A prophet is a figure who communicates messages understood to come from God and directed toward a specific community and situation. Prophetic speech commonly addresses present behavior, social injustice, leadership failure, and communal responsibility. Prophets frequently act as lawyers or covenant enforcers, explaining the consequences of breaking established obligations between God and the people. Rather than predicting distant futures, they interpret current events and warn of outcomes tied to covenant loyalty or failure. Their authority comes from the claim to speak on God’s behalf, and their words function as warnings, corrections, and explanations meant to provoke change.
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References
- Bodi, Daniel, "When YHWH's Wife, Jerusalem, Became a Strange Woman: Inversion of Values in Ezekiel 16 in Light of Ištar Cult" in Berlejung, Angelika, and Marianne Grohmann (eds.) Foreign Women - Women in Foreign Lands: Studies on Foreignness and Gender in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East in the First Millennium BCE
- Underwood, Norman Russell, The Professionalization of the Clergy in Late Antiquity
- Heiser, Michael S., A Companion to the Book of Enoch: A Reader’s Commentary, Vol. 1
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