Northwest College of the Bible, Charles Dailey,
Temple Musicians
This part of the review may be somewhat redundant but I have added more material on the meaning of PROPHESYING. Charles Dailey believes that it authorizes singing with instrumental music. On the contrary, the form of prophesying involving music was "lord lord saying" or the uncovered prophesying of the women OUTSIDE OF THE ASSEMBLY of those once used at the many oracles. The most famous was that at Delphi.
See Part One ......See Part Two....Part Three here
Charles Dailey: To keep us from concluding that prophetesses always made the music and the prophets always did the forthtelling, we include 1 Samuel 10:5 where the prophet Samuel told Saul:
After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, tambourines, flutes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. (1 Samuel 10:5 NIV)
Music alwas means to "strike something with the fingers" or to abrade, or to grind to bits, or to take your inheritance. This word for music is also identical to to a word meaning "to trim a vine or prune." or "to make the hair stand up, to tremble."
Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water. Judges5 :4
This was celebrating God's destructive wrath. Remember that Moses recognized three forms of music: (1) the panic of going into war, (2) the celebration of victory and (3) the sound of singing of idolatry.
Here we have prophets prophesying in procession. They were either preaching to each other as they walked along and trying to hear over the sound of the instruments or they were singing praises to God accompanied with instruments of music.
The second choice is more reasonable.
So now our description of prophesying has broadenedto include both men and women using both voices and instruments to praise God.
These prophets were probably vocational prophets - that was their full time employment.
No, these were "wannabe" professional prophets who hung around the Philistine high place hoping to predict the location of a lost goat for a price. Their "oracle" was not unlike that of Apollo (Abbydon) who had a comples of theater, swimming pool, woman to get a message by going insane, trade fairs, sacrifical altars and everything a modern "seeker" church might have. It was purely a money making machine.
"Re 1 Sam. 10:10 "These prophets were groups of men who devoted themselves to ecstatic devotions. They would play instrument, sing, dance and put themselves into wild trances, and fall down in a frenzy. They rather resembled certain orders of dervishes of later Islamic times, and if the word were here given as 'dervishes' rather than 'prophets,' the picture would be clearer.
"In their trances and ecstasies, these prophets or dervishes were believed to be divinely possessed, to have access to more than human knowledge, to be able to pronounce oracles, and so on."
"In the time of Saul, the companies of prophets were by no means completely edifying. They may, indeed, have been hang-overs of paganism. Samuel, as the spiritual leader of the time, seems to have attempted to guide their energies into the path of Yahvism, but it is difficult to say how much success he might have head."
"Yet the prophets were an excellent tool. They had the capacity to stir and influence the people and they tended to be strongly nationalistic, ready always to serve as the backbone of resistance against foreign oppression. Samuel, as their head, could direct them to meet and join Saul. It was the support of the bands of prophets that was Samuel's practical contribution to the establishment of Sauls kingship." (Asimov's Guide to the Bible, p. 283).
"Self-interest in social affairs made for self-indulgence in matters of religion. The northern sanctuaries were crowded with worshippers who, in the main, were rejoicing in the erotic religious rites that were the concomitant of a pagan Canaanite Baal worship.
Prophets and priests associated with the sanctuaries profited from the lavish gifts of the worshippers, and naturally condoned these exercises in the name of religion,
appearing completely oblivious to the conditions of rapid decay which lay immediately underneith the surface of social life." (Harrison, R. K., Introduction to the Old Testament, Eerdmans, p. 886)
Professional priests or prophets were always false.
"This is the first mention in the OT of a band of prophets. These were men who went about in companies and were able by means of music and dancing to work themselves up into a convulsive and ecstatic frenzy (2 Ki. 3:1-10). Their abnormality was believed to be caused by the invasive influence of the spirit of god.
The word prophesied here does not mean
either foretelling the future
or preaching after the manner of the later prophets,
but engaging in the ritual dance of the prophetic guild (19:18-24). Their behavior was commonly regarded as a form of madness (2 Ki. 9:11; Jer. 29:26)" (The Int. Bible Ency., I Sam. p. 932).
