event of history is a theophany, a manifestation of God in His moral operation. The eyes of ordinary men do not perceive this meaning, and when suddenly confronted with some unexpected issue they exclaim, 'Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, God of Israel, the Saviour' (Is 4.5"). Further, no event is isolated ; each has resulted from something preceding it, and will issue in con- sequences following it. History is a moral current, and at whatever point in it the prophet stands he feels whence it has come and whither it is llowing. Of course, the prophet is not a mere interpreter of history or institutions.* To sujjpose so would be to give him the second instead of the first place; the mind of man is greater than institutions or history, and it is in it above all that God will reveal Himself. And even the institutions and history are not mere miraculous Divine creations; men concurred in founding the institutions, and they have their part in making the history. Events furnish the occasion of the prophet's intuitions, but they do not set bounds to them. Indeed we often see the prophet's mind outrunning history, filling the events around him with a profounder meaning than they actually contain. His own mind is full of great issues, great ideals of the future ; and eager to see their realization he animates the events occurring in his day with a larger significance than they have, thinking they will issue in the linal perfection for which he yearns. If he proves at fault in regard to the ti7ne, he rightly divines the moral connexion of the events of his day with the perfection of the end. Other names, such as ' seer,' ' watchman ' (Jer 6", Ezk 3"), need not be dwelt upon.
There are several passages, belonging to fliR'orent dates, which might be taken as definitions of ' pro- phet.' In Am 3'-' it is said, ' The Lord God doeth nothing without revealing his counsel to his ser- vants the prophets.' Jer. (23--) varies this by saying that the prophet stands ' in the council ' of J", and knows His piirjiose (Job 15*). The passage states two things.viz. that J"reveals His mind and purpose to the prophets, and that He does so particularly in reference to the future. When great events are about to happen, involving the destinies of the people, the sensibility of the prophet is quickened and feels their ajiproach, and he stands forth to announce them. '1 bus Amos and Hosea appear as heralds of the downfall of the kingdom of the North ; Micah and Isaiah, when the storm-cloud of Assyrian invasion «as rising on the northern horizon, and Jeremiah when the empire of the East was passing to the Chald.eans, and the downfall of Judali was nigh at hand. Among other passages referring to prophecy on its predictive side, Is 4jj.2iir. j,.f 4518. ID) deserves mention. Here predic- tive prophecy is claimed for J" and Israel and denied to the idols and their peoples, and the power to predict as well as the fact of bavin" truly pre- dicted is proof that J" is God. J" is tlio first and the last ; He initiates the movements of history, anil He brings them to an end. From the beginning He foresees the end. But it is His relation to Israel that causes Him to announce it beforehand. For Israel is His servant, and His piir])ose can be ful- filled only through the co-operation of men, to whom it must be revealed. The conception of a living God in moral fellowship with men involves in it proidu'cy having reference to the future. Here again ])ro|ihc(y is lifted up into the sphere of personal religious life.
The passage Dt 18''", though not excluding
frediction, places prophecy on a broader basis. 'ropheey is due to two things; (1) to that yearning of tlie human spirit to know the will of
* This scL-nis tlie idt-a of v. llofniann, Weiuaffung u Erfiil-
luTUJ.
114 PROPHECY AXD PROPHETS
PROPHECY AXD PROPHETS
the deity, and to have communion with him, common to men everywhere. This yearnin" created many kinds of diviners, who by external means inferred what was the mind of deity. But it is not in this way, but in one higher and worthier, that the true God satisfies the yearning of His |ieo|)Ie's heart (Nu 23-"). However pro- fusely si;,'ns of Him and of His mind be scattered over nature, tliere is a more immediate intercourse between Him and men. He speaks to the mind of man directly ; there is a communion of spirit with spirit. J ' puts His words in the prophet's mouth, who speaks them in His name (Dt 18'*-''). (2) And the reason for employing a prophet as mediator between J" and the people is that the jicople shrank from hearing the voice of J" speak- ing to them directly. He spoke the ten words in tlie people's ears at Horeb, but Israel said, ' Let me not near again the voice of the Lord my God, that I die not' (18'°). An extraordinarily lofty place is assigned here to the prophet : his words are as much the words of J" as if^ J" spoke them immediately with His own voice (of. Nu 12-). But these words of Moses, ' A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you like unto me,' contain other points illustrating the idea of 'prophet.' The term 'raise up'(cf. Am 2") is used of the judges, and in many ways the prophets were the successors of the judges. The prophet is immediately raised up. The Divine art is reflected in his own consciousness in the crisis named his 'call.' His position is a personal one. He is not a member of a caste inlieriting an office. He may be taken from any class : from the priesthood, like Samuel, Jer., and Ezek., and probably others ; from the aristocracy of the capital, like Isaiah ; from the population of the country tOTiTiships, like Micah and Urijah of Kiriath-jearim (Jer 26) ; or from those that followed after the flock, like Amos. Women, too, might be prophetesses, as Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah (2 K 22). The singular ' a prophet ' may be used collectively of a line of prophets (Hos 12"), or more probably as there was usually only one great prophet at one time the reference may be to the individual prophet in each age. In the words ' like unto me ' the prophet is put on the same plane with Moses ; and so far as the scope of his func- tions extended this is the best definition. It may be said that we really do not know what Moses was like ; and to say tliat the prophet was ' like Moses,' is to explain the unknown by tlie more un- known. We know at least wlia t Moses was thought to be like in the age of the Deuteronomist and earlier — he was one faithful in all God's hoime (Nu 12') ; and the prophet's oversight was equally broad. Prophecy was not an institution among other insti- tutions, like priesthood and monarchy ; it founded the monarchy, and it claimed in the name of J" to correct and instruct priests as well as kings. Tholuck * has defined the prophet as 'the bearer of the idea of the theocracy. The definition is true in the sense that the prophets do not claim to be originators, they have inherited the prin- ciples which they teach; but it touches the jirophet only on his intellectual side. The propliet was more than a teacher, and the theocr.acy was life as well as truth. The jirophet was not only the bearer, he was the emho<linient of the idea of the theocracy. This idea, which is that of the com- munion of the living God with mankind, was realized in him and through him in Israel. Though he could be distinguislied from Israel he was, in truth, Israel at its highest. The prophets were not persons who stood as mere olijective Divine instruments to the people whom they addressed ; they were of the people ; the life of * JHe Propheten u. ihre Wrisgagungen, p. 12.