PROPHECY AND THE PROPHETIC OFFICE.
I. Ethnic Prophecy.
General Conceptions (§ 1). Biblical Attitude toward Soothsaying (§ 2). II. In the Old Testament.
1. Historical Development of Prophecy. Prophetic Basis of Old-Testament Religion (§ 1). Samuel to Elisha (§2).
Amos to Malachi (§3).
2. Characteristics. Objective View (§1). Subjective Conditions (§ 2). Objectivity of the Message (§ 3). Delivery of the Message (§ 4).] Form of the Message (§ 5). Contents (§ 6).
Relations of Prediction to the Present (§ 7). Fulfilment (§8). III. In the New Testament.
I. Ethnic Prophecy: Among many peoples the idea that God's spirit speaks directly to man was commonly held. Some early sages attribute to
man's soul the faculty of premonition
i. General (Plato, Phcedo, xx.; Cicero, De divi-
Conceptions. tatione, i.; Plutarch, De oraculorum
defectu, xl.). It was also believed that sometimes a divine power comes over a man and speaks through him. From the ecstatic state (see Ecstasy) in which this occurs, the seer bears the name mantis from mainesthai, " to rave." This, however, differs entirely from Hebrew prophecy; it were better to discover divine inspiration in poets, artists, and philosophers, but this gift is more ethical than religious. In man's intellectual life,
Prophecy
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
phenomena were observed that were independent of his conscious thought, especially in the frequently realized premonitions. In some cases, as with the daimonion of Socrates, these were connected with the conscience and had a certain ethical value. Per^ sons at the point of death were also supposed to possess this faculty. Especial stress was laid on dreams or trances, survivals of which may be found in modern times, as also on communications from the spirits of the departed. These spirits were evoked among various peoples — Babylonians, Egyptians (cf. Isa. xix. 3), Canaanites (Deut. xviii. 11- 12), Persians, Thracians, Greeks {Odyssey, xi. 29 sqq.), Romans, and others. Cicero distinguishes between artificial and natural divination, but the latter is rare and it is known that prophetic dreams and the ecstatic state were induced by artificial means (G. Ebers, Aegypten und die Biicher Mosis, i. 321-322, Leipsic, 1868). External nature was also a source of inspiration. The noblest form was that of the sighing of the wind or the murmuring of the stream, conceived as the voice of God, as in Dodona. However, communications from this source necessarily lacked the precision and clearness of the divine word of the prophet. In Delphi, the Pythia's inspiration seems to have come from subterranean vapors; her obscure words were interpreted by priests who bore the name of prophetai. With the Babylonians, the starry heavens were thought to have a determining influence on man's destiny (cf. Cicero, De divinatione, ii. 58, 60, 69). The casting of lots (see Lot, Hebrew Use of) to determine doubtful questions was also prevalent, and this, as well as dreams, was sometimes used by God to reveal his will; the Urim and Thummim (q.v.) may have been a kind of lot.
With the exceptions just mentioned, the Bible opposes all these heathen means of reading the /future; magic and soothsaying were 2. Biblical! punished by death (Lev. xx. 27). By Attitude Magic (q.v.) is understood an attempt toward on man's part to utilize demonic powers Sooth- (but see Comparative Religion, V. saying. 1, b, § 5). There were magicians who called up the spirits of the dead (I Sam. xxviii.), also those who drew their conclusions from the movement of the clouds (cf. Isa. viii. 19; Jer. xxvii. 9). It is, however, principally by its contents that Old-Testament prophecy differs from heathen soothsaying, since with the latter, the main object is to gain information regarding the future. Without denying the ethical and religious quality of some of the Delphic oracles, it is still to be noted that these do not surpass the natural powers of human consciousness, while they fail to give any insight into the counsels of the Almighty. While analogies for the Messianic prophecies may be found in the ideal pictures of the future from heathen sages, the absolute confidence in the ultimate realization of their ideals is lacking. The religion of ancient Egypt, and more especially that of Zoroaster (see Zoroaster, Zoroastrianikm), with its conflict between good :md evil, resulting in the ultimate triumph of the former, approach Hebrew prophecy much more closely; but the conceptions are more abstract than those of the Bible, which sees in daily
life the beginning of the realization of God's promises. According to Renan, prophecy was a special endowment of the Semitic mind, but, although this is true to a certain extent, there is no real analogy to Hebrew prophecy among the other Semitic peoples. The Koran possesses but little originality and lacks the high ethical worth characteristic of the true prophets. The Babylonian penitential psalms (Schrader, KAT, 3d ed., pp. 384-385), sometimes adduced as a prototype of the suffering servant of Yahweh, show a king who bewails bis sufferings and asserts his innocence, but there is no trace of a plan of God which is served by this suf- 'fering, or indeed of any prophetic thought.
II. In the Old Testament: The Old Testament records the visions of men who were not Israelites, such as Eliphaz (Job iv. 12 sqq.) and Balaam (Num. xxii.-xxiv.), and also of the prophets of Baal and Ashera. In Israel, however, prophecy attained an incomparable significance, for here clairvoyance was ennobled by being used in the service of God; the mantic frenzy lost its pathological character and the prophet became the proclaimer of the purest religious truth and of the profoundest mysteries of God's kingdom. Prophetism in the service of Yahweh was the medium through which the national religion of Israel was called to fife, and it guarded the purity of this religion against popular corruption and prepared the way for its development into the supreme religion of mankind.
1. Historical Development of Prophecy: It is significant for the entire conception of God in the Old Testament that, from the beginning, the Israelites derived their knowledge of him from personal revelations, appearances, and moni- 1. Prophetic tions Genesis teaches that the patri-
Old ^ t arcns were honored with such revelament " *ions. Friends of God like Abraham,
Religion. Isaac, and Jacob, received prophetic direction at critical periods of their life. More especially the beginnings of the religion of the covenant are the work of a man of high prophetic gifts, a mediator between God and his people. The authority of Moses (q.v.) rested on his reputation as the servant of Yahweh, as the seer and spokesman of his God. Miriam and others possessed the gift of prophecy (Ex. xv. 20; Num. xi. 25 sqq.). From this time prophecy never wholly died out (Deut. xviii. 9 sqq.) ; in the time of the judges, Deborah and others appeared (Judges iv. 4, vi. 8, cf. ii. 1; I Sam. ii. 27). Samuel (q.v.) marks an epoch; he is called the seer, not in the lower sense of soothsayer, but as a tried and trusted organ of Yahweh. He may be regarded as the first of the prophets, both because of his superior endowments and because the prophetic communities seem to have owed their origin to him; at least, they first appear in his time. As their name (" sons of the prophets ") indicates, they were disciples who gathered about a master; as communities they seem to have remained in their respective settlements, while such masters as Samuel, Elijah, or Elisha, wandered from place to place. These settlements appear to have been in the quiet country outside the city limits; a few lightly constructed huts, in a place offering a supply of water and veg-