After the time of Solomon, prophets were called to a major role in the national life. You remember that, from Solomon onwards, the kings, with a few exceptions, generally allowed the worship of pagan gods, and the Israelites gradually drifted away from their relationship with the Almighty. He gave the prophets the role of calling them back - and a tough role it turned out to be. Most were hated by the rulers of the people and many of the prophets were murdered.

The role of prophet was not simply a special spiritual gift, but a stern calling, one which the prophet could not resist. Jeremiah, for instance, refused for a while but then had to admit that the Almighty's words "burned in my bones and I cannot keep silent". The prophets were also endowed with great authority so that even kings quaked at their coming, and they could perform miracles. Elijah even commanded the weather not to rain for 3 years. Because of the danger and the strenuous tasks, most of the great prophets were men, the sole exception being Deborah. There were other women who had the gift of prophecy but they played a minor part.

The Almighty conveyed the message He wanted the prophet to speak in various ways, through dreams and visions, through the experiences of life and by giving direct words conveyed by Gabriel or one of his angels. But the prophets were not puppets, they had their own characters and would often argue with the Almighty until they were convinced of the message. It was quite amusing to watch them, because we angels knew it was no use arguing with Him, and slowly the prophet would have to give way. They were told to do some strange things at times to get the message across, but in the end the people rejected the message and paid the penalty.

I suppose the first truly dominant prophet after Moses was Elijah. He had the awesome task of denouncing the behaviour of King Ahab and his even more evil queen, Jezebel. I suggested to him a plan; that he should command it not to rain, then challenge the priests of Baal to bring rain. When, after three years, the drought was really desperate, he challenged the Priests to a duel. Let the god who sends fire be the true god. He knew that in their temples they had tricks which appeared to make the statue of their god produce fire so he proclaimed the duel should take place on the top of Mount Carmel. Of course, Baal could not produce fire, he was only a metal statue.

Elijah repaired the broken altar of the Almighty, prepared the sacrifice, then, bless him, he had so much faith that he had the sacrifice soaked in water. Even I thought that was going too far. However, the Almighty was equal to the task. He is not called the Almighty for nothing! The fire fell, the sacrifice was burned, and the rains came. This convinced the simple people to return to the Almighty - but not Ahab or Jezebel. She was so angry that she threatened Elijah with such dire punishments that he ran away. The Almighty sent him back. Jezebel died ignominiously and for a while it looked as if the prophet's work had succeeded. The Almighty gave Elijah the privilege of not dying but being transported directly to heaven.

Elijah's successor, Elisha, had a relatively easy time as the new king respected him, and he was able to warn the king of impending attacks by the enemies. Elisha was noted for his many miracles - twice as many as Elijah because he was anointed with twice the power of the Holy Spirit.

Other great prophets came and went, but the people did not heed them for long and gradually became more and more evil, so that the Almighty had no alternative but to remove His protection from the northern nation Israel, and allow them to be destroyed by the Assyrians. It is remarkable that those of the Almighty's people who had the potential to become truly great, often go the other way. The southern kingdom, Judah, tended to follow Israel's example but several Godly kings delayed the final catastrophe.

Over this period, the Almighty sent the prophets messages of hope as well as denunciations of sin. Hosea was instructed to marry a faithless wife, and then, when she had left him and finished up as a slave, he was instructed to buy her back. Through this experience he learned how much the Almighty loved Israel and intended one day to buy her back. Isaiah was given several messages to deliver, which referred to a suffering servant of the Almighty, which the People of Judah took as meaning themselves but really referred to the forthcoming Messiah.

Jeremiah was told to tell the Judeans to submit to Babylon and be secure, or, if they resisted, they would be taken into exile. They resisted and tried to kill Jeremiah, but the prophet's words were true. However, in the middle of his prophecy, the Almighty told him the exile would be for only 70 years. Joel was given a message that one day the Holy Spirit would be poured out on all people. Some will not like that as their sins will be exposed and they will stand condemned before the Almighty. Daniel prophesied during the exile, and was given many great visions of the future, some of which have yet to come about. And Ezekiel was given a great vision of the coming spiritual Jerusalem which will be the final city. I could go on. Message after message was sent via the prophets, some even to nations which were near Judea, but over the years people failed to take the messages seriously. In all this the Almighty was preparing for the coming of the ultimate prophet and king, the Messiah, not only of the Jews but of the whole world.