L ET’S FACE IT. FEW BIBLE READERS KNOW MUCH ABOUT THE PROPHETS, WHO after the conquest take a backseat to David, Solomon, and maybe a couple of the judges. The average Christian reads the prophetic material only when the pastor needs a good sermon on sin or judgment. The prophets are just a bunch of wild-eyed doom-and-gloom fanatics.
The caricature is not completely without foundation, but it fails to accurately communicate who the prophets were, why God raised them up, and what their mission was. There is a distinct pattern to Yahweh’s sovereign choice of human leaders, a pattern that includes the divine council.
To discern the full implications of this pattern, it is vital to first understand what is meant by the term “prophet.” Forecasting future events was only a small part of what prophetic figures did and what they were about. Prophets were simply people who spoke for God—men and women who, at God’s direction, looked their fellow Israelites in the eye and told them they were being disloyal to the God to whom they owed their existence and who had chosen a relationship with them over everyone else on earth. Prophets told people the unvarnished truth and often paid dearly for it.
The “classical prophets” (e.g., Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel) preached during the days of the monarchy (from the time of Saul onward). But God had been appointing people to speak on his behalf for much longer than that. For example, Samuel, the last of the judges, is called a prophet (1 Sam 3:20). Since Samuel is a transitional figure from the time of the judges to the establishment of the first king in Israel, Samuel is thought of as the first prophet. That isn’t actually the case. If we define prophets simply as spokespeople for God, prophets go all the way back to the beginning. 1
Eden was the dwelling place of Yahweh, the place from which he ruled with his council. Humanity was created to be part of God’s family and his ruling council. That’s not difficult to discern when approaching Genesis in its original ancient context, but seeing Adam as a prophetic figure requires moving outside Genesis. In Job 15:7–8 ( ESV ), Eliphaz, one of Job’s friends, asks Job some intriguing questions: “Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought forth before the hills? Have you listened in the council of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?”
The questions are obviously rhetorical. By using contrast, they each anticipate an answer of no. Of course Job was not the first man—Adam was. Job had not listened in the council of God (Hebrew: sod eloah ), but the rhetorical contrast implies that Adam had listened in the council of God. This would make sense, given that Adam lived in Eden, the meeting place of the council, and that it had been God’s intent for human beings to be his earthly children and human members of his council.
Think back to Genesis 3:8, a passage I’ve alluded to before, in which Yahweh approaches humans as a man. When Adam and Eve violated God’s command, they suddenly heard “the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” This “walking” terminology suggests that God appeared to them in human form (spirits don’t “walk”). The text says that Adam and Eve knew it was God—there was no surprise or shock. This was an experience they’d had before. Adam and Eve were familiar with being in God’s presence. We don’t think of that in prophetic terms because there were no other people. But once there were, Adam and Eve would have been the mediators between God and other humans, their own children.
The description of Yahweh “walking” is also used of God’s active presence inside Israel’s tabernacle , creating another link between Eden, the cosmic mountain, and the tabernacle sanctuary. 2 One can read the Old Testament in vain for any instance where Yahweh walked around the camp of Israel, as opposed to appearing in a cloud over the holy of holies, and so the description here isn’t describing God literally glad-handing with the Israelites. Rather, the language is another way of saying that Yahweh’s abode was among the Israelites—and where Yahweh’s house was, his council was. On the other side of the veil was where Yahweh and his council could be found.
The idea that “walking” was language that expressed presence shouldn’t be foreign to us. We use it, too, when we talk about “walking with God.” Our conception is one of communion or relationship. Scripture uses the phrase for at least that much, but it could also mean more direct contact with the divine presence. And understanding the notion of “meeting with God” is crucial to understanding what being God’s spokesperson meant. When God chose someone to speak for him—to represent him to the rest of humanity or to his own people, they had to meet first. This is the idea behind the biblical “call” to service.
In the Old Testament, two men “walked with God” (the same Hebrew verb used to describe God’s “walking” above). They were both prophetic figures: Enoch and Noah. It is certain that these two men directly encountered God, though few details are given.
Enoch is remembered in Genesis 5:22, 24 as never seeing death. These passages note that he walked with God, and God took him. Jewish writings from the time period between the Old and New Testaments do in fact connect these few words with the divine council. In the book of 1 Enoch (12:1ff. ) the events of Genesis 5:22, 24 serve as the springboard to Enoch’s visions of heaven and God’s throne room. Enoch was considered God’s mouthpiece by Jewish readers primarily because he was the person who delivered God’s words of judgment to the fallen sons of God after the Genesis 6:1–4 incident (1 Enoch 13–16 ). The New Testament also reports that Enoch “prophesied”:
It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him” 3 (Jude 14–15 ESV ).
Noah also walked with God, according to Genesis 6:9. God spoke directly to Noah, as he had done to Adam before him and many prophets after him. Noah was God’s mouthpiece, prophesying the coming flood to his contemporaries, warning them of the coming judgment (2 Pet 2:5).
THE PATRIARCHS 4
The pattern of an encounter with God or with divine council members as validation of one’s prophetic status gets even clearer with the patriarchs. Since we’ve covered this ground in previous chapters, though not with an eye to understanding the pattern behind these events, we’ll take an abbreviated tour here.
The reader will surely recall that Yahweh appeared to Abraham on several occasions (Gen 12:1–7; 15:1–6; cf. Acts 7:2–4). There’s a detail in these encounters that I’ve not mentioned before. In Gen 12:6–7, we’re told that Yahweh appeared to Abraham at the Oak of Moreh, which was near Shechem. Yahweh’s subsequent visitation with Abraham just before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah occurred at a place called the Oaks of Mamre (Gen 18:1).
