Prophet

PROPHET. - I. NELLA S. SCRITTURA. - (Heb. nābhi; Lat. propheta from Gk. προφήτης). One who, by divine vocation, speaks in the place and in the name of God (Deut. 18:18 ff.; II Kings 3:9; Jer. 1:6, 9 ff.; Is. 52:6, etc.; cf. Ex. 7:1 ff.), communicating to men, to whom he is sent, whatever the Lord, by supernatural action, orders and reveals to him (Jer. 1:7 ff.; Am. 3:7 ff.; 7:14 ff.; Ez. 2-3; etc.): « nihil aliud esse prophetam Dei, nisi enuntiatorem verborum Dei hominibus » (St. Augustine, Quaest. in Hept., 17: PL 34, 601).

This is the certain meaning of the Heb. nābhi, rendered exactly by the Greek προφήτης (πρό "in place of," φάνος "to speak"; Aeschylus, Eumen., 19; Pseudo-Euripides, Rhesus, 972; Plato, Resp., 366; id., Tim., 62; id., Phaedr., 262 d; etc.), even if its etymology remains uncertain. It was commonly thought to derive from the Arabic nabā'a "to announce" or from the Akkadian nabā' "to call, to speak." W. F. Albright (v. op. cit. in bibl., p. 301 ff.) holds, rightly, that the etymology is Akkadian; the meaning of nabā, however, is that of "vocare," in the passive participle "vocato," one who has received a mission (cf. Code of Hammurabi, Prol., 1, 52; 1, 49; Epilogue, 24 R 40 ff., and the proper name Nabā-ilūtu "the one called by his god"). This etymology confirms the passive form of nābhi, already maintained by W. Gesenius (cf. the related naẓir, maṭṭah) and supported by the fact that the verbal forms derived from nābhi are only passive: niph'al and hithpa'el "to act as a nābhi," to prophesy. The prophet also announces the future, but the vulgar sense of "predicting the future" is only secondary; the etymology resting on zā "before" and qāwāw "to appear" (St. Isidore of Seville; St. Thomas, Sum. Theol., 2ᵃ-2ᵃe, q. 171, a. 1) is erroneous (P. Synave-P. Benoit [v. op. cit. in bibl.], pp. 16 ff., 226).

The other two principal terms: rā'eh "seer" (used only of Samuel [I Sam. 9:9, 11, 18 ff.; I Par. 9:22; 26:28; 29:29], of Hanani [II Par. 16:7, 10] and in Is. 30:10, although the verb rā'eh is frequent to indicate the "visions" that the prophet receives from God) and the synonym hāveh "contemplator," mostly in poetry, express the means or the manner of the divine communication. The ancient term nābhi, from the time of Samuel, prevailed almost exclusively over rā'eh, as the editorial note I Sam. 9:9 states concerning Samuel, called nābhi and rā'eh (ibid. 3:20 and 9:11). In Am. 7:1-15 these three expressions appear synonymous. Other appellations express the intimate union of the prophet with God (mal'ahh Jahweh "messenger of J.," 'ēbhedh Jahweh "servant of Jahweh," 'is 'Elāhim "man of God") or the different aspects of his mission among the people (rā'eh "shepherd," lāmēr "watchman," 'āphelh "wakeful sentinel," etc.).

Against the idolatrous institutions and practices of divination and magic, Jahweh, from the very beginnings of the chosen nation, established the prophets as the only spokesmen and interpreters of his thought and his will (Deut. 18:9-22; Num. 23:23; cf. Am. 2:10 ff.; Ex. 7:25; Zach. 7:12; Neh. 9:30), giving them as an unmistakable sign of recognition, besides moral worth, fidelity to Jahweh and to his precepts, the charism of predicting the future (Deut. 18:22; Is. 41:22 ff.; 44:7 ff.; 46:10 ff.) and sometimes of working other miracles. The beginning of the prophetic mission is the vocation on the part of God, sudden, which gives a new face to the existence of the one called (Ex. 3:7-4:18; Am. 7:10-15; Is. 6; Jer. 1:4-9; 20:7-18; Ex. 2-3; etc.). For this reason Abraham too is called a prophet (Gen. 20:7) together with the other Patriarchs (cf. Ps. 104:15).

The biblical sources recall, after Moses, the great prophet (Os. 12:14 [Vulg. 13]; Num. 11:25; 12:6; Deut. 18:15, 18; 34:10): Miriam his sister (Ex. 15:20; Num. 12:2; cf. Mt. 6:4); Joshua (Ecli. 46:1); during the period of the Judges: Deborah and an anonymous nābhi (Iude. 4:4; 6:8), an anonymous "man of God" who announces to Heli the decline of his House (I Sam. 2:27); Samuel (v.), after whom, given the grave dangers of Yahwism and the related vicissitudes of the nation, the prophetic message follows uninterruptedly as a constant ministry (I Sam. 3:1; Act. 3:24; Hebr. 11:32). In the time of David: Gad (I Sam. 22:5; etc.) and Nathan (II Sam. 7:2; etc.); under Solomon: Ahijah (I Reg. 11:20; etc.); Shemaiah under Rehoboam; a "man of God" under Jeroboam; Jehu under Baasa (ibid. 12:22; 13; 16:1); Hanani under Asa; Jehu, Jahaziel, Eliezer under Jehoshaphat (II Par. 16:7-10; 19:2; 20:14, 37); Elijah (v.); Micaiah, son of Imlah (I Reg. 22:8-28); Elisha (v.); Jonah, under Jeroboam II (II Reg. 14:25). There follow the prophets whose writings are preserved ("writing prophets"): Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Jeremiah, Baruch; during the exile: Ezekiel, Daniel; after the exile: Haggai, Zechariah, Obadiah, Joel, Malachi. There is no record of other prophets (cf. I Mach. 14:41) until John the Baptist (Mt. 11:9 ff.; Le. 7:26 ff.), precursor of the prophet par excellence, Jesus (Act. 3:20 ff. = Deut. 18:15-19; Io. 1:21, 45; 6:14; 7:40; Act. 7:37; Hebr. 1:1 ff.; A. Clamer, Ste Bible, II, Paris 1940, p. 634 ff.).

