CHRISTIAN PROPHECY, Part 7

ECSTASY IN PROPHECY

In studying the Old Testament, it does not take long to discoverthat the Hebrew prophets experienced ecstatic activity in theirvarious ministries. They had visions, dreams, went into trances,fell on their faces, etc. By the very fact of these occurrences intheir lives are the reasons they felt they were divinely directed!

In fact, the Hebrew prophets activities have even been compared tothe actions of the whirling dervishes of Islam, and many other pagan rites by various sects of their time. Ecstasy was first introduced by the Bible prophets in 1 Kings 18, talking about the actions of the prophets of Baal, who "called onthe name of Baal from morning until noon, saying "0 Baal, answer us!"...and they limped about the altar nd they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them." (vv.26-28). These were a weird bunch of people, to say the least, however there are prophets in various sects today that still practice very similar acts.!

However, the above was not describing the action of Hebrew prophets, but of false prophets. The prophet Elijah's activities were in great contrast to those ofthe false prophets of Baal. His manners were quite dignified andquiet compared to the ecstatic and orgiastic actions of Baal'sprophets!In numbers 11:24-30 is recorded an incident, whereby Moses was complaining to the Lord he could not handle the burden of being the spokesman for God to all the people alone. He could not handle the people all complaining to him about all of their gripes, etc. To rectify the situation, God said to appoint 70 elders amongst the congregation whom their people had respect for, and that God would take a portion of the same to the 70 elders who Moses appointed.Moses gave the names to God and summoned the elders. All but two came, with the other two remaining in the courtyard. The Lord did what He said He would do, and the passage states that all of the elders prophesied! Joshua, who was outside the camp, came running reporting to Moses that there were two men prophesying out in the courtyard, and told Moses to stop them! He was jealous of them! However, Moses answered, "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets." The ministry of Moses, who was God's prophet for that time, produced noreal ecstatic occurrences, in his personal ministry.

In 1 Samuel, Samuel was God's prophet for that time. He even carried authority over King Saul, and being God's spokesman. However, therewere other prophets present besides Samuel. There were times wheneven Saul himself thought he was a prophet! In 1 Samuel 10:5b,6 is recorded,"...as you come to the city, you will meet a band of prophets comingdown from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyrebefore them, prophesying. Then the Spirit of the Lord will come mightily upon you, and you will prophesy with them and he turned unto another man." (This was a prophecy given to King Saul) Thefulfillment of this prophecy is recorded in 1 Samuel 10:10,11. "Whenthey came to Gibeah, behold, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily upon him, and he prophesied among them. And when all who knew him before saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said one to another, "what has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?"

Usually the work of aprophet is an individual activity, so Samuel, the original prophet who gave the first prophecy to Saul was the only genuine prophet,and all the rest, including Saul himself, were not called by God to prophesy.Tradition teaches from 1 Samuel 19:18-24, that Samuel headed a "prophet school" where men were studying to be prophets, under Samuel's direction as their teacher. However, in the Biblical accounts of all their activities, although there was alot of worship and praising of God going on in their meetings, there is no particular statement which suggests that any of them fell into a trance, or did any dancing like dervishes. Saul was the only one who is indicated to have experienced any ecstasy. In fact, in the account, when Saul finally came to Samuel's home to see what had happened to his messengers, he was so carried away with the meeting, that he removed his garments and joined in the songs of praise,staying there for many hours and finally falling asleep from sheer exhaustion, forgetting for the time being his hatred against David who was thus afforded an opportunity to escape. The fact is, Saul had always been an emotional person, and he eventually turned completely against God, even going to a fortune teller for advice,and ended his life by committing suicide! He obviously cannot beconsidered as a prophet of God!

Another one of God's prophets, Elisha, who inherited the mantle of Elijah, in an incident recorded in 2 Kings. It states, "And when the minstrel played, the power of the Lord came upon him." Some scholars have said this indicates evidence that a Hebrew prophet required music as a stimulus to produce an ecstatic state and thus enable himto prophesy. However, in studying the entire context of that particular incident, it could be just as well understood that music was a help to Elisha in composing his Spirit so that he could listen to the quiet voice of the Lord and overcome his antipathy at facing the wicked Jehoram.

The prophet Ezekiel was the prophet who seemed to take the lead of all prophets of falling into what might 3:15, called fora minstrel before he would declare the fact, in the account, when Saul finally came to Samuel's home to seewhat had happened to his messengers he was so carried away with the meeting, that he removed his garments and joined in the songs of praise, staying there for many hours and finally falling asleep from sheer exhaustion, forgetting for the time being his hatred against David who was thus afforded an opportunity to escape. The fact is,Saul had always been an emotional person, and he eventually turned completely against God, even going to a fortune teller for advice, and ended his life by committing suicide! He obviously cannot beconsidered as a prophet of God!

These instructions, were to attract the attention of the people he was to prophesy to. These occurences,however, do not necessarily prove that Ezekiel was in a distortedmental state. However, incidences from Ezekiel 8-11 seem to indicatethat Ezekiel was transported across the desert to Jerusalem in avision and saw strange events there, which he recounted after beingagain brought back to Chaldea in a vision. While in his vision, he certainly can be considered to have been in a trance, as I cannot think of any other better way to describe the unusual mentalsituation he was in!

There are many good Bible scholars who deny altogether, that any ofthe Bible prophets ever fell into complete trances, and givereasonable explanations for every event, even includingthe "unusual" behavior of Ezekiel. They say that one does not haveto be "in a trance" to communicate with God. If a person believes in a personal God, there is no problem in the acceptance of the Biblical claim. If that possibility is rejected, there can be no end to the othermountain of possible explanations which people can dream up whichmay make them, feel that they can speak to God whenever they feellike by going into a trance, and having a one on one conversation!

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