Hebrew Prophet
Read and be ready to discuss the following biblical texts:
Exodus 7: 1
1Then the LORD said to Moses, " See, I make you {as} God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2"You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. 3"But I will harden Pharaoh`s heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. 4"When Pharaoh does not listen to you, then I will lay My hand on Egypt and bring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments. 5" The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst." 6So Moses and Aaron did {it;} as the LORD commanded them, thus they did. 7Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
[8Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 9"When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ` Work a miracle,` then you shall say to Aaron, ` Take your staff and throw {it} down before Pharaoh, {that} it may become a serpent.` " ]
Deuteronomy 18:15-20:
A Prophet like Moses
Moses said to Israel:
14You will go in and take the land from nations that practice magic and witchcraft. But the LORD your God won`t allow you to do those things. 15Instead, he will choose one of your own people to be a prophet just like me, and you must do what that prophet says. 16You were asking for a prophet the day you were gathered at Mount Sinai and said to the LORD, " Please don`t let us hear your voice or see this terrible fire again--if we do, we will die!" 17Then the LORD told me:
Moses, they have said the right thing. So when I want to speak to them, I will choose one of them to be a prophet like you. I will give my message to that prophet, who will tell the people exactly what I have said. 19Since the message comes from me, anyone who doesn`t obey the message will have to answer to me.
20But if I haven`t spoken, and a prophet claims to have a message from me, you must kill that prophet, and you must also kill any prophet who claims to have a message from another god.
Amos 3:7-8
7Surely the Lord GOD does nothing Unless He reveals His secret counsel To His servants the prophets. 8A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken! Who can but prophesy?
Isaiah 6:8-10
1In the year of King Uzziah`s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3And one called out to another and said, " Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." 4And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.
5Then I said, " Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." 6Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7He touched my mouth {with it} and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven." 8Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
9He said, "Go, and tell this people: `Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.` 10" Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed." 11Then I said, "Lord, how long?" And He answered, "Until cities are devastated {and} without inhabitant, Houses are without people And the land is utterly desolate, 12"The LORD has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 13"Yet there will be a tenth portion in it, And it will again be {subject} to burning, Like a terebinth or an oak Whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump."
Jeremiah 19:1-15
1Thus says the LORD, "Go and buy a potter`s earthenware jar, and {take} some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests. 2"Then go out to the valley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrance of the potsherd gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you, 3and say, `Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Behold I am about to bring a calamity upon this place, at which the ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle. 4"Because they have forsaken Me and have made this an alien place and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods, that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had {ever} known, and {because} they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent 5and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it {ever} enter My mind; 6therefore, behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter. 7"I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will give over their carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. 8"I will also make this city a desolation and an {object of} hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its disasters. 9"I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another`s flesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life will distress them.`"
10"Then you are to break the jar in the sight of the men who accompany you 11and say to them, `Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Just so will I break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter`s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will bury in Topheth because there is no {other} place for burial. 12"This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants," declares the LORD, "so as to make this city like Topheth. 13"The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like the place Topheth, because of all the houses on whose rooftops they burned sacrifices to all the heavenly host and poured out drink offerings to other gods.`"" 14Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD`S house and said to all the people: 15"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, `Behold, I am about to bring on this city and all its towns the entire calamity that I have declared against it, because they have stiffened their necks so as not to heed My words.` "
Jeremiah 20: 7-9
1When Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, 2Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put him in the stocks that were at the upper Benjamin Gate, which was by the house of the LORD.
7O LORD, You have deceived me and I was deceived; You have overcome me and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; Everyone mocks me. 8For each time I speak, I cry aloud; I proclaim violence and destruction, Because for me the word of the LORD has resulted In reproach and derision all day long. 9But if I say, "I will not remember Him Or speak anymore in His name," Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; And I am weary of holding {it} in, And I cannot endure {it.} 10For I have heard the whispering of many, " Terror on every side! Denounce {him;} yes, let us denounce him!" All my trusted friends, Watching for my fall, say: "Perhaps he will be deceived, so that we may prevail against him And take our revenge on him."
18Why did I ever come forth from the womb To look on trouble and sorrow, So that my days have been spent in shame?