In the list of charisms, in the early Church, the prophets hold the place of honor, after the Apostles: I Cor. 12:28 ff.; 14:1-5, 24, 29, 31 f.; Eph. 2:20; 3:5; 4:11; several times, in the New Testament, these interpreters of God appear, giving predictions, reading the secrets of hearts; bearers of the divine word (Acts 11:27; 19:6; 21:9 f.), they build up, exhort, encourage. Precious are the indications of the Didaché (11:7-12), of the Shepherd of Hermas (Mandatum, 11), of St. Justin (Dial., 39:2). The name prophet is increasingly reserved for the inspired men of the Old Testament alone; later, instead (4th-5th centuries), in monastic literature it assumes a very broad sense and use. The charism of prophecy has never ceased in the Church, with particular missions carried out by various saints, men and women (for example, St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Catherine of Siena), but the term prophet is by now reserved for the men of the Old Testament, transmitters of formal or public revelation.

The Bible still uses the term nābhi and its derived forms, both for certain particular religious manifestations and for false prophets (either of false divinities, or falsely presenting themselves in the name of Yahweh).

Upon the elders, co-workers of Moses, the spirit of Yahweh descended and they "began to prophesy," nor did this phenomenon ever repeat itself again; two were in the camp and "they too prophesied," that is, they agitated in a characteristic manner. Moses regarded such a manifestation as a divine gift: "Would that all the people were sharers in such a gift" (Num. 11:25-29). In the 11th century, at the time of Samuel, this phenomenon of collective prophetism reappears (I Sam. 10:5 f., 9-12; 19:18-24), which seems to reach its climax under Elijah and Elisha (9th century), only to die out almost immediately afterward. At the time of Samuel, bands of Israelites participate in worship, proceed together, using song and music to prepare for and second the collective ecstatic manifestations of their exaltation. Presumably, carried away by religious enthusiasm, dominated by an uncontrollable overexcitement, in their flushed faces, in the more or less rhythmic movements of their whole bodies, perhaps even in inflamed expressions, they manifested their vivid Yahwistic sentiment. Perhaps the phenomenon was similar to the glossolalia of which Acts 2:1-21; 10:44 f.; 19:6; I Cor. 14. The exaltation was sometimes communicated to bystanders, through some predisposition or through a particular divine intervention (cf. I Sam. 19:20-24): from these manifestations, attributed to the action of Yahweh, perhaps no supernatural character is to be excluded. At the time of Elijah-Elisha (I Kings 17 ff.; II Kings 1 ff.) these prophets ("sons of the prophets" = members of such associations: I Kings 20:35; II Kings 2:3; etc.), in various localities (Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho), form colonies, where, to a certain extent, they lead a common life (II Kings 2; 4:38 ff.; 6:1-5); the followers of this professional prophetism have no supernatural vocation. In the most critical moments for the very existence of Yahwism, against the deleterious influence of Canaan, against the official encroachment of Phoenician Baalism and the open imposition of Jezebel, these pious associations under the guidance and direction of the great inspired men Samuel (who was probably their founder), Elijah and Elisha, were among the living forces of the pure religion, which stirred the people to fidelity toward Yahweh. Many of them were killed by Jezebel (I Kings 18:13). The great prophets also use them for missions received from God (cf. I Kings 20:35-43; II Kings 9:14-11); they sometimes preside at their ecstatic manifestations, but never take part in them by prophesying as they do (cf. I Sam. 19:20).

The false prophets of Baal (properly Syro-Phoenician prophetism) are described in Elijah's challenge on Carmel (I Kings 18:26-29); the Egyptian account of Wenamon (ca. 1100 B.C.; Golénischeff papyrus) and the writer Heliodorus, of Syrian origin, agree with it. Among the manifestations of Canaanite liturgy, in religious exaltation, a strange frenzy took possession of some professional nābhi' and soon communicated itself to the others. "To the excited sound of lyres, they danced, now with light leaps and now bending the knee to the ground several times in succession and then spinning around like those possessed" (by a spirit: Heliodorus, Aethiopica IV, 17). With swords or knives they wounded themselves, emitting barely articulated sounds, in which the faithful, under suggestion, recognized words of the god. The excitement, growing, became furious; some finally lost control of themselves. And there were mutilations in honor of Baal, god of fertility, and temporary consecration of young women to sacred prostitution (L. Desnoyers [v. op. cit. in bibl., I, p. 246 f.]; A. Pohl [v. op. cit. in bibl., p. 24 f.]). Toward the decline of the 7th century Jeremiah (Jer. 27:3-9) attests that there were nābhi' in Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, Sidon, consulted by the kings of these states. And at the rise of the New Testament such ecstatic exhibitions were widespread in the Greco-Latin world (Virgil, Aen., VI, 45-51, 77-80; Lucan, Phars., V, 161 ff., etc.).

