What did the prophets do at a time when the nation had deserted God, "everyone did was right in his own eyes" and the church of the day had embraced the culture of the world?

The situation in Israel during the period of the Judges is summed up in the scriptural verdict, "Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." It was a time when standards of behaviour fell far short of what the law of God demanded, a time when Israel deserted the one true God for the gods of the heathen.

Towards the end of that period the wicked sons of the ageing high priest Eli exhibited their grabbing materialism and compromised their religious commitment by having intercourse with the female Temple workers. Eli's feeble protests against all this wrongdoing were totally ignored (1 Sam 2:22-25).

This was the time when God raised up Samuel to deal with Israel's moral degeneracy. Described by one writer as 'God's emergency man', Samuel combined within himself the three offices of judge, priest and prophet, and through these offices he transformed the situation in Israel.

During the period of the Judges, everyone did what was right in his own eyes and Israel deserted God, so God raised up Samuel to deal with the situation.

Samuel and the Prophetic Schools

Probably it was through Samuel that the 'schools of the prophets' came into existence at this time. Here, young men could help to call a halt to the national degeneration as they were instructed in the law of God and taught the message and practice of prophecy. From this time, around 1050 BC, right down to the time of Nehemiah c.445 BC, there is evidence in Scripture of prophets meeting and ministering together.

No-one can estimate the influence such groups of studious religious men had on the history of Israel, but we can see - at a time when Britain is turning against God's moral standards and is forsaking the one true God in a morass of syncretism - how much we need 'schools of prophets' today, where men and women can study the word and ways of our God and learn how to speak his life-changing words where they most need to be heard.

The 'Sons of the Prophets' and their Lifestyle

The Old Testament indicates that there were prophetic guilds or 'schools of the prophets' at a number of places, including Gibeah, the home-town of Saul, sometimes called the hill of God or the hill of Saul (1 Sam 10:5; Gibeah means 'hill').

There were companies of prophets at Bethel and Jericho (2 Ki 2:3,5) and probably also at the Jordan (2 Ki 2:7 and 6:1). There were others at Gilgal and in the hill country of Ephraim (2 Ki 4:38 and 5:22). One of the most important was at Ramah, Samuel's home-town, where he presided (1 Sam 19:18-24). Some scholars take the word 'Naioth' as a place-name. It is more likely to be the name given to the school of the prophets in Ramah. Naioth, which means a dwelling or residence, comes from a root word meaning 'to rest', as at home; a lovely thought!

There were prophetic guilds or schools in a number of places, including Bethel, Jericho and Samuel's home-town of Ramah.

The prophets living in their school buildings were called the 'sons' of the prophets, and they referred to their leaders as 'my father' (2 Ki 2:12 and 13:14). It is likely that they wore a prophet's garb, with a garment of hair, a leather belt and sandals (2 Ki 1:8, Is 20:2, Zech 13:4). They were self-supporting, a feature that persisted down the years to and beyond Paul's tent-making. They were not celibate, as we see by the mention of a widow of one of the prophets (this woman brought her problem to Elisha when she ran into financial difficulties after the death of her husband, one of the prophets, in 2 Ki 4:1-7).

They erected the buildings in which they were to live. One such school was bursting at the seams and needed an extension. Elisha approved of this, and helpfully recovered an axe-head used by one of the men so that their log-cabin could be enlarged (2 Ki 6:1-7).

It would appear that there were up to a hundred people at some of these schools (2 Ki 4:43). They were self-catering, and during a time of famine went round the fields to gather what herbs they could find. Unhappily, on one occasion they brought back a poisonous gourd, and only the intervention of Elisha (manifesting the saving power of God) prevented serious after-effects (2 Ki 4:38-41).

The prophets lived in school buildings and were self-supporting, erecting their own buildings and gathering their own food .

One day Elisha received a complaint from the Jericho school to the effect that the water was bad and the land was unproductive. Elisha threw salt into the spring and "the water has remained wholesome to this day". Some of the PWM Team who were in once in Israel can testify that that claim is still true, for we sampled its water and enjoyed its oranges! This was possible only because Elisha's spring still flows sweetly today (2 Ki 2:19-22).

Their Education

In these schools such figures as Samuel, Elijah and Elisha would share the things they had learned about God's dealings with men. They would recount the story of God's protective guidance to Israel. They would explain the reasons for the sad experience concerning the high priest Eli and his perverted sons. They would pass on their knowledge of God's law and the blessedness of obedience (1 Sam 15:22-23).

In helping their trainees to face current situations they would at times need to pray, "Lord, open his eyes that he may see" (2 Ki 6:17). They would learn how to listen to God and how to begin to prophesy.

