FOURTH QUARTER 2026
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #3
OCTOBER 17, 2026
"OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS".

 

Sabbath: You have to feel sympathy for prophets. They did not have an easy job and they did not choose their vocation. Prophets are rarely if ever popular as seen in Old Testament times as well as today. More often than not, they had the responsibility of calling the people of God, and on some occasions heathen nations, to repentance. Fortunately, the memory verse from the lips of Jehoshaphat rings with good news. The encouragement to Israel is to put their faith in God is followed by a promise and assurance that by believing the word of the prophets of God that Israel would prosper (2 Chronicles 20:20). The essential message is that prophets are people too. They are human beings subject to the same faults and shortcomings joys and sorrows, successes and failures and discouragement as everyone else. The prophetic office did not include immunity to the vicissitudes of life or a promise of protection from criticism, persecution, and even death. 

All of the Old Testament prophets spoke in the context of the book of Deuteronomy. The Old Testament prophetic literature is unique in all the Bible, combining Hebrew poetry with proclamation and visions of the future.  Also, these were not always in chronological order. According to Duvall and Hays in “Grasping God’s Word,” you can sum up the message of the Old Testament prophets in three statements: 1. You have broken the covenant; You had better repent! 2. No repentance? Then judgment! 3. Yet, there is hope beyond the judgment for a glorious, future restoration.

 

Sunday: Under Sunday's outline another reference is made to the prophet Elijah who experience such spectacular success in representing God on Mount Carmel but then found himself running from a wicked woman. We can be encouraged by his example exhibiting courage, devotion and fortitude at one moment and then apparent fear and cowardice at another. James 5:17 tells us plainly that Elijah was a man of like passions (a nature like ours) and yet by his prayer heaven was shut up from giving rain for three and a half years. How might we feel if we had such power in prayer? Human emotion played its role and had its influence, and so we should not think that prophets are somehow called only because they are the strongest, the most spiritually precocious or the most valiant and fearless. In fact, the Bible tells us that “God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty” (1 Corinthians 1:27, NKJV). We find Elijah in a state of suicidal ideation in 1 Kings 19:4 requesting that he might die. He even appears to suffer from some form of depression and he pours out his complaint to God in the most human terms, feeling lonely, friendless and afraid. The humanity and frailty of Elijah also remind us of the humanity of the Savior. Hebrews 4:15 (NIV) says “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” Fortunately we have the promises of the Word of God to buoy and strengthen us at all times if we can but believe. And the good news is that the more we choose to believe the easier it becomes to believe. The more we exercise faith the more we will find we have.

 

Monday: Under Monday's outline we are reminded that just as there are true prophets of God there have also always been false prophets. It is Satan’s desire and intention to destroy any interest in God, religion or spiritual things but for those who cannot be dissuaded from belief in the supernatural, his next tactic is to use the tool of deception. Therefore God has provided guidance so that we may know the difference between hearing his voice and hearing the voice of the enemy cloaked in a religious guise. The true prophet of God did not execute his office for personal gain—unlike Gehazi who ran after Naaman to obtain filthy lucre and was stricken because of his greed, avarice and covetousness (2 Kings 5:21). The faithful prophets of God executed their office and delivered the message of God to kings and rulers without fear or favor, for weal or woe whatever the consequences might be to themselves. They were fired with zeal and devotion to God and a love and passion for the spiritual prosperity of His people. They knew that while their message of repentance might cut, ultimately the message would heal (Deuteronomy 32:39). To have a king say “I hate him because he does not prophesy good concerning me but evil” reveals the character of the king but serves to underscore the sterling integrity of the prophet of God. Micaiah standing alone against 400 false prophets was such a man and would not placate the evil king Ahab or his wicked wife Jezebel. Despite this, these prophets were not perfect people. The only exception would be Jesus in His role as prophet.

Tuesday:  Under Tuesday's outline we find a recounting of the sad history of Israel, recorded in 1 Samuel 8, demanding a king because they wanted to be like all of the nations that surrounded them. They had been explicitly warned as to what would happen as a result of this. But they insisted upon having their desire. The Old Testament books of First and Second Kings and First and Second Chronicles repeat the phrase again and again “and so and so became king and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” When we come to Ahab, the Bible says he did more to provoke the Lord than all of the kings that came before him (1 Kings 16:33). Even priests received words of rebuke from the prophets. One striking example of this is the entire household of Eli who were confronted because of their corruption. 

 

Wednesday: Prophets were to be teachers of the people. The role of the prophet was to represent God to the people while the role of the priest was to represent the people to God (while also revealing God’s plan of salvation). And in the Old Testament as well as the new we find examples of women who were called to the prophetic office. This would include Huldah, Deborah, Anna and Miriam. However, they were not without fault just as their male counterparts, receiving correction as they demonstrated flaws and foibles endemic to human nature. Prophets are all sinners equally in need of the grace of God. While Jonah initially disobeyed the voice of God, he was nonetheless still a prophet of God. We know this from the lips of Jesus in Matthew 12:38-42. We can take hope and encouragement from his experience.

 

Thursday: Jeremiah 14 declares severe consequences to false prophets. The Lord declares in Jeremiah 14:15, “By sword and famine those false prophets shall be consumed.” The prophet Micaiah was placed in a very precarious position. He was urged to agree with the false prophets of Asherah and to speak only good things to the wicked king Ahab. However, by the grace of God he determined to speak only what the Lord God would have him say. In this way he symbolizes and points to the true and faithful prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ foretold by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15–18.

 

Friday: Under Friday's outline we find poignant details of the response of Ellen Gould Harmon White when called to the prophetic office. She writes “I looked with desire into the grave. Death appeared to me preferable to the responsibilities I should have to bear.” —Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 2, p. 36. Fortunately, after much prayer and encouragement by fellow believers she acquiesced and devoted her life to doing the work God gave her to do. Her example further underscores that God can use weak, frail, imperfect people to do a great work for his cause as they give themselves and devote what they have to his service.

 

—Michael Duncan