Court Prophets as Political Activists in Ancient Israel and the Nigerian Context
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Date
2020
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Journal of Religion and Culture. Volume 20. Number 1: 141-149. A Publication of Department of Religious and Cultural Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt.
Abstract
Prophets in ancient Israel were regarded as distinct people called to their vocation by Yahweh. The prophet was a person sent by Yahweh with a definite message. The prophets have the responsibility of delivering the message as received. However, these prophets belonged to different groups. The Court prophets were one of the prophetic groups or guilds in ancient Israel. Most of them were hired by the monarchy of their time. The court prophets were part of the palace staff and work directly with the reigning monarch. This view is based on the believe that if it was from Yahweh it must surely be fulfilled. Previous studies have situated the cause of non fulfillment of prophetic declaration in lack of divine call with little or no attention paid to its socio-economic dimension which is central to the understanding of the motive for prophetic ministry in the contemporary Nigerian society. The thrust of this paper is the socio-economic dimension of the reception and the delivery of prophetic message by the prophets in ancient Israel and the Nigerian society with the view of establishing parallel in both contexts.