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

Makeup: Traits That Characterized a Prophet

were infrequent" (literally, prophetic "vision was not spread," 21 or, "there was no vision breaking through" 22 ). We must assume, therefore, that groups of prophets did not exist at the time of Samuel's birth but somehow came into existence during his life time. The strongest evidence that they were founded by Samuel is 1 Samuel 19:20, where he is portrayed as "standing and presiding over them" at Ramah. Samuel probably gathered these prospective ministerial students together on occasion in order to: • Build camaraderie among prophetically gifted ministerial students; • Fashion a force that would help check the decline in religious life and maintain spirituality throughout the kingdom; • Study and learn the Law of God, prayer and worship; While undergoing training, they must have had wonderful supernatu ral demonstrations among themselves! A prophetic aura surrounded their encampment so that even Saul and his followers came under the afflatus of the Spirit (1 Samuel 10:5, 10; 19:18, 20). Although some prophets did come from their ranks, God did not depend solely on these training groups for the calling of His prophets. This affirms once again the free will and choice of God. The expression sons ofthe prophets is found only in 1 and 2 Kings dur ing the time of Elijah and Elisha, during the divided monarchy, and seems to indicate a continuation of the program initiated by Samuel. 23 These "sons" were pupils or disciples of (not literal children of) a prophet. The instructor or leader was considered a spiritual or prophetic "father" (2 Kings 2:12). 24 The sons of the prophets were those disciples of the prophets who devoted themselves studiously to this ministry, sometimes acting as the messengers or ministers to carry out the direction of their leaders. Samuel apparently realized quickly, like many religious leaders through the ages, that the importance of his prophetic gift and office must be per petuated. What better way than to gather and train disciples to carry on his ministry? He realized he had launched a restoration or renewal move ment, but that he must also take measures to make his work permanent. We know little of how Samuel did this, but we must remember that those were primitive times. Samuel was less interested in establishing an accred ited university or seminary than he was in a practical, hands-on training program for serious and devoted followers. 65 ■ • Experience the power of the supernatural; and • Write the canonical history of God's people.