The institution of the office of a prophet. Literary ways in the Bible.

1. The institution of the
prophetic office in OT
• Deuteronomy 18:18 (NKJV)
• 18 I will raise up for them a
Prophet like you from among
their brethren, and will put
My words in His mouth, and
He shall speak to them all
that I command Him.

2. Welcome to
Equipping Nights
Learning to Prophesy
Seminar
CTF AIRPORT CAMPUS
WINTER SEMESTER 2018
MARCO LAFEBRE,
LEADER

3. Learning to Prophesy
Session #4
• Topics
• The institution of the prophetic office.
• Literary forms in the Bible.
• Goals:To understand the different functions of the Prophets in OT.
To get familiar with the various forms of writing in the bible and how
to interpret them.To get familiar with ways of delivering a prophecy
and how to understand a received one.

4. The institution of the
Prophetic Office

5. Abraham:
• The biblical patriarch s, above all Abraham, but also
Isaac and Jacob, are the recipients of visions and of
divine revelations.
• Especially Abraham, who appeared to the foreigners, to
whom he was really unknown, to be indeed a prophet
(nabhi’)
• (Genesis 20:7; compare Psalms 105:15),
• In these cases the command to preach the word was
yet absent.

6. Moses:
• Moses, a great prophet. His influence among the people is
not because an official position, or to any military prowess,
but because of the circumstance, that since his call at the
burning bush God has spoken to him.
• While other men of God received certain individual
messages only from time to time and through the
mediation of dreams and visions, Yahweh spoke directly
and "face to face" with Moses (Numbers12:6
;Deuteronomy 34:10; compare Exodus 33:11).

7. The Law is the result of a continuous
association of Moses with God.
• Through Moses Yahweh brought to the Egyptian plagues,
and through him He explained what these meant to His
people.
• Moses had to explain to them the divine signs in the desert
and communicate to them the commandments of God.
• The set of laws of Moses shows that he was not only filled
with the Spirit of God occasionally, but that he abode with
God for longer periods of time and produced something
that is a well-ordered and whole.

8. Period of the Judges:
• During the period of the Judges the Spirit of God used the heroes who
servedYahweh, rather to deeds than to words.
• Deborah enjoyed a high rank as a prophetess, and for a long time
pronounced decisions of justice in the name of the Lord before she,
through her prophetical utterances, aroused the people to rise up
against their oppressors.
• 1 Samuel 3:1 In the times of Eli the word and vision of the prophet had
become rare in the land.
• At this time Samuel, who was just a boy received divine revelations
(1 Samuel 3:1).

9. • Samuel was by the whole people regarded as a "seer"
whose prophecies were always fulfilled (3:19 f).
• The passage 1 Samuel 9:6 shows that the people expected
of such a man of God that he should also help people in
the troubles of life.
• He was devoted entirely to the service of his God and of his
people and obeyed the Divine Spirit, even in those cases
when he was compelled to act contrary to his personal
inclinations, as was the case when the kingdom was
established in Israel (1 Samuel 8:6).

10. Schools of Prophets:
• Since the days of Samuel we hear of schools of prophets,
or "sons of prophets." Possibly Samuel was the first who
founded such a school of prophets. For in or near the city of
Ramah we first find nayoth, or colonies of such disciples
(1 Samuel 19:18; 20:1).
• Elijah had colonies of this kind. These places were rather
the centers of a religious life, where communion with God
was sought by prayer and meditation, and where the
recollection of the great deeds of God in the past seemed to
prepare for the reception of new revelations.

11. Period of the Kings:
• During the period of the kings, prophets frequently
appeared.They demanded that even the kings should
submit to their divinely-inspired word.
• Saul, who refused such submission, perished as the result
of this conflict.
• David owed much to the support of the prophets Samuel,
Nathan, Gad (1 Samuel 16:1; 2 Chronicles 29:25,
• David also bowed when these prophets rebuked him for his
transgression of the divine commands (2 Samuel 12; 24).

12. Elijah and Elisha
• A higher type of prophecy is found in Elijah, whose mission was to
fight to the finish the battle between the followers of Yahweh and
the worship of Baal.
• His successor Elisha inherited from him not only his mantle, but also a
double measure of his spiritual gifts. He exhibits the prophetic office
more from its loving side.
• He is accustomed to visit the schools of prophets found scattered
throughout the land.
• He calls the faithful together around himself on the Sabbaths and the
new moons (2 Kings 4:23),

13. Literary Prophets, Amos, Hosea:
• These two prophets have left us books.To put prophetic utterances
into written form had already been introduced before this.
• The writing of individual prophecies (Isaiah 8:1; 30:8; Habakkuk 2:2)
had for its purpose the preserving of these words in permanent
authentic form.
• Also, to intensify the power of the prophetic word and to secure this
as a permanent possession of the people (Jeremiah 30:2; 36:1). Pupils
of the prophets assisted them in this writing and in preserving their
books (compare Jeremiah 36:4; Isaiah 8:16).

