The Old Testament prophets were men and women of God who towered spiritually over their contemporaries. No category of people in all literature presents a more dramatic picture than the OT prophets. Priests, judges, kings, wise counselors, and psalmists had a unique place in Israel’s history. However, the prophets continue to exert as much influence on the subsequent history of redemption. The prophets apply authority in the structure of the Old Testament itself.
The prophets impact the threefold division of the Hebrew Bible: The Torah, The Prophets, and The Writings. The category is known as “The Prophets,” which included six historical books written from the prophetic perspective: Joshua, Judges, First and Second Samuel, and First and Second Kings. Possibly, the author of these books were prophets. Secondly, there were sixteen specific prophetic books between Isaiah to Malachi. Lastly, Moses, the author of the first five books (The Torah), was a prophet, as stated in Deuteronomy, chapter eighteen, verse fifteen. So, the prophets wrote a full two-thirds of the Bible.
The prophets were men of the Spirit and the Word. A prophet was not simply another religious leader but a person into whom God’s Spirit and God’s Word enter and take possession. Due to the Spirit of God and His Word being in him, the prophets have the following characteristics: First, they have divinely revealed knowledge. The prophet experienced God-given awareness concerning people, events, and redemptive truth. The primary purpose of this knowledge was to encourage God’s people to remain faithful to God and His covenant.
The prophet’s prophecy made clear the will of God for His people by way of instruction, correction, and warning. God used the prophets to pronounce His judgment before it occurred.
Secondly, the prophets received divinely given powers. The prophets were drawn into the sphere of the miraculous, filled with God’s spirit. Through the prophets, God’s life and capacity demonstrate in supernatural ways in a world otherwise sealed against it.
Finally, the prophets had to live a distinctive lifestyle. They, by and large, abandoned the ordinary pursuits of life to live exclusively for God. The prophets protested intensely against idolatry, immorality, and all kinds of evil among God’s people, as well as against corruption in the lives of kings and priests; they were activists for holy and righteous changes. The prophets are always on the offense for God’s kingdom, and His righteousness championed God’s will without thought of personal risk.
There are eight different characteristics of the Old Testament prophet. What sort of prophet was the OT prophet? First, he was a person who had a close relationship with God. An OT prophet who became God’s confidant as described in the book of Amos, Chapter three, verse seven. This prophet saw the world and the covenant people from God’s perspective, not from a human point of view.
Second, the OT prophet was close to God and in sympathy with God and with what God was suffering because of His people’s sins; because he understood God’s purpose, will, and desire better than anyone else, he experienced the same emotional reactions God did. In other words, the OT prophet not only heard God’s voice but also felt His heart as stated in Jeremiah, chapter six, verse eleven.
Third, like God, the prophet deeply loves God’s people. When people were hurt, the prophet felt deep pain. He wanted God’s best for them, and his messages contained not only warnings but also words of hope and comfort.
Fourth, the OT prophets sought the highest good for the people with complete trust and loyalty to God. Therefore, he warned against trusting other things, such as human wisdom, wealth, power, and other gods. The OT prophets continually urged the people to live by God’s covenant obligations to receive God’s redemptive blessings.
Fifth, the prophet had a deep sensitivity to sin and evil. He was impatient with cruelty, crime, immorality, and injustice. What might appear as a slight deviation from God’s law to the people was seen as a disaster by the prophet? He had little tolerance for all their compromises, complacency, pretenses, and excuses. He shared God’s love of righteousness and hatred of wickedness.
Sixth, the OT prophet challenged the shallow, superficial holiness of God’s people: He tried desperately to encourage heartfelt obedience to every word God had revealed in His law. The OT prophet dedicates himself to God; He hated halfhearted commitment, shunned the middle road, and demanded complete faithfulness to God. he accepted nothing less than the fulness of God’s kingdom, and his righteousness manifested among God’s people.
Seven, the prophet had a vision for the future: expressed in predictions of doom and destruction and eyesight of restoration and renewal.
Finally, the OT prophet is often a man of loneliness and sorrow. He frequently experiences persecution by the false prophets who predict peace, prosperity, and security for God’s sinful people. At the same time, however, the true prophet was such a man of God that the people and their leaders could not ignore his character or message.
The prophet emphasized lifestyle, conduct, and moral issues. He constantly confronts those who depend on the mere performance of religious duties. He irritates, reminds, denounces, stands alone in His righteous demands, and insists on applying God’s eternal principles to life. The prophet is an ethical teacher, a moral reformer, and a disturber of the human mind; he exposes sin and apostasy, always seeking to stir the people to holy living.