This was "speaking in tongues" as a sign that the "nations" were taking control.
Strabo Geography [10.3.9] "But I must now investigate how it comes about that so many names have been used of one and the same thing, and the theological element contained in their history. Now this is common both to the Greeks and to the barbarians,
to perform their sacred rites in connection with the relaxation of a festival,
these rites being performed sometimes with religious frenzy, sometimes without it;
sometimes with music, sometimes not; and sometimes in secret, sometimes openly.
And it is in accordance with the dictates of nature that this should be so, for, in the
first place, the relaxation draws the mind away from human occupations and turns the real mind towards that which is divine; and,
secondly, the religious frenzy seems to afford a kind of divine inspiration and to be very like that of the soothsayer; and,
thirdly, the secrecy with which the sacred rites are concealed induces reverence for the divine, since it imitates the nature of the divine,
which is to avoid being perceived by our human senses; and,
(The musical practices among the Levites were closely-held secrets even as musical ministers keep the profane out of their business.)
fourthly, music, which includes dancing as well as rhythm and melody,
Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. Lu.15:25
at the same time, by the delight it affords and by its artistic beauty,
brings us in touch with the divine, and this for the following reason;
for although it has been well said that human beings then act most like the gods when they are doing good to others,
yet one might better say, when they are happy; and such happiness consists of rejoicing, celebrating festivals, pursuing philosophy, and engaging in music;
This, along with the destruction of the wheat crop and Samuel's prophesy that the kings would destroy them, were God's judgmental "sign to unbelievers." These were not good prophets. Remember that under the Judges, people did what was right in their own eyes and they followed Canaanite Baalism. The sold their services at a Philistine "high place" a place of pagan worship. Rather than being Instrumental music in worship in an approved sense. Parkes notes that:
"Like most primitive peoples, the Israelites had always believed in inspiration, interpreting any disturbance of normal consciousness and self-control as due to spiritual agencies. During their early history, as can be seen from stories in the books of Judges and Samuel,
not only the rhapsodic utterances of priests and poets but
also the babblings of maniacs were attributed to a divine spirit.Prophecy gradually became professionalized, and the schools of prophets,
who had developed techniques for the deliberate inducement of states of derangementby means of music and dances and of alcohol and possibly other drugs,
earned money by helping peasants to find lost articles, performing miraculous cures, and advising kings about the will of Jehovah."This tradition seems to have been stronger in the northern kingdom, where the orgiastic fertility cults were more deeply rooted; its rulers apparently mantained large bodies of hired ecstatics to encourage their subjects with suitably propitious oracles on the eve of a war or some other moral cricis.
"Among more sophisticated persons it was recognized that many of the prophets were merely lunatics and that their utterances were misleading; but the popular assumption of divine guidance was not readily abandoned." (Parkes, Henry Bamford, Gods and Men The Origins of Western Culture, p. 106, Knopf)
This was God's sign that they had rejected Saul and true inspiration for what they would do as they established the kingdom with a human king and charismatic prophesiers but they were not honoring God in congregational Instrumental music in worship.
Micaiah Refused to "Sing" with the band of prophets
Later on we see that these prophets became professionalized as a "ministry team" to give credibility to the chief leader, priest or king. They "sang in unison" just what the key man needed to inclucate to facilitate his personal program.
Ben-Hadad of Aram threatened Israel and in 1 Kings 22 Ahab of Israel and Jehoshaphat of Judah tried to decide whether to go to war. Jehoshaphat wanted to ask God about it so Ahab summoned four hundred charismatic prophets. The body of charismatic prophets who opposed Elijah on Mount Carmel were "yes men" which Anderson describes as "singing in unison."
"So the king of Israel brought together the prophets--about four hundred men--and asked them, "Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?" "Go," they answered, "for the Lord will give it into the king's hand." 1 Ki 22:6
Zedekiah performed one of the sympathetic magic rits to prove that the "songs" of the prophets were inspired. However, there was always a "singular" prophet out of the masses who spoke the truth and Micaiah had not "sung in unison." Therefore, he was singled out for special attention from the kings.
