The most controversial prophets
The Old Testament tells us that God gave his instructions to people through the prophets. Perhaps everyone heard about Moses and Noah, but if you believe the Bible, then in fact there were many more prophets. They will be discussed in our review.
1. A strange prophet
It is no secret to anyone that Ezekiel is one of the strangest books in the Bible. Given the prophet's bizarre visions and the apparently sexual overtones of his narration, some rabbis felt that the book should be banned for Torah followers under the age of 30.
Ezekiel is the heir to the tribe of Levi and was among the 10,000 Israelites captured by Nebuchadnezzar. God called him to be a prophet around 593 BC. During his visions, Ezekiel saw shining chimeras of 4 beings - a man, a calf, an eagle and a lion. Moreover, these creatures possessed human hands and wings.
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Ezekiel also dreamed of strange crystalline structures in the sky, and his visions were so distinct that some modern researchers suggest that he had schizophrenia or some other form of psychosis. Also, the style of Ezekiel's sermons was as unusual as the content. After the prophecy, he allegedly slept on a brick for 430 days to symbolize the number of years that the people of Israel and Judah spent in sin. He also shaved off his hair and beard “on orders from above,” and somehow even ate cakes made from human excrement to symbolize the state of despair that the Israelites would come to.
2. The naked truth
Isaiah is considered one of the greatest and most influential biblical prophets. But few people know that God once told him to undress and wander around Jerusalem naked and barefoot. The prophet had to do this for three whole years. It is believed that God similarly, with the help of Isaiah, warned about the impending invasion of the Assyrian Empire and that the people of Judah should rely on the protection of Egypt and Ethiopia.
3. Doubting prophet
The typical image of a prophet implies an unbending faith in the will of the Lord. But the prophet Habakkuk often asked himself the question: what did God really mean? Although most of the prophets delivered the word of God to people, Habakkuk was more concerned with handing over people's questions to God. Little Book of Habakkuk begins with the prophet's question “How long, Lord, should I cry for help until you listen to me? … Why are you making me look at injustice? Why do you put up with obvious guilt?"
God spoke to Habakkuk, but completely ignores his questions, and warns that the Babylonians are going to devastate this region. Habakkuk does not get tired of repeating his questions over and over again, but in response he hears only that each person makes his own choice in life and that the day of judgment will surely come for everyone.
4. Doomed prophet
The book of the prophet Hosea is not the most popular part of the Bible, because its content can be difficult to understand. In it, God commands Hosea to marry the “most wicked” woman he can find. Hosea obediently marries a harlot named Homer, who is believed to be the most sinful in history. Homer gave birth to three children (and the Bible indicates that Hosea was the father of only the eldest of them).
It turned out that through the family of Hosea, God decided to express his displeasure with the Israelites. Therefore, he ordered Hosea to name the eldest son Jezreel, which means "I will break the bow of Israel." The youngest daughter was named “Lo-Ruhama” (which means “unloved”) because “God did not want to show his love for Israel anymore. The youngest son was not much more fortunate - he was named Lo-Ammi (which means "not my people").
True, it ends on an optimistic note, as God calls on the prophet to forgive his wife. The couple reconciles and pledges to be faithful to each other.
5. The pagan prophet
Elijah is one of the most famous biblical figures. He was the first prophet who raised a dead person and ascended to heaven alive. In the Bible, there are references to the fact that Elijah may not have been Jewish by birth.
6. Prophetic Spirit
The story of King Saul and the Endor Enchantress is a biblical passage that raises more questions than answers, which has given rise to all kinds of theological and moral controversy. After the death and burial of the prophet Samuel in Ramah, the army of the Philistines gathered to attack Israel. Frightened, Saul turned to God for advice, but received no answer. After that, he ordered his servants to find him a fortuneteller, but they also failed, since Saul had previously ordered to expel all witches and magicians from Israel.
As a result, Saul found a sorceress from Endor, who summoned him the spirit of Samuel, who predicted death for the king. Saul and his family were soon killed by the Philistines. The reason for this was (as the later books of the Bible said) "the lawlessness that he did before the Lord, because he did not keep the word of the Lord and turned to the sorceress with a question." Of course, the Bible forbids witchcraft, but the unclear moment is how the witch was able to summon and subdue the spirit of Samuel.
7. Xenophobic Prophet
Nehemiah was the governor of Jerusalem during the Persian rule in 444 BC. The book of Nehemiah is a testimony of how the governor tried to restore Jerusalem physically and spiritually. One of his main achievements was the construction of the city walls in just 52 days. Soon after the walls were completed, Nehemiah left for Persia to report this to King Artaxerxes. Upon his return, Nehemiah discovered that during his absence, some of the Israelites had taken foreign women as wives, and as a result their children could not even speak Hebrew. Angered by these marriages, Nehemiah cursed the culprits.
8. An offended prophet
Moses is an amazing person. He cheated death, as a child, grew up in the house of the pharaoh, became a cupbearer - a special close to the pharaoh, and then fled to return after a while and challenge the pharaoh himself.
Moses was such a significant figure that usually everyone forgets that there were two more propoks who were directly involved in the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt - Moses' brother Aaron and his sister Miriam. According to the Book of Numbers, Aaron and Miriam grumbled one day, crying out to the Lord: "Why are you talking only with Moses?"
9. The evil prophet
The name "Jonah" means "dove" in Hebrew, but the prophet Jonah was actually nowhere near as cute as is usually assumed. He was a very strange biblical prophet because he rarely agreed with God's instructions. According to the Book of Jonah, God ordered him to go on a mission to Nineveh, an Assyrian city known for its sinfulness. Jonah disobeyed God's order and instead tried to get as far from Assyria as possible. As a result, God sent a "huge fish" to swallow Jonah and not release him until he repented. After Jonah finally arrived in Nineveh, his sermon was so touching that the whole city sincerely repented. But Jonah after this was sincerely upset that Nineveh and all its inhabitants, who repented of their sins, were not destroyed.
10. Prophet in dirty linen
In the book of Jeremiah, God told the prophet to buy new and expensive linen underwear, but forbade water to ever touch this underwear. After a while, the Almighty ordered the prophet to take off his dirty linen and hide it in a crevice near a rock near the Euphrates. Many days passed, and Jeremiah was ordered to return to the Euphrates and retrieve what he was hiding. The linen, as you would expect, was in a disgusting state. When Jeremiah saw this, God told him that the pride of Jerusalem would be destroyed in the same way, for "just as the linen hugs a man's loins, so the whole house of Israel clung to me."
