Prophets and Prophetesses

A prophet in Scripture is not primarily a predictor but a person who speaks for God. The office is defined at Sinai, where the people asked not to hear the voice directly, and God promised, "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put My words in his mouth" (Deuteronomy 18:15–18). The test given alongside it is plain: if a word does not come to pass, the LORD has not spoken it (Deuteronomy 18:21–22). Moses is the standard, the one whom the LORD knew face to face (Deuteronomy 34:10).

Women held the office from early on. Miriam is called a prophetess when she leads the singing after the sea (Exodus 15:20). Deborah, a prophetess, was judging Israel and sent for Barak (Judges 4:4–6). Huldah the prophetess was the one consulted when the Book of the Law was found in Josiah's reign, and the king's officials went to her rather than to Jeremiah, and she sent back the word of the LORD (2 Kings 22:14–20). Noadiah is named among prophets who tried to make Nehemiah afraid (Nehemiah 6:14), a reminder that the title alone guaranteed nothing.

The classical prophets divide between those who left books and those who did not. Elijah the Tishbite and Elisha left no writings but confronted kings and raised the dead; Elijah was told to anoint Elisha and in the event called him by throwing his cloak over him (1 Kings 19:16, 19), and the anointing of Jehu was carried out by a young prophet Elisha sent (2 Kings 9:1–6). Nathan came to David with a parable about a poor man's lamb (2 Samuel 12:1–7). Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up and said, "Here I am! Send me" (Isaiah 6:1–8). Jeremiah was told he was known before he was formed in the womb and objected that he was only a youth (Jeremiah 1:5–6). Ezekiel prophesied among the exiles by the Chebar canal (Ezekiel 1:1–3), Daniel served in Babylon, and the twelve shorter books run from Hosea to Malachi.

In the New Testament the gift continues. Anna, a prophetess of great age who worshiped with fasting and prayer night and day, spoke of the child in the temple (Luke 2:36–38). John the Baptist, was called more than a prophet (Matthew 11:9), and his father Zechariah and Elizabeth both spoke by the Spirit (Luke 1:41–42, 67). At Antioch, Barnabas, Simeon Called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen were listed among prophets and teachers (Acts 13:1). Agabus foretold a famine and later bound his own hands and feet with Paul's belt (Acts 11:28; Acts 21:10–11). Judas and Silas themselves prophets, encouraged the brothers with many words (Acts 15:32), and The Daughters of Philip four unmarried women at Caesarea, prophesied (Acts 21:9).

Peter sums up the whole line at Pentecost by quoting Joel: sons and daughters shall prophesy (Acts 2:17), and elsewhere writes that no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21).