• Download Video
• Download Audio
• Print
• Email
• Save As PDF

"I am no prophet, I am a farmer"

Text: Zechariah 13:5

THE PROBLEM OF WITCH-HUNTING

The danger of false prophets cannot be ignored. But there is also the danger of witch-hunting (or “prophet-hunting”).

“But he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a farmer;
for a man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.’
And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’
Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.'”
Zechariah 13:5-6

1. The search for false prophets

a) There is danger afoot.

b) Vigilantes may search for false prophets anywhere they can find them.

2. Anyone may be accused

a) A farmer may be accused of being a false prophet.

b) But he may exercise the right to defend himself.

3. The accusation made

a) Signs of false prophets.

One of the signs would be “wounds” in the arms.

b) False prophets sometimes resort to cutting themselves in the belief that this would cause the deities to respond favourably to their incantations (1 Kings 18:28).

4. The answer given by the farmer

a) He may appeal to his training as a farmer.

b) He may also appeal to his training in animal husbandry.

c) Wounds on the arms.

He may say that he suffered the wounds in the house of friends.

MAKING SURE THAT THERE IS NO ABUSE

Two dangers must be averted. Great diligence and prudence must be exercised.

1. Unwise tolerance of known false prophets.

2. Religious intolerance of people suspected of being false prophets.