Lives of prophets

The backgrounds of the prophets

Ex 2:1–10 Moses was brought up in the Egyptian royal court; 1 Sa 1:21–28 Samuel was a temple servant at Shiloh; 1 Ki 19:19–21 Elisha was a farmer; Eze 1:3 Ezekiel was a priest living in exile in Babylonia.

The calling of the prophets

Their initial encounter with God

Isaiah 6:1–4 NIV

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

See also Ex 3:1–6; Eze 1:4–28

God communicating his call

Jeremiah 1:4–5 NIV

The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

See also Is 6:8–10; Eze 2:3–3:5; Jon 1:1; Jon 3:1

Their response to God’s call

Jeremiah 1:6–10 NIV

“Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

See also Ex 3:11–12

The family life of the prophets

Jeremiah 16:1–4 NIV

Then the word of the Lord came to me: “You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place.” For this is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers: “They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like dung lying on the ground. They will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.”

See also Is 7:3; Is 8:1–4; Eze 24:15–24; Ho 1:2–11; Ho 3:1–5

The hardships faced by prophets

Persecution

Hebrews 11:32–38 NIV

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

See also Ac 7:52

Reviling and beating

Luke 6:22–23 NIV

Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

See also Je 20:1–2; Jas 5:10

Imprisonment

Jeremiah 37:11–16 NIV

After the Babylonian army had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, Jeremiah started to leave the city to go to the territory of Benjamin to get his share of the property among the people there. But when he reached the Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, arrested him and said, “You are deserting to the Babylonians!” “That’s not true!” Jeremiah said. “I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. They were angry with Jeremiah and had him beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary, which they had made into a prison. Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time.

See also 1 Ki 22:26–27; 2 Ch 16:10; Je 37:21; Je 38:6–13

Killing

1 Kings 19:14 NIV

He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

See also 1 Ki 18:4; 1 Ki 18:13; 1 Ki 19:2; Je 26:8–11; Je 26:20–23; Mt 23:29–31; Mt 23:37; Lk 11:47–49; 1 Th 2:4–15

The death of prophets

Dt 34:1–8 Moses; 1 Sa 28:3 Samuel; 2 Ki 2:11–12 Elijah did not die but was taken up in a chariot of fire.