Read 1 Samuel 8:4–22 and Leviticus 8:10–13. How did prophets function in relation to kings and priests?
Prophets interacted with kings in both pleasant and unpleasant situations. When the Israelites demanded a king (1 Sam. 8:4–22), they said we want “a king to judge us like all the nations” (1 Sam. 8:5). What a sad but powerful example of the danger that God’s people have faced in every age: the desire to be like those around them. In this case, they had no idea what this request would bring, even though they were forewarned (1 Sam. 8:11–18) by God through His prophet. Based on their desires, and despite his warning to them, Samuel soon anointed Israel’s first king, known in biblical history as King Saul.
The Old Testament books of 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles record the kind and quality of rulership exhibited by the kings of Israel and Judah. Sacred history shows that the kings who did evil far outnumbered those who did good in the sight of God. One of the core functions of the prophets was to help lead unfaithful kings back to obedience to God’s law. As a result, these prophets faced threats, with some even harmed and killed by kings who led God’s people away from Him (1 Kings 18:4–19, 2 Chron. 24:20–22).
Prophets also interacted with priests. Moses, a prophet of God, anointed Aaron and his sons as the first Israelite priests (Lev. 8:10–13). There were times priests received words of rebuke from God through the prophets (Hos. 6:9, Mal. 2:1–3). One striking example of this is the entire household of Eli, who were confronted for their corrupt practices (1 Sam. 2:27–36). These were some very strong rebukes against rampant corruption among people given special privileges.
Prophets were teachers of the people (2 Chronicles 34). They presented messages from God to the priests, kings, and the nation (Jer. 5:31, Ezek. 22:26). Prophets also spoke to surrounding nations outlining God’s plan for them, a theme repeated several times in the messages of the Old Testament prophets (Isa. 60:1–3; Isa. 62:1, 2). Prophets were expected not only to pass on faithfully the messages God gave them but were sometimes instructed to write them down and preserve them (2 Chron. 13:22). Again, no matter how human the prophets were (and with all the attending frailties that go with that), they were men and women of prayer, the Word, and service to God and His people (Jer. 42:4; 2 Kings 22:15–17).
Supplemental EGW Notes
Elijah had thought that he alone in Israel was a worshiper of the true God. But He who reads the hearts of all revealed to the prophet that there were many others who, through the long years of apostasy, had remained true to Him. . . .
From Elijah’s experience during those days of discouragement and apparent defeat there are many lessons to be drawn, lessons invaluable to the servants of God in this age, marked as it is by general departure from right. The apostasy prevailing today is similar to that which in the prophet’s day overspread Israel. In the exaltation of the human above the divine, in the praise of popular leaders, in the worship of mammon, and in the placing of the teachings of science above the truths of revelation, multitudes today are following after Baal. Doubt and unbelief are exercising their baleful influence over mind and heart, and many are substituting for the oracles of God the theories of men. It is publicly taught that we have reached a time when human reason should be exalted above the teachings of the Word. The law of God, the divine standard of righteousness, is declared to be of no effect. The enemy of all truth is working with deceptive power to cause men and women to place human institutions where God should be, and to forget that which was ordained for the happiness and salvation of mankind.
Yet this apostasy, widespread as it has come to be, is not universal. Not all in the world are lawless and sinful; not all have taken sides with the enemy. God has many. . . who are hoping against hope that Jesus will come soon to end the reign of sin and death. . . . These need the personal help of those who have learned to know God and the power of His word. . . . As those who have an understanding of Bible truth try to seek out the men and women who are longing for light, angels of God will attend them. . . . Many will cease to pay homage to man-made institutions and will take their stand fearlessly on the side of God and His law.—Conflict and Courage, p. 215.
Nathan the prophet was bidden to bear a message of reproof to David. It was a message terrible in its severity. To few sovereigns could such a reproof be given but at the price of certain death to the reprover. Nathan delivered the divine sentence unflinchingly, yet with such heaven-born wisdom as to engage the sympathies of the king, to arouse his conscience, and to call from his lips the sentence of death upon himself. . . .
This experience was most painful to David, but it was most beneficial. But for the mirror which Nathan held up before him, in which he so clearly recognized his own likeness, he would have gone on unconvicted of his heinous sin, and would have been ruined. The conviction of his guilt was the saving of his soul. He saw himself in another light, as the Lord saw him, and as long as he lived he repented of his sin.—Conflict and Courage, p. 179.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.