One of the stunning tragedies of the people of God was their persistence in pursuing the worship of the many gods of their pagan neighbors. In a sense, God called and spoke through prophets as whistle-blowers when the whole Israelite enterprise was on the brink of self-destruction. Prophets arose when the priests failed to teach God’s law to the people, and kings and judges failed to govern the country justly. In Israel’s history, however, the priests themselves often became corrupt and turned away from God, leading the people in the worship of idols. While the priest was often seen primarily as the mediator between the people and God in the temple sacrifices, his larger duty was to teach God’s law to the people (Lev. A priest was also responsible to be a spiritual and moral guide to the people. But a priest’s tasks went beyond the heavy physical work of dealing with thousands of animal sacrifices. The day-to-day job description of priests lay in slaughtering, butchering, and roasting the sacrificial animals brought by worshipers. Israel’s religious worship was organized around the labor of priests, first in the tabernacle and later in the temple. In the Old Testament history books (Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah), prophets such as Deborah, Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, Elisha, Huldah, and others came forward to speak God’s word to a rebellious people. Moses was God’s first mouthpiece to bring them back into a relationship with God. Again and again, these people turned away from God. Moses was God’s prophet, used to rescue the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt and then to lead them to the land God had promised them. The prophets peopled the pages of Israel’s history. But in marketplace terms, a prophet is often a whistle-blower, particularly when an entire tribe or nation has turned away from God. Who Were the Prophets? Back to Table of Contents Back to Table of ContentsĬalled by God and filled with God’s Spirit, a prophet spoke God’s word to people who had in one way or another distanced themselves from God.
Learning From the Psalms How to Pray Through Your Work.Beyond Rank and Power: What Philemon Tells Us About Leadership.
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