As a background to these activities the leaders would draw their attention to the state of affairs in their country and in the home life of its people. They would realise that God's message is conveyed in two principal ways: by prophetic words and by mighty deeds, the two being bound indissolubly together (Heb 11:32-35).

Their Music

As was still true a thousand years later, the coming of the Holy Spirit on the sons of the prophets caused them to break forth into sacred music and praise (1 Sam 10:5 and Eph 5:18-19). They did not restrict their praise just to within the four walls of their seminaries, but organised 'praise marches'. Taking with them an assortment of musical instruments, they went out into the open air, prophesying with inspired praise. What they sang and played was given to them spontaneously as they marched along.

By the time of King David the prophets, divided into music guilds, were responsible for the leading of praise and worship. "Some of the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun [were set apart] for the ministry of prophesying accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals" (1 Chron 25:1). Two hundred and fifty years later, after Hezekiah had purified it, "He stationed the Levites in the Temple of the Lord with cymbals, harps and lyres in the way prescribed by David and Gad the king's seer and Nathan the prophet; this was commanded by the Lord through his prophets" (2 Chron 29:25).

We must not make the mistake of imagining this singing arising from choirs commanding only small forces. Towards the end of David's reign he went on record as saying, "Four thousand are to praise the Lord with musical instruments I have provided for that purpose" (1 Chron 23:5).

Their Archives

When we study the historical books of the Old Testament we come across references to books that were written by the prophets. These were the result of careful recording of events by contemporaries and have been quoted by the writers of our Old Testament. We read of "the records of Nathan the prophet...the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite...the visions of Iddo the seer", also "the records of Shemaiah the prophet" and "the records of Samuel the seer...and the records of Gad the seer" (2 Chron 9:29, 12:15 and 1 Chron 29:29).

We are indebted to the 'schools of the prophets' for housing and protecting these records, also for adding to their collection by making contemporary records of the events of their day. Clearly it was a work of the Holy Spirit that moved them to archive this material for the benefit of others.

Their Ministry

These were assistants to leaders such as Elijah and Elisha. Apart from a few instances (1 Ki 18:43-44, 2 Ki 5:20 and 6:15-17) most of their names are not recorded. They were sent as messengers (2 Ki 9:1-3). They were concerned with the welfare of people in need (2 Ki 8:1-6). Kings and people alike turned to them for guidance (1 Sam 9:7-8, 1 Ki 22:27). It appears that some of them developed a predictive ability (2 Ki 2: 3, 5).

In the schools, trainees would learn how to pray and prophesy, and would learn to understand the state of affairs in the country at large.

Undoubtedly some of them rose to become prophets whose pronouncements are familiar to us in the Old Testament. Amos appears to be an exception, for he says of himself, "I was neither a prophet nor a prophet's son..." (Amos 7:14), indicating that he had not been to any of the schools of the prophets.

The 'Sons of the Prophets' and the Spirit

The Spirit had come upon individuals such as Othniel, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson (Jud 3:10, 6:34, 11:29 and 13:25), but it was at the schools of the prophets that the first corporate stirrings of the Spirit came down upon the seventy elders during the time of Moses (Num 11:24-29).

The students at the school of the prophets in Jericho were concerned to receive confirmation that Elisha was the God-appointed successor to Elijah. They did not wait in vain, for as Elijah ascended to heaven his cloak fell upon his protege; and when Elisha struck the water with it and cried, "Where now is the God of Elijah?", the waters of the Jordan divided. This miracle confirmed to the prophets that he was their new leader and that the same fullness of the Spirit was now to be manifest through him (2 Ki 2:11-15).

The truth on which the schools of the prophets were established is this: no-one can prophesy unless the Spirit has come upon him (1 Sam 10:6 and 19:20-23). Even a false prophet recognised that men can prophesy only when the Spirit comes upon them (1 Ki 22:24).

leadership of Elijah and followed by that of Elisha, we find that they were still flourishing as centres of religious training and devotion. Some would claim that they continued throughout the period of the monarchy. The reference in Isaiah 8:16 suggests that there was a group of disciples associated with the prophet in his day, around 740 BC, but it is difficult to prove that schools continued as centres of worship, study, corporate life and proclamation after that time.

Living as we do at a time when prophecy has been ignored or devalued, it is surely time that provision be made for men and women filled with the Spirit to once more come together to study, to practice and to learn how to manifest prophecy and the other gifts of the Spirit.

 

First Published in Prophecy Today, Vol 5 No 5, September/October 1989.