Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

COUNSELOR

Counselors (Heb. yōʿēṣ) occupied a regular place in the courts of the Israelite kings (Isa. 3:3; Ezra 7:14-15, 28). Their position was perhaps next in power to the ruler himself, as suggested by the juxtaposition of “kings and counselors” (Job 3:14; 12:17-18; Mic. 4:9). David’s court had two counselors, Ahithophel and Hushai. Ahithophel’s counsel (Heb. ʿēṣâ) enjoyed so extraordinary a reputation that it was likened to an oracle from heaven (2 Sam. 16:23). It was wise for the king to employ an “abundance of counselors” to advise him on national security (Prov. 11:14; 15:22) and war (20:18; 24:6). The fool ignores counsel and brings about ruin (Prov. 1:25, 30), or follows the wrong advice (1 Kgs. 12:6-14). The pharaoh of Egypt (Isa. 19:11) and Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon (Dan. 3:2) also had counselors. Artaxerxes of Persia had seven counselors (Ezra 7:14), corresponding to the “seven princes of Persia and Media” consulted by Ahasuerus (Esth. 1:14).

Outside the court, parents (Prov. 1:8), elders (Ezek. 7:26), prophets (Jer. 38:15; 2 Chr. 25:16), and wise men (Jer. 18:18; 49:7) typically acted as counselors. God is a counselor (Ps. 16:7; 32:8; 33:11; 73:24), and God’s law and testimony are personified as the people’s counselors (119:24). God seeks no counsel, and no one can counsel God (Isa. 40:13-14). God promised the Davidic dynasty a “wondrous counselor” (Isa. 9:6[MT 5]), upon whom shall descend “the spirit of the Lord . . . the spirit of counsel” (11:2).

Daniel Grossberg

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

COUNSELOR

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)