Old Covenant Guidance Came Through Prophets
- Michael E.B. Maher
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
1 Samuel 28:6 “And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets.”
We have looked at who had contact with the Holy Spirit under the old covenant, but what about being led by Him? Even the king and the priest who were anointed by the Holy Spirit to stand in their specific offices were only anointed to perform their functions. The Holy Spirit that was upon the king and the priest would not give guidance to those two individuals, for they also had to be led by the Holy Spirit through the ways that God had decreed all saints under the old covenant would be led. There were three primary ways that God used to lead all the saints under the old covenant. Those three ways were through dreams, through the Urim, and through prophets. This truth is revealed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture. There were a few other ways that God led the old covenant saints, but those ways were only manifested as the Lord willed. And the saints could not expect to seek the Lord’s guidance through those methods, as they were always the exception and not the rule.
1 Samuel 9:9 “Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he spoke thus: "Come, let us go to the seer"; for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.”
Of all the primary ways that God led the saints under the old covenant, the most common was through the office of the prophet. The prophet had a number of roles that they had to fulfil under the old covenant, and one of those roles was to provide guidance to the children of Israel. Under the old covenant, anyone seeking guidance from the Lord would go to the prophet to enquire from the Lord what they should do. In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit tells us plainly that when a saint went to inquire of God, that they would go to the prophet.
1 Samuel 9:6-20 “And he said to him, "Look now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man; all that he says surely comes to pass. So, let us go there; perhaps he can show us the way that we should go." (7) Then Saul said to his servant, "But look, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread in our vessels is all gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?" (8) And the servant answered Saul again and said, "Look, I have here at hand one-fourth of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God, to tell us our way." … (18) Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, "Please tell me, where is the seer's house?" (19) Samuel answered Saul and said, "I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for you shall eat with me today; and tomorrow I will let you go and will tell you all that is in your heart. (20) But as for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not be anxious about them, for they have been found. And on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on you and on all your father's house?”
In the above quoted account in scripture we see that Saul and his servant were looking for some donkeys that had gone missing. This incident occurred before Saul became king. He was just an ordinary believer in Israel at the time, and they had purposed to go to Samuel the prophet to find out from him where the donkeys were. We will not look at the full account, but when Saul did eventually speak to Samuel, the prophet told him that the donkeys had been found and he then proceeded to tell him what else the Lord had in store for him. The main point that I wanted to highlight from this passage however, is that it was standard practice under the old covenant for the saints to go to the prophet to receive guidance from the Lord.
1 Kings 22:7-28 “And Jehoshaphat said, "Is there not still a prophet of the Lord here that we may inquire of Him?" (8) So, the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord; but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." And Jehoshaphat said, "Let not the king say such things!" … (14) And Micaiah said, "As the Lord lives, whatever the Lord says to me, that I will speak." … (23) Therefore look! The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has declared disaster against you." … (26) So the king of Israel said, "Take Micaiah, and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son; (27) and say, 'Thus says the king: "Put this fellow in prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and water of affliction, until I come in peace." ‘“(28) But Micaiah said, "If you ever return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me." And he said, "Take heed, all you people!”
We said earlier that even the king, who had the Holy Spirit upon him, would go to the prophet to enquire from the Lord. In the above quoted account, Jehoshaphat the king of Judah and Ahab the king of Israel, were trying to decide whether they should go to war or not. Ahab had all his prophets of Baal telling him to go to war, but Jehoshaphat was not convinced. And so the king of Judah suggested that they should enquire from one of the Lord’s prophets as to what the Lord’s counsel was. And so the prophet Micaiah was called so that they could inquire of God through him. As it turned out, both kings decided to follow the guidance of the false prophets, which is what the Lord had decreed should happen. And Ahab was judged by the Lord in the battle that followed. But again the main point that I wanted to highlight from this passage, is that it was standard practice under the old covenant for everyone, including kings, to go to the prophet to receive guidance from the Lord.
Michael E.B. Maher
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