of the rent made in the robe by his own hands.1 This was probably an unusually large garment in which a man could completely wrap himself. When Ahijah went out to meet Jeroboam he was clad in a new garment. The rending of the prophetic mantle was symbolic of the rending of the kingdom from Rehoboam, as the rending of Samuel's had been before. Elijah wore a similar mantle. When Ahab learns that the person met by his messengers was "a man with a garment of hair, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins," he said at once, "It is Elijah the Tishbite." 4 Elijah was commanded to anoint Elisha as his successor in the prophetic office. To execute this order he cast his mantle upon Elisha as the latter was plowing in the field; for to be clothed with the prophetic robe was to be called to the prophetic office; and Elisha readily recognised the significance of this act.5 The prophetic vestment was a symbol of the prophet's miraculous powers. "4 Elijah used his mantle to clear a way through the waters of the Jordan," and his successor, to whom the mantle had fallen, used it in the same way." Before Elisha put on the garment of his predecessor we are told that "he seized his garments and tore them into two pieces." From this statement we are told in Hastings' Bible Dictionary, i. 693, that Elisha wore the clothing common to other men. The fact seems In spite of this statement, Kraetzschmar, who holds that Samuel was a seer, and not a nabi, contends that the seers did not wear the prophetic mantle. 3 1 Kings xi. 29 f; cf. 1 Sam. xv. 27 f. to be that he tore off his own garment1 and discarded it, that he might put on the robe of Elijah, and so appear in the garb of the great leader. The peculiar garment had become a mark of the prophet's position. When Isaiah was commanded to loose the sackcloth from his loins, and assume the scanty garb of a captive,3 the sackcloth is the hairy garment of the prophet. In the work of destruction all ranks would be reduced to slavery. The girdle which Jeremiah wore, whose rotting by the Euphrates is a symbolic prophecy, implies that he too wore the large prophetic mantle which was fastened at the waist by a girdle. John Baptist was clothed as a prophet, wearing the raiment of camel's hair fastened at the loins by a leather girdle.5 Jastrow, in his interesting article on "The Tearing of Garments as a Symbol of Mourning," holds a very different notion of the prophet's dress. He says, "The example of Saul shows that stripping off the garments was an act preliminary to prophesying, and hence even at a later age the prophet's garb is characterised as more primitive than the ordinary fashions of the day. It is clearly because prophesying is a religious act that nakedness is associated with it." And again, "From the passage Isaiah xx. 2−4, it appears that the prophet's ordinary clothes consisted merely of a loin-cloth and sandals, and from 1 This is not excluded by the fact that the rending of the garment was a mark of sorrow. 2 Jastrow argues that the language here used means a tearing of the garments off the body (J.A.O.S., xxi. 24). 4 Jer. xiv. 3 Isa. xx. 2. 5 Matt. iii. 4; Mark i. 6. 7 Ib., p. 35. other testimony we know that the dress of the seers was of a much simpler character than that worn by other persons."1 I cannot follow Jastrow's reasoning. As the prophet became heated in his frenzy, he would naturally cast aside his large outer garment, just as the countryman may throw off his coat to dance. I agree with Cheyne that "sackcloth" in Isaiah xx. 2 refers to the haircloth which the prophets adopted as their habitual dress. The expression to gird sackcloth implies that it was worn as an outer garment. It is good Hebrew usage to call one "naked" who had laid aside the outer garment. Jastrow is carried away by his thesis that in religious practices there is a tendency to revert to the primitive customs. Kraetzschmar holds that the nebi'im wore the hairy mantle, but that the seers (ro'im) had no distinctive dress. He draws too sharp a line between the seers and the prophets. The statement in 2 Samuel xxiv. II, "the prophet Gad, David's seer," would imply that the former term denoted the general office, and the latter the particular function, as we might say "the priest A. B., rector of St. James' Church." A Did the sons of the prophets also wear a distinctive dress? From our meagre information and from the probabilities of the case, we infer that they did. New Testament writer expresses the accepted Jewish idea when he says that the prophets "went about in sheepskins, in goatskins." When one of these went 1 Ib., p. 31. 2 The dervishes still wear a cloak of camel's hair (Stanley, Sinai and Pal., p. 381). 3 Heb. xi. 37. out to meet Ahab he " disguised himself with a covering over his eyes." As soon as the covering was removed the king "recognised him that he was one of the prophets." This cannot mean that the king recognised his face because of personal acquaintance; the statement is explicit that Ahab perceived that he was one of the prophets. Some mark of a prophet had been covered to effect a disguise. The disguise may have been partly effected by laying aside the prophetic cloak. Whatever may have been the case when the members of this order occupied a humble and subordinate place, it is more than probable that they clothed themselves in the peculiar prophetic dress when they assumed the complete prophetic functions. In Zechariah we are told that in the new era "the prophets shall be ashamed of their vision; neither shall they wear a hairy mantle to deceive."4 It is probable that in Zechariah xi. 3, we should read "their [the shepherds'] prophetic garment is destroyed" for "their glory is spoiled," the howling shepherds being no other than these useless prophets. It seems to be highly probable that this dress was common to all prophets, and was universally regarded as a mark of their office, just as now the cassock vest is a garment peculiar to the clergy. 1 I Kings xx. 38. 2 1 Kings xx. 41. 3 Kittel argues from this passage that the prophets were recognis able by some mark on the face, in the region of the eyes. Kraetzschmar holds that the prophets wore a hairy mantle and also made scars in their foreheads, after the manner of the Beduin tribes. To disguise himself this prophet simply covered his face with a cloth in order to conceal the scars. This view affords a good explanation of this passage, but lacks other support in O.T. See additional note (6). 4 Zech. xiii. 4. N CHAPTER V THE PROPHET'S CALL OTHING is more striking in the phenomena of prophecy than the absolute confidence with which the message is spoken. The reason of this is not far to seek, for the Holy Ghost spoke by the prophets. If the prophet were expressing merely his own opinions, the positiveness of his tone would not be altogether inexplicable. Any man who has deep convictions is apt to speak them with a confidence bordering on assurance. But the peculiarly strong confidence of the prophet had a different and deeper basis. He was, indeed, a man of strong convictions, but above that he was fully persuaded that he spoke the mind of his God. Consequently there is no doubt, no hesitation, no uncertainty. He is authorised to preface his message with the formula "Thus saith the Lord," and therefore feels that his words cannot be gainsaid. It was not given to every Hebrew to know or to declare the will of God. The ability and right to do that was the direct gift of God Himself. He selected out of the mass of men those to whom His purposes were so revealed that they spoke with conviction and authority. In other words, the prophet believed himself to be divinely called to his office. He held |