The Oak of Moreh and the Oaks of Mamre are each what scholars call a terebinth—a sacred tree that got its sacred reputation because it marked a spot where divine beings appeared. In fact, “Oak of Moreh” literally means “Oak of the Teacher.” The point behind the name would be that some divine figure teaches people or dispenses information at this location—what we commonly think of as an oracle. Because they were thought to be holy ground, places where God was present, 5 such places were considered good places to bury loved ones. The dispensing of divine knowledge and divine decrees is of course something the biblical writers associated with the divine council (Job 15:7–8; 1 Kgs 22:13–23). This connection will be especially transparent when we get to the classical prophets.
While Abraham was still a pagan, God had chosen him to be the father of Yahweh’s new earthly inheritance after the debacle at Babel, where the nations were given over to lesser elohim (Deut 32:8–9). Abraham became the conduit for God’s truth to the disinherited nations. Abraham’s son, Isaac, enjoyed the same status, and Yahweh appeared to him also when confirming the covenant (Gen 26:1–5). Jacob had a number of direct divine encounters (Gen 28:10–22; 31:11–13; 32:22–32). He inherited the covenantal prophetic status of his father and grandfather.
The pattern that emerges from the patriarchal sagas is that when God chooses someone to represent him, that person must first meet with God. By necessity, that meeting is with the visible Yahweh, who can be discerned by human senses. In many cases, the divine job interview occurs in a place that is described as God’s home or headquarters, the place where the divine council meets.
It should be obvious that the pattern for divine approval of prophetic status holds true for Moses. Deuteronomy 34:10 makes it clear that Moses was a prophet, and his numerous divine encounters validated that status (Exod 3:1–3; 24:15–18; 33:7–11). For the Israelites, divine encounter was what convinced people that Moses was God’s man. Exodus 19:9 makes the connection explicit: “And Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Look, I am going to come to you in a thick cloud in order that the people will hear when I speak with you and will also trust in you forever.’ ”
The implication is clear—the people need to listen and will listen to the person who is validated by an encounter with the presence of God.
Divine encounter was also what initially validated Joshua as a prophet. In Exodus 24:13, just before the description of how Moses and the elders of Israel shared a meal with Yahweh on Sinai, we read, “So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God” ( ESV ). The verse implies that Joshua went along with Moses to see God. Exodus 33:9–11 makes Joshua’s contact with Yahweh a bit clearer:
9 When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses. 10 And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. 11 Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent (Exod 33:9–11 ESV ).
In Deuteronomy 31:14–23 Yahweh specifically commands Moses to bring Joshua to the tent of meeting, where God himself commissioned Joshua to replace Moses.
Perhaps the most familiar initiation of a prophet into Yahweh’s presence—and his divine council throne room—is the case of Isaiah. Isaiah 6:1–2 ( ESV ) reads:
1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne , high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple . 2 Above him stood the seraphim . Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
Verse 8 ( ESV ) makes it clear why Isaiah has been summoned:
“And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us ?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am! Send me. ’ ”
It is important not to miss the wording of Isaiah 6:8—whom shall I send, and who will go for us ? As we saw in an earlier chapter about the divine council, the participatory nature of God’s rule with his council is again evident. 6 God is the commissioner, but the commission extends from his divine council as well.
The same divine rite of passage was experienced by Ezekiel in an even more dramatic call to ministry. Instead of transporting Ezekiel to Yahweh’s throne room, Yahweh and members of his entourage come to Ezekiel (1:1–28), who is then commissioned as Yahweh’s spokesman (2:1–3). Ezekiel begins his book:
1 In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.…
4 As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal. 5 And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures.…
26 And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance.…
28 Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD . And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
2:1 And he said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” 2 And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day ( ESV ).
The prophet Jeremiah fits the pattern as well. We saw in an earlier chapter that the embodied Word appeared to Jeremiah to commission him for duty:
7 “To all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
8 Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
declares the LORD .”
9 Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me,
“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth” (Jer 1:7–9 ESV ).
Jeremiah’s dramatic call by the embodied Yahweh is quite important in the book of Jeremiah, for it serves as the basis of true prophet status . What began in the days of Moses as public validation of his call and the call of those who served with him became fixated in the minds of Israelites as a litmus test to apply to any who claimed to be God’s vessel. In Jeremiah 23 we read God’s own words about false prophets:
16 Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD . 17 They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD , ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’ ”
18 For who among them has stood in the council of the LORD
to see and to hear his word,
or who has paid attention to his word and listened?…
21 “I did not send the prophets,
yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
and they would have turned them from their evil way,
and from the evil of their deeds” (Jer 23:16–18, 21–22 ESV ).
The implications are clear: true prophets have stood and listened in Yahweh’s divine council; false prophets have not.
The litmus test of direct divine encounter for validating one who claimed to speak for God never went away in Israel. It was alive and well in New Testament times. The next three chapters—the final ones devoted to the Old Testament—will ready our minds for Yahweh’s ultimate human voice. The prophets would fail in their ministry, in the sense that they were not able to preserve and revive Israel’s loyalty to Yahweh. Israel’s failure meant a change in Yahweh’s approach to reviving his kingdom rule. The prophetic message would change to judgment and redemption—but the means was deliberately veiled. Even God’s loyal angels couldn’t quite figure out exactly what God was plotting (1 Pet 1:12).
You and I have the advantage of hindsight—but we still need to know what we’re looking at.