What were the prophets and Samuel prophesying in 1 Samuel 19:20?
Saul also tore his clothes and began prophesying too in verse 24.
1 Samuel 19:20
ESV - 20 Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.
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Asked January 17 2021
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Gloria Gaxiola
For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
Tim Maas
I already offered the following response to this identical question from this same questioner four days ago, as follows:
Although prophesying is commonly thought of as the predicting of future events, the Greek origin of the word itself means simply "to speak on behalf of" (meaning, in this case, speaking on God's behalf). That would include words spoken by people who had been inspired by God to say the words that they were saying, regardless of what the specific content of those words were. The prophesying referred to in the verse cited in the question would thus not necessarily have to have been the foretelling of future events. It could also have been praise, preaching, or prayer.
The central points were that, whatever the words were, they were spoken by direct inspiration from God, and that that same ability came not only upon Samuel and the prophets, but also upon the messengers that Saul had sent, as well as (later) upon Saul himself.
Tim Maas
The number of the question that I previously responded to was https://ebible.com/questions/22333-what-are-the-prophets-and-samuel-prophesying-in-1-samuel-19-20#answer-42212