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(L, P)
How typical the ending of this passage is! Joshua is indignant because two prophets are prophesying in the camp rather than in the sanctuary. We always seem to be upset when prophecy occurs outside of our structured worship service. By prophet, I mean the biblical definition of spokesperson, or forth-teller, rather then foreteller. A prophet is a person who speaks forth for God.
Prophets, someone has said, are persons who have a lover's quarrel with the world. If they didn't love it, they probably wouldn't bother to tell it that it's going to Hell; they'd just let it go. Their quarrel is God's quarrel.
When we hear prophets outside of normal worship services, however, we get offended. We don't want to hear what they have to say. We don't mind that stuff from our pulpits; we don't like it in other places. But the prophets in our time are the Ralph Naders, the Neil Simons, the Alan Aldas and the Harry Chapins. They challenge us -- sometimes with subtlety as in a drama, sometimes more directly through song, and sometimes with precise blunt charges toward our corporations and our way of life.
No one is ever very comfortable in the presence of a prophet; their words often hit too close to home. But it is important to remember that Moses' response, when told about prophets "doing their thing" in the wrong place, was, "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!" God has put his spirit upon a variety of prophets in our time. Perhaps we ought to be more open to what they have to say.
- Aber
How typical the ending of this passage is! Joshua is indignant because two prophets are prophesying in the camp rather than in the sanctuary. We always seem to be upset when prophecy occurs outside of our structured worship service. By prophet, I mean the biblical definition of spokesperson, or forth-teller, rather then foreteller. A prophet is a person who speaks forth for God.
Prophets, someone has said, are persons who have a lover's quarrel with the world. If they didn't love it, they probably wouldn't bother to tell it that it's going to Hell; they'd just let it go. Their quarrel is God's quarrel.
When we hear prophets outside of normal worship services, however, we get offended. We don't want to hear what they have to say. We don't mind that stuff from our pulpits; we don't like it in other places. But the prophets in our time are the Ralph Naders, the Neil Simons, the Alan Aldas and the Harry Chapins. They challenge us -- sometimes with subtlety as in a drama, sometimes more directly through song, and sometimes with precise blunt charges toward our corporations and our way of life.
No one is ever very comfortable in the presence of a prophet; their words often hit too close to home. But it is important to remember that Moses' response, when told about prophets "doing their thing" in the wrong place, was, "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!" God has put his spirit upon a variety of prophets in our time. Perhaps we ought to be more open to what they have to say.
- Aber