Ezekiel 3:
1Then He said to me, "Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel." 2So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll. 3He said to me, "Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you." Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth. 4Then He said to me, "Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them. 5"For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language, {but} to the house of Israel, 6nor to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. But I have sent you to them who should listen to you; 7yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are not willing to listen to Me. Surely the whole house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate. 8"Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. 9"Like emery harder than flint I have made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them or be dismayed before them, though they are a rebellious house." 10Moreover, He said to me, "Son of man, take into your heart all My words which I will speak to you and listen closely. 11"Go to the exiles, to the sons of your people, and speak to them and tell them, whether they listen or not, `Thus says the Lord GOD.`
12Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me, "Blessed be the glory of the LORD in His place." 13And I {heard} the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another and the sound of the wheels beside them, even a great rumbling sound. 14So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away; and I went embittered in the rage of my spirit, and the hand of the LORD was strong on me. 15Then I came to the exiles who lived beside the river Chebar at Tel-abib, and I sat there seven days where they were living, causing consternation among them.
16At the end of seven days the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 17"Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me. 18"When I say to the wicked, `You will surely die,` and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 19"Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself. 20"Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. 21"However, if you have warned the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself."
22The hand of the LORD was on me there, and He said to me, "Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will speak to you." 23So I got up and went out to the plain; and behold, the glory of the LORD was standing there, like the glory which I saw by the river Chebar, and I fell on my face. 24The Spirit then entered me and made me stand on my feet, and He spoke with me and said to me, "Go, shut yourself up in your house. 25"As for you, son of man, they will put ropes on you and bind you with them so that you cannot go out among them. 26"Moreover, I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be mute and cannot be a man who rebukes them, for they are a rebellious house. 27"But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you will say to them, `Thus says the Lord GOD.` He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.
1 Samuel 9: 1-27
1There was an influential man of Benjamin named Kish son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, son of a Benjaminite. 2He had a son named Saul, an impressive young man. There was no one more impressive among the Israelites than he. He stood a head taller than anyone else.
3One day the donkeys of Saul`s father Kish wandered off. Kish said to his son Saul, "Take one of the attendants with you and go look for the donkeys." 4Saul and his attendant went through the hill country of Ephraim and then through the region of Shalishah, but they didn`t find them. They went through the region of Shaalim -nothing. Then they went through the Benjaminite region but still didn`t find them.
5When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to the attendant who was with him, "Come on, let`s go back, or my father will stop [worrying] about the donkeys and start worrying about us."
6"Look," the attendant said, "there`s a man of God in this city who is highly respected; everything he says is sure to come true. Let`s go there now. Maybe he`ll tell us which way we should go."
7"Suppose we do go," Saul said to his attendant, "what do we take the man? The food from our packs is gone, and there`s no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?"
8The attendant answered Saul: "Here, I have a piece of silver. I`ll give it to the man of God, and he will tell us our way."
9Formerly in Israel, a man who was going to inquire of God would say, "Come, let`s go to the seer," for the prophet of today was formerly called the seer.
10"Good," Saul replied to his attendant. "Come on, let`s go." So they went to the city where the man of God was.
11As they were climbing the hill to the city, they found some young women coming out to draw water and asked, "Is the seer here?"
12The women answered, "Yes, he is ahead of you. Hurry, he just now came to the city, because there`s a sacrifice for the people at the high place today. 13If you go quickly, you can catch up with him before he goes to the high place to eat. The people won`t eat until he comes because he must bless the sacrifice; after that, the guests can eat. Go up immediately-you can find him now." 14So they went up toward the city.
Saul and his attendant were entering the city when they saw Samuel coming toward them on his way to the high place. 15Now the day before Saul`s arrival, the Lord had informed Samuel, 16"At this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him ruler over My people Israel. He will save them from the hand of the Philistines because I have seen [the affliction of] My people, for their cry has come to Me." 17When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, "Here is the man I told you about; he will rule over My people."
18Saul approached Samuel in the gate area and asked, "Would you please tell me where the seer`s house is?"
19"I am the seer," Samuel answered. "Go up ahead of me to the high place and eat with me today. When I send you off in the morning, I`ll tell you everything that`s in your heart. 20As for the donkeys that wandered away from you three days ago, don`t worry about them because they`ve been found. And who does all Israel desire but you and all your father`s family?"
21Saul responded, "Am I not a Benjaminite from the smallest of Israel`s tribes and isn`t my clan the least important of all the clans of the Benjaminite tribe? So why have you said something like this to me?"
22Samuel took Saul and his attendant, brought them to the banquet hall, and gave them a place at the head of the 30 or so men who had been invited. 23Then Samuel said to the cook, "Get the portion of meat that I gave you and told you to set aside."
24The cook picked up the thigh and what was attached to it and set it before Saul. Then Samuel said, "Notice that the reserved piece is set before you. Eat it because it was saved for you for this solemn event at the time I said, `I`ve invited the people.` " So Saul ate with Samuel that day. 25Afterwards, they went down from the high place to the city, and Samuel spoke with Saul on [the] roof.