Micaiah began to mock and mimick the song of the four hundred. Because the kings just wanted affirmation, they were like those who will never obey God. Therefore, they were told to "go on and do it." Micaiah told Ahab that God would give Ramoth Gilead into their hands. Ahab became suspicious because he understood that Micaiah often disagreed with the "minutes of the religious conference" and was asked for his true opinion.
Micaiah then said that he saw Israel "scattered like sheep without a shepherd." He then described the scene in heaven where a "spirit" proposed that in order to deceive Ahab--
"By what means?' the LORD asked. " 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,' he said. " 'You will succeed in enticing him,' said the LORD. 'Go and do it.' 1 Ki 22:22
"But the prophet, speaking under the influence of Yahweh's spirit, was able to interpret the meaning of events and to proclaim the will of God in concrete terms. This of course, was not possible so long as the prophetic group was acting or singing in unison. So more and more we see individuals standing out from the prophetic band, even breaking from it, in order to proclaim the word of God for a particular crisis." (Bernard Anderson, Theology of the O.T. p. 231).
The four hundred charismatic prophets had been "filled with the spirit" but it was an evil spirit. In the comming battle Ahab would be destroyed so the king disguised himself. However, during the battle a stray arrow wounded Ahab, he died, and the dogs licked his blood.
This was the "straw that broke the camel's back" and the charismatic, musical prophets were taken off the payroll--
"With Micaiah, prophecy was no longer the echo of nationalizm or the servant of popular desire. Here we have a break with the professional prophets--a break that became sharper later when Amos disavowd any connection with the 'sons of the prophets' (Amos 7:14)." (Anderson, p. 249).
The "musical" notes by Amos is a repudiation of the northern "prophets" who led to starving the nation for hunger and thirst of the Word of God.
The charismatic prophets were seen first in the musical sign against Israel as Saul was selected to replace Yahweh and allow Israel to "worship like the nations." They were involved in Jezebel's Baal worship and were finally discredited. Anderson notes that Amos denies any connection with them and at the same time he warns Israel for their musical worship.
"Micaiah in irony, until adjured in the name of God, joined Ahab's court-priests, bidding him to go to Ramoth-Gilead, where he was to perish; or Elijah said to the priests of Baal, cry aloud, for he is a god; or our Lord, Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers;
so Amos bids them do all they did, in their divided service to God, but tells them that to multiply all such service was to multiply transgression." (Barnes, Albert, Amos, p. 282)
As far as I know, Saul was never a harp player or a pipe player. Both the tabret and the pipe were women's instruments and the pipe was considered obscene. In the NIV usually quoted by this writer there are indeed two actions: playing and prophesying.
After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place
1. with lyres, tambourines, flutes and harps being played before them,
2. and they will be prophesying. 1 Samuel 10:5NIVAnd the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man (perverted). 1 Samuel 10:6
Consistent with all of the known historical evidence, the professional but lying prophets who hung around in groups were "soft" or catamites -- male prostitutes or homosexuals. And when Saul was "turned into another man" he was not made "spiritual." Rather, this turning means "perverting."
"Awed by the mysteries of his own spirit no less than by those of nature, primitive man was likely to attribute to divine influence
any abnormal emotional state, whether above or below the usual level. Medicine men customarily went into states of trance in which they were believed to be in communication with the gods,
and many tribes supposed lunatics and sexual deviants to be divinely possessed.
In most early societies, moreover, men evolved techniques for deliberaly inducing the abnormal forms of consciousness in which they supposed themselves to achieve union with divine power, sometimes by the use of drugs and other physiological stimuli, sometimes by hypnotic dances and music. The wild utterances to which they gave vent on such occasions were regarded as the words of a god and were interpreted as divine commands or predictions of future events." (Parkes, p. 32-33).
