The spirit of Prophecy in the second temple: Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

Abstract

The prophetic spirit or the spirit of prophecy is charged with the gift of prophecy. The phrase “spirit of prophecy” occurs only once in the entire New Testament, in several versions of Revelation 19:10. It appears to signify that the prophetic gift was still manifested in the time of the New Testament and in the latter days of the church. But 1 Maccabees 9:27 laments that in the second century B.C., when the book was written, prophets ceased from appearing among them. Other rabbinic tradition states that Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi were the last of the prophets, and after them, the Holy Spirit ceased. How can we understand from Jewish literature that prophecy ceased earlier? Can the understanding and use of “spirit of prophecy” within Judaism be of help to interpret and apply the term “spirit of prophecy” in the Book of Revelation?