If anyone wishes to know the roots that a nation should have in order to prosper, he should look in the Old Testament. Many readers of this website will be taken aback by this statement, but it is not made lightly.
Old Testament prophets are one of the most mis-represented classes of people in history. Humans are such that whatever they do not understand, they misrepresent. Even though they do not have understanding, this does not stop them from having opinions on a subject. For example most of the Bible is written by prophets. This forces Bible commentators to attempt to discuss prophets, their inspiration and the method by which they prophesied. They also discuss the actual prophecies themselves as though they have a valuable opinion. Sadly it is clear that many of them make comments which reveal their ignorance, not their kmowledge. I say this not with cynicism but with grief.
Old Testament prophets were doctors of nations. When I say this I say it in all seriousness. Medical doctors are confident of their prognosis because they have:
- Studied the human body and know how it works. They get this from research science recorded in textbooks and from experience.
- Have a clear knowledge of the symptoms of sickness [eg fever, dry throat, sore joints]. They do not confuse symptoms and sicknesses.
- Have a clear understanding of the actual sicknesses that cause bodies to have symptoms [eg the flu virus is a possible cause of fever symptoms].
- Have an extensive knowledge of what medicine can assist the human body to attack and overcome injuries, bacteria, viruses etc
We also find doctors explain the health of patients because of their good practices, just as prophets explain the health of nations because of good practices.
We find that doctors predict the doom of their patients if they continue bad practioces [or improved health if they adopt good practices. So also we find prophets predicting doom for a nation for its evil practices [or prosperity if the people in the nation do good].
Old testament Doctors of nations [Prophets] parallel medical doctors in that they:
- Have studied nations and know how they work. They get this from Moses and history.
- They have a clear knowledge of the symptoms of sickness of a nation. They do not confuse the symptoms of national sickness with the real cause of national sickness. Eg declining currency, stock market crashes]
- They have a clear understanding of the actual sickness that causes nations to have symptoms of sickness [eg greed, speculation, too much borrowing on easy terms]
- They have insight into the medicine that nations need to take to cause the nation to heal itself.
So we find doctors behaving like prophets,
…. criticising patients for their present behaviours [smoking, drinking, drugs etc] just like prophets criticise people within a nation for their behabviour.
…. explaining the decline of health because of a history of bad habits, just as prophets explain the present decline of a nation as the outcome of past evils practiced by nationals. In fact we find grumpy patients complaining that ‘ my doctor was preaching at me again today because of my drinking’ or, ‘My doctor is prophesying my doom again’.
However,prophets did differ in the way they expressed their prophecies-in poetry, in drama, in passionate preaching, in creative dramaric stories and in confrontational writing. Also, because prophets are not interpreted in the same light as medical doctors, prophets are badly treated by communities and nations. But genuine prophets deserve respect and honor, just as medical doctors do.
If you do not believe this parallel, you will when you have studied three months of the material of this website.
I will just give you one example of how the prophets drew their knowledge from Moses and how their prophecies were quotes from Moses and each other. As the teaching of this website unfolds, you will click as to the parallel between Moses, the prophetsa nd medical doctors.
1 kings 14: 11 Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the LORD hath spoken it. [spoken by prophet Ahijah the Shilohnite]
1 kings 16: 4 Him that dieth of Baasha in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth of his in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat. [spoken by prophet Jehu the son of Hanani]
1 kings 21: 22 And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin. 23 And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. 24 Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat. [spoken by prophet Elijah]
The root source of these prophecies is Moses.
Deuteronomy 28: 16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
Deuteronomy 28: 26 “Your carcasses will be food to all birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.
These passages show that Moses was the source of inspiration for Ahijah the Shilohnite. When he made his prophecy, note that it was unambiguous. Either it as going to be true or false. There was no room to explain away a failure of fulfillment. This is not like more recent false prophets like Nostradamus who was highly ambiguous in his prophecies.
Succeeding prophets were encouraged by the success of Ahijah and Moses. So when doom was pronounced over the house of Baasha, and it also was fulfilled, then prophets were encouraged to maintain the specific detail of Moses. Then it was fulfilled again with the family of Ahab and Jezebel.
So Old Testament prophets used Moses as their textbook, the source of their understanding of nations just like Doctors use their textbooks. They called Moses’ words ‘the Word of the Lord’ just as preachers speak of the Bible as ‘the Word of the Lord’. They also learned from history and from the prophecies of fellow prophets like doctors learn from the experiejce of their fellow doctors. So prophets were not wild eyed men, with untrimed beards, lonely voices who could not get on with their fellow man. They were intelligent creative men who studied Moses, history and the work of fellow prophets. The more they studied Moses, previous prophets and the prosperity or decline of nations, the more they observed they were on the right track.
…. and I am going to teach you what Moses taught his nation so that you can teach your nation it can heal itself and drive towards properity.
Steve Blomefield