Later:
"...the divine hymns and psalms which were sung to the harp by David used to expel, was now in a judicial way brought upon him, not only in order to disappoint his intentions against innocent David, but to expose him to the laughter and contempt of all that saw him, or heard of those agitations; such violent and wild agitations being never observed in true prophets, when they were under the inspiration of the Spirit of God." (Whiston's comments on Josephesus, p. 191).
When the Israelites fell into the musical worship of Apis, the bull:
Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. Ex.32:25
God Himself equates the prophets who prophesy as a result of falling under the charismatic influence of new wine and music as men and women of Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus said that the Jews were worse: at least the Sodomites would have repented if they had known the truth.
There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Ezekiel 22:25
Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Ezekiel 22:26
This is how they profaned God's holy things:
Chalal (h2490) khaw-lal'; to wound, to dissolve; fig. to profane (a person, place or thing), to break (one's word), to begin (as if by an "opening wedge"); denom. (from 2485) to play (the flute): - begin (* men began), defile, * break, defile, * eat (as common things), * first, * gather the grape thereof, * take inheritance, pipe, player on instruments, pollute, (cast as) profane (self), prostitute, slay (slain), sorrow, stain, wound.
Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. Ezekiel 22:27
And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken. Ezekiel 22:28
This kind of prophet is most likely to truly prophesy in the "droping bits of honey" as musical prophesying.
If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people. Micah 2:11
Stripping naked while musically "prophesying" is universally pictured like the following bowl:
The Judas Bag is for carrying the mouth pieces of wind instruments. You can see the leopord- or fawn-spotted flute case and the little box or bag on the side is the Judas bag. The worship of the eternal wine-god demanded eating and drinking. Jesus said: "You are liars" when they accused Him of being like them.I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. Micah 2:12
The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them. Micah 2:13
[The Rule of the Trumpets: the trumpets] of alarm for all their service for the [ . . . ] for their commissioned men, [by tens of thousands and thousands and hundreds and fifties] and tens. Upon the t[rumpets . . . ]
[ . . . ] )8[ . . . ] 19[ . . . which ] 20[,, . they shall write . . . the trumpets of the battle formations, and the trumpets for assembling them when the gates of the war are opened so that the infantry might advance, the trumpets for the signal of the slain, the trumpets of the ambush, the trumpets of pursuit when the enemy is defeated, and the trumpets of reassembly when the battle returns.
"Then the priest appointed for the time of vengeance by all his brothers shall walk about and encourage [them for the battl]e, and he shall say in response: "Be strong and courageous as warriors. Fear not, nor be discoura[ged and let not y]our [heart be faint.]
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Jn.14:27
"Do not panic, neither be alarmed because of them. Do not turn back nor [flee from the]m. For they are a wicked congregation, all their deeds are in darkness; it is [their] desire. [They have established al]l their refuge [in a lie], their strength is as smoke that vanishes, and all their vast assembly [is as chaff which blows away . . . de]solation, and shall not be found.
"Every creature of greed shall wither quickly away [like a flow]er at ha[rvest time.... Come,] strengthen yourselves for the battle of God, for this day is an appointed time of battle [for~G]od against all the n[ations, . . . judgm]ent upon all flesh. The God of Israel is raising His hand in His wondrous [streng]th [against all the spirits of wick[edness
David
We have taken the liberty of untangling David and the prophets from the Philistine high place. We have already noted God's condemnation of vocational prophets:
By the time of David, prophesying with the use of instruments was definitely a vocational specialty. 1 Chronicles 25:1:
David, together with the commanders of the army, set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals. (1 Chronicles 25:1 NIV)
"The girl harpists' skeleton hands were still resting on the harp strings--or where the harp strings once had been. And the instruments themselves suggested in form the body of a bull, with its beautiful golden bull's head (engravings) bearing a rich lapis-lazuli beard (settings). For this was a mythological bull: the divine lunar bull whose song of destiny had summoned these two willing companies--first of the buried king, then of his lady--to rebirth through death. And we know the name of the god of whom this bull was the animal vehicle. It was the great Near Eastern legendary, god-king and universal savior Tammuz, (See Ezekiel 8:14) the dates of whose annual death-and-resurrection festival are now assigned in our own mythic and ritual calendar, by the Synagogue to Passover, and by the Church to Good Friday and Easter." (Campbell, Joseph, Myths to Live By, p. 62-63)
Understand what the women were doing Lamenting for Tammuz in the temple:
"We gain some knowledge of music in ancient Sumer from the harps or lyres found in the tombs. The animal heads used for ornamentation include a bearded bull, a cow, and a stag. Each of two statuettes from represented a goat standing in front of a bush from which it appears to be eating leaves." ( Pfeiffer, Charles F., Between the Testaments, Baker Book House, p. 547).
