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NAVI
Prophet
The phenomenon of " the Prophet" ( ) was widespread in the ancient world, and especially throughout the Middle East and the classical world.
In spite of the very strong linguistic connections between the semitic languages, different word roots were chosen to express this phenomenon.
- The Arabic word
 nabiyyun, must be treated as a Hebrew loan word in Arabic, although the word was not of Hebrew origin (see the linguistic section of this lesson for explanation).
In general, the common feature to all prophets is accepted to be the contact with the Lord or the gods, but the way in which that contact established varied greatly, and may explain the use of different roots; even in the Hebrew language we find more than one word for "prophet", which may hint at the existence of different kinds of prophets, although compare:
I Sam. 9:9 Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a prophet (), was beforetime called the seer ( lekhu wenelekha 'ad haro'eh ki lennavi' hayyom yiqqare' lefanim haro'eh).
Another root used in Hebrew for prophet was  (het zayin, he) I C 25:5 "Heman, the King's forseer according to the word of God" ( heman hozeh hammelekh bediverey ha'elohim).
On the other hand, in the history of the People of Israel, not everyone who established a direct contact with the Lord was a  : so Adam, Cain, Avimelekh, King of Gerar, who had direct contact with the Lord, but were not prophets. In connection to the latter, this is the only place where Abraham is called a , "Now therefore restore the man's wife: for he (Avraham) is a prophet,"
( we'ata hashev eshet ha'ish ki navi hu). Nevertheless, in Jewish tradition Moses is deemed to be the first . The heroes of the book of Judges had also direct contact with God, but were generally not know as "prophets"; only the judge Devorah held this title: And Devorah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidot, she judged Isra'el at that time:
( "udevorah 'ishshah nevi'ah eshet lapidot hi shoftah et israel ba'et hahi:" Jud. 4:4).
Let us first give some examples of prophets in the ancient world, while emphasizing that we refer to those whose functions are translated in English by the word "prophet" (from the Greek  prophetes), although it is certain that not all the people thus refered to correspond to the same semantic field as defined by the term "prophet" and prophesy.
- In Greek, the prophet () was essentially the interpreter of divine utterances by a person used by the divines as a tool to make their message known to the world by oracle (
 mantis).
- In Mesapotamia, the prophet could predict by looking at the liver of a sacrificed animal, a custom reported from at least 2700 BC, which was developed into a very detailed "science" compare Ezch. 21:26: "he [the King of Babylon] shook the arrows, he consulted the terafim, he looked in the liver" (
 qilqal bahitzim sha'al baterafim ra'ah bakkaved). From there it spread over the entire world: Greece, the Etruscans in Rome (a liver model in bronze with inscription of formulae in the still undeciphered Etruscan language was found there), the Hittites, and even China. It took over 3000 years for mankind to become aware that this "science" is totally worthless, (comparable, maybe, with astrology?).
- In Babylon, the Prophet was some times a "crazy", ecstatic man (muhhum), a person who saw the future (baru) or a person who gave answers to questions (apikum).
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A model of a liver for prediction, it is full of formulae for the interpreter of livers of sacrificed animals.
Mesapothamian 19 - 17 century BC.
British musee, London. |
A common feature attributed to all the prophets is that they did not express their own opinion, but rather the divine message, to people or a person.
They predicted, preached the right way, voiced criticism, or advised the king.
A Prophet who approached the king to express the anger of the Lord about the deeds of the king is found only in the Bible (the case of Nathan and David).
The relationship between the Lord and the is expressed by one very interesting equation in the Bible: "And the Lord said to Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aharon shall be thy prophet" ( wayomer adonay el moshe
Moses |
re'eh netattikha elohim lefar'o we'aharon ahikha yihyeh nevi'ekha Ex. 7:1)
The of the People of Israel could prove that he was a by giving signs (like Moses): "And Moses answered and said, "But, behold they will not believe me, nor hearken to my voice: for they will say, The Lord has not appeared to thee". And the Lord said to him, "What is in thy hand"? And he said, "A rod". And he said, "Cast it on the ground". And he cast it on the ground, and it turned into a snake... "(Ex. 4:2-3). But that was insufficient proof, because magicians were also supposed to be able to perform secret arts: "Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: and the magicians of Egypt they also did in like manner with their secret arts. For they cast down every man his rod, and they turned to serpents" (Ex. 7:11-12).
Thus, the most accepted proof of the genuine was if his prophesy was realized.
| Most of the prophets of the People of Israel received messages spontaneously; thus the address was from the Lord to the prophet, and not from the prophet to the Lord, although there are a few examples where artifice was used to induce the trance, for example by playing a music instrument, as in the case with Elisha, when he said: "But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him".
( we 'attah qehu-li menaggen we hayah kemenaggen hamenaggen wattehi 'alaw yad adonay II kings 3:15).
After this concise treatise about the prophet and prophesy, let us now address some linguistic aspects of the Hebrew word , (next page) in order to learn something about the the term before, or when the word entered the Hebrew language.
The Department for Jewish
Zionist Education
The Pedagogic Center
Web Site Manager: Esther Carciente
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