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God, Prophets, and People
God, Prophets, and People
God has been primarily dealing directly with the heads of the families, hence the period of Genesis is often referred to as ‘Patriarchal’, father ruled. Now that Abraham’s descendants have developed into 12 tribes of people with over a million people, God will deal with them differently. He now begins to speak to the people through the prophets. Here in chapter 7 we have a picture of the function and position of such prophets of God.
“ Then the Lord said to Moses, "See, I make you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2 "You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land” (Exodus 7:1-2).
This is further illustrated in Exodus 4:16: "Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him.”
Moses (God) à Aaron (prophet) à Pharaoh (people) and ‘Moses (God) à Aaron (prophet) à people. While the origin of the Hebrew word translated ‘prophet’ is still being debated, the Theological Workbook of The OT states: “Whatever the origin of the word, therefore, a nābîʾ is a person authorized to speak for another, for Aaron, speaking in Moses’ place to Pharaoh, is Moses’ nābîʾ.” (pg. 545, Logos edition).
The word is still the word of God, but it comes thru a spokesman. Now, instead of each person having his own revelation, there is a common source and a common revelation that is for all the people. God speaking through chosen spokesmen continued in the New Testament. We read: “ God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world” (Hebrews 1:1-2).
Jesus chose the apostles, meaning ‘ones who are sent’. He taught them, commissioned them, and empowered them. Thus, through the apostles and prophets of the New Testament era, God has revealed His will for us. Paul wrote: “…by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit” (Ephesians 3:3-5). The words of such men are the words of God. The writings of such men are the words of God. To reject them is to reject God. How are you treating the Word of God?
Hugh DeLong
