The locale of the false Messiahs (Mt 24=«) is either the wilderness (cf. Ac 21^), as in the case of Simon son of Gioras, or the inner chambers, as in the case of John of Giscala (cf. 1 K 20**) — alluding possibly to the current idea that the Messiah was to remain hidden for some time pre- vious to His appearance in public. But whetlier the one or the other happened to be chosen, the salient point is that in either case the elect are I" be kept right by a wholesome scepticism. • ( 'Iiristians, at Israel's great crisis, were to be ..'('(•rf by unbelief in pseudo- Messiahs and pseudo- prophets' {Expos. Crr. Test. i. 294). The situation would also raanife.st the difl'erence between cre- dulity and faith. Desperate situations foster an avid appetite for deliverance, which is too often indiflerent Ui \\\'- |iaifirul.-a- qualitj' of the aid oflered. But tni li 1,. , p- it- head. Belief in Christ imparts a saiiii\ nf jmluiiient which makes men cool eA'en in lun i -iik ir-. Finall}', there is the thought that miracles of themselves are no guarantee of Divine authority.
Tlie allusion in Jn 5" may be, but is not neces- sarily, to a single anti-Christ or pseudo-Christ, who, however, comes in his own name (cf. Loisy, Lc Quatriime Evangile, p. 416). Neitlier here nor in Rev 13" 20'" have we to do with an epitome or individual incarnation of the deceivers foretold in the Synoptic narrative. The jilane of tliought is at once later and different.
FALSE PROPHETS
FALSE WITNESS
5V5
V. H. Stanton, The Go&pcls as Uisloi-ical Documents, i. 125 ; Keini, Jesus of Nazara, v. 238 f. ; and Bousset, The Antichrist Legend, p. 103f. J. MoFFATT.
FALSE PROPHETS.— 1. For the understanding- of this expression in the NT, we must correctly apprehend tlie character of the false prophets oft/ir Of. To earlier writers these men were essentially and consciously false, either prophets of false gods, holders of opinions which did not agree witli tin' revealed character of Jehovah the God of Israel, or men wlio knowingly spoke falsehoods in tlir name of Jehovah. Modern biblical science takes a more lenient view. It does not deny the exist- ence of such as either possible or actual (Jer 2*, Ezk 13'""), though in the matter of creed many of them were jirolwlily ' syncretistic ' rather tlian simply 'anti-Jclin\ i~tic ■ (A. B. Davidson). The majority may Iw rcuuidol rather as men acoiis- tomed to the out\\:ii4 ,-imi> of the prophetic ofhcc, the hairy mantle (Zee VA\ cf. 1 K IQ'"), the methods of projphetic instruction (Jer 28'°), and the use of the prophetic formula, ' Thus saith Jehovah ' (Jer 23"- 3', Ezk 13'^), but who had never come under the influence of, or had failed to remain in personal contact with, the revealing Spirit ' who spake by the prophets.' Hence the message they gave was merely one that was agreeable to the
common thought of (In- ] [ile, wliitlier it cini
cerned the internal r..ii.liliuii ;iiiil life (.f Ihe ii:il ii.n or its relation til s\iii()iiiiiliii,u Slales. It was ynn cipally in the later jirdplietic iieiiml (.1 Mii^ali. Jeremiah, and Zechariah that tliese ]iri)|iliei, ni smooth things, subject to no true .■unl |ii\iia' revelation, came to be regarded as |inii(-^i.,M il tricksters, making a living out of their fal-e pre dictions (Mic 3=, Zee 13'- ■■). I!ut whether from the desire of gain or of |iiililic la\oiir, tliese false prophets expressed the o|.'iiiii-i ir. x\ h.-it would be regarded as the patritjtii-. \ie\\ <il the stale and future of their country, ami Imm- Iie.-n desiribed as 'nationalistic rather than lal-e. Ii i- i lii> oijiim- istic, nationalist outlook tliat |iaiiirnl;nly e\]il.'iins the reference in Lk 6-''. 'in the .-ana' laanner ili'l their fathers (speak -well) to the tal-c |iio|iliel-.' The false prophets, ,as .li'.larin- tie' tliin-- llie nation \vished to hear, iiatuially sueeeeileil in gaining general approval and eredeiiee. This is particularly shown in Jer 6""'* and Mic 2", and is confirmed by instances, not a few, in which the apparently unpatriotic attitvule of the true prophet,
false
|.slll((
compared w
in disfavour and e\'en in |ieise. ul ion (I K' '_''_!', '-M'li
16'», Jer 20=). It W.-,s the fal-.' |.ro|,l,el, lepve
senting the nation.'! 1 'wish that i- latlier to the thought,' of whom 'all ine]i s|ioke well. (Ini Lord therefore takes snrh a.^ i.Npes oi th;it ill deserved general appro\al whieh may he won hy flatteiy, by concealnieiit of the tiutli. hy the denying or minimizing of danger and of retribu- tion : methods denied to those who ' are of the truth.' This view of false prophecy as the saying of things men wish to hear ' for the hire of wrong- doing,' is to be discerned in 2 P 2'^'-, where the false prophet is the analogue of the false teacher, him- self guilty of 'lascivious doings' (cf. vv."-'" for the character of this teaching).
2. The false 2>rophets in the Christian Church.— In the NT as in the OT, the prophetic ministry must be regarded in its two branches as interpre- tative of God's mind and as predictive. False nihets of both these classes -were to be expected le Christian community. To grasp the signili c.'ince of the warnings against these men, the importance of prophecy in NT times must be borne in mind. Prophecy was a more importiint gift than toneues (1 Co 14), and the prophet is in the list of oiiicers associated with the Apostles,