Religious diversity in the society has been a very common phenomenon among different people in the world. These diversities are characterized by similarities and differences. This paper shall give an indebt analysis of the similarities and differences that exist between the Hebrews prophets and India’s holy men. Due to this subscription to different religious practices it is also noted that geographical locations also bring about such differences. Prophets in the Bible were not primarily foretellers. Simply read through the book of Amos at one sitting and you will hear how little Amos is concerned to predict.
Most of their words are addressed to people criticizing their wrong doing. They predict what the future might be like and they warn the people over the dangers to come if they don’t change. They could be able to foretell the type of punishment God will give. These early prophets were generally consulted about the future. ( Matthews, 2001) In the Christian religion a prophet is a person who serves as an intermediary between God and humanity. Prophets existed in many ancient cultures and they were considered holy by the communities that they came from.
The Indians treatment of its holy men has the same perspective as the Hebrew’s treatment of prophets. This subject ha elicited numerous debates and counteraction which sometimes can be seen as a search for superiority among the religious groups. It worth noting that a particular religion considers to be a true prophet is considered by other religious groups as false prophet. This is because all the prophets are a making of any particular religious group meaning the prophets are the members of the religious group. (Jemielity, 1992)
According to the Hebrews the word prophet was used to refer to a proclaimer. They equally believed that there was a power beyond human might, or this-worldly might. Therefore the word prophet is used in the Christian religious context to refer to those people with divine powers. Most of the Hebrews prophets were believed to have the power to talk to God directly. On the other hand there were believers there can exist false prophets who are influenced by Satan. Most of the Hebrew prophets were men; however there were a few female prophetesses.
There were female prophets in ancient Israel five in the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh (Hebrew bible) records ten ancient prophets; Adam, Seth, Enos, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Shem, Salah, Eber, Melchizedek. These prophets were commonly referred as the ante-Abrahamic prophets. The Hebrew considered a prophet as the speaker or a representative. The work prophet according to them comes from the Hebrew word (Navi) meaning “fruit of the lips” prophecy in this view refers to the person’s ethical and spiritual development characterized by divine spirit. The greatest prophet was Moses.
It was believed that Moses saw all that all the other prophets combined saw. He saw the whole of Turah including the prophets and the writings that were written hundred years later Moses saw it all in advance. (Newsome, 2007) The major role of the Hebrew prophets was to predict the future events and also to call upon the public to repent and return to the true faith. For instance prophet Isaiah predicted a future disaster for the southern kingdom of Judah because of their many sins and above all he discussed the future coming of the servant of the Lord who would bring an era of great peace and happiness.
This servant of Lord referred to by Isaiah is primarily Jesus Christ. Prophets imagine an ideal human figure, one upon whom the Spirit of Yahweh may rest, for example, strength cannot be missing from the picture. So upon the ideal ruler there rests the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and they used to advice the leader on the need to have the spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh. (Isaiah 11:2) (Hill &Walton 2000)