Biblical Prophet

Hosea the man. Little information is given about the prophet. According to Mays (1969) the name Hosea appears only in the title of the book and the heading for the narrative in chapter one and is not mentioned anywhere again in the book (Mays, p. 1), while according to Hallman Dictionary (1991), the name Hosea only appears at Hosea chapter 1 verses 1-2 and at Romans chapter 9 verse 25 in the Bible. There is no information about where he was born, what he did before becoming a prophet, or when and how he was called to be a prophet. He certainly became a prophet at the marriageable age because that is when the message of God came to him (Mays, p. 2). From the first verse, we are able to know his father’s name; Beeri and no other information about him. The name Hosea means salvation. Hosea is identified as a prophet in Hosea 1 verse1 and a genuine one for that matter, the word of the Lord came to him and the source of his authority was God.

In order to fully understand the prophets and their message, it is important to recognize some fundamental facts. The presentation provided a rudimentary definition of a prophet, which goes beyond the normal meaning of foretelling the future. Dr. Yates metaphorically compared the prophet to a “watchman,” which imparted great insight. The watchman was explicitly set in place to stand or watch for any approaching enemies, and to warn of any impeding danger. The comparison and explanation does not remove the foretelling or forthtelling role of the prophet, but augments it by providing a factual interpretation of an inherited responsibility. As a watchman, it was the prophet’s assignment not only to confront the sins of that day, but to warn them of God’s forthcoming judgment. The message of judgment from God was proclaimed with hope that repentance would come in order to avoid the severity of the God’s calamity. The prophets used metaphoric expressions to show the severity of man’s sin or God’s judgment.

The prophets are difficult to interpret mainly due to misunderstandings about their function and form (Fee/Stuart p182). Most dictionaries define the word “prophecy”as ‘foretelling or prediction of what is to come. Using the prophets in this way is highly discerning, for less than 2% of OT prophecy is messianic; less than 5% describes the new covenant age and less than 1% concerns future events (Fee/Stuart p182). The prophets usually announced the immediate future of Judah, Israel and the surrounding nations, rather than our future. Those events were forthcoming for them but past for us (Fee/Stuart p182). The primary function of prophets as a spokesperson was to speak for God to their own contemporaries. Of the hundreds of prophets in

Prophets declared Gods word as His spokesmen, he did not serve himself, he served the Lord “I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him” (Deut. 18:18). God chose certain people to be able to speak His Word not by their

What would a prophet be in the 21st century. In the modern times there still are people that go out and do the will of God, and to do it for no reward what so ever, and just to do it out of the sheer love for God that they have. These people are able to do what God wants them to do in the modern day and age, such as one today would be a prophet by helping the poor, and or setting an example for what people see in a modern prophet such as these two people.

To fully understand the meaning behind his sermons and predictions we must first look at what a prophet is and what he holds true.

Similar to the dictionary definition of a preacher, Merriam-Webster’s definition of a prophet is relatively general. It states that a prophet is a member of some religion who delivers messages that are believed to have come from God. The complexity of this definition have been further explained several scholars. Novelist, Richard Lischer, interprets the prophet in his book The Preacher King, as he quotes:

Prophets played such an important role in the time of the Old testament. It is because of these prophets, that we have so much of our prophetic literature through the Old Testament today. They played an integral role throughout the life and history of Israel. We can see through numerous situations throughout the Old Testament that the prophets were a catalyst for change occurring in the land/people of Israel. According to David L. Peterson in his book, "The Prophetic Literature", a reason as to why there were prophets that arose in the time and land of Israel, is because its said that the prophets were fundamentally important in understanding the history and value of Israel, and that the activeness of the prophets showed God 's concern for His people . We see that the word 'prophet ', in the Greek language actually means "to foresee" . This in time brought about issues in regards to whether or not the prophets weren 't just prophets, but could be providing some sort of witchcraft. But in actual fact, the prophets within the Old testament tended to not only speak about the future, but noted circumstances that occurred in the past and that reeled on into their present time. As we move forward in time from the times of the prophets, we can see the necessity of having the prophets in the land, life and people of Israel. Prophets at times came under four different titles or labels in the Old Testament. "Seer", "diviner", "man of God", and "prophet" . Throughout different

Among the Old Testament prophets, Jeremiah and Ezekiel are probably the most outstanding ones. Living in the same historical period, witnessing and being part of tragic, crucial changes in the Judas history, having a similar background, these two men still differ a lot in their views, lifestyle and way of prophesying. Jeremiah was likely born between 650 and 645 B.C. not far from Jerusalem in a family of a priest and was by being trained for holy service in the priesthood was prepared for his future role. Jeremiah's contemporary Ezekiel also had the priestly background and was a functioning priest probably attached to Jerusalem Temple staff, but his prophetic ministry developed in Babylon as he was exiled several years before Jerusalem fall.

The difference between earlier prophets and latter prophets were the narratives. The writings of earlier prophets were more about Gods words and heroic actions. The “…biblical text … attributes … to a diversity of prophetic roles” (Burnette-Bletsch, 2007, p. 192). For example, God actually spoke to Moses; he was considered Gods “mouthpiece.” On

The prophets also engaged in different literature some preferred to use figurative language while others used hyperbole which is referred to as an exaggeration in a figure of speech. Majority of the prophets wrote in poetry making it even harder to understand there

Is this meant to describe all true prophets of YHWH or could it also be an allusion to Jesus Christ later on?

In our reading assignment form the books of Courageous Faith Life Lessons from Old Testament Heroes and The Essences of the Old Testament: A Survey we are studying about the prophets. During the time of the Old Testament there was several prophets. The prophets are broken up into two groups. They are Minor Prophets and Major Prophets.

Sparks rightly speaks of how prophecy involves spiritual interpretation. This spiritual interpretation causes the prophet to view everything through the lens of spiritual implications. Specifically, this spiritual interpretation comes from the Lord as the

Muhammad, who is believed to be a prophet of God, is considered the last prophet sent by god to the Muslim people. Muhammad is believed to have brought the word of God through the Qur’an. The Prophets’ life started in Mecca where he grew up orphaned. During his life, specifically in the month of Ramadan, he would spend time in a cave outside Mecca where he originally received revelations about the sacred text. Originally Muhammad found little success preaching God’s word but eventually gained a following of Muslim people, which would turn into the tradition it is today.