Topical Bible: Prophets: Frequently Married Men

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In the biblical narrative, prophets often played pivotal roles as God's messengers, delivering divine revelations and guidance to the people of Israel. While their primary function was spiritual, their personal lives, including their marital status, also provide insight into their character and the cultural context of their times. Several prophets in the Bible were known to be married, and their marriages often held symbolic significance or served as a backdrop to their prophetic ministry.

Hosea

Hosea, a prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel, is perhaps the most notable example of a prophet whose marriage was integral to his prophetic message. God commanded Hosea to marry Gomer, a woman described as "a wife of harlotry" (Hosea 1:2), to symbolize Israel's unfaithfulness to God through idolatry. Hosea's marriage and the subsequent birth of his children served as living parables of God's relationship with Israel, highlighting themes of infidelity, judgment, and eventual restoration.

Isaiah

Isaiah, one of the major prophets, was also married. His wife is referred to as "the prophetess" (Isaiah 8:3), suggesting that she may have had a prophetic role or was simply designated as such due to her marriage to Isaiah. The children of Isaiah, with names given by divine instruction, were signs and symbols to Israel. For instance, his son Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz's name, meaning "swift is the booty, speedy is the prey," was a prophetic message concerning the impending Assyrian invasion (Isaiah 8:1-4).

Ezekiel

Ezekiel, a prophet during the Babylonian exile, was also married. His personal life became a poignant part of his prophetic ministry when God informed him of his wife's impending death and instructed him not to mourn her publicly. This act was to serve as a sign to the exiled Israelites, illustrating the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, events that would leave them in stunned silence and mourning (Ezekiel 24:15-24).

Jeremiah

Unlike the aforementioned prophets, Jeremiah was commanded by God not to marry or have children. This instruction was symbolic of the severe judgment and calamity that would befall Judah, making family life untenable (Jeremiah 16:1-4). Jeremiah's celibacy underscored the gravity of the impending disaster and served as a living testimony to the people of Judah.

Symbolism and Significance

The marriages of these prophets were not merely personal details but were often imbued with symbolic meaning, reflecting the relationship between God and His people. Through their marriages, these prophets communicated messages of covenant, faithfulness, judgment, and hope. Their personal lives, intertwined with their prophetic missions, provided tangible illustrations of divine truths, making their messages more relatable and impactful to their contemporaries.

In examining the lives of these frequently married prophets, one observes the profound ways in which God used their personal circumstances to convey His divine will and purpose to the nation of Israel. Their marriages, whether harmonious or fraught with difficulty, served as powerful metaphors for the spiritual state of the people and the enduring faithfulness of God.

Torrey's Topical Textbook

2 Kings 4:1
Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets to Elisha, saying, Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that your servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take to him my two sons to be slaves.
Torrey's Topical Textbook

Ezekiel 24:18
So I spoke to the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.
Torrey's Topical Textbook

Library

The Perpetual virginity of Blessed Mary.
... time (he himself told us so), frequently time without ... Moses in the law, and the prophets
did write ... ask, "than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were married men? ...
/.../jerome/the principal works of st jerome/the perpetual virginity of blessed.htm

Letter cxxviii. To Gaudentius.
... and marriage, calls those who are married slaves of ... the gospels, the apostles and
the prophets should be ... in public too freely or too frequently attend crowded ...
/.../jerome/the principal works of st jerome/letter cxxviii to gaudentius.htm

Tit. 2:06 Thoughts for Young Men
... Who most frequently break out into open sin, disgrace ... and romances be read, while
the prophets and Apostles ... would most likely not have married Ahab's daughter. ...
/.../chapter xix tit 2 6 thoughts.htm

Christ's Advice to Invite the Poor in Accordance with Isaiah the ...
... of the household and family are more frequently the favoured ... fathers, but were to
be admonished by the prophets. ... bought some oxen"and I have married a wife ...
/.../the five books against marcion/chapter xxxi christs advice to invite.htm

Herod
... It is a prophet, even as one of the prophets. ... his brother Philip's wife: for he had
married her ... is so that fraudulent British tradesmen too frequently pass for ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/chadwick/the gospel of st mark/chapter 6 14-29 herod.htm

The Preacher as a Patriot.
... and that she would probably pass frequently from hand ... inhabited this country were
to be married to Jehovah ... widely it differs from the procedure of the prophets. ...
/.../stalker/the preacher and his models/lecture iii the preacher as.htm

On Assembling in the Church.
... besides, whether the party be a married woman or a ... is performed the reading of the
prophets, the preaching ... those who are not saved frequently assemble together ...
/.../various/constitutions of the holy apostles/sec vii on assembling in the.htm

Book 9 Footnotes
... and that it was certainly and frequently foretold by ... from believing either of those
prophets, as Josephus ... it must be granted that some married persons, that ...
/.../josephus/the antiquities of the jews/book 9 footnotes.htm

'Let Him Alone'
... and I turn from psalmists and prophets to the ... a young woman, a professing Christian,
has married a godless ... It is a great deal more frequently the case that he ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture a/let him alone.htm

Book 4 Footnotes
... which reward or wages the truly religious prophets of God ... laws of God by Moses, be
frequently inculcated in ... a certain age, till they were married, but before ...
/.../josephus/the antiquities of the jews/book 4 footnotes.htm