Nābhi' were finally called those who spoke in the name of Yahweh without having received any mission from him. In struggle with the authentic prophets, they accommodated themselves to the king's whims, which they flattered, seconded the illusions of the crowd, in search of money and popularity (I Kings 22:6-28; Mic. 2:7-11; 3:5 ff.; Jer. 23:9-40; 28; 29:21-32; Ezek. 13). Ezekiel (ch. 13) gives the most accurate description of them. These "prophets of their own brain," who draw everything from their own mind, act as nābhi' in Israel (they present themselves as called by God). They give lying divinations; they go about saying: "Oracle of the Lord," while the Lord has not sent them, nor has he spoken. They do nothing to heal the wounds of the people and prepare them for the terrible events that threaten them. "They delude my people by saying: 'All is well,' while all is going badly," ready to validate every fantastic hope of theirs. And of the "prophetesses of their own brain," Yahweh complains: "You have compromised me (by using my name), among my people, for handfuls of barley and a few slices of bread, lying..." Soon the facts will give a clamorous refutation to their sayings; the people will see them exemplarily punished by Yahweh (cf. I Kings 22; Jer. 28).

Rationalist criticism, throwing into a single bundle the various and disparate elements set forth thus far, has attempted, in various ways, to give a unitary explanation of Israelite prophetism that eliminates from it every peculiar action of God. Giving excessive importance and scope to the redactional note I Sam. 9:9, it has advanced the hypothesis (from A. Kuenen, up to H. Gressmann, R. Kittel, G. Hölscher, A. Causse, etc.) that prophetism arose in Israel more or less at the time of Samuel (in this regard they also cite Acts 3:24; Hebr. 11:32, which speak only of the continued succession of prophets from Samuel onward; while already Amos 2:10 ff.; Jer. 7:25 trace the institution of prophetism back to Moses [Hos. 12:14]). From ecstatic prophetism, evolving through Elijah and Elisha, one would arrive at Amos, who would introduce an absolutely new type of prophecy. The earlier prophets would be leaders or members of confraternities, whereas after Amos they are isolated; the former would be visionaries and thaumaturges, the latter are writers and thinkers; the former would be inspired men driven by ecstasy, the latter intellectuals and realists. They assert that the prophets were originally men possessed; by artificial means (music, dance, etc.) they reached such an exaltation as to feel themselves transformed and carried away by a superior power; then the spirit of the god, having taken possession of them, spoke within them: a religious phenomenon offered by other religions. In its highest manifestations, from Amos onward, prophetism would be explained by the sudden irruption, into the field of the prophet's consciousness, of subconscious ideas slowly elaborated in the subliminal consciousness (psychological hypothesis: W. James, A. Réville, etc.), or by the intuition and profound knowledge of the human heart of brilliant minds (A. Causse, etc.).

The sources, on the other hand, establish beyond exception the clearest and most decisive distinction between the manifestations of ecstatic, collective and professional prophetism and the divine institution of these "called by God," from Moses to Malachi. None of these came out of the aforementioned associations of collective prophetism. Between this prophetism and the kindred phenomena of other peoples there is undeniably some point of contact; but the notable differences cannot be overlooked. There is lacking in them, for example, the Syro-Phoenician characteristic of incisions; the passage adduced to support the contrary (1 Kings 20:35-43) is not probative; the member of the prophetic association who goes to meet Ahab has himself wounded in the face in order to present himself as a soldier who had taken part in the battle just ended. And zeal for Yahwism, the exclusion of every cultic abomination, clearly distinguishes them.

Ecstatic and professional or voluntary prophetism is a phenomenon well circumscribed in time. Only one who denies all the sources prior to Samuel can call into doubt the existence of prophets from the very origins of Yahwism. Before long ecstatic and professional prophetism had unhealthy offshoots. Many prophet-disciples degenerated; after having waited in vain for the call of the Lord, they invested themselves with the prophetic mission. Their conduct (1 Kings 22, etc.) is a precious argument for understanding the nature of true supernatural inspiration. And therefore it is a strident contradiction to derive from the same source the true prophets who energetically combat them (Am. 7:14; Ezek. 13) and these false prophets who are their counterfeit.

Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, enslaved to the Jehuite dynasty, says to Amos: "Seer, go away to Judah, and earn your living there with your prophecies." And Amos replies: "I am neither a nābhi', nor the son of a nābhi'; Yahweh took me from behind the flock and commanded me: Go, be a nābhi' to my people Israel" (Am. 7:14). No natural disposition or preparation, not a nābhi' by profession nor membership in pious associations; but the sudden action of God on the soul of this owner and breeder of flocks who is "taken" by Yahweh, removed from his normal occupations, from his Judea, and sent, as spokesman of divine justice, into the Kingdom of Israel, then prosperous and at peace, into the very "royal" sanctuary of Bethel, officiated by an aulic priesthood, enslaved to the dynasty. Amos, like all the prophets, is always conscious of himself, even under the action of Yahweh (Jer. 20:9). Only the identity of the term remains; hence Amos can assert that he is not a nābhi' and immediately afterward categorically affirm that he is. It is easy to understand the extension of the ancient term (cf. Gen. 20:7; Deut. 13:2; 18:15; 34:10; Judg. 4:4, etc.) to cases that at least apparently seemed to presuppose the vocation and mission on the part of Yahweh (Num. 11:25 ff.; Deut. 18:15; etc.). "You have drawn me and I let myself be drawn — says Jeremiah to the Lord — you were the stronger and you triumphed. And I have become a continual object of mockery, the laughingstock of all. For every time I speak I must cry out, proclaim oppression and ruin; and so the word of Yahweh becomes for me a reproach, a disgrace. I resolved therefore: I will forget it, ah I will no longer speak in his name. But his word was in my breast like a fire that devours, shut up in my bones. I strove to contain it, but without success (Jer. 20:7-9). It is the supernatural, powerful action of God that seizes the prophet; cf. Am. 3:8: "The lion roars, who is not frightened? Yahweh speaks, who does not prophesy?"; Ezekiel repeatedly expresses it: "The hand of the Lord came upon me and his word was addressed to me" (Ezek. 1:3; 3:22, etc.). St. Thomas (Sum. Theol., 2a-2ae, qq. 171-74) systematically ordered the biblical and patristic elements, illustrating the nature of this divine action, which is essentially a supernatural illumination of the prophet's intellect, which strengthens it and becomes in him an active principle of knowledge. Whether it be a purely intellectual vision, or infused images illustrated by supernatural light, or only the divine light given to judge natural knowledge by means of it; the prophet corresponds vitally with the judgment he formulates and sometimes also with the prior elaboration of the intelligible species. The prophetic charism is given to him in a transitory manner; his vision is fragmentary and intermittent, and ceases when the light from on high ceases to illuminate him (cf. the example of Nathan, of Isaiah; Jeremiah [42:7] waits 10 days for Yahweh's answer; Elisha: 2 Kings 4:27). If Am. 3:8 and 2 Pet. 1:21 might suggest a lack of freedom in the prophet, Jer. 20:9 with 1:6; Ezek. 1:3; 3:22; 8:1 with 3:17-21 attest the full consciousness and autonomy of the prophet's mind and will under divine action (v. ISPIRAZIONE; cf. A. Bea, in Studia Anselmiana, 27-28 [1951], pp. 47-65).

