was at that time a rare thing, not that it was non-existent. From the context we learn that it was not non-existent. We are told of a man of God who came to Eli with just such a message as prophets are accustomed to bring.{18} Further, we are told that Eli was sufficiently familiar with the idea of prophetic function to recognize the nature of Samuel’s call when it came to him.{19} In fine, the history of the times of the Judges justifies the assertion of Jeremiah:—

Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day, I have sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them (vii. 25 RV).

So much for the first great period of the history of prophecy. Besides other statements in other terms, the words prophet and prophesy are applied not less than twenty-four times, in the Old Testament, to the period before the death of Eli.{20} And let us once more remind ourselves that this is the testimony of the records irrespective of the question when or by whom the records were written. Assuredly, if a person is in the habit of designating certain parts of the hexateuch and of Judges and Samuel as J and E, and of saying that J and E are prophetic narratives, that person is precluded from denying that these narratives recognize a prophetic element in the history. And if he admits that these writings which he regards as the earliest testify to the existence of prophets in this part of the history, he must all the more admit that what he regards as the later parts of the record testify to the same fact. Anyone who reads the writings without thus dividing them into earlier and later sections, will find the same testimony there. In other words, there is a consensus of testimony among the