See also:

• PROPHET (Irpo4i ri7s)

PROPHET (Irpo4i ri7s)  , a word taken from the vocabulary of See also:

• ANCIENT
• ANCIENT (also spelt ANTIENT; derived, through the Fr. ancien, old, from the late Lat. antianum, from ante, before)

ancient See also:

• GREEK
• GREEK, ETRUSCAN AND

Greek See also:

• RELIGION
• RELIGION, FOLKLORE, CUSTOM

religion,' which passed into the See also:

• LANGUAGE (adapted from the Fr. langage, from langue, tongue, Lat. lingua)

language of See also:

• CHRISTIANITY

Christianity, and so into the See also:

• MODERN

modern See also:

• TONGUES, GIFT OF, or GLOSSOLALIA (yXwova, tongue, aXeiv, speak)

tongues of See also:

• EUROPE

Europe, because it was adopted by the Hellenistic See also:

• JEWS
• JEWS (Heb. Y8hudi, man of Judah; Gr. 'Iovbaiot; Lat. Judaei)

Jews as the rendering of the See also:

• HEBREW

Hebrew x'21 (ndbhia pl., nebhiim) . The word therefore as we use it is meant to convey an See also:

• IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

idea which belongs to Hebrew and not to Hellenic belief . That the word ndbhia, " See also:

• PROPHET (Irpo4i ri7s)

prophet," originally signified one who speaks or announces the divine will, is rendered highly probable by a comparison of the See also:

• ASSYRIAN

Assyrian nabu, meaning (a) to " See also:

• CALL (from Anglo-Saxon ceallian, a common Teutonic word, cf. Dutch kallen, to talk or chatter)

call " or " name," (b) " announce " (see See also:

• DELITZSCH
• DELITZSCH, FRANZ (1813–1890)

Delitzsch, Handworterbuch sub voce) . The Babylonian deity Nabu (in Old Testament See also:

• NEBO, or NABU (" the proclaimer ")

Nebo) is a contraction from Na-bi-u, which thus corresponds closely with the Hebrew ndbhia and originally signified the See also:

• SPEAKER

speaker or proclaimer of destiny . He was represented as the writer of the tablets of destiny, and was therefore regarded as the interpreter of oracles (see Zimmern, K . A . T.3 pp . 400, 404) . Accordingly this derivation is preferable to that suggested by earlier Semitists from Gesenius to (in See also:

• RECENT

recent times) Kautzsch (" Religion of See also:

• ISRAEL (Hebrew for " God strives " or " rules "; see Gen. xxxii. 28; and the allusion in Hosea xii. 4)

Israel," See also:

• HASTINGS
• HASTINGS, FRANCIS
• HASTINGS, FRANK ABNEY (1794-1828)
• HASTINGS, WARREN (1732-1818)

Hastings's Dict . See also:

• BIBLE
• BIBLE, ENGLISH

Bible, extra vol., p . 652 footnote), and See also:

• CHEYNE, THOMAS KELLY (1841— )

Cheyne (Ency . Bibl. See also:

• COL
• COL (Fr. for " neck," Lat. collum)

col .

3853), which connects it with another verbal See also:

• ROOT (late O.E. rot, adopted from Scand., cf. Norw. and Swed. rot, Dan. rod; the true O.E. word was wyrt, plant, represented in Ger. Wurz or Wurzel; the ultimate root is the same in both words, and is seen in Lat. radix)
• ROOT, ELIHU (1845– )

root naba, " bubble " or " gush." This See also:

• DAVIDSON, ANDREW BRUCE (1831–1902)
• DAVIDSON, JOHN (1857–1909)
• DAVIDSON, RANDALL THOMAS (1848– )
• DAVIDSON, SAMUEL (1807-1898)
• DAVIDSON, THOMAS (1817-1885)

Davidson (" Prophecy and Prophets," Hastings's Dict . Bible, p. ro8 footnote) rightly rejects . While he connects it with the Arabic root naba'a," come into prominence " (conj . II . " announce,") he ends by ascribing to it an ultimate Babylonian origin . Zimmern (K.A.T.3 p . 59o) gives the name of a See also:

• PRIEST (Ger. Priester, Fr. pretre)

priest-See also:

• OFFICIAL (Late Lat. QJicialis, for class. Lat. apparitor, from officium, office, duty)

official munambu (lit . " See also:

• HOWLER

howler "), which is derived from a Piel of nabu, viz. nubbu (= numbu), " bawl " or " howl." A brief See also:

• SKETCH (directly adapted from Dutch schets, which was taken from Ital. schizzo, a rough draft, Lat. schedium, something hastily made, Gr. oxE&os, sudden, off-hand, axeb6v, near by; Ger. Skizze and Fr. esquisse are from the same source)

sketch will be given (r) of the See also:

• HISTORY

history of Hebrew prophecy (in supplement to what has been already said in the See also:

• ARTICLE (from Lat. articulus, a joint)

article HEBREW RELIGION or is to be found in the articles devoted to individual prophets), and (2) of prophecy in the See also:

• EARLY
• EARLY, JUBAL ANDERSON (1816-1894)

early See also:

• CHRISTIAN
• CHRISTIAN, WILLIAM (1608-1663)

Christian See also:

• CHURCH
• CHURCH (according to most authorities derived from the Gr. Kvpcaxov [&wµa], " the Lord's [house]," and common to many Teutonic, Slavonic and other languages under various forms—Scottish kirk, Ger. Kirche, Swed. kirka, Dan. kirke, Russ. tserkov, Buig. cerk
• CHURCH, FREDERICK EDWIN (1826-1900)
• CHURCH, GEORGE EARL (1835–1910)
• CHURCH, RICHARD WILLIAM (1815–189o)
• CHURCH, SIR RICHARD (1784–1873)

Church . r . The Prophets of the Old Testament.—The author of I Sam. ix . 9 tells us that "beforetime in Israel, when a See also:

• MAN
• MAN, ISLE OF (anc. Mona)

man went to The Seer. inquire of See also:

• GOD

God, thus he spake, Come and let us go to the seer; for he that is now called a prophet (ndbhia) was beforetime called a seer." This remark is probably a later See also:

• GLOSS, GLOSSARY

gloss . See also:

• SAMUEL

Samuel was a " seer " (ver .

1r), or, as he is also called (ver . 6 seq.), a " man of God," that is one who stood in closer relations to God than See also:

• ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary men; " all that he said was sure to come to pass," so that he could be consulted with See also:

• ADVANTAGE

advantage even in private matters like the loss of the asses of See also:

• KISH, or KAIS (the first form is Persian and the second Arabic)

Kish . The narrative of r Sam. ix. belongs, as Budde has demonstrated, to the older stratum of the narrative (called J) which 1 According to See also:

• PLATO

Plato (See also:

• TIMAEUS (c. 345—c. 250 B.e.)