Authentic prophetism is a unique phenomenon in the history of religions; it is characteristic of Yahwism (from its origins and without deviations) and of the Christian religion. It is not possible in fact to find any affinity, in Egypt (the alleged prophecies of Ipuwer are descriptions of the past: A. H. Gardiner, A. Wiedeman), in Babylonia (the Babylonian hārā is a diviner, but has nothing in common with the Israelite prophet), or in Arabia, with the activity and mission of Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Amos up to Malachi. Prophecy, exact foreannouncement of future events, interpretation of God's thought in history, is the inimitable and unmistakable effect of divine action on his spokesman (E. König, v. op. cit. in bibl., pp. 55-62).

Every naturalistic explanation therefore conflicts with the documents. The slow elaboration supposed by the immanentists is contradicted by this sudden action or communication of Yahweh, which is repeated and is the efficient cause of every intervention of the prophet in his mission. Besides the example of Amos, the vocation of the young Samuel is instructive (1 Sam. 3); Nathan encourages David in the project of building the Temple and is enthusiastic about it, but the next morning he communicates to him Yahweh's contrary order (2 Sam. 7); Isaiah announces to Hezekiah his imminent death, but immediately afterward returns to communicate to him from Yahweh his recovery (2 Kings 20:1-5). Genius, intuition, profound knowledge of the human heart are gifts that are found more or less everywhere in the history of humanity. But prophetism is a unique phenomenon (E. König, op. cit. in bibl., pp. 70-78). Prophetism is the most elevated element of the religion of the Old Testament and one of the greatest spiritual movements of all humanity. All the philosophers, all the legislators, all the founders of religions in antiquity, taken together, did not set forth as many elevated and sublime ideas as the few prophets of Israel (L. Dennefeld, v. op. cit. in bibl.). Nor were all the prophets geniuses or scholars. Elisha is a wealthy peasant, Amos a shepherd, Jeremiah and Ezekiel timid priests. They foretell unforeseeable events, in sharp contrast with all historical-political prospects. Amos announced the ruin of Israel, while the Kingdom was at the height of its power. Ezekiel foretells in detail the siege and destruction of Jerusalem (Ezek. 4:5-21); and when all seems lost, he predicts the return of the exiles, the constitution of the new Israel (ibid. 37, 40-48) and the victory that it will win over the assault of the gentiles (Antiochus Epiphanes: ibid. 38-39). It is not a matter of meditations or intuitions genial meditations or intuitions, but of divine revelations, which the prophet feels within himself and communicates to others as a sacred deposit that does not belong to him.

The divine communications take place through vision: a) purely intellectual, without the aid of any image, and this is the most frequent (cf. Ezekiel: "the word of God came to me, saying"); b) and sensory: while He speaks to the intellect, God also acts upon the imagination, upon the internal senses, with sensory images (Is. 6:1; Jer. 1:1; Ez. 1-3; 8:10 etc.), rarely upon the external senses (cf. ibid. 3:4). Sometimes the external senses perceive nothing more of what is around them because they follow the faculties of the mind and the internal senses, which are extraordinarily active, under the action of the Lord: this is ecstasy; the vivid attention to what is within withdraws the prophet from every external influence (ibid. 8:9; F. Spadafora, v. op. cit. in bibl., pp. 27, 75 ff., 271). All the faculties of the prophet are active and conscious, while he motionlessly receives the divine communications; such ecstasy has nothing to do with the morbid and corybantic excitation of pagan ecstatism, brought about by noisy actions. Sometimes, for His communications, God makes use of dreams; thus with the Patriarchs (cf., for St. Joseph, Mt. 1:20; 2:13). In His action, finally, God adapts Himself to the mentality of the prophet; He chooses images familiar to him. The divine suggestions were associated with the ideas and sentiments proper to the prophet, which varied according to individuals, time and environment; each prophet has his own character and personal stamp. Whatever the means chosen, the Lord leaves the prophet with an unshakable certainty regarding the divine nature of the communication received; and instills in him an irresistible impulse to transmit it to the recipients.

