He Gave Us Prophets: A Prophet’s JobSample

The Term “Prophet”: Isaiah 6:1-13

In everyday life we call people by many titles; in fact, we might call the very same person by many different titles. For example, we might call one man a pastor, an athlete, a musician. Why? Because people do all sorts of things in life. Well, in the Old Testament, the same kind of thing is true about Old Testament prophets. They’re called by many different titles.

To explore the titles that the Old Testament uses for prophets we’re going to look at two basic categories. First, we’ll look at the primary term used for prophet in the Bible. And second, we'll take a look at an assortment of secondary terms which the Bible uses to designate this office. Let's look first at the primary term for prophets.

When most English-speaking Christians hear the word “prophet,” they tend to think that a prophet is someone who simply predicts the future, much like a fortune-teller or a psychic. It’s true that prophets in the Old Testament foretold the future, but their role was much broader than this. In fact, we get a clue that even the English word “prophet” has the potential of meaning more than someone who simply predicts the future. 

English speakers get their term "prophet" from the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint. We often don't realize it, but the Greek word prophētēs (προφήτης) from which we derive our English word “prophet” is a rather flexible term. This term combines two elements. The second element of the Greek word prophētēs is phētēs (φητης) and it denotes the concept of speaking. It suggests that prophets did a lot of talking and writing. This is plain enough, but the first element of prophētēs, pro (pro), may point in two directions. On the one hand it may mean to “speak beforehand” or “predict,” and on the other hand, it may simply mean to “speak forth" or to “proclaim” something that is not even a prediction at all. A prophet then can be someone who predicts or simply someone who proclaims. In reality, Old Testament prophets did both. They spoke of the future, but they also spoke boldly about their own days. The basic title “prophet” points to the variety of jobs that these people performed.

When we look at the Hebrew Old Testament, we discover that the term “prophet” had an even broader meaning. The Greek word prophētēs (προφήτης) is the term used in the Septuagint to translate a particular Hebrew term, nābîʾ (נָבִיא). From parallels to other languages of the ancient Near East, we know that the term nābîʾ means a “called person.” It’s a very flexible term, simply indicating that a prophet was someone who was called by God. They were not ordinary people; God called them out for many special services.