Timaeus, p . 72) the name rpogitrns ought properly to be confined to the interpreters employed to put an intelligible sense on the dreams, visions, or enigmatic utterances of the frenzied Alums . But in ordinary Greek usage the prophet of any god is in See also:

• GENERAL
• GENERAL (Lat. generalis, of or relating to a genus, kind or class)

general any human See also:

• INSTRUMENT (Lat. instrumentum, from insincere, to build up, furnish, arrange, prepare)

instrument through whom the god declares himself ; and the tendency was " to reserve the name for unconscious interpreters of the divine thought, and for the ministers of the oracles in general " (Bouche-Leclercq, Hist. de la See also:

• DIVINATION
• DIVINATION, OMEN, ASTROLOGY

divination, 188o, ii . 11) . This probably facilitated the See also:

• ADOPTION (Lat. adoptio, for adoptalio, from adoptare, to choose for oneself)

adoption of the See also:

• TERM

term by the Hellenists of See also:

• ALEXANDRIA
• ALEXANDRIA (Arab. Iskenderia)

Alexandria, for, when See also:

• PHILO
• PHILO, HERENNIUS

Philo distinguishes the prophet from the See also:

• SPURIOUS

spurious diviner by saying that the latter applies his own inferences to omens and the like while the true prophet, rapt in See also:

• ECSTASY (Gr. iarra(TLc, from i LarliU, put out of its place, alter)

ecstasy, speaks nothing of his own, but simply repeats what is given to him by a See also:

• REVELATION, BOOK OF

revelation in which his See also:

• REASON (Lat. ratio, through French raison)

reason has no See also:

• PART

part (ed.Mangey, ii . 321 seq., 343; cf. i . 510 seq.), he follows the prevalent notion of the later Jews, at least in so far as he makes the See also:

• FUNCTION

function of the prophet that of purely See also:

• MECHANICAL

mechanical See also:

• REPRODUCTION

reproduction; cf . See also:

• JOHN
• JOHN (1167–1216)
• JOHN (1290-c. 1320)
• JOHN (1296-1346)
• JOHN (1371–1419)
• JOHN (1468-1532)
• JOHN (1801-1873)
• JOHN (Heb. llni')
• JOHN (ZAPOLYA) (1487-1540)
• JOHN, 4TH MARQUESS OF TWEEDDALE (c. 1695-1762)
• JOHN, DON (1545-1578)
• JOHN, DON (1629–1679)
• JOHN, GOSPEL OF ST
• JOHN, or HAYS (1513–1571)
• JOHN, THE APOSTLE
• JOHN, THE EPISTLES OF

John xi . 51, and the whole view of revelation presupposed in the Apocalyptic literature . But in any See also:

• CASE
• CASE, JOHN (d. 1600)

case the Greek language hardly offered another word for an See also:

• ORGAN

organ of revelation so colourless as 1rpo0ilrns, while the See also:

• CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition of See also:

• ETYMOLOGY (Gr. grvµos, true, and X6yos, "account)

etymology among the ancients made it possible to interpret it as having a See also:

• SPECIAL

special reference to pre-diction (so See also:

• EUSEBIUS
• EUSEBIUS (Gr. EuOi/3tos, from ebaegils, pious, cf. the Latin name Pius)
• EUSEBIUS [OF CAESAREA] (c. 260-c. 340)
• EUSEBIUS [OF EMESA] (d. c. "36o)

Eusebius, Dem .

Ev. v., deriving it from ,rpo4aivw).includes ix., x . I-16, xi . I-Ir, 15, xiii., xIv . I-16 in which Samuel is a priest-seer of a provincial See also:

• TOWN

town, without the high functions of See also:

• GOVERNMENT
• GOVERNMENT (0. Fr. governement, mod. gouvernement, O. Fr. governer, mod. gouverner, from Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, guide, rule; cf. Gr. xv(3epvav)

government as Shophet . We must not suppose that the word " prophet " had merely become more See also:

• COMMON

common in his See also:

• TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
• TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
• TIME, STANDARD

time and supplanted an older synonym . This is clearly shown a few verses farther down, where we see that there were already in Samuel's time See also:

• PEOPLE

people known as nebhiim, but that they were not seers . The seer (roeh) appears individually, and his function was probably not so much one of speech as of the routine of See also:

• CLOSE
• CLOSE (from Lat. clausum, shut)
• CLOSE, MAXWELL HENRY (1822-1903)

close observation of the entrails of slaughtered victims, like the Assyrian See also:

• BARN

barn (see PRIEST) . It is in this way that the function of the seer is closely connected (as in the case of See also:

• BALAAM (eit Bil'am; BaAaau; Vg. Balaam; the etymology of the name is uncertain)

Balaam) with sacrifices . With the prophets it is quite otherwise; they appear not individually but in bands; their prophesying is a See also:

• UNITED

united exercise accompanied by See also:

• MUSIC

music, and seemingly See also:

• DANCE
• DANCE (Fr. danse; of obscure origin, connected with Old High Ger. danson, to stretch)

dance-music; it is marked by strong excitement, which sometimes acts contagiously, and may be so powerful that he who is seized by it is unable to stand,2 and, though this condition is regarded as produced by a divine afflatus, it is See also:

• MATTER

matter of ironical comment when a prominent man like See also:

• SAUL (Heb. shd'ul, " asked ")

Saul is found to be thus affected . Samuel in his later days appears presiding over the exercises of a See also:

• GROUP

group of nebhiim at Ramah, where they seem to have had a sort of coenobium (Naioth), but he was not himself a ndbhia—that name is never applied to him except in I Sam. iii . 21, where it is plainly used in the later sense for the idea which in Samuel's own time was expressed by " seer." But again this special type of nebhiim seems to have been a new thing in Israel in the days of Samuel . Seers there had been. of old as in other See also:

• PRIMITIVE

primitive nations; of the The See also:

• DERVISH

Dervish. two Hebrew words literally corresponding to our seer, roeh and hozeh, the second is found also in Arabic, and seems to belong to the primitive Semitic vocabulary .3 But the enthusiastic bands of prophets are nowhere mentioned before the time of Samuel; and in the whole previous history the word prophet occurs very rarely, never in the very See also:

• OLDEST

oldest narratives, and always in that sense which we know to be later than the See also:

• AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age of Samuel, so that the use of the term is due to writers of the age of the See also:

• KINGS, FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF

kings, who spoke of ancient things in the language of their own See also:

• DAY (O. Eng. dreg, Ger. Tag; according to the New English Dictionary, " in no way related to the Lat. dies")
• DAY, JOHN (1574-1640?)
• DAY, THOMAS (1748-1789)

day .

