In this second installment on the ministry of prophecy, Edmund Heddle looks at how prophets are called and equipped by God.

Neither in the Old Testament times nor in the New Testament Church did the prophets appoint themselves. Only a false prophet would dare to take that office upon himself (Jer 23:21).

Prophets did not inherit the calling from their fathers, nor did they receive it by human appointment. It was by God himself that they were chosen and called. The initiative in making a prophet rested with God alone and all true prophets received a specific and personal call from him.

The Prophetic Call

The prophetic call might come to men and women at different points in their lifetime and in a variety of personal situations.

No prophet is self-appointed: all are called and equipped by God alone."

• Moses, already an ageing man, received his call as he turned aside to contemplate a bush that blazed with flames and yet did not burn away (Ex 3:1-4, 17).
• The young Isaiah saw a vision of the thrice-holy God that humbled him to confess his sinful speaking. After cleansing his lips God challenged him to undertake the work of being a prophet, Isaiah gave a glad answer in the classic response: "Here am I; send me!" (Isa 6:1-9).
• For Hosea it was through the sad experience of his own unhappy domestic life that he came to realise that God was calling him to prophesy. God called him first to experience in his home circumstances the continued unfaithfulness of his wife before he was ready to proclaim the continuing love and the unwearying patience of God towards his unfaithful people (Hos 1:2, 11:8-9, 14:4).
• Jeremiah was still only a youth when God's call came, to which he responded with protestations that he was far too young for such responsibility. God replied by telling him that he had in fact been called even before his birth! God, however, reassured him by promising that he would be given the very words that he wanted him to speak (Jer 1:4-9).
• Many years before, another young man, Samuel, had heard the voice of God one night calling him to be a prophet. Like Jeremiah he also had been given a message he did not want to pass on (1 Sam 3:1-21).
• Amos, working as a herdsman in his native Judaea heard God calling him to leave those pasture lands and go to Israel to challenge the sophisticated priests and rulers in the religious centre at Bethel (Amos 7:12-15).
• Scripture does not tell us when and where Micah was called to prophesy but he tells how the anointing Spirit had come upon him, enabling him to speak God's word to both Israel and Judah (Mic 3:8).
• Ezekiel shared being in exile with God's people in Babylon, sitting where they sat and becoming overwhelmed by what he saw until in the fourth month of the fifth year of their captivity he was called to the prophetic ministry (Eze 2:3-7, 3:14-15).
• There were a number of prophets who were reluctant to pass on the message they had received, but only Jonah tried to escape from the prophetic call by running away. Only after alarming experiences did the persistence and mercy of God give his disobedient servant a second chance (Jonah 1:1, 3:1).

Not all the prophets of the Bible give details of their call, but we can be certain that none of them were self-appointed. They were speaking because they had to; they were speaking what they spoke because, having heard what God had to say, they were obliged to pass it on (Jer 20:9).

Today throughout the world there are still men and women who must speak out, because they too have heard what the Lord God has to say."

The Task of the Prophet

The nature of the work which the prophets were called to perform may be seen by a study of the Hebrew words which were used to describe them and their prophesying. In 1 Samuel 9:9 there is an editorial note to the effect that "he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer". Such a verse as this and 1 Chronicles 29:29 appear to use these words with a discrimination that is not sustained throughout the rest of the Old Testament. However, there is a distinction between their meaning.

Ro'eh (translated 'seer') is an active participle of the verb 'to see' and chozeh (also translated 'seer') is a similar part of the verb 'to gaze at'. Both words indicate that a prophet was someone who saw things to which other men were blind. The ability to see was not to be attributed to their own insight, neither had it been discovered by an occult means similar to heathen divination; it was the result of illumination by the Spirit of God. Samuel was a 'seer' to whom people turned when they wanted to know of God's will or sought direction in national, local or personal affairs (1 Sam 7:3-4, 9:3-11).

In contrast to these two words translated 'seer', which together occur a total of not more than thirty times in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, the word 'nabhi' (translated 'prophet') occurs over 300 times. The derivation of this word has occasioned considerable debate, but it is widely believed it can be traced to an Akkadian root 'nabu' meaning 'to call'. The choice in understanding lies between the prophet as being one who is called by God; or the prophet as being the one who calls, either to men for God or to God for men, ie by intercession.

