 Previous Page |
This Study Index | Go to the Top | Bible Study Index | Next Page  |
|---|
RP213 #1. WHAT IS PROPHECY?If you wish to read the Greek in this study, and you haven't yet installed the font, then go to the bible study page and do it now, or alternatively you may download it here. This bible study uses the Hebrew Unicode font "David" which comes with later versions of Windows. |
This is a short bible study explaining, 'What is prophecy?' The best place to start in this study on prophets is the meaning of the words. There are three words in the Hebrew that we can look at:
(1) Prophet, Hb. נָבִיא ,
Htr. nābî’ (Strongs 5030 occurs 316x) from the root word nābā. Which means "prophecy", or "to speak under inspiration", in
prediction or simple discourse.
The meaning of the word can be seen in the scripture:
(Exodus 7:1) "And the Lord said to Moses, See, I have made you a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet."
The background to this statement is in Exodus 4:10-16 where Moses argued his inability to speak, and God gave Aaron his brother to speak for him. The
word prophet then means, "one who speaks for another".
(Exodus 4:16) "And he shall be your spokesman to the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to you instead
of a mouth, and you shall be to him instead of God."
The expression, "he shall be to you instead of a mouth," shows that Aaron would speak exactly what Moses wanted him to say. Therefore a prophet of God is one who speaks exactly what God wants him to say.
(2) Seer, Hb. רָאָה ,
Htr. rā’âh (Strongs 7200 occurs 1313x) a verb which primarily means "to see". It is rendered "see" (879x), "look" (104x), "beholds"
(83x), "show" (68x), "appear" (66x), "consider" (24x), "seer" (12x) etc. When this verb is translated "seer", it is always in the form
of a participle, and means the same as a prophet, as the scripture shows:
(1 Samuel 9:9) "(Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spoke, Come, and let us
go to the seer: for he who is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.)"
Its noun Htr. rō’ēh occurs only once and is translated "vision" (Isaiah 28:7).
(3) Seer, Hb. חֹזֶה ,
Htr. chōzeh (Strongs 2374 occurs 22x) which means "one who sees or beholds" as in a vision. It is translated "seer" (16x), "see that"
(3x), "prophet" (1x), etc.
This is the same as a prophet as the scriptures shows:
(2 Samuel 24:11) "For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,"
In the New Testament the word for "prophet", Gr. profhthj, Gtr. prophētēs, (Strongs 4396 occurs 149x) is always translated "prophet". It is made up of two words, the preposition "pro", which means "before, in front of, or prior to", and the verb "phemi" which means "to say". It therefore refers to one who speaks something before it happens. The New Testament prophets spoke in the same manner as the Old Testament prophets, as if God was speaking through them (See also #1.2).
MATTHEW 1:22
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken
of the Lord by the prophet1, saying,
MATTHEW 2:15
15 And was there until the
death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet1, saying, Out of
Egypt have I called my son.
ACTS 3:21
21 Whom the heaven must receive
until the times of restitution of all things, which God has spoken by2 the mouth of all his holy prophets
since the world began.
HEBREWS 1:1-2
1 God, who in many parts and in various ways spoke
in time past to the fathers by the prophets3,
2 Has in these last days spoken to us by4 his
Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Note:
The words translated of the Lord by the prophet1 (Gr. upo
tou kuriou dia tou profhtou, Gtr. hupo
tou kuriou dia tou prophetou) are all genitive case in the Greek, and
really mean "by the Lord through the prophet". The word translated by2
(Gr. dia,
Gtr. dia) (Acts 3:21) is also used with the genitive case and means "through".
The words translated by the prophets3 (Gr. en
toij profhtaij, Gtr. en tois prophetais)
are dative case in the Greek, and mean "by means
of the prophets", or "in the prophets". The word translated by4
(Gr. en,
Gtr. en) (Hebrews 1:2) is also with the dative case and means, "by means of". God is therefore speaking through the prophet, who
usually precedes the message with "Thus says the LORD", which occurs 413
times in the Old Testament (Exodus 4:22; 2 Samuel 12:7; Isaiah 38:1 etc.). This was
an expression sometimes used by false prophets also (1 Kings 22:11; Jeremiah 28:11;
Ezekiel 22:28). In the New Testament they say, "Thus says the Holy Spirit,"
(Acts 21:10).
Often (in Jeremiah (7x), Ezekiel (37x), and Zechariah (2x)) a recorded
prophesy is preceded by the words, "The word of the LORD came to me,
saying". Sometimes a prophecy may be preceded by an expression similar to,
"The spirit of the Lord came upon," (1 Samuel 16:13; 2 Chronicles 20 14;
Isaiah 61:1; Ezekiel 11:5).
If you have benefited from reading this study, then please tell your friends about this website.
If you have a web-site of your own, then please consider linking to this web-site. See the Website Links page.
To link to this page use: http://www.logosapostolic.org/bible_study/RP213-1WhatisProphecy.htm