The See also:

• APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

appearance of the nebhiim in the time of Samuel was, it would seem, as is explained in the article HEBREW RELIGION, one manifestation of the deep See also:

• PULSE

pulse of suppressed indignant patriotism which began to See also:

• BEAT (a word common in various forms to the Teutonic languages; it is connected with the similar Romanic words derived from the Late Lat. battere)

beat in the See also:

• HEARTS

hearts of the nation in the age of See also:

• PHILISTINE

Philistine oppression, and this fact explains the See also:

• INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence of the See also:

• MOVEMENT

movement on Saul and the See also:

• INTEREST

interest taken in it by Samuel . It was perhaps only in time of See also:

• WAR
• WAR (O. Eng. werre, Fr. guerre, of Teutonic origin; cf. O.H.G. werran, to confound)

war, when Israel See also:

• FELT (cognate with Ger. Filz, Du. vilt, Swed. and Dan. fill; the root is unknown; the word has given Med. Lat. filtrum, " filter ")

felt himself to be fighting the battles of Yahweh, that the Hebrew was stirred to the depths of his nature by emotions of a religious See also:

• COLOUR (Lat. color, connected with celare, to hide, the root meaning, therefore, being that of a covering)

colour . Thus the deeper feelings of religion were embodied in warlike patriotism, and these feelings the Philistine oppression had raised to extreme tension among all who loved See also:

• LIBERTY (Lat. libertas, from liber, free)

liberty, while yet the want of a See also:

• CAPTAIN (derived from Lat. ca put, head, through the Low Lat. capitanus)

captain to See also:

• LEAD
• LEAD (pronounced iced)

lead forth the armies of Yahweh against his foemen deprived them of their natural outlet . In its See also:

• EXTERNAL

external features the new phenomenon was exceedingly like what is still seen in the See also:

• EAST
• EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

East in every zikr of dervishes—the See also:

• ENTHUSIASM

enthusiasm of the prophets expressed itself in no artificial See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form, but in a way natural to the See also:

• ORIENTAL

Oriental temperament . See also:

• PRO

Pro-cessions with See also:

• PIPE

pipe and See also:

• HAND
• HAND (a word common to Teutonic languages; cf. Ger. Hand, Goth. handus)
• HAND, FERDINAND GOTTHELF (1786-185r)

hand-See also:

• DRUM (early forms drome or dromme, a word common to many Teut. languages, cf. Dan. tromme, Ger. Trommel: the word is ultimately the same as " trumpet," and is probably onomatopoeic in origin; it appears late in Eng. about the middle of the 16th century)

drum, such as that described in I Sam. x., were indeed a customary part of ordinary religious feasts; but there they were an outlet for natural merriment, here they have changed their See also:

• CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character to See also:

• EXPRESS (through the French from the past participle of the Lat. exprimere, to press out, by transference used of representing objects in painting or sculpture, or of thoughts, &c. in words)

express an emotion more sombre and more intense, by which the prophets, and often See also:

• MERE
• MERE, ADALBERT (1838-1909)

mere See also:

• CHANCE (through the O. Fr. cheance, from the Late Lat. cadentia, things happening, from cadere, to fall out, happen; cf. " case ")

chance spectators too, were so overpowered that they 2 t Sam. x . 5 seq., xix . 20 seq . In the latter passage read " they saw the fervour of the prophets as they prophesied, &c." (see See also:

• HOFFMANN, AUGUST HEINRICH (1798–1874)
• HOFFMANN, ERNST THEODOR WILHELM (1776-1822)
• HOFFMANN, JOHANN JOSEPH (1805-1878)

Hoffmann in See also:

• STADE
• STADE, BERNHARD (1848–1906)

Stade's Zeitschr . 1883, p . 89), after the See also:

• SYRIAC

Syriac . 3 Hoffmann, ut supra, p . 92 seq .

Roeh, however, occurs very rarely in early, i.e. pre-exilian, Hebrew, viz. in I Sam. ix . 9, Isa. See also:

• XXX

xxx. to . We have several in the See also:

• LATE

late literature of See also:

• CHRONICLES, BOOKS OF

Chronicles . Accordingly we lack the materials for determining the distinction which probably existed between the roeh, the hozeh and the kosem . Cheyne, See also:

• ART

art . Prophetic Literature " in Ency . Bib., col . 3858, appears to identify them . seemed to lose their old See also:

• PERSONALITY (from Lat. persona, originally an actor's mask, from personare,1 to sound through)

personality and to be swayed by a supernatural influence . More than this hardly lies in the expression " a divine spirit " (o'n+K ten), which is used not only of the prophetic afflatus but of the evil frenzy that afflicted Saul's later days . The See also:

• HEBREWS, EPISTLE TO THE

Hebrews had a less narrow conception of the spiritual than we are See also:

• APT

apt to read into their records . To give a name to this new phenomenon the Israelites, it would seem, had to See also:

• BORROW, GEORGE HENRY (18o3-1881)

borrow a word from their Canaanite neighbours .

At all events the word nabhia is neither part of the old Semitic vocabulary (in Arabic it is a late See also:

• LOAN (adapted from the Scandinavian form of a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Swed. Mn, Icel. lan, Dut. leen; the O.E. laen appears in " lend," the ultimate source is seen in the root of Gr. Xeiaecv and Lat. linquere, to leave)

loan word) nor has it any etymology in Hebrew, the cognate words " to prophesy " and the like being derived from the noun in its technical sense . But we know that there were nebhiim among the Canaanites; the " prophets " of See also:

• BAAL

Baal appear in the history of See also:

• ELIJAH (a Hebrew name meaning " Yah[weh] is God ")

Elijah as men who sought to attract their god by See also:

• WILD, JONATHAN (c. 1682-1725)

wild orgiastic See also:

• RITES

rites . In fact the presence of an orgiastic character is as marked a feature in Canaanite religion as the See also:

• ABSENCE (Lat. absentia)

absence of it is in the oldest religion of Israel; but the new Hebrew enthusiasts had at least an external resemblance to the devotees of the Canaanite sanctuaries and this would be enough to determine the choice of a name which in the first instance seems hardly to have been a name of See also:

• HONOUR (Lat. honos or lwnor, honoris; in English the word was spelled with or without the u indifferently until the 17th century, but during the 18th century it became fashion-able to spell the word " honor "; Johnson's and Webster's Dictionaries stereoty

honour . In admitting) that the name was borrowed, we are not by any means shut up to suppose that the Hebrew nebhiim simply copied their Canaanite neighbours . The phenomenon is perfectly intelligible with-out any such See also:

