3. Manner of Life of the Prophets. The prophets went about poorly and coarsely dressed (2 Kings i :8), not as a mere piece of asceticism, hut that their very apparel might teach what the people ought to do; it was a 'scrmo propheticus realis.' Compare t Kings xxi :27, where Ahab does penance in the manner figured by the prophet : 'And it came to pass, when Ahab heard these words, that he rent his clothes, and put sack cloth upon his flesh, and fasted.' (1) Unostentatious. Generally the prophets were not anxious to attract notice Iiy tious display ; nor did they seek worldly wealth, most of them living in poverty and even want (x Kings xiv :3; 2 Kings iv :1, 38, 42). The decay of the congregation of God deeply chagrined them (comp. Micah and many passages in Jere miah).
(2) Persecution. Insult, persecution, impris onment, and death, were often the reward of their godly life. The author of the Epistle to the He brews says (ch. xi :37) : 'They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheep skins and goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented' (comp. Christ's speech, Matt. xxiii: 29, sq.; 2 Chron. xxiv :17, sq.). The condition of the prophets, in their temporal humiliation, is vividly represented in the lives of Elijah and Elisha in the books of the Kings: and Jeremiah concludes the description of his sufferings in the loth chapter, by cursing the day of his birth.
(3) Type of Christ. Repudiated by the world in which they were aliens, they typified the life of him whose appearance they announced, and whose spirit dwelt in them. They figured him, however, not only in his lowness, but in his ele vation. The Lord stood by them, gave evidence in their favor by fulfilling their predictions, fre quently proved by miracles that they were his own messengers, or retaliated on their enemies the injury done them. The prophets addressed the people of both kingdoms: they were not con fined to particular places, but prophesied where it was required. For this reason they were most numerous in capital towns, especially in Jerusa lem, where they generally spoke in the temple.
(4) Themes. Sometimes their advice was asked, and then their prophecies take the form of answers to questions submitted to them (Is. xxxvii; Ezek. xx ; Zech. vii). But much more frequently they felt themselves inwardly moved to address the people without their advice having been asked, and they were not afraid to stand for ward in places where their appearance, perhaps, produced indignation and terror. Whatever lay within or around the sphere of religion and morals, formed the object of their care. They strenuously opposed the worship of false gods (Is. i:zo, sq.), as well as the finery of women (Is. sq.). Priests, princes, kings, all must hear them—must, however, reluctantly, allow them to perform their calling as long as they spoke in the name of the true God, and as long as the result did not disprove their pretensions to be the servants of the invisible king of Israel (Jer. xxxvii:15-21).
(5) Schools of the Prophets. There were in stitutions for training prophets; the senior mem bers instructed a number of pupils and directed them. These schools had been first established by Samuel (i Sam. x :8; xix:19); and at a later time there were such institutions in different places, as Bethel and Gilgal (2 Kings ii :3; iv: 38; The pupils of the prophets lived in fellowship united, and were called 'sons of the prophets:' whilst the senior or experienced proph ets were considered as their spiritual parents, and were styled fathers (comp. 2 Kings 11:12; Vi:21). Samuel, Elijah, and Elisha are mentioned as principals of such institutions. From them the Lord generally chose his instruments. Amos re lates of himself (vii:14, 15), as a thing uncom mon, that lie had been trained in no school of prophets, but was a herdsman, when the Lord took him to prophesy unto the people of Israel. At the same time, this example shows that the bestowal of prophetic gifts was not limited to the school of the prophets. Women also might come forward as prophetesses, as instanced in Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah, though such cases are of comparatively rare occurrence. We should also observe that only as regards the kingdom of Israel we have express accounts of the continu ance of the schools of prophets. What is re corded of them is not directly applicable to the kingdom of Judah, especially since, as stated above, prophecy had in it an essentially different position. We cannot assume that the organiza tion and regulations of the schools of the prophets in the kingdom of Judah should have been as settled and established as in the kingdom of Israel. In the latter, the schools of the prophets had a kind of monastic constitution: they were not in stitutions of general education, but missionary stations ; which explains the circumstance that they were established exactly in places which were the chief seats of superstition. The spir itual fathers traveled about to visit the training schools; the pupils had their common board and dwelling, and those who married and left, ceased not on that account to be connected with their colleges, but remained members of them. The widow of such a pupil of the schools of prophets, who is mentioned in 2 Kings iv:1, sq., considered Elisha as the person bound to care for her. The offerings which, by the Mosaic law, were to be given to the Levites, were by the pious of the kingdom of Israel brought to the schools of the prophets (2 Kings iv:42). The prophets of the kingdom of Israel stood in a hostile position to the priests. These points of difference in the situation of the prophets of the two kingdoms must not be lost sight of; and we further add, that prophecy in the kingdom of Israel was much more connected with extraordinary events than in the kingdom of Judah : the history of the latter offers no prophetical deeds equaling those of Elijah and Elisha.