Old Testament
Certain prophets of the Old Testament who exhibited signs of strange behaviour are considered by some scholars to be predecessors of "Fools for Christ". The prophet Isaiah walked naked and barefoot for about three years, predicting a forthcoming captivity in Egypt Isaiah 20:2,3 KJV; the prophet Ezekiel lay before a stone, which symbolized beleaguered Jerusalem, and though God instructed him to eat bread baked on human waste, ultimately used cow dung instead Ezekiel 4:9-15 KJV; Hosea married a harlot to symbolize the infidelity of Israel before God Hosea 3 KJV. By the opinion of certain scholars, these prophets were not counted as fools by their contemporaries, as they just carried out separate actions to attract people's attention and to awake their repentance.
Read more about this topic: Holy Fool
Famous quotes containing the word testament:
“A healthy man, with steady employment, as wood-chopping at fifty cents a cord, and a camp in the woods, will not be a good subject for Christianity. The New Testament may be a choice book to him on some, but not on all or most of his days. He will rather go a-fishing in his leisure hours. The Apostles, though they were fishers too, were of the solemn race of sea-fishers, and never trolled for pickerel on inland streams.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
—Bible: New Testament Jesus, in Matthew, 8:12.
Referring to “the children of the kingdom ... cast out into outer darkness.” The words are also used in the parable of the talents, in Matthew 25:30, said of the “unprofitable servant.”