"The spirits were thought to speak in murmurings or piping sounds (Isa 8:19), which could be imitated by the medium (ventriloquist)...Most spiritual and popular was the interpretation of dreams. It also was the case that mediums intentionally would convert themselves into a semi-waking trance. In this way the suitable mediums attained to a certain kind of clarvoyance, found among various peoples.
This approaches the condition of an ecstatically aroused pseudo-prophet.. In Greece, too, oracles were pronounced by the Phythian prophetess who by vapors and the like was aroused to a practice of the mantic art. (Int Std Bible Ency, p. 2466)
The ark of the covenant as a symbol of God brought panic on the battlefield and the many harpists "sounding like rushing water" would send cold chills up the back of the enemy. They actually believed that the enemy's gods lived inside either the ark or the instrument.
David [king], together with the commanders of the army, set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals. (1 Chronicles 25:1 NIV)
A specialized definition of singing that always excludes musical instruments has made understanding between the two viewpoints represented here today difficult. We note here that Jeduthun did not prophesy and play -- two separate actions. He prophesied using the instrument.
As for Jeduthun, from his sons: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah and Mattithiah, six in all, under the supervision of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied, using the harp in thanking and praising the LORD. (1 Chronicles 25:3 NIV)
Jeduthun was using the harp in thanking and praising the LORD. The instrument was a part of the process.
First, the opposite is the Biblical and historical fact: when instruments are included they are specified. Otherwise the psalming or making melody is with the first "instrument of choice"-- the human voice.
Second, as we noted above, Saul was never a harp player or a pipe player. Both the tabret and the pipe were women's instruments and the pipe was considered obscene. In the NIV usually quoted by this writer there are indeed two actions: playing and prophesying.
After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession (musicians leading the way) of prophets coming down from the high place
1. with lyres, tambourines, flutes and harps being played before them,
2. and they will be prophesying. 1 Samuel 10:5NIVAnd the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man (perverted). 1 Samuel 10:6
Third, the names of these musical guilds are derived from Canaanite guilds. Remember that David was a king over a "like the nations" kingdom and not according to God's will or plan. And the "prophesiers" had the duty as Levites (and only Levites) to keep the people away from the symbolic presence of God. Later, in building the temple the musicans believed that driving the slaves at a torturing rate by the use of music was somehow magical. However, they were slave drivers and not servants of the most High God:
MOREOVER David and the commanders of the army separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals: and the number of the workmen according to their service was: 1 Chr 25:1
Of the sons of Asaph; Zaccur, and Joseph, and Nethaniah, and Asarelah, the sons of Asaph under the hands of Asaph, which prophesied according to the order of the king. 1 Chr 25:2
Acaph (h622) aw-saf'; a prim. root; to gather for any purpose; hence to receive, take away, i. e. remove (destroy, leave behind, put up, restore, etc.): - assemble, bring, consume, destroy, fetch, gather (in, together, up again), * generally, get (him), lose, put all together, receive, recover [another from leprosy], (be) rereward, * surely, take (away, into, up), * utterly, withdraw.
Of Jeduthun: the sons of Jeduthun; Gedaliah, and Zeri, and Jeshaiah, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the hands of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with (using) a harp, to give thanks and to praise the Lord. 1 Chr 25:3
Yadah (h3034) yaw-daw'; a prim. root; used only as denom. from 3027; lit. to use (i. e. hold out) the hand; phys. to throw (a stone, an arrow) at or away; espec. to revere or worship (with extended hands); intens. to bemoan (by wringing the hands): - cast (out), (make) confess (- ion), praise, shoot, (give) thank (-ful, -s, -sgiving).
