The Sunday News
Divinity Digest, Witness Dingani
Question: The prophets spoke only the word of God, and not their opinions. How far does this explain Israel and Zimbabwean prophets? (25)
Comment overview
The above question requires one to show that indeed prophets of Israel were divinely inspired, the same applies to Zimbabwean prophets.
A number of prophets in Israel were divinely inspired, this cannot be denied. These include the following prophets:
a) Moses
b) Samuel
c) Gad
d) Nathan
e) Ahijah
f) Miciah Ben Imlah
g) Elijah
h) Amos
i) Hosea
j) Isaiah
k) Jeremiah
Among the Israelite prophets, there were unauthentic prophets, hence they had their own source. The above question will be fully hammered below.
Suggested answers
J Thompson defines a prophet as a messenger of God. B.W. Anderson defines a prophet as someone who communicates the divine will, whereas J Mulienburg defines a prophet as a covenant mediator.
Prophets of Israel spoke only the word of God. This is true in the case of Deuteronomy 18:18, where it is indicated that Yahweh inspired the prophets to deliver their message and the same message was supposed to come to pass, this is recorded in Deueteronomy 18:22. The message of some Israel prophets came from Yahweh, this is evidenced by the fulfilment and the use of messenger style of speech even though this style was hijacked by false prophets.
Elijah predicted the death of Ahab as he said “the dogs will lick your blood”, this is recorded in 1st Kings 21:24. Micaih Ben Imlah prophesied about the defeat of Israel, perhaps, the death of Israel leaders “I see Israel scattered in mountain . . .” This came to pass during the Ramoth-Gilead battle as Ahab died, and the dogs licked his blood. This is evidenced in 1st Kings 22:38. In Zimbabwean context, a number of prophets claim to be messengers of God, this is evidenced by the fulfilment of their predictions for instance, documents of Wimbo according to Bulawayo24.com indicates that in 1957, Wimbo prophesied about Zimbabwe being led by a man with a name of the angel “Gabriel” and it came to pass (Readers can follow the following link for more information. <http://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-national-byo-100061.html>). Daily News paper in April 28 2016 published the headline that Makandiwa had prophesied about the Zambian xenophobic attacks. Sunday News on the 8th of January 2017 published the prophecies of Chiza where he claimed that he was speaking the Word of the Lord, “God is saying the church will be rich. I see a hand pushing money into the church.” Pastor Mugadza of Kariba should not be ignored who claimed that he spoke only what God told him, to predict the future, this was further recorded by New Zimbabwe online newspaper on the 12th of January 2017 “I would not want to force anyone to believe this but I am just saying it because this is what God told me, so it is up to the individuals to believe if it is going to happen or not,” Mugadza further said.(Readers can follow the link for more information <http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-34171>
Mugadza+Bob+to+die+2017,+thus+says+God/news.aspx). All this indicates that Zimbabwean prophets just like Israel prophets only speak the word of God and not their opinions.
Samuel predicted the future of Israel. He predicted the dangers of having a king, after Israelites had requested for a king, this is recorded in 1st Samuel 8:4.The predictions of Samuel are recorded in 1st Samuel 8:11, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots”.(You can read the above verse in the Revised Standard Version, to find out more about of his predictions). Some of the predictions came to pass during the reign of different kings in Israel.
Jeremiah predicted the death of Hananiah after predicting that Israel will be exiled in Babylon for 2 years, this is evidenced in Jeremiah 28:15 and it came to pass in Jeremiah 28:17. In Zimbabwean context, the predictions of well known prophets has came to pass for instance Dr Chiza in 2016 prophesied the return of Zimbabwean money and it was set before the end of the year. All this indicates that the above named prophets spoke only the word of the God.
N.B More Examples Can Be Added.
The however part
In as much as it can be said that Israel prophets and Zimbabwean prophets spoke only the word of the God, it would be a mischief if one ignores the other side of the coin which postulates that some prophets in Israel spoke their opinions.
For instance Hananiah who prophesied that Israel will go to exile for two years after using a messenger style of speech, this is recorded in Jeremiah 28:11. As a result, Israel was exiled for 52 years. Four hundred court prophets during the Ramoth Gilead prophets, prophesied victory against Syrians, this is recorded in 1st Kings 22:11. As a result, Israel was scattered.
In Zimbabwean context, a number of predictions of Zimbabwean prophets has failed to come to pass.Examples can be extracted from the local news newspapers. Basing on Deuteronomy 18:22, one will be forced to conclude that they speak their own opinions.Therefore, this is an enough evidence to prove that the above named Israel prophets and Zimbabwean prophets spoke or speak their own opinions.
Witness Dingani is an author, columnist, youth coach, radio host and cricketer. He is the founder of a charity organisation Dingani Charity Organisation. In 2016 he was nominated as the most influential youthful figures in Zimbabwe and was voted 8th position out of 15 people by the Pan-Zimbabwe society. Questions by schools can be submitted through his mobile number +263777896159 or Email address: [email protected]. Readers can follow the Questions and Answers in the Sunday News newspaper every week.
