December Days: Favourite prophet

[jack]

I thought a lot about this. It's probably only since I was an adult that I had an idea what a prophet actually was: not someone who predicts the future per se, but someone who has messages from God, about what to do, or what is going to happen, or what is going to happen if you don't do something, etc.

Liv suggested Daniel, who did all sorts of proto-scientific things like disproving the existance of a rival diety, by showing it didn't really eat the massive offerings laid out for it, but that its preists snuck in and ate them in the night.

But somehow that didn't resonate with me. I also thought about what Jesus said, that he wished all the people were prophets. That it's something we can all strive towards. And that people who have apparently-supernatural insight (into moral or factual things), might approximate prophets. Does Newton count? He thought some of his great scientific insights came from God (at least, according to Neal Stephenson). But in that account, it doesn't feel right to me: his insights didn't seem to come from faith, as much by hard work, refusing to accept entrenched assumptions, and inventing calculus.

In fact, I'm thinking Moses. I've known this story for ages, but only recently actually thought about it. Moses claims to be no good at public speaking, and persuades God to let Aaron be the priest and let Moses get on with all the talking-to-God. And yet, he always ends up the leader anyway. And lots of the time, Moses is planning along with God, not just accepting instruction. And he always seems to have this long suffering leader experience I always sympathise with: he's desperately trying to chivvy people into doing what he thinks is right, but as soon as he takes his eye off them, they're worshipping idols or wandering off or disobeying God, or cursing firstborn, etc. And then he FINALLY gets everyone somewhere near the promised land, and has to die before they get there, and THEN they wander off and screw up settling the promised land for several generations.

Comments

[gerald_duck]

From a certain point of view, prophecy is actually pretty commonplace. But that it should be so commonplace is in turn miraculous.

By my understanding, prophecy is revelation from God that is intended for other people instead of, or as well as, oneself. Once or twice I've prayed for someone and God's said "tell them XYZ". So I did, and I guess that means I'm a prophet, albeit on a very modest scale that hardly bears mentioning, except by way of illustration.

Relatedly, our conscious mind is the tip of an iceberg. People who harness their subconscious effectively can get a lot more done than those who don't. And God is at work down in our subconscious as well as our conscious mind. If Newton made great scientific discoveries by thinking hard about stuff until his subconscious presented him with the crucial intuitive leap, and he gave glory to God for that blessing received by God's grace, maybe that's also prophecy.

But then, arguably, if one goes along with the notion of common grace, any intuitive leap that gives rise to something beneficial is prophecy.

I guess a lot depends on whether one is wanting to demonstrate the diversity of our blessings, or reserve the term "prophet" for those whose gifts are more archetypal. In the same way that almost everything is "molecular", but we tend to reserve the term for circumstances where the molecular nature of something is paramount.

[jack]

This makes sense to me. I was trying to summarise briefly for people who didn't know the concept at all, I know I didn't really describe it accurately.

[gerald_duck]

An amusing wrinkle that cropped up in conversation the other day: is God Himself a prophet?

If so, it would be churlish to recognise prophesy as a thing yet not count God as one's favourite prophet. (-8

[jack]

I don't really understand this -- isn't a prophet someone who has a message from God? Maybe Jesus?

But OTOH, surely the normal English interpretation of "who's your favourite" includes mentioning someone you have an especial like for, or like more than most people do, if everyone is assumed to know who is already at the top of the tree?

[gerald_duck]

If talking about favourite as opposed to greatest prophet, I'd put in a good word for the author of Hebrews. Whoever they were.

[pseudomonas]

Re: the "wished all the people were prophets", ITYM "Moses"? It's the bit about Eldad & Medad, who are quite high candidates for a favourite prophetry pair, even if they don't give much detail about what they prophesied.

Does Balaam's ass count as a prophet, given that she speaks with the voice of God? If so, that's gotta be my favourite even if deuterocanonical Daniel involves dragons.

[jack]

Doh! I feel ashamed for not knowing that, it just sounded like such a Jesus-y thing :( Well, that makes the end of my post even better.

given that she speaks with the voice of God?

That sounds conclusive to me! Liv and I argued whether the ass was granted the vision because she was especially wise or moral, or just that she happened to be in the right place at the right time. But presumably there are official lists of who counts? :)

[pseudomonas]

I don't think the donkey is traditionally considered a prophet, but she blatantly should be.

[(Anonymous)]

I love that bit in Daniel! He's so sarcastic.

[jack]

OK, if there's sarcasm involved, maybe I'm warming up to Daniel's story :)

[pseudomonas]

Elijah gets sarcastic with the prophets of Baal too, IIRC...