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CHAPTER VI.

OF THE PROPHETS.

CONCERNING the prophets, we shall first consider the name, and then the duty and business of the prophetic office. As to the name, there are three different words, by which prophets are denominated in Scripture; namely,

roeh, chozeh, nabhi, which are all found in one passage, where we read of Samuel haroeh, Nathan a hannabhi, and Gad in hachozeh; 1 Chron. xxix. 29. The word : nabhi, is by some derived from bo, venit, intimating that God came to the prophet by the divine afflatus. Thus Ezekiel saith, man vattabo bi ruach, which we render, "and the spirit entered into me," Ezek. ii. 2. Some light, perhaps, may be hereby given to that remarkable promise of Christ, "If any man love me, he will keep my words, and I and my Father will love him, and we will come and make our abode with him," John xiv. 23; namely, by the continual influence of the Spirit on his heart.

But others derive nabhi from 1 nubh, provenire, from whence comes nibh, germen, fructus, a word metaphorically applied to speech, which is called the fruit, a nibh, of the lips, Isa. lvii. 19; and it is said the mouth of the just bringeth forth as janubh, wisdom; Prov. x. 31. Prophecy, therefore, being the fruit of the lips in consequence of divine inspiration, the prophet is called N nabhi. In the first place wherein this word occurs, it is applied to Abraham: "Restore the man his wife, for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live; but if thou restore her not, thou shalt die;" Gen. xx. 7. Where a N nabhi is supposed to be a friend of God, whom he would not suffer to be wronged, and whose prayers were very prevalent with him. Accordingly by the Psalmist God is represented as saying, "Touch not mine

anointed, and do my prophets no harm;" Psalm cv. 15. And from the following passage of Jeremiah, it appears to have been the special business of the D nebhiim, or prophets, to pray for the people: "If they be prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of hosts," &c.; chap. xxvii. 18. And their prayers are supposed to be very prevalent with God: "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people;" chap. xv. 1. When, therefore, God was determined to bring judgments upon the Israelites, he forbad Jeremiah the prophet to pray for them: " Then said the Lord unto me, Pray not for this people for their good;" chap. xiv. 11.

The other two names of a prophet, chozek and roeh, seem to be synonymous, both signifying, one that seeth or discerneth; the former from r chazah, and the latter from 87 raah, vidit. And, indeed, it is hard to say, how these three names or titles differ in their signification.

It should seem, the word roeh was the more ancient denomination of the prophet: but in the days of Samuel the word nabhi was grown into more common use; as appears from the following passage: "He that is now called a prophet, nabhi, was beforetime called a seer, ¬ roeh ;” 1 Sam. ix. 9. Here a considerable difficulty ariseth; for we do not any where meet with the word ¬ roeh in the Scripture history before this time, whereas the word ♫ nabhi is common in the writings of Moses; who is therefore by some supposed not to have been the author of the Pentateuch, a word commonly occurring therein, which it seems was not used till long after his days.

One solution that has been offered is, that the word nabhi, though in common use in the days of Moses, was not used in the same sense as roch was in the days of Samuel, namely, for a revealer of secrets, or a man by whom God was to be consulted; but that anciently it only signified a friend of God, one who had an intimacy with him. But this is hardly reconcileable with the character of a nabhi, or prophet, described in several places of the Pentateuch (Numb. xii. 6; Deut. xiii. 1; and chap. xviii. 22), as one to whom God makes himself known by visions, or dreams, who gives

miraculous signs of his divine mission, and foretells things to come. And surely such a one must be as capable of revealing secrets as any roeh, or seer, in after-times.

"roeh

Others solve the difficulty, by supposing the word was anciently in vulgar use, and being esteemed a low word, which would have been unsuitable to the purity and dignity of Moses's style, he for that reason always uses the politer word nabhi; but that in Samuel's time nabhi was also grown into common and vulgar use. No doubt there might be words in the Hebrew, as there are in our language, which are decently enough used in conversation, but are hardly thought proper for the pulpit, or for any grave compositions. Of this sort might have been the word roeh; but as the language grew more refined, it was of course dropped, and the more polite word nabhi substituted in its room, both in conversation and in writing. It is observed in confirmation of this opinion, that the word "roeh is but very seldom used in the sacred writings.

After all, I know not whether two lines of Horace, in his Art of Poetry, will not suggest the easiest solution of this difficulty:

Multa renascentur, quæ jam cecidere; cadentque

Quæ nunc sunt in honore vocabula, si volet usus.

