The Jezebel spirit will be someone claiming to be a prophet, who hears directly from God like a prophet. They will then claim to be speaking that direct revelation from God. They will lead people into sexual immoralities, and eating of foods sacrificed to idols.
It's just so simple. Why do we have to take this simple thing and package it in all of this complexity where micro-actions, and micro-motives are held under a magnifying glass for intense inspection, as everyone becomes a suspect in the witch hunt?
Since the prophetic office is involved here and covered many times, we need to understand that we cannot interpret Scripture correctly by only using a traditional view of a prophet. This idea leads to much misinterpretation because not everyone knows what a prophet really is. To say a prophet is a person who gives prophecies is a definition that's next to worthless.
This is the word used in Revelation:
Prophetess - feminine of
<G4396> (prophetes); a
female foreteller or an
inspired woman :- prophetess.
Prophetes - from a compound of
<G4253> (pro) and
<G5346> (phemi); a
foreteller (“
prophet”);
by analogy an inspired speaker; by extension a poet :- prophet.
.
From Easton's Illustrated Dictionary:
(Heb. nabi, from a root meaning "to bubble forth, as from a fountain," hence "to utter", comp. (
Ps 45:1)). This Hebrew word is the first and the most generally used for a prophet. In the time of Samuel another word,
ro'eh, "seer", began to be used (
1Sa 9:9). It occurs seven times in reference to Samuel. Afterwards another word,
hozeh, "seer" (
2Sa 24:11), was employed. In
1Ch 29:29 all these three words are used: "Samuel the seer (ro'eh), Nathan the prophet (nabi'), Gad the seer" (hozeh). In
Jos 13:22 Balaam is called (Heb.) a
kosem "diviner," a word used only of a false prophet.
The "prophet" proclaimed the message given to him, as the "seer" beheld the vision of God. (See (
Num 12:6,
8)) Thus
a prophet was a spokesman for God; he spake in God's name and by his authority (
Ex 7:1).
He is the mouth by which God speaks to men (Jer 1:9; Isa 51:16), and hence what the prophet says is not of man but of God (
2Pe 1:20, 21; Compare
Heb 3:7;
Acts 4:25;
Acts 28:25). Prophets were the immediate organs of God for the communication of his mind and will to men (
Deut 18:18, 19). The whole Word of God may in this general sense be spoken of as prophetic, inasmuch as it was written by men who received the revelation they communicated from God, no matter what its nature might be.
The foretelling of future events was not a necessary but only an incidental part of the prophetic office. The great
task assigned to the prophets whom God raised up among the people was "to correct moral and religious abuses, to proclaim the great moral and religious truths which are connected with the character of God, and which lie at the foundation of his government."
Any one being a spokesman for God to man might thus be called a prophet. Thus Enoch, Abraham, and the patriarchs, as bearers of God's message (
Gen 20:7;
Ex 7:1;
Ps 105:15), as also Moses (
Deut 18:15;
Deut 34:10;
Hos 12:13), are ranked among the prophets. The seventy elders of Israel (
Num 11:16-29), "when the spirit rested upon them, prophesied;" Asaph and Jeduthun "prophesied with a harp" (
1Ch 25:3). Miriam and Deborah were prophetesses (
Ex 15:20;
Jdg 4:4).
The title thus has a general application to all who have messages from God to men.
But while the prophetic gift was thus exercised from the beginning, the prophetical order as such began with Samuel. Colleges, "schools of the prophets", were instituted for the training of prophets, who were constituted, a distinct order (
1Sa 19:18-24;
2Ki 2:3,
15;
2Ki 4:38), which continued to the close of the Old Testament. Such "schools" were established at Ramah, Bethel, Gilgal, Gibeah, and Jericho. The "sons" or "disciples" of the prophets were young men (
2Ki 5:22;
2Ki 9:1,
4) who lived together at these different "schools" (
2Ki 4:38-41).
These young men were taught not only the rudiments of secular knowledge, but they were brought up to exercise the office of prophet, "to preach pure morality and the heart-felt worship of Jehovah, and to act along and co-ordinately with the priesthood and monarchy in guiding the state aright and checking all attempts at illegality and tyranny."
In New Testament times the prophetical office was continued. Our Lord is frequently spoken of as a prophet (Luke 13:33; Luke 24:19). He was and is the great Prophet of the Church. There was also in the Church a distinct order of prophets (1Co 12:28; Eph 2:20; Eph 3:5), who made new revelations from God. They differed from the "teacher," whose office it was to impart truths already revealed.
Due to the fact that anyone that speaks for God, such as a minister, or someone who seems to be multitalented and multifaceted when it comes to the Bible whom people believed to be inspired, can be considered a prophet. This is not a far-reaching assumption. Anyone who continually declares God's word, exhorts, & rebukes with the air of authority can be considered a prophet. The original Jezebel of the Old Testament was not a prophet as we think of the prophetic office, but she constantly added to Scripture in teaching false doctrine to the people of Israel, causing them to sin. She did it as if she had the authority to do so. Therefore the Old Testament Jezebel is indeed an example of false prophet, according to the true definition of of what a prophet is.