The prophets fulfilled their office of spokesmen of the Eternal, principally by means of the living word: they were first of all preachers. Very often, to make what they announced more vivid, more effective and more comprehensible, they performed symbolic actions. Already in the time of Solomon, Ahijah, to foretell the division of the Kingdom, divided his new cloak into 12 parts and gave 10 of them to Jeroboam (I Kings 11:29 ff.; cf. Is. 20; but especially Jeremiah, Ezekiel, with 4 visions and 11 symbolic actions: F. Spadafora, v. op. cit. in bibl., p. 13 ff.; Zechariah): they are true parables in action, adapted to the Oriental genius. In part the discourses of the prophets were fixed in writing immediately afterward, either by themselves or by their disciples, sometimes (cf. Jer. 36; Is. 30:8) by formal order of Yahweh.

Some prophecies, not communicated orally to contemporaries, were only written, since they directly concerned future situations; thus especially the second part of Isaiah (40-66), and Daniel (2, 7-12), according to the explicit mention of the latter (Dan. 8:26; cf. 12:9). The distinction between prophets of action, or orators, and prophets who were writers is therefore only external. According to the extent of their books, the writing prophets are classified as "major" (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel) and "minor." The prophetic books, for the most part written in poetry, are rich in images, sometimes bold, in metaphors and symbols.

The announcement of salvation relatively imminent from enemies, from oppression, and of the messianic salvation, often seem to merge or at least to follow one another immediately or at a short interval. It seems a lack of perspective: the prophet has everything before his mind and thus, without chronological determinations, communicates it to his hearers. In many cases, however, the prophet wishes to express the connection of cause and effect between the messianic salvation and the temporal, material one, granted precisely in view of, by reason of the former. Thus for Is. 7:12; thus for the description of the restoration after the exile: the reborn Israel is considered an immediate preparation for the kingdom of the Messiah by which it will be elevated and absorbed; and therefore they are closely joined in the prophecies (Jer. 30-31, 33; Ez. 34, 36-48). One must always keep in mind that prophecy does not seek to satisfy curiosity, does not seek to be a chronicle.

The culminating period of the activity of the prophets, from the 8th to the 6th century, is a period of transition, which stands at the center of the Old Testament; in it the passage is prepared from ancient Yahwism to the renewed post-exilic theocracy. The infidelity of Israel reaches its height, and Yahweh carries out against it the most serious sanction of the covenant, the destruction of the nation and the exile of the survivors. The prophetic writings allow one to follow the unfolding of these events and the scope of the prophets' message. Popular religion, with its idolatrous syncretism, its superstitious and licentious practices, its moral disorder, reaches its height first in the Kingdom of Samaria (8th century) and then in Judah. It places all its confidence of salvation in the cult, in the presence of the Temple; it is enough to sacrifice victims, and Yahweh is bound to protect his faithful in his own interest. It was necessary to recall the true nature of the covenant between Yahweh and Israel, owed to the free election of Yahweh, who has no need of the Jewish nation; if he chose the descendants of Abraham, of Jacob, as his people, he did so for his infinite mercy. But the covenant is eternal, indissoluble. Israel has violated it; it will undergo the sanction: Yahweh will annihilate it. Yahweh had been long-suffering, waiting for Israel's repentance; for this purpose he had inflicted partial and limited punishments; conversion did not come; the final chastisement is therefore at the gates. Such a penalty, however, is not an end in itself; it is vindictive, but at the same time medicinal. And here the prophets illustrate Yahweh's designs for the continuation of the covenant, which must realize the salvific plan, already announced in Gen. 3:15. Divine mercy will preserve a "remnant" for his people; he will lead it back to its homeland after having purged it of every trace of idolatry; with this "remnant" he will renew the covenant. And this time it will finally have that faithful correspondence on the part of Israel, which was lacking before the exile. The new theocracy thus re-established will last eternally, insofar as it will be elevated and absorbed into the Kingdom of the Messiah (v.). Already Hos. 2 has clear allusions to this grand plan. Ezekiel reworked it systematically, illustrating and developing with clarity every particular (Ez. 11, 14, 16, 20, 34, 36, 37, 40-48; for Hosea cf. A. Clamer, in DThC, XI, coll. 1643-51; for Jeremiah, id., ibid., VII, coll. 871-82). The post-exilic prophets illustrate especially the connection: reborn theocracy-Messianic Kingdom.

The writing prophets bring into particular prominence the attributes of Yahweh, the supreme Being and only God, and his moral demands which determine the nature of his rap-

The prophet Ezekiel. The prophetic teaching can be summarized under two aspects: one, positive, illustrates the essence of the covenant, the fundamental truths constitutive of ancient Yahwism; one, negative or polemical, vigorously combats deviations. In their work, in their writings, everything is reduced to clarifying the nature of the covenant with Yahweh; whether it be the interest shown and the action carried out in political life and for social justice; or the attitude taken against worship, sometimes against an unworthy and venal priesthood, and against false prophets.

The covenant embraced, in its reflections, the whole of civil life. The prophets combat political ties with other peoples. Such alliances were an immediate and direct source of religious contamination: « Politics imposed the recognition, at least official, of the divinities of the country with which one was dealing » (L. Desnoyers, see op. cit. in bibl., III, p. 149). Yahweh, on the other hand, had committed himself to giving Palestine to the Hebrews and to preserving them in its possession. The nation must therefore fear nothing; it must only take care to fulfill the conditions of the pact. God is faithful to his promises. It is a privileged and unique condition: the Kingdom of Israel can only be theocratic.

