The Prophetic; A Lesson From Israel's History

The history of the prophetic in Israel demonstrates a pattern of the history of the prophetic and the supernatural in the body of Church.

At the early stage of the nation of Israel Moses made this statement, "But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake” I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit upon them all!?" (Num 11:29).

"… the LORD would put his Spirit upon them", during that time that is how they know that one become a prophet. The Spirit of the Lord will fall upon someone and the person would start shaking, moving, prophesying and all that dramatic stuff.

Then during the time of Samuel they were all waiting for the Spirit of the Lord to fall upon someone and have all these dramatic thing happen, but it never happened.

When Samuel was a boy he was sleeping in the Tabernacle near the Ark of God and he heard a voice called his name, from then on Samuel became a prophet. That was an odd way to become a prophet, I mean it does not involve the falling of the Spirit upon him, and all the dramatic stuff.

"Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served the LORD by assisting Eli. Now in those days messages from the LORD were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon." (1Sam 3:1). It wasn't that God didn't want to speak to the people, it's just that the people do not know how to recognize God speaking to them. They were waiting for all that dramatic stuff and a calling to be a prophet.

Samuel didn't have any of those dramatic stuff happen to him, he only heard a voice speak to him, and the voice sounded so normal that he could never have guess it was God speaking. If not for Eli wisdom Samuel would have missed God's voice that day and he probably would never have become a prophet.

Samuel understood this, he knew that if he wasn't taught to recognize God's voice he probably won't have become a prophet. And he also understood that God must have tried to speak to other people in the land but because they were waiting for something dramatic and they were not taught to recognize His voice so they kept missing Him Samuel understood this, he knew that if he wasn't taught to recognize God's voice he probably won't have become a prophet. And he also understood that God must have tried to speak to other people in the land but because they were waiting for something dramatic and they were not taught to recognize His voice so they kept missing Him.

With this understanding Samuel decided to start a school of prophets. He would gather all he has learnt from since that first moment God spoke to Him. That day he got his first lesson about recognizing God's voice, and ever since then He has been learning little by little about the prophetic.

He had to go through all the trouble to learn these things all by himself, now he would start a school and teach them to the children of Israel so that they can all be prophetic. Samuel established this school at different location in Israel, and the only qualification to become the 'sons of prophet' is that you are an Israelite. You don't need any special calling to join this school.

Samuel's school of the prophets later developed as the religious school that every child of Israel had to attend during Jesus' time. But by then the supernatural aspect has been stripped out and everything was watered down to just studies of text, especially the Torah and the tradition of the elders. But when it was supernatural very few attended. We are so contended being carnal and natural, but God has called us into a supernatural life.

During the time of Samuel, the school of prophets was filled with a lot of the supernatural, as they were actually taught to prophesy and flow with the Spirit of prophecy. From the story of Elijah and Elisha we see how effective the school of the prophet was in training people to give accurate prophecy.

When Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal they met the sons of prophet in Bethel and these sons of prophet prophesied that Elijah would be taken away. When they arrived at Jericho another group of the sons of prophet prophesied the same thing. There prophecy was accurate.

The point I am trying to make is that at a time they would never have believe that one can be taught to be prophetic, they were waiting for some dramatic calling from God, but over time they learnt that anyone can be trained to tap into the spirit and operate in the prophetic. It was God desire from the very beginning to have the people hear his voice for themselves and operate in the prophetic.