14. Poetical Form of Prophecy:
• It is to this custom that we owe our knowledge of the very
words of the utterances of many of the prophets of a later
period.
• In addition to the larger books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
we have a number of smaller prophetical books, which have
been united into the Book of theTwelve Prophets. (The
book of psalms falls in this category.)
• These utterances as a rule exhibited an elevated form of
language and are more or less poetical

15. Prophecy in the New Testament:
• Malachi finds a successor in John the Baptist, whose
coming he had predicted. John is the greatest of the
prophets, because he could directly point to Him who
completed the old covenant and fulfilled its promises.
• In Jesus Christ Himself the prophetic office reached its
highest stage of development, as He stood in a more
intimate relation than any other being to His Heavenly
Father and spoke His word entirely and at all times.

16. NT Christian congregation
• In the Christian congregation the office of prophecy is again
found, differing from the proclamation of the gospel by the
apostles, evangelists, and teachers.
• In the NewTestament the terms prophetes, propheteia,
propheteuo, signify speaking under the extraordinary
influence of the Holy Ghost.
• Thus in Acts 11:27 f (prophecy of a famine by Agabus); 21:10
f (prediction of the sufferings of Paul); 13:1 f (exhortation to
mission work); 21:9 (prophetical gift of the daughters of
Philip).

17. Apocalyptical literature:
• A prophetical book in a special sense is the Apocalypse of John.
• Where Jesus using His angel reveals to John about the things that will
take place.
• John in turn communicates to the churches of the time, and his
writings are left as a legacy to the emerging church.
• The gift of prophecy was claimed by many also in later times. But this
gift ceased more and more, as the Christian church developed on the
historical basis of revelation as completed in Christ.

18. Times of revival:
• In spiritually aroused eras of revival in the history of the
church, prophecy again has its appearance.
• Prophecy has never ceased altogether, but on account of its
frequent misuse the gift has become discredited.
• Jesus Himself warned against false prophets, and during
the apostolic times it was often found necessary to urge the
importance of trying spirits (1John 4:1; 1 Corinthians
12:10; 14:29).

19. LITERARY FORMS IN
THE BIBLE

20. SIMILE
• A simile involves an explicit comparison of two unlike things
using the words “as” or “like.”
• “All we like sheep have gone astray” (Isa. 53:6).
• “For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap” (Mal.
3:2).
• “For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the
west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matt.
24:27).
• “Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves” (Luke
10:3).

21. METAPHOR
• A metaphor involves a direct or implied comparison of two
unlike things.
• “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer” (2 Sam.
22:3).
• “We are His people and the sheep of His pasture” (Ps.
100:3).
• “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them
also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will
be one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16).

22. METONOMY
• In metonomy, the name of one object or concept is used for
another because of an association or similarity between the
two.
• “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them”
(Luke 16:29). “Moses and the prophets” stands for the
writings of Moses and the prophets.
• “Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the
Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the
Jordan” (Matt. 3:5- 6). It was not the city of Jerusalem that
moved, but the people who lived in it.

23. SYNECDOCHE
• In a synecdoche, a part is used for a whole, or a whole is
used for a part.
• “All flesh had corrupted their way on the earth” (Gen. 6:12).
Flesh is used for the whole person.
• “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16).
“World” is used for the people in the world.
• “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2Tim. 3:16).
“All Scripture” is used for every part of Scripture.

24. PERSONIFICATION
• Personification is a figure of speech which takes a human
characteristic and applies it to an object, quality, or idea.
• “Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her
voice?” (Prov. 8:2).
• “The field is wasted, the land mourns” (Joel 1:10).
• “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will
worry about its own things” (Matt. 6:34).

25. ANTHROPOMORPHISM
• Anthropomorphism is a figure of speech which takes a
human characteristic and applies it to God.
• “Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back;
but My face shall not be seen” (Exod. 33:23).
• “He who touches you touches the apple of His eye” (Zech.
2:8).
• “No one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand”
(John 10:29).

26. APOSTROPHE
• Apostrophe is a figure of speech in which an exclamation is
addressed to an object as if it were a person.
• “Then he cried out against the altar by the word of the
Lord, and said, ‘O altar, altar!’” (1 Kings 13:2).
• “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!” (Isa. 1:2).
• “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets
and stones those who are sent to her!” (Matt. 23:37).

