Minor Prophet in Major Ways

From time to time Dan and I will have a recurring conversation. We’re both glad the God doesn’t have His prophets today do the things they used to do to get His message across to His people. It is nice being able to provide examples of what God is doing rather than have to live them out. Go back and read some of the things God had His prophets do and you’ll understand.

Prophets also weren’t terribly liked by too many people. Mostly they brought news of everything bad going to happen because of their corrupt lives. You never really heard anyone from ancient Israel say, “Hey Zephaniah! How about you join me and my family after Synagogue for a bite to eat…if we hurry we can beat the Pharisees to lunch.” Most of their time was spent alone.

I was reading through the book of Daniel and I ran across an event that I had never read before. According to Daniel 5:1-31, during a drunken feast, King Belshazzar of Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar’s successor) takes sacred golden and silver vessels, which came from the Jewish Temple, and worshiped the gods of gold with them, blaspheming Yahweh. Suddenly the King became very frightened, and sobered I’m sure, by the sight of a human hand suddenly appearing and writing on the wall.

The phrase “Writing On the Wall” came from this story (I didn’t know that before). Daniel, being that he was a prophet, was called to explain the Writing On the Wall which basically said, “God has numbered your days…you don’t measure up…and your kingdom will be divided.” So much for the party.

The king could have asked Daniel earlier if there was something that he should know and Daniel could have told him these things before he made a drunken scene that finally put him over the edge a bit. The reality is…people don’t go to the prophet and ask for a synopsis of everything that is wrong with them.

We’re called, as a family, to spur one another on (Heb 10:24) but we often don’t want to play the role of the prophet. All of us can think back to sins of our childhood that we got caught doing. I am thankful for my parents stepping in on the things that could have been life altering and caused the Writing to be on the Wall in my life. We’re called to be prophets to one another from time to time, even if it makes us unpopular with those who are closest to us. “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.” – Matthew 18:15