PROPHECY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.
"Prophecy conic not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Pet. i:2t).
The importance of this subject cannot well be overestimated, for a proper conception of it is necessary to a clear understanding of the very basis of Christianity.
This faot has been so fully recognized that Christian scholars in all ages have found this a profitable and an almost inexhaustible field for research. It was to the prophecies concerning the Messiah that the apostles appealed in presenting the claims of the Christ to the Jewish world. It was to "the law and the prophets" that the Master himself often referred.
In both the Old and the New Testament the prophet is the divine messenger who communi cates to man the revelation which he has received from God. Peter and Paul and John are "among the prophets" as well as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, while our Lord himself stands at the head of the glorious company.
(1) The Claim of Inspiration. Every believer of God's word must admit the claim to inspiration which is made by the prophets of both the Old and the New Covenants. They stood as did Mo ses of old between God and humanity. They were not in this position "by will of man" but it was a duty which was laid upon them by the Most High.
Amos says: "I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit. And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel" (Amos vii:14).
Often the message given them was in direct opposition to their own wishes; often they were compelled to utter denunciations upon their own people.
It is true that the mission of God's messengers is not limited to the foretelling of events. The broad, original meaning of the word makes the prophet a man of the times whose primary ob ject was religious instruction,— the moral and spiritual culture of his fellowmen ; he was a re former, a preacher of righteousness, and the stern reprover of sin. He was also the inter
preter of history, but nevertheless the element of prediction is a most prominent and essential fea ture of Old Testament prophecy.
(2) Fulfillment the Test. Not only this but the fulfillment of his predictions was made the test by which the seer must stand or fall.
Moses says: "fVhen a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord bath not spoken, but the prophet !loth spoken it presumptuously" (Deut. xviii:22). Jeremiah also says: "When the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then sholl the prophet be known that the Lord truly sent him" (Jer. xxviii:9). Jehovah revealed to these men his purposes concerning their own people and those of other nations. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing but he re vealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets" (Amos iii :7), There was often a condition made in connec tion with a prophecy as in the words of the Mas ter when he said: "Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke xiii:3).
In the case of Nineveh there was no condition in the denunciation, but when the people repented and turned to God he averted the evil which had been foretold.
According to the visions of Amos the main point in the particular revelation given to him was the coming destruction cf the Northern Kingdom. This disaster was twice averted in an swer to the prayers of the prophet, but became inevitable on account of the obduracy of the peo ple. Amos denounced their wickedness and ex horted them to repentance, but in vain, and at last the high places of Isaac were made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel were laid waste.
The test which God's prophets accepted for themselves we may well use, and the number of definite predictions found in the Old Testament which have been accurately fulfilled are of the greatest interest. Only a very few of these can be cited but we may refer by way of illustration to the following instances.