• HYPOTHESIS (from Gr. inrorcOivat, to put under; cf. Lat. suppositio, from sub-ponere)

hypothesis . A See also:

• WAVE

wave of intense religious feeling passes over the See also:

• LAND

land and finds its expression, according to the ordinary See also:

• LAW
• LAW (0. Eng. lagu, M. Eng. lawe; from an old Teutonic root lag, " lie," what lies fixed or evenly; cf. Lat. lex, Fr. loi)
• LAW, JOHN (1671—1729)
• LAW, WILLIAM (1686-1761)

law of oriental See also:

• LIFE

life, in the formation of a sort of enthusiastic religious See also:

• ORDER
• ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
• ORDER, HOLY

order . The Nazarites and the See also:

• RECHABITES, or SONS OF RECHAB

Rechabites are parallel phenomena, though of vastly inferior See also:

• HISTORICAL

historical importance . It may be assumed that the name nabhia, while it originated from Babylonian See also:

• SOURCES

sources, reached Israel through Canaanite channels (cf . Kautzsch, " Religion of Israel," in Hastings's See also:

• DIET

Diet . Bible extra vol., p . 653) . Some support is given to this view by (a) the statement in i Kings xviii. rq that four See also:

• HUNDRED

hundred prophets of Baal and Asherah sat at See also:

• JEZEBEL (Heb. i-zebel, perhaps an artificial form to suggest " un-exalted," a divine name or its equivalent would naturally be expected instead of the first syllable)

Jezebel's table; (b) the fact that See also:

• DEBORAH (Heb. for " bee ")

Deborah, Samuel, Elijah, See also:

• ELISHA (a Hebrew name meaning " God is deliverance ")

Elisha, Micaiah See also:

• BEN (from Old Eng. bennan, within)

ben Imlah, the most notable of the earlier representatives of prophecy, belong to See also:

• NORTHERN

northern Israel, which was more subject to Canaanite-Phoenician influence .

It is certainly probable that the nabhia emerged by a See also:

• PROCESS

process of continued development, of which the intermediate stages are lost, from the older rOeh, as the explanatory gloss in r Sam. ix . 9 evidently intimates . Samuel himself is called a roeh . We may assume that like the practice of the soothsaying priest (the earlier type of priest) and of the kosem (diviner), so the See also:

• PROCEDURE (Fr. procedure, from Lat. procedere, to go for-ward)

procedure of the roeh was mechanical and magical in character . Clear indications of a primitive magical modus operandi appear as survivals in the narratives of the pre-exilian prophets . The wonder-working See also:

• STAFF (O. Eng. staef, cf. Du. staf, Ger. Stab, &c.; Icel. stafr meant also a written letter, and O. Eng. stafas, the letters of the alphabet; " stave," one of the thin pieces of wood of which a cask is made, is a doublet)

staff of Elisha (2 Kings iv . 29, 31) is one of these indications . There are likewise traces of survival in the examples of " sympathetic magic " transformed into the acted See also:

• PARABLE (Gr. 7apa(3oXi7, a comparison or similitude)

parable of prophecy . Students of Tallquist's Maklu See also:

• SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

series of See also:

• INCANTATION

incantation or of the surpu series edited by Zimmern (in his Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Babylonischen Religion) will recollect the images over which the priest sorcerer recites his formulae . The accompanying actions (tying knots, &c.) which he performs are assumed to See also:

• WORK

work themselves out on the enemy whose evil See also:

• EYE
• EYE (O. Eng. edge, Ger. Auge; derived from an Indo-European root also seen in Lat. oc-ulus, the organ of vision (q.v.)

eye or sorcery is See also:

• BLASTING

blasting the happiness of the suppliant (see Hastings's Diet . Bible, " Magic," p . 209, where examples are cited) .

The signs or symbolic acts of the prophet probably originated in the actions of sympathetic magic . Thus in the vivid See also:

• SCENE (Fr. scene, Lat. scaena, Gr. oflvil, a tent or booth, a stage or scene)

scene of r Kings xxii . 11 the See also:

• IRON [symbol Fe, atomic weight 55.85 (0=16)]

iron horns of Zedelliah ben See also:

• KENA, or KENEH (sometimes written Qina)

Kena'nah, and in 2 Kings xiii . 15—19 the magic of the arrow shot eastward and of the thrice stricken See also:

• FLOOR (from O. Eng. flor, a word common to many Teutonic languages, cf. Dutch vloer, and Ger. Flur, a field, in the feminine, and a floor, masculine)

floor, are evident survivals of an older practice . The 1 If this See also:

• ACCOUNT
• ACCOUNT (through O. Fr. acont, Late Lat. comptum, cornputare, to calculate)

account of the origin of the nebhiim is correct (cf . See also:

• KUENEN, ABRAHAM (1828-1891)

Kuenen, Prophets, Eng. trans., p . 554 seq.), the etymological sense of the word H•» is comparatively unimportant . The root seems to mean " to start up," " to rise into prominence," and so " to become audible." This is based on the Arabic naba'a; see the remarks at the beginning of this article.magical See also:

• ACT (Lat. actus, actum)

act passes into sign or See also:

• SYMBOL (Gr. o-uµ(3oXov, a sign)

symbol, not however without the accompanying conception that underlies it still persisting that a mysterious effectuating potency belongs to the symbolic act . The mystic See also:

• POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power of a significant name Maher shalai hash baz inscribed on a tablet and bestowed on a See also:

• CHILD
• CHILD, FRANCIS JAMES (1825-1896)
• CHILD, L
• CHILD, LYDIA MARIA (1802-1880)
• CHILD, SIR FRANCIS (1642-1713)
• CHILD, SIR JOHN (d. 1690)
• CHILD, SIR JOSIAH (163o - 1699)

child (Isa. viii . 1-4, cf. xx . 2 sqq.), of the " thongs and bars " of Jer. See also:

• XXVII

xxvii . (in which contending prophets confront one another in a contest of symbols), of the See also:

• LINEN

linen See also:

• GIRDLE (O. Eng. gyrdel, from gyrdan, to gird; cf. Ger. Gurtel, Dutch gordel, from giirten and gorden; "gird" and its doublet " girth " together with the other Teutonic cognates have been referred by some to the root ghar—to seize, enclose, seen in Gr. )(s

girdle of ch. xiii. r sqq., and of the See also:

• POTTER, ALONZO (1800-1865)
• POTTER, HENRY CODMAN (1835–1908)
• POTTER, J
• POTTER, JOHN (c. 1674-1747)
• POTTER, PAUL (1625—1654)
• POTTER, PHILIP CIPRIANI HAMBLEY (1792—1871)

potter's See also:

• VESSEL (O. Fr. vaissel, from a rare Lat. vascellum, dim. of vas, vase, urn)

vessel of xix. r sqq., are further illustrations of survivals from the old See also:

• WORLD

world of magic .

