Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation. – 2 Samuel 7:17

Today's Scripture Reading (May 24, 2022):  2 Samuel 7

I recently received an email from someone who purported to be a prophet of God. He was an unknown to me, but attached to the message was a chapter from his book. I like to read, so I thought I would read a little of what this prophet had written. I was a little amused that the attached chapter of his book was written as if it were part of the Bible. The author had inserted verse numbers throughout the document. It was something that the original prophets had not done. The verse numbers in the Bible are a late addition and not part of the original document. But I felt that this contemporary prophet somehow believed that the addition of verse numbers gave him some form of authority.

The chapter from my prophet was pretty standard stuff. It was complete with warnings about the wrath of God if we did not change. There were warnings about the worship styles of the church, framed like a Hebrew Prophet writing in the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible. Accusations that the church has moved to follow idols instead of the one true God. There was a plea for monetary support so that the prophet could continue. (No, I did not give him any.)

But there was a fundamental problem. I had no connection with this prophet except in his writing which seemed to be designed to get my trust simply by resembling the prophecies of the biblical writers. There is a reason why I often include personal details in my writing; if you read my blog regularly, I would like you to get at least a little sense of who I am. Why else would you place any trust in me? (And I try not to make any grandiose prophecies in my writing because you don't have any reason to trust what I might say.)

Nathan hears the word of God, and then he goes and tells David the entire revelation. But Nathan had an advantage; David knew Nathan and had come to trust, and even depend, on him. Nathan had never told David, "This is what God says," when God had not spoken. So, when Nathan speaks, David has the assurance that the words are true.

Not all prophets had the same advantage. When Elijah walks into the presence of King Ahab, Elijah is a complete unknown. And, in some ways, it is no wonder that Ahab didn't believe him when Elijah announced the approaching drought. He had no reason to think that Elijah told him what God had said. But by the time of the encounter at Mount Carmel, Ahab should have known that Elijah was a prophet of God.

And it is this same problem that exists with the modern phenomenon of the traveling or email prophet. We need more Nathans who are willing to spend their entire ministries in one place. Or even a Paul, who was prepared to go and spend enough time in one place that the people could get to know them and trust that what he said was really the word of God.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 8