Therefore, a dynasty that acts against the covenant, as the various dynasties of the Kingdom of Samaria did, is not legitimate; or, in any case, it cannot count on the support of the prophets and of the Yahwistic faithful. Thus the opposition and condemnation expressed by Hos. 7, 3-7; 8, 10, 15; 13, 10 ff. are not against the monarchical institution, in favor of a regime of liberty; but against the syncretistic and schismatic policy of the kings of the north. The prophets, in many cases, anoint the kings or elect them. The messianic design, and therefore the very plan of salvation, is connected by the prophets with the family and dynasty of David (Is. 9, 5 ff.; 11, 1; Jer. 23, 5 ff.; 33, 15 ff.; Ezek. 17 etc.).

Finally, entering into the play of political forces, relying on one's own arms and on powerful alliances, means no longer having unconditional faith in Yahweh, trust in his power (cf. II Chron. 28, 22-25).

The prophets condemn the disastrous influence of Canaanite idolatry. They do not condemn worship in itself; they absolutely condemn syncretistic worship, the essence of popular religion (Hos. 2, 10-15; Jer. 7, 16-19, etc.); they restore, within Yahwism itself, worship to its true place as a simple complement. The essential element is true piety, obedience to the voice of God, the moral precepts (Hos. 6, 6; I Sam. 15, 22; Mic. 6, 6 ff.). They therefore deny to external worship any efficacy, when it is not accompanied by corresponding internal dispositions (Is. 1, 10-17).

The prophets are the continuators of Levitism, for the purity and the preservation of pure Yahwism (A. Neher, see op. cit. in bibl.). Prophetism, with the exact announcement of national punishment, with the vision of future rebirth, revealing the divine design for Israel, prevented the disappearance of the chosen people, prepared their return to God, and their rebirth and continuity after the exile. The prophets were the organs par excellence of divine Revelation, the theologians, the zealous pastors of Israel; defenders of the sovereign rights of Yahweh in the political field; advocates of the poor and the oppressed in the social field. Theirs is the powerful voice of the vigilant watchman who, in the face of disaster, calls back to the purity of the origins, to the continuation of the work of the great prophet Moses; they innovate nothing, but they illuminate everything, they restore everything to its just value. It is the same voice of God; therefore their accents still shake and subdue, instilling the holy fear of the supreme justice, and immense trusting gratitude toward the infinite mercy of the Eternal.

Francesco Spadafora

II. ICONOGRAPHY

The prophets were soon represented in ancient Christian art in isolation, as in Priscilla: Balaam (v.) or Isaiah (v.), Daniel (v.), Jonah (v.), and the last two often in the other cemeteries, in Domitilla also Micah (v.), and the same figures in the Christian sarcophagi where, together with Daniel, Habakkuk sometimes also appears. As a group, the most remarkable series is the mosaic one in the church of S. Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, where the 16 prophets appear above the martyrs between the windows on the walls of the main nave, beneath the image of dignified old men, of marked and majestic moral firmness: they hold in their hands scrolls with inscriptions, an attribute repeated in later iconography. It should be noted that in these mosaics the heads of the prophets are adorned with halos; this custom, which became established in Byzantine-style art, would disappear in the art of the European West, where the nimbus would be reserved only for saints. Later the 16 prophets appear in the mosaics of the Greek monastery of Daphni (v.).

A complete series of prophets according to Byzantine conceptions was frescoed in the second half of the 11th century in the church of S. Angelo in Jormi, above the columns on the side walls of the central nave, and in the contemporary church of S. Pietro ad montes near Caserta Vecchia. The 12th century brings depictions of the prophets in the mosaics of the church of the Marmorana, in the frescoes of the Palatine Chapel in Palermo, in the attic of S. Paolo in Spoleto (late 12th century) and in the transept of S. Maria Maggiore in Rome; in the mosaics in the dome above the high altar in the basilica of S. Marco in Venice. From the first half of the 13th century come the ceiling mosaics in the scarsella of the Florentine Baptistery, where among eight Old Testament figures the four major prophets are also seen (Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and Isaiah); the twelve minor ones are instead depicted, also in mosaic, on the arch that rises between the scarsella and the octagon of the Baptistery. In Lombard art in the 12th-13th centuries, sculptures depicting the prophets adorn the portals of churches, as, for example, in the frames around the main door of the cathedral of Modena and in the baptistery of Parma, the work of Benedetto Antelami of 1196.

In France the prophets were painted in the 11th century in the chapel of the « Grottes de Jonas » near St-Pierre Colamine (Puy-de-Dôme; M. Thibout, Les Grottes de Jonas et les peintures murales de leur chapelle, in Cahiers archéolog., 2 [1947], pp. 115-28 and plates 15-19), at St-Martin du Vic near Nohant-Vicq (Indre) at the beginning of the 12th century (J. Hubert, in Congrès archéol. de France, Bourges 1931, pp. 556-576), at St-Aignan-de-Brinay (Cher) in the 12th century (P. Deschamps - M. Thibout, La peinture murale en France. Le Haut moyen âge et l'époque romane, Paris 1951, pp. 117-118); at Notre-Dame-la-Grande in Poitiers in the 12th century (ibid., pp. 64-65, 69-71, 94; P. Deschamps, Les peintures du chœur de Notre-Dame-la-Grande de Poitiers, in Comptes rendus de l'Acad. des Inscr. et belles lettres, 1949, pp. 288-293); and at St-Savin-sur-Gartempe (Vienne) at the end of the 11th century (P. Deschamps - M. Thibout - A. Grabar, Observations sur les fresques de St-Savin-sur-Gartempe, in Cahiers archéolog., 4 (1949), pp. 135-47; P. Deschamps, La date des peintures de St-Savin-sur-Gartempe, in Comptes rendus de l'Acad. des Inscr., 1949, pp. 73-80; id. - M. Thibout, La peinture murale en France, pp. 71-86).

