Sons of Prophets

SONS OF PROPHETS (בְּנֵֽי־הַנְּבִיאִ֥ים). Members of a prophetic order or guild.

This Heb. term occurs eleven times, all during the period of Elijah and especially Elisha, and only in the books of 1 and 2 Kings. The term is a technical one referring to the members of a prophetic order or guild, and has no reference to physical descent from a prophet.

Finally, the phrase בֶּנ־נָבִ֖יא, “the son of a prophet” (Amos 7:14), though in the sing., should also be understood as referring to membership in a guild of prophets. Thus Amos affirms he is not a member of a prophetic guild.

Bibliography

R. B. Y. Scott, The Relevance of the Prophets (1942), 46-49; H. H. Rowley, The Servant of the Lord (1952), 97-134.