«　WEEK 9　DAY 2　»

　　Num. 11:29 But Moses said to him, Are you jealous for my sake? Oh that all Jehovah's people were prophets, that Jehovah would put His Spirit upon them!

　　1 Cor. 14:31 For you can all prophesy one by one that all may learn and all may be encouraged.

　　Prophets are God's spokesmen….For example, in Exodus 3 and 4 when Moses was called by God, he told God that he was slow of speech and of a slow tongue (4:10). So God gave Aaron to Moses to be his prophet (4:14-16; 7:1). Aaron did not predict for Moses; rather, he spoke for him. In the whole Bible, to prophesy is mainly to speak for God and to speak forth God; sometimes it is also to predict, … [which] is secondary. This is the proper meaning of prophesying in the Bible. (Truth Lessons—Level One, vol. 2, p. 19)

　　Prophets receive God's revelation directly and are borne by the Spirit of God to speak for God and speak forth God (2 Pet. 1:21). God is hidden, but through the speaking of the prophets, God Himself and His intention are explained. (Truth Lessons—Level Three, vol. 2, p. 121)

　　[In Numbers 11] two of the seventy [elders], who were not with the others around the Tent of Meeting, also prophesied (v. 26)…. Joshua was jealous for Moses, and he charged Moses to forbid them [vv. 27-28]. But Moses replied,”Are you jealous for my sake?” (v. 29a). Then Moses uttered a great prophecy:”Oh that all Jehovah's people were prophets, that Jehovah would put His Spirit upon them!” (v. 29b). This prophecy was promoted by Paul in 1 Corinthians and will be fulfilled in God's New Testament economy. (Life-study of Numbers, p. 133)

　　Paul in the New Testament was not the only one who had this kind of vision in 1 Corinthians 14:31:”You can all prophesy one by one.” It is very likely that Paul's concept came from Moses, because Paul, as one who understood the Old Testament, must have been familiar with what Moses had said in Numbers 11:29,”Oh that all Jehovah's people were prophets!” We know that when Paul wrote the Epistles in the New Testament, many of his words were derived from the Old Testament. Therefore, we see that this concept is consistent in both the Old and New Testaments—God wants His people to speak for Him. (CWWL, 1985, vol. 5,”Speaking for God,” p. 209)

　　Paul said nearly the same thing that Moses did…(Num. 11:29;…1 Cor. 14:31). It is a poor situation that most of the Christian people today understand the word prophesy to mean to predict. But when Moses used the Hebrew word for prophesy, his intention was not to indicate prediction. Even he himself did not predict much. In all his five books how many predictions are there? There are very few, but his writing, that is, his speaking, was altogether the speaking forth of God. He was speaking for God, and he was speaking God. Moses predicted little. It was the same with Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Their books actually contain very few predictions but rather are full of speaking forth God, speaking for God, and speaking God directly. This was the Old Testament prophecy: there is not much prediction, but it is full of speaking forth of God, speaking for God, and speaking God directly. It is the same way with the Greek word in the New Testament. Prophecy in New Testament Greek means a kind of speaking of God. You speak God forth, you speak Christ out, you speak Christ to people, you speak for Christ. This is prophecy. To prophesy is mainly to speak for Christ, to speak Christ forth, to speak Christ out. To prophesy is to speak God, to speak Christ, to speak the divine interest, to speak the things concerning Christ and God, and to speak forth, speak out, and speak for God. (CWWL, 1985, vol. 3,”The Divine Speaking,” pp. 280-281)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Numbers, msg. 18; Life-study of Romans, msg. 26; Truth Lessons—Level One, vol. 2, lsn. 14; Truth Lessons—Level Three, vol. 2, lsn. 30; CWWL, 1986, vol. 1,”Elders' Training, Book 8: The Life Pulse of the Lord's Present Move,” ch. 3; CWWL, 1985, vol. 4,”Everyone Speaking the Word of God,” ch. 1; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, pp. 325-327