Loading...
Larger font
Smaller font
Copy
Print
Contents
The Abiding Gift of Prophecy - Contents
  • Results
  • Related
  • Featured
No results found for: "".
  • Weighted Relevancy
  • Content Sequence
  • Relevancy
  • Earliest First
  • Latest First
    Larger font
    Smaller font
    Copy
    Print
    Contents

    Meaning of the Word “Prophet”

    The word “prophet,” as used in the Old Testament, comes from two Hebrew words which have different shades of meaning. One of these words is roeh, which means “to see.” It is rendered “seer” in 1 Samuel 9:9. “Let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.”AGP 26.3

    “The word ‘seer,’ by which the ‘prophet’ was originally called, implies that visions were the original mode of revelation to the prophets. These visions, in the case of the prophets of the Old Testament, were almost always presented in images peculiarly appropriate to the age or the person to whom they appear, and almost always conveying some lofty conception of the divine nature.” “History of the Jewish Church,” Dean (Arthur Penrhyn) Stanley, Vol. I, p. 380. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1891.AGP 26.4

    According to the meaning of this Hebrew word, a prophet is one who “sees,” “one whose sight pierces through the veil that hides the world of divine things, or one for whom this veil is lifted occasionally so that he obtains an inner knowledge of the realities beyond.” “A New Standard Bible Dictionary,” art., “Prophet,” p. 739. New York and London: Funk & Wagnall’s Company, 1925.AGP 26.5

    The lifting of the veil, then, that hides the world of divine things, and so brings to the prophet an inner knowledge of the realities beyond, is the essential purpose of the prophetic gift. What a marvelous and precious boon for mankind!AGP 26.6

    But the prophet’s sight, or seeing, of the divine realities of the world beyond is not sufficient for poor, blind, confused humanity. What is revealed to the prophet must be declaredAGP 26.7

    to others, if they are to be benefited. This further essential part of the prophet’s responsibility is clearly expressed by another Hebrew word, nabi, which means “to speak forth.” Hence the prophet is also “a man of speech, one who gives forth words.”AGP 27.1

    The difference, then, between those two Hebrew words from which we get our word “prophet” is clear. The first relates to the way the prophet gets his message; the second relates to the impartation of the message he receives. The two shades of meaning of these Hebrew words are united in our English word “prophet,” which is itself spelled over from the Greek, meaning literally for-speaker, or forth-speaker. Hence the word “prophet” has a twofold meaning,—“seer” and “proclaimer.” These are the two distinctive and essential phases of the prophetic gift, and they are both very clearly set forth in the Scriptures, as will be observed from the following statement by the prophet Daniel:AGP 27.2

    “In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night.” Daniel 7:1, 2.

    Daniel was a prophet. The Lord appeared to him in a vision, and spoke to him in a dream. What he saw and heard he wrote in a book. In this way he made known what was revealed to him; and even the generation now living is being greatly blessed by the messages that came to him through the prophetic gift.AGP 27.3

    Larger font
    Smaller font
    Copy
    Print
    Contents