The Abiding Gift of Prophecy

Relation of Prophet and King

We have here related typical instances, plainly indicating the important relationship existing between the prophet and the king. Though Israel had demanded a successive, visible, regal leadership, that they might be like the nations around them, yet God did not permit the new form of government to supplant the theocracy entirely. Though no longer the nominal ruler, yet the attitude of the prophet, as a mouthpiece for Jehovah, was that of counselor and director to the king. Let us note this most important relationship: AGP 133.3

He might restrain the king from carrying out an unwise plan that had been decided upon, as when the prophet bade King Rehoboam desist from attacking the ten tribes. AGP 133.4

He might set before the king the principles by which divine favor would be retained, as was clearly outlined in the message from Azariah to Asa. AGP 134.1

He might give reproof for mistakes that the king had made, and specify the resulting punishment therefor. AGP 134.2

He might give detailed instruction to the king in a time of crisis, as when Jahaziel directed Jehoshaphat to send a band of singers before the army, in the face of seemingly invincible foes. AGP 134.3

When in perplexity, the king, by inquiring of the prophet, might receive an answer that would reveal God’s will to him. AGP 134.4

Whereas in Israel there was, with no exception, a line of kings whose apostasy and wickedness made them ever hostile to the prophetic messengers, in Judah there were a number of kings who were responsive to the messages that God sent through His prophets, and who, more or less successfully, led the people back to the worship of Jehovah. AGP 134.5

Yet there were times when the exercising of the prophetic gift was subject to as real a peril in Judah as in Israel. Some of the prophets were imprisoned. It was by a king of Judah that Zechariah, a son of the high priest, who protested against the sins of the people, was “at the commandment of the king,” stoned to death, even in the sacred precincts of the temple court. 2 Chronicles 24:21. Jeremiah bore his testimony in the valley of the shadow. Isaiah was, it is generally believed, sawn asunder in a hollow log, among those who perished in the great persecution under Manasseh. AGP 134.6