26They got up early, and just before dawn, Samuel called to Saul on the roof, "Get up, and I`ll send you on your way!" Saul got up, and both he and Samuel went outside. 27As they were going down to the edge of the city, Samuel said to Saul, "Tell the attendant to go on ahead of us, but you stay for awhile, and I`ll reveal the word of God to you." So the attendant went on.
1Kings 21: 1 - 29
1Some time passed after these events. Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard; it was in Jezreel next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 2So Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, "Give me your vineyard so I can have it for a vegetable garden, since it is right next to my palace. I will give you a better vineyard in its place, or if you prefer, I will give you its value in silver."
3But Naboth said to Ahab, "I will never give my fathers` inheritance to you."
4So Ahab went to his palace resentful and angry, because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had told him. He had said, "I will not give you my fathers` inheritance." He lay down on his bed, turned his face away, and didn`t eat any food.
5Then his wife Jezebel came to him and said to him, "Why are you so upset that you refuse to eat?"
6"Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite," he replied. "I told him: Give me your vineyard for silver, or if you wish, I will give you a vineyard in its place. But he said, `I won`t give you my vineyard!` "
7Then his wife Jezebel said to him, "Now, exercise your royal power over Israel. Get up, eat some food, and be happy. [For] I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite." 8So she wrote letters in Ahab`s name and sealed them with his seal. She sent the letters to the elders and nobles who lived with Naboth in his city. 9In the letters, she wrote:
Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people. 10Then seat two wicked men opposite him and have them testify against him, saying, "You have cursed God and king!" Then take him out and stone him to death.
11The men of his city, the elders and nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had commanded them, as was written in the letters she had sent them. 12They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the people. 13The two wicked men came in and sat opposite him. Then the wicked men testified against Naboth in the presence of the people, saying, "Naboth has cursed God and king!" So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death with stones. 14Then they sent [word] to Jezebel, "Naboth has been stoned to death."
15When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, "Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite who refused to give it to you for silver, since Naboth isn`t alive, but dead." 16When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it.
17Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: 18"Get up and go to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria. You`ll find him in Naboth`s vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it. 19Tell him, `This is what the Lord says: Have you murdered and also taken possession? ` Then tell him, `This is what the Lord says: In the place where the dogs licked Naboth`s blood, the dogs will also lick your blood! ` "
20Ahab said to Elijah, "So, you have caught me, my enemy." He replied, "I have caught you because you devoted yourself to do what is evil in the Lord`s sight. 21This is what the Lord says: `I am about to bring disaster on you and will sweep away your descendants: I will eliminate all of Ahab`s males, both slave and free, in Israel; 22I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked [My] anger and caused Israel to sin. 23The Lord also speaks of Jezebel: The dogs will eat Jezebel in the plot of land at Jezreel:
24He who belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, the dogs will eat, and he who dies in the field, the birds of the sky will eat. ` "
25Still, there was no one like Ahab, who devoted himself to do what was evil in the Lord`s sight, because his wife Jezebel incited him. 26He committed the most detestable acts by going after idols as the Amorites had, whom the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.
27When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put sackcloth over his body, and fasted. He lay down in sackcloth and walked around subdued. 28Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: 29"Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? I will not bring the disaster during his lifetime, because he has humbled himself before Me. I will bring the disaster on his house during his son`s lifetime."
2Samuel 12: 1 - 31
1So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When he arrived, he said to him:
There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. 2The rich man had a large number of sheep and cattle, 3but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. It lived and grew up with him and his children. It shared his meager food and drank from his cup; it slept in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. 4Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man could not bring himself to take one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man`s lamb and prepared it for his guest.
5David was infuriated with the man and said to Nathan: "As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 6Because he has done this thing and shown no pity, he must pay four lambs for that lamb."
7Nathan replied to David, "You are the man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: `I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8I gave your master`s house to you and your master`s wives into your arms, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more. 9Why then have you despised the command of the Lord by doing what I consider evil? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife as your own wife-you murdered him with the Ammonite`s sword. 10Now therefore, the sword will never leave your house because you despised Me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own wife.`
11"This is what the Lord says, `I am going to bring disaster on you from your own family: I will take your wives and give them to another before your very eyes, and he will sleep with them publicly. 12You acted in secret, but I will do this before all Israel and in broad daylight.` "
13David responded to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord."
Then Nathan replied to David, "The Lord has taken away your sin; you will not die. 14However, because you treated the Lord with such contempt in this matter, the son born to you will die."
15Then Nathan went home.