The prophet is a person who is called to see what God is showing and to pass on its significance to his fellow men."

It seems better to understand 'nabhi' not in the passive sense of the one who is called i.e. the recipient of the vocation; but in the active sense of an announcer or messenger ie the one who is charged with carrying out the vocation. The prophet is a person who is called to see what God is showing and to pass on its significance to his fellow men. Today the world situation as never before underlines our desperate need of seers who can see with God's eyes and prophets who can speak forth his authoritative word.

Description of a Prophet

There are a number of significant phrases in the Old Testament which tell us yet more about the prophet and his calling. The prophet is called:

1. A man of God (1 Sam 9:6), implying that as a man of righteous character he was more closely in touch with God than other men. From the time of Moses down to the time of the monarchy the phrase was in use (1 Kings 13:1, 2 Kings 4:9).
2. The servant of the LORD. This is another description going back to the time of Moses (Josh 1:2) and it became the standard way of referring to all later prophets, especially when they were referred to collectively (2 Kings 17:13 and 23, Ezra 9:11, Jer 7:25). A prophet's primary task is to serve God and to do all that is expected of him, however strange God's orders might be (Isa 20:3).
3. The messenger of the LORD. This phrase found in the post-exile prophets shows that the particular service which the prophets rendered was that of passing on messages from God (Hag 1:13, Mal 3:1). 'Malachi' means 'my messenger'.
4. The man of the Spirit (Hos 9:7). This description draws attention to the fact that the source of the prophet's inspiration and power is nothing less than the Spirit of God himself (2 Chron 15:1-2, and 24:20, Neh 9:30, Mic 3:8).
5. My anointed one (Ps 105:15). It is clear that this phrase from Psalm 105 refers to the patriarchs and attributes their ability for hearing God's voice to the anointing of God's Spirit upon them. In Isaiah 61:1 the prophet claims that he had been anointed by the Spirit of God; an experience which years later Jesus declared had been fulfilled in his own experience (Luke 4:17-19).
6. A watchman. This word draws attention to the awesome responsibility the prophet has of first keeping his eye on what is happening and then not failing to issue the appropriate warning to the people (Hos 9:8, Eze 3:17 and 33:1-9).
7. A trumpet-blower. Closely associated with the duties of the watchman is that of blowing the trumpet (Jer 6:17). The prophet's word must be loud and clear so that there can be no mistaking the urgency of his message (Isa 58:1, Jer 4:5, Hos 8:1, Joel 2:1 and 15, Amos 3:6).

Reluctance

We have seen that it is God who chooses and calls individuals to serve as prophets. The first reaction may be one of unworthiness, unfitness or even total unwillingness. But with that call comes the deepening conviction that it is their eyes through which God's view of the human situation is to be perceived; it is their heart that is to sense and share his feelings about that situation and it is their lips that must patiently and courageously pass on what he has to say about it.

When God calls, first reactions are often feelings of unworthiness, unfitness or total unwillingness. But with his call comes deepening conviction..."

They may feel unfitted, as herdsman Amos did when he confronted the sophisticated ecclesiastics of Bethel. They may, like Jonah, try to run as far as possible in the opposite direction. They may even get to the lengths of accusing God of taking advantage of them (Jer 20:7-8).

Prophetic Imperative

But the 'goodly fellowship of the prophets' shares one common obligation; they must pass on what God has revealed (Amos 3:8b). This message may not be what the majority of people want to hear with their unending pursuit of peace and the 'smooth things' that false prophets promise (Isa 30:10). It may not even be the kind of message that the prophet himself likes passing on. In that case the prophet must put aside his own ideas, feelings and prejudices. As a watchman he must watch carefully; as a seer see clearly; as a trumpeter alert people effectively to their danger; so that as a true prophet he may faithfully pass on God's word.

Prophetic messages may not be what people want to hear, or what prophets like passing on. But those who God calls, he also anoints and equips to be faithful by his Holy Spirit."

No prophets could ever meet such demands from their own resources. It is essential to the carrying out of their calling that the anointing of the Spirit has come down upon them (Zech 4:6). All we have discovered about the prophets of the Old Testament applies equally to those whom God is calling to the ministry of prophecy today.

First published in Prophecy Today, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1985.