The Life of Jesus in Harmony | Index

prophet

The general Heb. word for prophet is nabi', from the verb naba'; cf. Akkad. nabu, "to announce, call a declarer, announcer."

The primary idea of a prophet, therefore, is a declarer, announcer, one who utters a communication. The great majority of biblical critics prefer the active sense of announcing, pouring forth the declarations of God. Two other Heb. words, ro'eh and chozeh, are used to designate the prophet, both meaning "one who sees," and sometimes rendered "seer."

The three words occur in (1 Chr 29:29), where they seem to be contrasted with each other: "Now the acts of King David, from first to last, are written in the chronicles of Samuel the seer [ro'eh], in the chronicles of Nathan the prophet [nabi'], and in the chronicles of Gad the seer [chozeh]."Ro'eh occurs twelve times (1 Sam 9:11,18-19; 2 Sam 15:27; 1 Chr 9:22; 26:28; 29:29; 2 Chr 16:7,10; Is 30:10), and in seven of these it is applied to Samuel.

It was superseded in general use by the word nabi, by which Samuel was designated as well as by ro'eh (1 Sam. 3:20; 2 Chr. 35:18), and which seems to have been revived after a period of disuse (1 Sam 10:5,10-12; 19:20,24). Chazon is the word consistently used for the prophetical vision and is found in Samuel, Chronicles, Psalms, Proverbs, and in most of the Prophets.

Sometimes the prophets are called watchmen, Heb. sopim (Jer 6:17; Ezek 3:17; 33:2,6-7); shomer, a watchman (Is 21:11; 62:6); and ro`eh, "pastoral," a shepherd (Zech 11:5,16). The word is uniformly translated in the LXX by prophetes and in the NASB and NIV by "prophet." In classical Gk. prophetes signifies "one who speaks for another," especially "one who speaks for a god" and so interprets his will to man. Hence its essential meaning is "an interpreter." The use of the word prophetes in its modern sense is postclassical, and is derived from the LXX.

From the medieval use of the word propheteia ("prophecy") passed into the English language in the sense of prediction, and this sense it has retained as its popular meaning. The larger sense of interpretation has not, however, been lost. In fact the English word prophet, like the word inspiration, has always been used in a larger and in a closer sense.

The NT (After Christ's resurrecion) prophet is clearly a different office than that of the OT prophet.