L. 70, 71.

The word nabhi might have been common in the days of Moses, it might have grown much out of use in some centuries afterwards, when roeh was used instead of it; and nevertheless, be revived and become common in the days of Samuel.

Thus much for the name; we now come to consider the thing, or the duty and business of a prophet.

A prophet, in the strict and proper sense, was one to whom the knowledge of secret things was revealed, that he might declare them to others, whether they were things past, or present, or to come. The woman of Samaria perceived our Saviour was a prophet, by his telling her the secrets of her past life; John iv. 19. The prophet Elisha had the present conduct of his servant Gehazi revealed to him; 2 Kings v. 26.

Maimon. Præfat. in Mishn. p. 4, edit. Surenhus. Appellabant Prophetam, Videntem, quod res futuras, antequam existerent, prævideret

And most of the prophets had revelations concerning future events; above all, concerning the coming and kingdom of the Messiah: "He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began ;" Luke i. 69, 70.* Nevertheless, in a more lax or analogical sense, the title prophet is sometimes given to persons who had no such revelation, nor were properly inspired. Thus Aaron is said to be Moses's prophet: "The Lord said unto Moses,' See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet," Exod. vii. 1: because Aaron received the divine messages, which he carried to Pharaoh immediately from Moses; whereas other prophets receive their messages immediately from God himself. In this respect, as Moses stood in the place of God to Pharaoh, so Aaron acted in the character of his prophet.

The title of prophets is given also to the sacred musicians, who sung the praises of God, or who accompanied the song with musical instruments. Thus "the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun," are said to "prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals," 1 Chron. xxv. 1; and they prophesied, it is said, "according to the order of the king;" ver. 2. Upon which R. S. Jarchi remarks, they prophesied when they played upon these musical instruments. We also read in the story of Saul's advancement to the kingdom of Israel, that he met "a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery and a tabor, and a pipe, and a harp before them; and they prophesied, and he with them;" 1 Sam. x. 5. 10. What kind of prophecy this was is evident; it was praising God with spiritual songs, and the melody of musical instruments. Perhaps Miriam, the sister of Aaron, may be called a prophetess only on this account, that she led the concert of the women, who sung the song of Moses with timbrels and with dances; Exod. xv. 20, 21. Thus the heathen poets, who sung or composed verses in praise of their gods, were called by the Romans vates, or prophets; which is of the same import with the Greek πρо¶ηTMns,

* The rabbies say, all the prophets prophesied concerning the Messiah. Vid. Cod. Sanhedrin, cap. xi. sect. xxxvii. p. 362; Cocceii excerpt. Gemar.

a title which St. Paul gives to Epimenides, a Cretan poet; Tit. i. 12.

This notion of prophets and prophesying may give some light to the following passage in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, chap. xi. 5: "Every woman, praying or prophesying with her head uncovered, dishonoureth her head." Prophesying cannot be understood in the stricter sense of foretelling things to come, nor even of interpreting the holy Scriptures by divine inspiration; in which sense the word seems to be used, when the apostle, discoursing of spiritual gifts, prefers the gift of prophecy above all others, because, saith he," he that prophesieth speaketh unto men for edification, and exhortation, and comfort;" 1 Cor. xiv. 3. However, neither of these kinds of prophesying will suit with the design of the apostle, when, in the passage we are now considering, he speaks of a woman's prophesying in the church or congregation; for there she was not permitted to speak, nor so much as to ask a question for her instruction, much less to teach and instruct others; ver. 34. In order to solve the difficulty, some would have the word "poprevovσa to be taken passively, and to signify, a hearing or being present at prophesying: but this is an acceptation of the term contrary to the rules of grammar, and without example either in Scripture or in any profane author. Besides, though she may properly enough be said to pray, as joining with the minister, who is the mouth of the congregation to God; yet with no propriety can she be said to prophesy, only as attending on the preaching of the minister, who is considered as the mouth of God to the congregation.

Perhaps, then, prophesying may here mean (as we have shown it does mean in other places) praising God in psalms and hymns. And thus praying and prophesying are fitly joined together, these being the two parts of public worship, in which the whole congregation is supposed to unite.*

Vid. Mede's Diatrib. disc. xvi. on 1 Cor. xi. 5, p. 58, et seq. of his Works. Smith, in his Discourse on Prophecy, apprehends that singing was called prophecy, when the songs or psalms were composed under the influence of the Divine Spirit, to the sound of musical instruments. Perhaps some of the prophets having uttered such inspired compositions to music,

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