The word "prophesy" does not include the harp. Furthermore, it was idolatry to believe that the "gods" prophesied out of the belly of the musical instruments. Habakkus 2 warned against trying to get them to prophesy:
Naba (g5012) naw-baw'; a prim. root; to prophesy, i. e. speak (or sing) by inspiration (in prediction or simple discourse): - prophesy (- ing), make self of prophet.
"'Played the prophet,' viz., by gestures and demeanor."--Driver. "Rather, he raved."--Keil. "The word 'prophesy' describes an ecstatic condition due to supernatural influence, good or evil; the result in the one case being prophetic inspiration or religious enthusiasm, in the other raving madness."--Cambridge Bible.
It does not include instruments unless instruments are defined.
Consistent with all of the known historical evidence, the professional but lying prophets who hung around in groups were "soft" or catamites -- male prostitutes or homosexuals. God Himself equates the prophets who prophesy as a result of falling under the charismatic influence of new wine and music as men and women of Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus said that the Jews were worse: at least the Sodomites would have repented if they had known the truth.
There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Ezekiel 22:25
Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Ezekiel 22:26
Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. Ezekiel 22:27
And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken. Ezekiel 22:28
After Messiah or the Branch Zechariah said:
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts,
that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered:And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him,
and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. Zech 13:2
Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth. Zec.13:3And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive: Zec.13:4
This prophecy is:
Nataph (g5197) naw-taf'; a prim. root; to ooze, i. e. distil gradually; by impl. to fall in drops; fig. to speak by inspiration: - drop (-ping), prophesy (-et)
Prophets only speak the direct words delivered from the hand or voice of God or they repeat, without alteration, that which has been inspired. False prophets speak out of their own heads:
Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the Lord; Eze.13:2
To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord God. Eze.13:16
Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them, Eze.13:17
Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field; Eze.20:46
Picking up Zechariah again, the prophesier will claim to be a plain man but the nature of the wounds in his hands proves that he is a charismatic prophet:
But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman (keep in bondage); for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth. Zech 13:5
And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. Zech 13:6
The false prophet was wounded while falling into charismatic prophesying but Jesus was not a professional: his own personal friends led by Judas inspired by satan gave Him the wounds.
Prophets From Beginning To End of The Monarchy
Charismatic, musical prophets began to signal the fatal flaw of rejecting God as Israel's theocratic leader. God sent the musical prophesiers to be prophetic of the nature of the "like the nation's" worship Israel would follow even as He promised that they would regret their request but He would not save them for a long time. Furthermore, He sent a hail storm to destroy their wheat crop as proof that He and not their fertility gods supplied them with food.
Charismatic prophesying would be put down by God when the Branch (Joshua, Jesus or Jehovah-Saves) came. This charismatic prophesying was like the "bowing to Nebo" demonstrated by the prophets of Baal and of Asherah owned and paid with Israelite blood under the control of Jezebel.
After Messiah came, these "prophesying" prophets would be worthy of death. Here are some definitions of the musical, meaning charismatic, prophets:
"Among these pupils is found to much greater extent than among the teachers a certain ecstatic feature. They arouse their feelings through music and induce a frantic condition which also affects others in the same way, in which state they 'prophesy' and, throwing off their garments, fall to the ground. In later times too we find traces of such ecstatic phenomena. Thus e.g. in Zech 13:6; 1 Ki. 20:37-38, the 'wounds' on the breast or on the forehead recall the self-mutilation of the priests of Baal (1 Ki. 18:28). The deeds, suggestive of what the dervishes of our own day do, probably were phenomena quite similar to the action of the prophets of the surrounding tribes" (Int Std Bible Ency., Prophecy, p. 2462)
"'Now they leap spiritedly into the air, now they bend their knees to the ground and revolve on them like persons possessed." Now compare with the passage in 1 K 19:18 where God promises Elijah that he will spare 'those who have not bent the knew before Baal.'... This also explains Elijah's reproach in 1 K 18:21 where he accuses those who would serve both Baal and Yahweh at the same time of 'hobbling first on one leg, then on the other." (de Vaux, Roland, The Bible and the Ancient Near East, Doubleday, p. 241).
