Your Sons & Daughters Shall Prophesy - Prophetic Gifts Today In The New Testament Church

A Profile of the Ancient Hebrew Prophet

Poetry was used by the Hebrew prophets, but unlike us they rhymed thoughts rather than words.The Psalms are filled with this kind of par allelism.The prophets spoke and wrote prophetic poetry and sometimes put it to music, which helped perpetuate the message since the people could remember it more easily. Ellison points out that "before the days of printing, the only possibility of a message becoming widely known was for it to be passed from mouth to mouth." 14 Writing and Recording. Gad wrote of the acts of David, while Nathan recorded the acts of David (1 Chronicles 29:29) and of Solomon (2 Chron icles 9:29). Habakkuk was told to "write the vision, and make it plain" (2:2, KJV). Shemaiah recorded certain information (2 Chronicles 12:15). Iddo wrote a story about Abijah (2 Chronicles 13:22), "visions ...against Jeroboam" (2 Chronicles 9:29, KJV) and historical notices regarding "the acts of Rehoboam" (2 Chronicles 12:15). Jehu recorded the acts of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20:34). God instructed Jeremiah to write down some judgment prophecies and have them delivered to the king.The man uscripts were shredded and burned, much to the consternation of Baruch the scribe. Then they were to be written again and once again delivered (Jeremiah 36). Jeremiah was also to write down in a book the words that God gave him (Jeremiah 30:1-2). Certain truths were to be recorded as a part of enacted prophecy, as Ezekiel recording the day the siege of Jerusalem began (Ezekiel 24:1-2). Lamentation and Dirge. In many places in the Psalms we find lamen tations. These expressions of grief and sorrow (similar to the "burden" of the Lord) were a vital part of the prophet's repertoire. Jeremiah, for instance, "chanted a lament for Josiah" (2 Chronicles 35:25).In fact his entire book of Lamentations is such an expression. Prediction. Slightly more than one-fourth of the biblical message is pre dictive. .15 Future events were presented in a variety of styles: simple speech, a written statement, a thundering oracle, a musical expression, a woeful lamentation.Imagine the rough-hewn Elijah declaring to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word" (1 Kings 17:1).I would add an exclamation point because I think the prophet was really waxing bold! A sad commentary on the future predictions of the prophets was that their messages were rejected consistently by Israel and Judah; both kingdoms failed to heed the prophetic warnings and were destroyed. Futuristic prophecy involved contemporary events, the near future and the far-distant future. Clifford Hill lists five categories under the last type:

• The Day of the Lord • The ingathering of the exiles

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