Changes

[[Image:lighterstill.jpg]]

[[Image:lighterstill.jpg]]

[[Image:Images.jpeg|right|thumb|Jeremiah lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem by Rembrandt]]

[[Image:Images.jpeg|right|thumb|'''Jeremiah''' lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem by [[Rembrandt]]]]

In [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], the word traditionally translated as ''prophet'' is נְבִיא (''navi''), which likely means "proclaimer". This forms the second of the three letters of TaNaKh, derived from Torah, Navim, Ketuvim. The meaning of ''navi'' is perhaps described in [[Deuteronomy]] 18:18, where [[God]] said, "I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them all that I command him." Thus, the ''navi'' was thought to be the "mouth" of God. The root nun-bet-alef ("navi") is based on the two-letter root nun-bet which denotes hollowness or openness; to receive transcendental wisdom, one must make oneself “open”. Cf. [[Rashbam]]'s comment to [[Genesis]] 20:7.  Fully a third of the TaNaKh is devoted to books about prophetic experience including a separate book of ‘minor’ prophets known as The Twelve Prophets (Trei-Assar) .                   

In [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], the word traditionally translated as ''prophet'' is נְבִיא (''navi''), which likely means "proclaimer". This forms the second of the three letters of TaNaKh, derived from Torah, Navim, Ketuvim. The meaning of ''navi'' is perhaps described in [[Deuteronomy]] 18:18, where [[God]] said, "I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them all that I command him." Thus, the ''navi'' was thought to be the "mouth" of God. The root nun-bet-alef ("navi") is based on the two-letter root nun-bet which denotes hollowness or openness; to receive transcendental wisdom, one must make oneself “open”. Cf. [[Rashbam]]'s comment to [[Genesis]] 20:7.  Fully a third of the TaNaKh is devoted to books about prophetic experience including a separate book of ‘minor’ prophets known as The Twelve Prophets (Trei-Assar) .                   

According to I [[Books of Samuel|Samuel]] 9:9, the old name for navi is ro'eh, ראה, which literally means "[[See]]r". That could document an ancient shift, from viewing prophets as seers for hire to viewing them as moral teachers. Allen (1971) comments that in the First Temple Era, there were essentially seer-priests, who formed a guild, divined, performed rituals and sacrifices, and were scribes, and then there were canonical prophets, who did none of these (and were against divination) and had instead a message to deliver. The seer-priests were usually attached to a local shrine or temple, such as Shiloh, and initiated others as priests in that priesthood: it was a mystical craft-guild with apprentices and recruitment. Canonical prophets were not organised this way. The similar term "ben-navi" ("son of the prophet") means "member of a seer-priest guild".

According to I [[Books of Samuel|Samuel]] 9:9, the old name for navi is ro'eh, ראה, which literally means "[[See]]r". That could document an ancient shift, from viewing prophets as seers for hire to viewing them as moral teachers. Allen (1971) comments that in the First Temple Era, there were essentially seer-priests, who formed a guild, divined, performed rituals and sacrifices, and were scribes, and then there were canonical prophets, who did none of these (and were against divination) and had instead a message to deliver. The seer-priests were usually attached to a local shrine or temple, such as Shiloh, and initiated others as priests in that priesthood: it was a mystical craft-guild with apprentices and recruitment. Canonical prophets were not organised this way. The similar term "ben-navi" ("son of the prophet") means "member of a seer-priest guild".