"We have evidence of ritual dances in the context of other Syrian cults. One of the Ras Shamra poems, in a passage which is unfortunately full of gaps, mention mrqdm 'dancers' apparently in connection with a sacrifice. Herodian depicts Heliogabalus at a sacrifice to his god of Emesa, 'dancing round the altars to the sound of every kind of musical instruments; with him certain women of his country performed a sprightly round, with cymbals and tambourines in their hands." (de Vaux, p. 241).
"This is how Apuleius describes the cortege of the Syrian goddess '...they began to howl all out of tune and hurl themselves hither and thither, as though they were mad. They made a thousand gestures with their feet and their heads; they would bend down their necks and spin round so that their hair flew out in a circle; they would bite their own flesh; finally, every one took his two-edged weapon and wounded his arms in divers places." (de Vaux, p. 242)
"At this point the prophets reached the peak of their ecstasy. They became delirious, that is to say they began in their frenzied state to utter words of varying degrees of intelligibility. The analogies already quoted are still appropriate. After the passage quoted above, Apuleius continues: 'Meanwhile there was one more mad than the rest, that fetched many deep sighs from the bottom of his heart, as though he had been ravished in spirit or filled full of divine power, and he feigned... noisily prophesying and accusing and charging himself and finally, he flagellated himself. The priests of Bacchus and the Galli of Cybele prophesied in a similar manner during their ecstatic trances." (de Vaux, p. 243).
Paul condemned those who would introduce Jewish or pagan rituals and wished that "they would go all the way and emasculate themselves."
"The priestess would be seized with frenzy and utter unintelligible sounds taken to be words of the god. All these were in keeping with the major idea in Greek religion, that a man must 'struggle up to the Divine because the Divine does not come down to him. Only through this can he have communion with the gods.' (Kittel's Theological Dict. of the N.T., II, p. 450-452).
OSIRIS (Dionysus)
The Jewish clergy who had taken away the key to knowledge were so consumed with their history-long devotion to the bull cult or phallic cult that they believed that Jesus was a phallic kind of guy - just like modern Promise Keepers.
The test was to pipe (pollute) to John and Jesus and try to get them to fall into the singing and choral dance of the Dionysus (Osiris, Bacchus) god of wine -- in the new wineskin of course.
"One of the greatest gods of the Egyptians, Osiris was the god of the dead, the judge of the Underworld. He listened to Thoth describe the character of the souls of the dead, these being introduced by his son, Horus, after their good and bad deeds have been weighed in the scale of truth by Anubis. Also present at these underworld trials were forty officers, the Assessors of the Dead, represented as human but with different heads, that of a hawk, a man, a hare, a hippopotamus, a fox, a ram, a snake, and others. Osiris was depicted as bearded, either green or black in colour,wearing the crown of Upper Egypt, and swathed like a mummy. In his hands were a flail and a crook. Osiris was credited with the introduction of agriculture and other crafts, and was the initiator of religious rituals, especially the process of embalment and mummification.
"The legend surrounding Osiris tells of his drowning, dismembering and the scattering of his limbs across the land and water. He was shut in a chest by his brother Seth, and dumped on the breast of the Nile. He drifted until he was discovered in the port of Byblos by Isis, his wife and sister. Seth seized the coffin, cut up Osiris' body into fourteen pieces,and scattered them throughout Egypt. Isis, however, sought the pieces of her husband,and with the aid of his mother, Nut, resurrected Osiris. His genitals, however, having been consumed by fish, could not be regrown.
Osiris did not stay long on the Earth after his resurrection however,
descending to the underworld, to become the judge of the dead. His murder, however, was avenged by his dutiful son, Horus.
