“Prophet” has a very particular meaning in Biblical, Judeo-Christian theology. We tend to think of prophets as predictors or forecasters or even “fortune tellers.” I like to differentiate prophets from mere predictors this way: prediction is about events that will inevitably come; prophecy is about where we are headed unless we change our ways. Prediction is about preparing for something to happen. Prophecy is about changing behavior so the worst does not happen.
A prophet is someone who
(1) analyzes the state of the world around us,
(2) compares how things are with how they should be,
(3) warns of what fate awaits if the current course continues, and
(4) urges the appropriate folks to change their ways.
An economist might be “prophetic.” The economist evaluates current business behaviors (how things are) against sound, established economic practice (how things should be). A prophetic economist might have said something like this 5 or 10 years ago: “This risky home-mortgage business will mean trouble. They are lending more than the homes are worth; they are lending more than the people can pay; they are avoiding accountability. If this keeps up, the economy is in for a collapse.” Such a “prophecy” might have helped change what was happening before it resulted in catastrophic collapse.
The Biblical prophet aims for the same kinds of things: to remind people how they ought to be faithful, because bad things tend to happen when we don’t live the way God intended. For a Jewish or Christian prophet, the “standard” or “measure” of how things should be is God’s will, revealed directly to the prophet or through the scriptures. In addition to being God’s son, Jesus was also considered a “prophet,” because he critiqued how things were and told us how they ought to be to conform with God’s reign.
Read a passage from a prophet named Amos (Amos 7.7-17), who lived almost 800 years before Jesus. Amos reminds us that prophets often tell people things they don’t want to hear. Whether we are listening to Amos or Jesus, we must learn to hear the prophet’s voice, to get past our initial resistance, and consider how we ought to change to be more faithful.
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ReplyDelete“Reading your information about the prophets, you failed to mention that the Prophets also proclaimed messages of hope -- to those in exile (Jeremiah) or being persecuted (John’s Revelation), for example. As you said, a prophet analyzes the current state of affairs and compares it with what should be, i.e. God’s plan for humanity. From that assessment the prophet either warns or encourages the people that God will indeed act to bring the world more in line with a vision of the Kingdom. Sometimes this meant punishment, but other times deliverance.”
A point very well taken and well stated. This is a side of the prophet that I forgot to recognize in my focus on Amos, and led me to make "Prophet" a 2 part post.
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