Various Gothic cathedrals of France, near the portals, bear sculptures in the round with the entire series of the prophets, as at Bourges, at Chartres and at Reims in France; a magnificent example of this kind, datable perhaps to the end of the 14th century, adorns the main portal of the cathedral of Strasbourg; in Germany at Bamberg.

The prophets are often represented in illuminated codices; from the « Codex Sinopensis » to those of Catalonia; from the Bible of the Charterhouse of Calci, now in Pisa, to that of the Bibl. Palatina of Parma, coming from the Monastery of S. Valentino near Amelia, from the Bible of Todi to that of S. Maria « ad Martyres » and to the other of S. Cecilia in Trastevere, all three today in the Bibl. Vaticana (Vat. lat. 1040s, Vat. lat. 1298s and Barb. lat. 587).

At Pisa in the pulpit of Nicola Pisano; at Rimini, in the Malatesta temple, Agostino di Duccio represents them with the sibyls, Pinturicchio in the Borgia Rooms in the Vatican, Perugino in the rooms of the Cambio. In Italian painting of the late Middle Ages one must note a frequent use of depicting some prophets in tiny dimensions, in the pinnacles of Gothic polyptychs: thus in the polyptych of Duccio (Gallery of Siena). In the Maestà instead of the Opera del duomo six prophets were painted in the predella (four of which are still preserved in the Opera del duomo of Siena and two in the Museum of Emperor Frederick in Berlin).

Strongly characteristic are the prophets frescoed by Pietro Cavallini in S. Maria Donna Regina in Naples and by an anonymous Emilian master in the middle of the 14th century on the walls of the chapter hall in the abbey of Pomposa. In one compartment of the ceiling in the chapel of S. Brizio, in the cathedral of Orvieto, Beato Angelico, helped by Benozzo Gozzoli, frescoed in 1447 the group of all sixteen prophets, labeling them with the inscription: «Prophetarum laudabilis numerus». Besides this we have from the hand of Angelico the depiction of 9 prophets that adorn the frame of the admirable Crucifixion, frescoed in the chapter hall of the convent of S. Marco in Florence. Twelve statues of prophets, carved by various masters of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, are on the façade of the same cathedral of Orvieto; paired, they stand at the sides of the rose window. Also on the façade of the cathedral of Siena, around the rose window, stand the figures of all the prophets, together with those of several other Old Testament figures.

Jacopo della Quercia placed five prophets in the compartments of the tabernacle of the baptismal font in S. Giovanni in Siena. Likewise, Lorenzo Ghiberti depicted some prophets in the vertical friezes of his second door of the Florentine Baptistery. However, the most famous depiction of the prophets is undoubtedly that of Michelangelo, who placed seven of them (Jonah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Zechariah, Isaiah, Daniel) on the vault of the Sistine Chapel, interspersing them with 5 sibyls. Among the prophets painted on the pilasters of the church of S. Agostino in Rome, only Isaiah is from the hand of Raphael (1512); the others were added, in the mid-19th century, by Pietro Gagliardi. Likewise the prophets in the church of S. Maria della Pace in Rome, frescoed above the 4 sibyls of Raphael, are not to be attributed to him, but perhaps to his first master Timoteo Viti. Marble statues of the 4 prophets: Isaiah, Ezekiel, Moses, David, decorate the pedestal of the column of the Immaculate Conception in Piazza di Spagna in Rome, erected (1856) according to the design of L. Politi.

III. PROPHET ACCORDING TO ETHNOLOGY

Religious ethnology speaks of prophets and prophetesses, that is, of persons who foretell future events, claiming to know them through a personal and direct revelation from God or from the spirits, or from a particular spirit. This very complex phenomenon has been reduced by evolutionist ethnologists to a morbid and pathological phenomenon.

For example, Tylor, the classic author of ethnological evolutionism, considers prophecy, as well as ecstasy, visions and other similar religious manifestations both pagan and Christian, an effect of the state of depression, or of overexcitement, produced in a person by a long and exhausting fast, or by the use of narcotics, or by practices that produce the same effects, such as hallucination. As proof of this theory of his, Tylor brings examples more or less arbitrarily drawn from certain peoples of North America (Ojibwa, Redskins, Abipones, of Haiti, of the Zulus, of the Malays, of the Yogis of India, of the Greeks, of the Romans and even of Christians. Regarding Christianity he refers particularly to the medical descriptions relating to the scenes provoked by fanatics during the period of religious revival in England, Ireland and America "within the bosom of Protestantism." Frazer then reached such an exaggeration regarding primitive peoples as to say that "the savage, incapable of making a distinction between the visions of dream and the realities of the waking state, confuses the apparition of a dead man during sleep with the real presence of a spirit."

These evolutionist theories, which conceive the development of human civilization in a uniform, unilinear way, from the lowest, semi-bestial, to the highest, from the inferior to the superior, have been demonstrated false by modern ethnology (v.); and Frazer's assertion, in particular, has already been criticized by Lévy-Brühl, in a subtle and irrefutable manner; and Durkheim, basing himself on Codrington and Howitt, had already noted regarding primitive Australians: "The Dieri distinguish between what they consider a vision and a simple dream. This is called opiccia, it is a pure imagination."