Paul warned Corinth that with their speaking in tongues, sexual impurity and perhaps even using musical instruments that they were into idolatry. This is fully explained in chapter ten where the word play includes the music and sex which destroyed Israel and caused God to take away His grace and give them the Law as punishment:
Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 1 Corinthians10:7
In Romans, Paul describe this as the "sending across the sea" (or the next town for a "speaker") for a god who would allow them to worship with food, music, song and dance. This was a continuation of the phallus cult of the bull still being promoted:
For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. Romans 10:5
But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Romans 10:6
Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) Romans 10:7
But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; Romans 10:8
This is repeated in modern Jubilee or Vineyard forms of worship often associated with Promise Keepers, the grand penis power of them all. Click for Details.about Post-Modern or Post-denominational religion which is quite identical to Osiris or Apis worship. The "golden bull" found in a grave at Ur was in the common form of a harp in which the "god" was supposed to live and use for speaking. The Seeker or Jubilee 99 form is borrowed directly from Vineyard and suggests that the "temple officer" called the Musical Worship Facilitator can "lead the worshipers into the presence of God."
Moses Issued the same warning
If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. Deut 30:10
For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden (in the nether world) from thee, neither is it far off. Deuteronomy 30:11
It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Deuteronomy 30:12
Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Deuteronomy 30:13
But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. Deuteronomy 30:14
See the Music in Egypt which informed the terminal idolatry at Mount Sinai.
But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Romans 10:6
Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) Romans 10:7
But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; Romans 10:8
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. romans 10:9
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:10
In Egypt Plutarch says that "during a banquet Osiris was invited by his enemy Seth to a party game" where he was to lie down in a rich chest as a party demonstration. However, Seth locked him in and cast him into the river. He was carried down the Nile to the Mediteranean Sea and was lost. However--
"there is a Greek Magical Papyrus in London: 'I shall shout the name of him who stayed three days and three nights in the river--of him who was drowned, carred by the river current, flung into the sea, and swallowed up by the waves of the sea and the clouds of the air'." ( de Vaux, Roland, The Bible and the Ancient Near East, Doubleday, p. 218, note 43)
"His (Cyril of Alexandria) reading of the Septuagint version of Isaiah 18:2 was as follows: 'sending hostages over the sea and epistolas bublinas over the water.' His commentary on these epistolas bublinas is quite surprising. He first of all recounts the legend of Adonis as it is found in the Greek writers and points out that in his own time the sorrow of Aphrodite weeping for her lover was still mimed in the temples of Alexandria as was her joy at his return from Hell. He recalls (referring to Ezekiel 8:14) that the Israelites had succombed to this idolatry and finally he describes one of the customs of the pagans of Alexandria." (Roland de de Vaux, The Bible and the Ancient Near East, Doubleday, p. 222).
"they could not fail to become acquainted with forms of religious worship hitherto utterly unknown to them. Now, for the first time, could they witness the gorgeous and mysterous ceremonies that attended the worship of Ra, the 'Sun-God,' or of Isis and osiris. Now, for the first time, they might behold the incense burnt three times every day, and the solemn sacrifice offered once a month to the sacred black calf Mnevis at On (Heliopolis), or to his rival the bull Apis at Memphis. Now they saw, as they could scarcely have seen elswhere, the adoration of the creature rather than the Creator carried to its furthest point, and divine honours paid not only to the mighty Pharaoh, the Child, the representative of the Sun-God, but to almost everything in the heaven above, and earth beneith, and the waters under the earth." (MaClear, p. 79).
Instrumental music was, in all pagan religions, the way to awaken the gods or to call them into the temple. Modern music has that effect in that it works because it induces a mild or severe form of ecstasy which the professional prophets sell as "spiritual." It is simply an induced drug high. See for more to explain pagan "prophesying."
If this is all true, and history entirely agrees, then Charles Dailey and Northwest College of the Bible should change its curriculum and its outreach.
If you need excerpts of Lucian of Samosata I have a four-volume set.
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