The symbol gradually passes into mere See also:

• METAPHOR

metaphor, and we already begin to see this when we compare See also:

• EZEKIEL (SKpm', " God strengthens" or " God is strong "; Sept. 'IE'EKL?)X; Vulg. Ezechiel)

Ezekiel's oracles and those of the Deutero-See also:

• ISAIAH
• ISAIAH, ASCENSION OF

Isaiah with the records of the words and deeds of earlier prophets . The See also:

• PECULIAR

peculiar methods of the prophetic exercises described in r Sam. were of little consequence for the future development of prophecy . The See also:

• HEAT (0. E. haktu, which like " hot," Old Eng. hat, is from the Teutonic type haita, hit, to be hot; cf. Ger. hitze, heiss; Dutch, hitte, heet, &c.)

heat of a first enthusiasm neces- prophet sadly cooled when the See also:

• POLITICAL

political conditions that See also:

• SOCIETIES, LEARNED

societies produced it passed away; and, if the prophetic or olds. associations had done no more than organize a new form of spiritual excitement, they would have only added one to the many mechanical types of hysterical religion which are found all over the East . Their real importance was that they embodied an intenser vein of feeling than was expressed in the ordinary feasts and sacrifices, and that the greater intensity was not artificial, but due to a revival of See also:

• NATIONAL

national sentiment . The See also:

• WORSHIP (i.e. " worth-ship," O. Eng. weor8scipe)

worship of the See also:

• LOCAL

local sanctuaries did nothing to promote the sense of the religious unity of Israel; Yahweh in the age of the See also:

• JUDGES, THE BOOK OF

Judges ran no small See also:

• RISK

risk of being divided into a number of local Baals, givers of natural See also:

• GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good things each to his own locality . The struggle for freedom called forth a deeper sense of the unity of the people of the one Yahweh, and in so doing raised religion to a loftier See also:

• PLANE

plane; for a faith which unites a nation is necessarily a higher moral force than one which only unites a township or a See also:

• CLAN (Gaelic clann, O. Ir. cland, connected with Lat. planta, shoot or scion, the ancient Gaelic or Goidelic substituting k for p)

clan . The local worships, which subsisted unchanged during the greater part of the Hebrew kingship, gave no expression to this rise in the religious consciousness of the nation; on the contrary, we see from the prophetic books of the 8th See also:

• CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century that they lagged more and more behind the progress of religious thought . But the prophetic societies were in their origin one symptom of that upheaval of national life of which the institution of the human See also:

• SOVEREIGN

sovereign reigning under the divine See also:

• KING
• KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
• KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
• KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
• KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
• KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
• KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
• KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
• KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
• KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
• KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
• KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)

King was the See also:

• CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief See also:

• FRUIT (through the French from the Lat. fructus; frui, to enjoy)

fruit; they preserved the traditions of that See also:

• GREAT

great movement; they were, in however imperfect a way, an organ of national religious feeling, and could move forward with the movement of national life . And so, though we cannot follow the steps of the process, we are not surprised to learn that they soon had an established footing in Israel, and that the prophets came to be recognized as a See also:

• STANDING

standing sacred See also:

• ELEMENT (Lat. elementum)

element in society . What was their precise See also:

• PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place in Hebrew life we hardly know but they formed at least a religious class which in all its traditions represented the new national and not the old communal and particularistic life . One characteristic point which appears very early is that they felt themselves called upon to vindicate the See also:

• LAWS

laws of divine righteousness in national matters, and especially in the conduct of the kings, who were not answerable to human authority . The cases of Nathan and See also:

• DAVID
• DAVID (a Hebrew name meaning probably beloved 1)
• DAVID, FELICIEN (1810—1876)
• DAVID, GERARD [GHEERAERT DAVIT], (?=1523)
• DAVID, PIERRE JEAN (1789–1856)
• DAVID, ST (Dewi, Sant)

David in the matter of Uriah, of Elijah and See also:

• AHAB (in Heb. 'ah'(ib, " father's brother ")

Ahab after the judicial See also:

• MURDER

murder .of Naboth, will occur to everyone, Elijah. and from the Hebrew standpoint the See also:

• ACTION

action of See also:

• GAD

Gad in the matter of the See also:

• CENSUS (from Lat. censere, to estimate or assess; connected by some with centum, i.e. a count by hundreds)

census taken by David belongs to the same See also:

• CATEGORY (Gr. Karrlyopia, " accusation ")

category .

Such interventions with an Eastern king demanded great moral courage, for, though to some extent protected by their sacred character, the persons of the prophets were by no means legally inviolable (r Kings xix . 2, xxii . 27; 2 Kings vi . 31) . It is far from easy to determine how far the development of the class of prophets meant the absorption into it of the old seers . Probably both coexisted for some time . At all events we know from Isa. iii . 2, 3, that in Isaiah's time the kosem still held an important place in society as well as the prophet and the magician . The functions of roeh and nabhia may indeed at first have been mingled . The great prophecy of Nathan (2 Sam. vii.) is of too disputed a date to be cited in Canaanite Prophets . Nathan . See also:

• EVIDENCE (Lat. evidentia, evideri, to appear clearly)

evidence,' but already in David's time we find that Gad the nabhP is also the king's seer (2 Sam. See also:

• XXIV

xxiv .

II; cf. r Sam. xxii . 5), and by-and-by it comes to be clearly understood that the prophets are the appointed organ of Yahweh's communications with His people or His king . The rise of this function of the prophets is plainly parallel with the See also:

• CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change which took place under the kings in the position of the priestly See also:

• ORACLE (Lat. oraculum, from ora' to pray; the corresponding Greek word is uavreiov or Xpnuri7pwov)

oracle; the Torah of the priests now dealt rather with permanent sacred ordinances than with the giving of new divine counsel for special occasions . Yahweh's ever-See also:

• PRESENT

present kingship in Israel, which was the chief religious idea brought into prominence by the national revival, demanded a more continuous manifestation of His revealing spirit than was given either by the priestly See also:

• LOT
• LOT (Lat. Oltis)

lot or by the rise of occasional seers; and where could this be sought except among the prophets ? It does not, of course, follow that everyone who had shared in the divine afflatus of prophetic enthusiasm gave forth oracles; but the prophets as a class stood nearer than other men to the mysterious workings of Yahweh, and it was in their circle that revelation seemed to have its natural See also:

• HOME
• HOME, DANIEL DUNGLAS (1833-1886)
• HOME, EARLS OF

home . A most instructive passage in this respect is I Kings xxii., where we find some four hundred prophets gathered together See also:

• ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round the king, and where it is clear that See also:

• JEHOSHAPHAT (Heb. " Yahweh judges ")

Jehoshaphat was equally convinced, on the one hand, that the word of Yahweh could be found among the prophets, and on the other that it was very probable that some, or even the See also:

• MASS (O.E. maesse; Fr. messe; Ger. Messe; Ital. messa; from eccl. Lat. missa)
• MASS, IN

mass of them, might be no better than liars . And here it is to be observed that Micaiah, who proved the true prophet, does not accuse the others of conscious imposture; he admits that they speak under the influence of a spirit proceeding from Yahweh, but it is a lying spirit sent to deceive . The See also:

• SUBLIME (Lat. sublimis, exalted)

sublime and solitary figure of Elijah, whom we are apt to take as the typical figure of a prophet in the old See also:

• KINGDOM

kingdom, has little in common with the picture even of the true prophet which we derive from I Kings xxii.; and when his history is carefully and critically read it is found to give no reason to think that he stood in any close relation to the prophetic societies of his time . He is a man of God, like See also:

• MOSES (Gr. Mwvo c, Mcoo-i3s)
• MOSES, ASSUMPTION OF

Moses and Samuel, a man admitted to a See also:

• STRANGE, SIR ROBERT (1721-1792)

strange and awful intimacy with the Most High, and like them he combines functions which in later times were distributed between prophet and priest . The fundamental idea that Yahweh guides His people by the word of revelation is older than the separation of special classes of theocratic See also:

• ORGANS

organs; Moses, indeed, is not only prophet and priest, but See also:

• JUDGE (Lat. judex, Fr. juge)

judge and ruler . But, as the history goes on, the prophet stands out more and more as the typical organ of revelation, the type of the man who is Yahweh's intimate, sharing His secrets (See also:

• AMOS
• AMOS, SHELDON (1835–1886)

Amos iii . 7; Jer. See also:

• XXIII

xxiii .

22), and ministering to Israel the gracious guidance which distinguishes it from all other nations (Amos ii . II; See also:

• HOSEA

Hosea xii. to, 13), and also the sentences of awful See also:

• JUDGMENT

judgment by which Yahweh rebukes See also:

• REBELLION

rebellion (Hos. vi . 5) . The full development of this view seems to See also:

• LIE, JONAS LAURITZ EDEMIL (1833—1908)
• LIE, MARIUS SOPHUS (1842–1899)

lie between the time of Elijah and that of Amos and Hosea—under the See also:

• DYNASTY (Gr. &vvaareta, sovereignty, the position of a hevnori7r, lord, ruler, from SuvaaBay to be able, Suvaµas, power)

dynasty of See also:

• JEHU

Jehu, when prophecy, as represented by Elisha and See also:

• JONAH
• JONAH, RABBI (ABULWALID MERWAN IBN JANAH, also R. MARINUS) (c. 996-c. 1050)

Jonah, stood in the fullest See also:

• HARMONY (Gr. dpµovia, a concord of musical sounds, dpA'ew to join; &plan midi (sc. TeXvil)

harmony with the patriotic efforts of the age . This growth in the conception of the prophetic function is reflected in parts of the See also:

• PENTATEUCH

Pentateuch, which may be dated with See also:

• PROBABILITY (Lat. probabilis, probable or credible)

probability as belonging to the See also:

• PERIOD
• PERIOD (Gr. irepioSos, a going or way round, circuit, aepi, round, and &Sis, way, road)

period just named; the name of ndbhi° is extended to the patriarchs as Yahweh's intimates (Gen. xx . 7), and Moses begins to be chiefly looked at as the greatest of prophets (Num. xi., xii.; Dent. xxxiv . To), while See also:

• AARON

Aaron and Miriam are also placed in the same class (Exod. xv . 20; Num. xii.), because they too are among the divinely favoured leaders of Israel (cf . See also:

• MICAH
• MICAH (r )

Micah vi . 4).2 Budde (See also:

• BUCHER, LOTHAR (1817–1892)

Bucher Samuelis, p . 233) assigns Nathan's speech (2 Sam. vii.) to a late E. writer in the 7th century . Perhaps we might assign it and Jer. xxiii .

5, 6, to the earlier part of See also:

• JOSIAH (Heb. yo' shiyydhu, perhaps " Yah [weh] supports ")

Josiah's reign . 2 None of these passages belong to the very oldest See also:

• THREAD (0. Eng. praed, literally, that which is twisted, prawan, to twist, to throw, cf. " throwster," a silk-winder, Ger. drehen, to twist, turn, Du. draad, Ger. Draht, thread, wire)

thread of Pentateuchal See also:

• STORY, JOHN (c. 1510-1571)
• STORY, JOSEPH (1779-1845)
• STORY, ROBERT HERBERT (1835-1907)
• STORY, WILLIAM WETMORE (1819—1895)

story, and similarly Deborah is called prophetess only in the later account (Judg. iv . 4), not in the See also:

• SONG

song (Judg. v.) . It is characteristic that in Num. xi. the elders who receive a See also:

• SHARE (O. Eng. scearu, chiefly in compounds, e.g. land-scearu, a share of land, from sceran to cut; cf. " shear" )

share in Moses' task also receive a share of his prophetic spirit (cf. the parallel 2 Kings ii . 9 seq.) . In the older account (Exod. xviii.) this is not so . Again, Moses differs from all other prophets in that Yahweh speaks to him See also:

• FACE (from Lat. fades, derived either from facere, to make, or from a root fa-, meaning " appear "; cf. Gr. cbatvstv)

face to face, and he See also:

• SEES

sees the similitude of Yahweh . This is in fact the difference between him and Elijah Elisha, the successor of Elijah, stood in much closer relations to the prophetic societies than his great See also:

• MASTER (Lat. magister, related to tnagis, more, as the corresponding minister is to minus, less; the English form is due partly to the O. Eng. maegister, and partly to O. Fr. maistre, mod. maitre; cf. Du. meester, Ger. Meister, Ital. maestro)

master had done . As a man of See also:

• PRACTICAL

practical aims he required a circle through Bus". which to work, and he found this among the prophets, or, as they are now called, the sons of the prophets . According to Semitic See also:

• IDIOM (Gr. t&%wµa, something peculiar and personal; lbws, one's own, personal)

idiom " sons of the prophets " most naturally means " members of a prophetic See also:

• CORPORATION (from Lat. corporare, to form into a body, corpus, corporis)

corporation," 3 which may imply that under the headship of Elisha and the favour of the dynasty of Jehu, which owed much to Elisha and his party, the prophetic societies took a more See also:

• REGULAR

regular form than before . The accounts we have certainly point in this direction, and it is characteristic that in 2 Kings iv . 42 first-fruits are paid to Elisha .