One must then distinguish prophecy from divination. The latter presents the revelation of future or hidden things in various ways, among which it also takes account of dreams (v. DIVINATION). Now the dream can also enter into prophecy, if the revelation of future things is not deduced from the object dreamed, but during the dream there is the direct personal revelation, which is what properly distinguishes prophecy. Tylor did not understand the great and intricate complexity of prophetism, because he wanted to reduce it to a morbid manifestation and did not know how to distinguish morbid phenomena from those that are not at all so. Then, in the case of Christianity, Tylor should have known that the Catholic Church has the possibility of judging true from false mystical phenomena, and that Catholic theology gives good rules in this regard (v. bibl.). Among primitive peoples, however varied in culture, one observes facts of prophetism, which are not in relation with fasting, but with prayer. Suffice it to recall the example recounted by K. Rasmussen, who was part of it and testifies to it, when the Eskimos of the Barren Grounds (Børren Ground) of North America wanted to hold a farewell feast for him. During the feast it was announced that the prophetess Kinalik wanted to invoke Sila, the Supreme Being, to obtain for the departing man a good journey and protection against dangers. When she came back to herself from the concentration of all her forces to devise and implore something good in favor of him who was about to set out on his journey, and had regained her normal expression, with a cheerful and radiant appearance, she recounted, says Rasmussen, that the Great Spirit had heard her and that all dangers would be far from his life, and that every time they would need meat, they would find fortunate hunts.

From the important information given to Schoolcraft by Chingwauk, an Algonquin chief versed in mystical traditions and an admirable reader of the hieroglyphics of his people, Tylor, who nevertheless reports it, could have deduced that even primitive peoples demand guarantees, lay down certain conditions before believing in a prophet and his prophecies. Chingwauk relates among other things that the prophet begins to exercise his powers in secret, taking care to have with him only a single confidant, whose testimony is necessary in case of success. Then he draws and symbolizes on bark or on other material the figures of his dreams or of his revelations and often spends an entire winter thus setting out the catalogue of his principal revelations. If what he has predicted comes true, the confidant hastens to say so and they refer to the said catalogue as proof of his talent and of his prophetic faculty. Finally he communicates his Kee-Kee-Wins, or the outline of his dreams, to the elders of the tribe, who assemble to examine them, because the entire nation believes in his revelations. The elders ordinarily end up giving their approval and declaring that the petitioner is endowed with the gift of prophecy, that he is full of wisdom and that he can influence the opinions of the people.

The figure of the prophet, moreover, is very complex: ordinarily he is also soothsayer, exorcist, physician, magician, invoker. In ancient feudal China, for example, there existed everywhere shamans and shamanesses, who can also be called magicians and magicianesses (sui and sui-ni). They had an important place in the religious life of the people; they were considered as intermediaries with the world of the gods and the spirits. Of a magician of the State of Cheng it is said not only that he knew how to predict even the day of the duration of the life of those who questioned him, but also to cure illnesses and that he knew what was auspicious and what was inauspicious. In the different seasons of the year the shamanesses (sau-sé) had to drive out pestilential emanations and evil influences and make libations. When a great calamity raged in the country they sang, wept and asked for the cessation of the scourge. The shamans assembled together with their chief and in the case of a great drought performed dances to obtain rain.

It is interesting to note that the power that magicians possess, or believe they possess, is attributed to a pact made by them with a spirit that assists them, which is also found in the formula of invocation of the spirit, as Leroy has revealed, a surprising analogy with civilizations scattered over the surface of the globe. The supplication of the magician of the Fan of West Africa always begins with the renewal of the pact: "Spirit, you who are my Lord and to whom I have given myself, strong and powerful spirit, it is I who call you." Here is the formula that a Tibetan magician used in the presence of the prophet Huc: "I know you, you know me. Come now, old friend, do what I ask of you. Bring water and fill the vessel that I present to you. Fill a vessel with water, what is that for your great power? I know that you make one pay very dearly for a vessel of water, but no matter; do what I ask of you and fill this vessel that I present to you. Later we will sing together. On the appointed day you will take what is yours." The same belief is found among European magicians.

The revelation of the future made by the spirit to which the magician is bound takes place in various ways, of which abundant accounts are found both in the travel books of explorers and in the reports of missionaries; generally the revelations occur after a period of shouts, clamor, blows of instruments, etc.

Among the ancient Chinese, under the Chou dynasty (1122-1259 B.C.), male and female magicians, as Maspero has pointed out, entered into relations with the spirits through a veritable obsession, for which reason they were often also called obsessed ones (ling-pao); the spirit descended into them, so that "the body was (that) of the magician, but the heart was (that) of the god." It was he who spoke through their mouth, as the soul of a prince declared to his old charioteer at the end of a first apparition: "In seven days, beside the new enclosure (of k'ii-ru), there will be a magician and you will have an interview with me." Sometimes the spirit was not content to speak, but acted through its magician, as did that hungry spirit (li) which, furious at the scant care that the prior, charged with the offerings to the souls without posterity of Ku of Kuan, used in fulfilling the duties of his office, suddenly took possession of a medium and made him kill the prior on the altar with blows of a staff. Before the evocation of the spirit, the ancient Chinese magician purified herself, washing her face and body with water of special herbs, and clothed herself in magnificent garments. When the offerings were ready, she sent her soul to seek the divinity and led it with her to assist at the sacrifice, miming this journey with a dance accompanied by music and song.

From what has been said, it is easy to form an idea of the complexity of the prophetic phenomenon. One must judge case by case and see how much there is of the natural, the preternatural or the supernatural, how much of morbidity or of cunning. Ethnology lists such a diversity of prophetic facts that they cannot in any way be judged simply as morbid facts, in the manner of Tylor. Among the Hebrews, moreover, the nābhi recall to mind in certain respects the dervishes and certain manifestations of some Muslim confraternities. The nābhi have been called voluntary prophets and rightly distinguished from prophets by vocation; these latter, furthermore, are figures so characteristic that they cannot be reduced to any figure of a prophet known among other peoples.

I. Luigi Vannicelli