27. IRONY
• Irony is an expression that denotes the opposite of what is
meant by the words themselves.
• “And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said,
‘Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is
busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and
must be awakened’” (1 Kings 18:27).
• “Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let
them deliver you in your time of distress” (Judg. 10:14).
• “For you put up with fools gladly, since you yourselves are
wise!” (2 Cor. 11:19).

28. HYPERBOLE
• In hyperbole, the writer or speaker exaggerates to create a
strong effect.
• “Every one could sling a stone at a hair’s breadth and not
miss” (Judg. 20:16).
• “I am weary with my groaning; all night I make my bed
swim; I drench my couch with my tears” (Ps. 6:6).
• “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the
speck out of your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own
eye?” (Matt. 7:4).

29. EUPHEMISM
• A euphemistic figure substitutes an inoffensive or
agreeable expression for one that may offend or suggest
something distasteful.
• “You shall go to your fathers in peace” (Gen. 15:15). A
euphemism for death.
• “Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul would soon
have settled in silence” (Ps. 94:17). A euphemism for death
and burial.
• “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him
up” (John 11:11). A euphemism for death and resurrection.

30. Litotes
• Litotes involves belittling or the use of a negative
statement to affirm a truth.
• “After whom has the king of Israel come out?Whom do you
pursue? A dead dog? A flea?” (1 Sam. 24:14).
• brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little
comforted” (Acts 20:12).
• “I am a Jew fromTarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city”
(Acts 21:39).

31. PLEONASM
• Pleonasm is a figure that uses an excessive number of
words for the sake of emphasis.
• “Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot
him” (Gen. 40:23).The redundant “but forgot him” adds
force to the statement.
• “Then Jephthah fled from his brothers” (Judg. 11:3).The
literal expression is “from the face of his brothers.”
• “Knowing that God had sworn with an oath” (Acts 2:30).
The redundant “with an oath” adds emphasis.

32. REPETITION
• Emphasis is gained by a number of techniques that repeat
the same word, phrase, or sentence.
• “Moses, Moses!” (Exod. 3:4).
• “For His mercy endures forever” is repeated in each verse
of Psalm 136.
• “Blessed” is repeated through the beatitudes in Matthew
5:3-11.
• “To another” is repeated in a list of the spiritual gifts (1 Cor.
12:8-10).

33. EXTENDED FIGURES
OF SPEECH

34. PARABLES
• Parables are extended figures of comparison that often use
short stories to teach a truth or answer a question.
• While the story in a parable is not historical, it is true to life,
not a fairy tale. As a form of oral literature, the parable
exploits realistic situations but makes effective use of the
imagination.
• Jesus frequently composed parables in His teaching
ministry (see Mark 4:34) and used them in response to
specific situations and challenges.

35. ALLEGORY
• An allegory is an extended metaphor.
• The allegory of the vine and the branches in John 15, for
example, develops the metaphors of Christ as the true vine
(vss. 1,5), the Father as the vinedresser (vs. 1), and believers
as the branches (vs. 5).
• Allegorical stories have several points of comparison.
In John 10:1-18, the allegory of the good shepherd draws a
point-by-point comparison between a number of elements
(the door of the sheepfold, the shepherd, the sheep, the
thief, and the hireling) and corresponding spiritual truths.

36. FABLES
• A fable is a fictitious narrative intended to enforce a useful
truth or a moral lesson.
• Fables often involve plants and animals that speak and act
like human beings.
• See the fable of the trees in Judges 9:8-15 (interpreted and
applied in 9:16-20),
• The fable of the thistle in 2 Kings 14:9,
• The fable/allegory of the two eagles in Ezekiel 17:2-10.

37. SYMBOLS
AND TYPES

38. SYMBOLS
• Symbols are figures of representation in which one thing is
used to suggest another.The symbol is a literal object that
conveys a lesson or truth.
• The pillar of cloud and fire (Exod. 13:21-22) symbolized
God’s glory and presence among His people.
• Blood symbolized the life of an animal or human (Lev.
17:11; Deut. 12:23-25).
• Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones (Ezek. 37:1-14) symbolized
the judgment and restoration of Israel.

39. TYPES
• Types are prophetic symbols. A number of OldTestament
people, events, and things are types that correspond to
NewTestament antitypes.
• Melchizedek was a type of Christ (Gen. 14:18-20; Ps. 110:4).
• David was a type of Christ (Ps. 22:1-21; 69:7,9,20).
• Adam was “a type of Him who was to come” (Rom. 5:14),
that is, Christ.
• The earthly tabernacle was “a copy and shadow of the
heavenly things” (Heb. 8:5).

40. BIBLIOGRAPHY
• All material taken from:
• https://bible.org/seriespage/iv-literary-forms-bible
• https://www.biblestudytools.com/encyclopedias/isbe/prophecy-
prophets-1.html