But to an institution like prophecy national recognition, royal favour and fixed organization are dangerous gifts . It has always been the evil See also:

• FATE

fate of the Hebrews to destroy their own highest ideals by attempting to translate them into set forms, and the ideal of a prophetic guidance of the nation of Yahweh could not have been more effectually neutralized than by committing its realization to the See also:

• KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind of See also:

• STATE
• STATE, GREAT OFFICERS OF

state Church of professional prophets, " eating See also:

• BREAD

bread " by their See also:

• TRADE (O. Eng. trod, footstep, from tredan, to tread; in M. Eng. the forms teed, trod and trade appear, the last in the sense of a beaten track)
• TRADE, BOARD OF

trade (Amos vii . 12),' which claimed to inherit the traditions of Elijah and Elisha . The sons of the prophets appear to have been grouped round the leading sanctuaries, See also:

• GILGAL (Heb. for " circle " of sacred stones)

Gilgal, See also:

• BETHEL (Heb. " House of God ")

Bethel, and the like (cf . Hos. ix . 8), and to have stood in See also:

• PRETTY

pretty close relation to the priesthood (Hos. iv . 5), though this comes out more clearly for the See also:

• SOUTHERN

southern kingdom, where, down to the last days of Hebrew See also:

• INDEPENDENCE
• INDEPENDENCE, DECLARATION OF
• INDEPENDENCE, WAR OF

independence, the official prophets of See also:

• JERUSALEM (Heb. ^S0-r, Yerushalaim, pronounced as a dual)
• JERUSALEM, SYNOD OF (1672)

Jerusalem were connected with the See also:

• TEMPLE
• TEMPLE, FREDERICK (1821-1902)
• TEMPLE, RICHARD
• TEMPLE, SIR RICHARD, BART
• TEMPLE, SIR WILLIAM, BART

Temple and were under the authority of the chief priest (Jer. See also:

• XXIX

xxix . 26) . Since the absorption of the See also:

• ABORIGINES

aborigines in Israel Canaanite ideas had exercised great influence over the sanctuaries—so much so that the reforming prophets of the 8th century regarded the national religion as having become wholly heathenish; and this influence the ordinary prophets, whom a man like Micah regards as mere diviners, had certainly not escaped . They too were, at the beginning of the Assyrian period, not much more different from prophets of Baal than the priests were from priests of Baal . Their God had another name, but it was almost forgotten that He had a different character . The rise and progress of the new school of prophecy, beginning with Amos and continued in the See also:

• SUCCESSION (Lat. successio, from succedere, to follow after)

succession of canonical prophets, which See also:

• BROKE, or BROOKE, ARTHUR (d. 1563)
• BROKE, SIR PHILIP BOWES VERE, BART

broke through this religious stagnation, is Amos discussed in the article HEBREW RELIGION; for from and his Amos, and still more from Isaiah downwards, the successors. prophets and their work made up the chief interest of Hebrew history .

From this time, moreover, the prophets appear as authors; and their books, preserved in the Old Testament, form the subject of special articles (Amos, HosEA, &c.) . A few observations of a general character will therefore suffice in this place . Amos disclaimed all connexion with the mere professional prophets, and in this he was followed by his successors . Formerly the prophets of Yahweh had been all on the same See also:

• SIDE
• SIDE (mod. Eski Adalia)

side; their opponents were the prophets of Baal . But henceforth there were two parties among the prophets of Yahweh themselves, the new prophets accusing the old of imposture and disloyalty to Yahweh, and these retaliating with See also:

• CHARGE
• CHARGE (through the Fr. from the Late Lat. carricare, to load in a carrus or wagon; cf. " cargo ")

charge of disloyalty to Israel . We have learned to call the prophets of the new school " true " prophets and their adversaries " false "; and this is perfectly just if we take the appellations to mean that the true prophets maintained a higher, and therefore a truer, view of (cf . Exod. xxxiii . 8-11 with I Kings xix . 13), but not between him and the great prophets of the 8th century (Isa. vi . 5) . That prophecy was generally given in visions, dreams and obscure sentences is true only of an early period . Amos still has frequent visions cf a more or less enigmatic character, as Micaiah had, but there is little trace of this in the great prophets after him .

On the psychological reasons for this see W . R . See also:

• SMITH
• SMITH, ADAM (1723–1790)
• SMITH, ALEXANDER (183o-1867)
• SMITH, ANDREW JACKSON (1815-1897)
• SMITH, CHARLES EMORY (1842–1908)
• SMITH, CHARLES FERGUSON (1807–1862)
• SMITH, CHARLOTTE (1749-1806)
• SMITH, COLVIN (1795—1875)
• SMITH, EDMUND KIRBY (1824-1893)
• SMITH, G
• SMITH, GEORGE (1789-1846)
• SMITH, GEORGE (184o-1876)
• SMITH, GEORGE ADAM (1856- )
• SMITH, GERRIT (1797–1874)
• SMITH, GOLDWIN (1823-191o)
• SMITH, HENRY BOYNTON (1815-1877)
• SMITH, HENRY JOHN STEPHEN (1826-1883)
• SMITH, HENRY PRESERVED (1847– )
• SMITH, JAMES (1775–1839)
• SMITH, JOHN (1579-1631)
• SMITH, JOHN RAPHAEL (1752–1812)
• SMITH, JOSEPH, JR
• SMITH, MORGAN LEWIS (1822–1874)
• SMITH, RICHARD BAIRD (1818-1861)
• SMITH, ROBERT (1689-1768)
• SMITH, SIR HENRY GEORGE WAKELYN
• SMITH, SIR THOMAS (1513-1577)
• SMITH, SIR WILLIAM (1813-1893)
• SMITH, SIR WILLIAM SIDNEY (1764-1840)
• SMITH, SYDNEY (1771-1845)
• SMITH, THOMAS SOUTHWOOD (1788-1861)
• SMITH, WILLIAM (1769-1839)
• SMITH, WILLIAM (c. 1730-1819)
• SMITH, WILLIAM (fl. 1596)
• SMITH, WILLIAM FARRAR (1824—1903)
• SMITH, WILLIAM HENRY (1808—1872)
• SMITH, WILLIAM HENRY (1825—1891)
• SMITH, WILLIAM ROBERTSON (1846-'894)

Smith, Prophets of Israel (1882), p . 221 seq . ' See G . Hoffmann, Kirchenversammlung zu See also:

• EPHESUS
• EPHESUS, COUNCIL OF

Ephesus (1873), p . 89 . Those who consulted the old seers were expected to make a present, I Sam. ix . 7 (Arabic holwanu-'l-kahin; cf . Bokhari iv . 219) . Similar presents were brought to the older prophets (1 Kings xiv .

3), and first-fruits were sometimes paid to a man of God; but the successors of Amos share his contempt for those who traded on their oracles (Mic. iii . 5 seq.) . Yahweh's character, purpose and relation to His people . But the false prophets were by no means mere common impostors; they were the accredited exponents of the common orthodoxy of their day, for the prophets who opposed See also:

• JEREMIAH

Jeremiah took their stand on the ground of the prophetic traditions of Isaiah, whose See also:

• DOCTRINE

doctrine of the inviolability of Yahweh's seat on See also:

• ZION, or SION (Heb. iiag, perhaps from runs " to be dry," nqs " to set up," or is " to protect "; Arabic analogies favour the meaning " hump," " summit of a ridge," and so " citadel ")

Zion was the starting-point of their opposition to Jeremiah's predictions of captivity . No doubt there were many conscious hypocrites and impostors among the professional prophets, as there always will be among the professional representatives of a religious standpoint which is intrinsically untenable, and yet has on its side the See also:

• PRESTIGE

prestige of tradition and popular See also:

• ACCEPTANCE (Lat. acceptare, frequentative form of accipere, to receive)

acceptance . But on the whole the false prophets deserve that name, not for their conscious impostures, but because they were content to handle religious formulas, which they had learned by rote, as if they were intuitive principles, the fruit of See also:

• DIRECT

direct spiritual experience, to enforce a conventional morality, shutting their eyes to glaring national sins, after the manner of professional orthodoxy, and, in brief, to treat the religious status quo as if it could be accepted without question as fully embodying the unchanging principles of all religion . The popular faith was full of heathenish superstition strangely blended with the higher ideas which were the See also:

• INHERITANCE

inheritance See also:

• LEFT

left to Israel by men like Moses and Elijah; but the common prophets accepted all alike, and combined See also:

• HEATHEN

heathen arts of divination and practices of mere See also:

• PHYSICAL

physical enthusiasm with a not altogether insincere pretension that through their professional oracles the ideal was being maintained of a continuous divine guidance of the people of Yahweh . Amos and his successors accepted the old ideal of prophecy if they disowned the class which pretended to embody it . " The See also:

• LORD
• LORD (O. Eng. hldford, i.e. hldfweard, the warder or keeper of bread, hlIf, loaf; the word is not represented in any other Teutonic language)
• LORD, JOHN (1810-1894)

Lord Yahweh will do nothing, but He revealeth His See also:

• SECRET (Lat. secretum, hidden, concealed)

secret to His servants the prophets." " By a prophet Yahweh brought Israel out of See also:

• EGYPT

Egypt, and by a prophet " in each successive age Israel had been watched over and preserved . But in point of fact the function of the new prophecy was not to preserve but to destroy Israel, if Israel still meant the actual Hebrew nation, with its traditional national life . Till Amos (with the solitary exception of Micaiah ben Imlah, in r Kings xxii.) prophecy was optimist—even Elijah, if he denounced the destruction of a dynasty and the annihilation of all who had bowed the See also:

• KNEE (O. E. cneow, a word common to Indo-European languages, cf. Ger. Knie, Fr. genou, Span. hinojo, Lat. genu, Gr. ybvv, Sansk. janu)

knee to Baal, never doubted of the future of the nation when only the faithful remained; but the new prophecy is pessimist—it knows that Israel is rotten to the core, and that the whole fabric of society must be dissolved before reconstruction is possible . And this it knows, not by a mere ethical judgment on the visible state of society, but because it has read Yahweh's secret written in the signs of the times and knows that He has condemned His people .

To the mass these signs are unintelligible, because they deem it impossible that Yahweh should utterly See also:

• CAST (from the verb meaning " to throw "; the word is Scand. in origin, cf. Dan. kaste, and Swed. kasta; " cast " in Middle Eng. took the place of the A.S. weor pan, cf. Ger. werf en)

cast off His chosen nation; but to those who know His See also:

• ABSOLUTE (Lat. absolvere, to loose, set free)

absolute righteousness, and confront it with the people's See also:

• SIN
• SIN (O. Eng. syn: a common Teutonic word, cf. Dutch zonde, Ger. Siinde)

sin, the impending approach of the Assyrian can have only one meaning and can point to only one issue, viz. the See also:

• TOTAL

total ruin of the nation which has denied its divine See also:

• HEAD (in 0. Eng. heafad; the word is common to Teutonic languages; cf. Dutch hoofd, Ger. Haupt, generally taken to be in origin connected with Lat. caput, Gr. KerbOvi7)
• HEAD, SIR EDMUND WALKER, BART
• HEAD, SIR FRANCIS BOND, BART

head . It is sometimes proposed to view the canonical prophets as See also:

• SIMPLE

simple preachers of righteousness; their predictions of woe, we are told, are conditional, and tell what Israel must suffer if it does not repent . But this is an incomplete view; the peculiarity of their position is that they know that Israel as it exists is beyond repentance . Only, while they are hopeless about their nation they have absolute faith in Yahweh and His purpose . That cannot be frustrated, and, as it includes the choice of Israel as His people, it is certain that, though the present See also:

• COMMONWEALTH

commonwealth must perish, a new and better Israel will rise from its See also:

• GRAVE

grave . Not the See also:

• REFORMATION
• REFORMATION, THE

reformation but the resurrection of Israel is the See also:

• GOAL

goal of the prophets' See also:

• HOPE, ANTHONY
• HOPE, THOMAS (c. 1770-1831)

hope (Hos. vi. r seq.) . This of course is only the broadest possible statement of a position which undergoes many modifications in the hands of individual seers, but on the whole governs all prophecy from Amos to Jeremiah . The position has, we see, two sides: on the sne side the prophets are heralds of an inexorable judgment based on the demands of absolute righteousness; on the otherthey represent an assured conviction of Yahweh's invincible and gracious love . The current theological See also:

• FORMULA
• FORMULA (Lat. diminutive of forma, shape, pattern, &c., especially used of rules of judicial procedure)

formula for this two-sided position is that the prophets are at once preachers of the law and forerunners of the See also:

• GOSPEL (O. Eng. godspel, i.e. good news, a translation of Lat. bona annuntiatio, or evangelium, Gr. evayyeXwv; cf. Goth. iu spillon, " to announce good news," Ulfilas' translation of the Greek, from iu, that which is good, and spellon to announce)

gospel; and, as it is generally assumed that they found the law already written, their originality and real importance is made to lie wholly in their evangelical function . But in reality as has been shown in the article on HEBREW RELIGION, the prophets are older than the law, and the part of their work which was really See also: