What was a seer in the Bible?

We are told in verse 9 that the designation "Prophet" referred to the same person as did "Seer,"the former having replaced the latter. The seer of course is one who sees or discerns, while prophet refers to one who communicates what he discerned as from God.

An explanation is next introduced showing the use of the terms "seer" and "prophet." In former times it was the custom to speak of the man of God as a "seer," — one who sees the future, or that which is not visible to the eyes of sense. In other words, the people were more occupied with the result of the prophet's ministry than with its Source. The later word "prophet" suggests the Source from which he received all his inspiration, which then flowed forth from him. This explanation in itself is in keeping with all the circumstances at which we have arrived, both in Saul himself (who surely was not troubled about his relation with God, or how the man of God would gain his information, but rather with the benefit which he might receive from this divine insight) and in the nation at large, of which he was the fitting representative.

Saul's visit to Samuel has furnished us with a glimpse of the usual mode of life of the man of God. But first let us notice the two designations "prophet" and "seer." "He that is now called a prophet was before time called a seer." Put quite simply, the Seer sees something (Ezek. 13:3); and the Prophet tells something, for it has been frequently remarked that the Prophet is rather a "forth-teller" than a "foreteller." Brethren, what do we see? Can we really say, "We see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death?" (Heb. 2:9). Are we in the good of our Lord's words in John 16:14-15 concerning the Holy Spirit. "He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine: therefore said I, that He shall take of Mine and shall show it to you"! If the risen and exalted Christ fills our soul's vision, and if by the Spirit's power there lies spread out before us that new world of life and glory of which He is the Centre and the Sun, then we have something to tell. In that case, "we speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen" (John 3:11). Let us seek to be, not preachers or lecturers merely, but spiritually Seers and Prophets.

As the "seer" he "saw" things as God did and was able to communicate these things to the people of God. He was a forerunner of David, the man after of God's own heart (1 Sam. 9:6, 10).

In the days of Samuel it is said "a prophet was beforetime called a seer." 1 Sam. 9:9. They were so-called apparently because they were given of God to fore-see events or to see visions. This is confirmed by Isa. 30:10, where rebellious Israel, in effect, said to the seers, "See not." They did not want to hear what God had to say to them. Ezekiel also says, "Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!" Ezek. 13:3.

Saul means "asked." The genealogy of Saul is given; the five names in their original meaning suggest the pride and self-glorification of the natural man. Saul is described as an ideal man, "a young man" (literally, "in the prime of manhood") and goodly; and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he; from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people. Saul, ignorant of the divine purpose, sets out to seek the lost she-asses of his father. Little did he know how the search would end and that he would soon become the head of the nation, which had gone more astray than the lost asses (Is. 1:3). A small matter it was going forth to look for animals which had strayed away; but the guiding hand of Jehovah was there. The search is futile. The servant then suggests a visit to the man of God, none other than Samuel. Saul seems to have no knowledge of Samuel. He is willing enough to seek the man for counsel but he is troubled about the present for the man of God. It shows the tendency of the natural man to give in order to get from God. The servant has the fourth part of a shekel of silver which he offers to give to the man of God. Verse 9, containing a parenthetical statement, is not a gloss by a later hand, as the critical school maintains. The difference between seer and prophet is an interesting one. A prophet is one who speaks for God being moved by God; he is the mouthpiece of the Lord. The term seer suggests the knowledge the prophet had. The people were more concerned about the seer than the prophet. Thus Saul shows the state of his heart. He does not seek God, nor the prophet as the man and mouthpiece of God; only the seer.

A parenthesis is introduced here to let us know the identity between the "prophet" and the "seer." The latter term simply implied the knowledge which the prophet had, not the source of it. The nahbi, the prophet, was the mouthpiece of God, whose word filled him and "bubbled forth" from him. The people of the time here indicated spoke but of the "seer." It was a day of decline, when carnal men thought at least much more of the effect than of the cause, and sought the one while they ignored the other. God had spoken long since of the "prophet"; the people eared but for the "seer." Saul, upon this low ground, approves what he could not initiate. He, too, seeks the seer"; while the prophet, taught of God, is seeking for Him this blind man, brought by a way he knows not.

The word translated "prophet" in the O.T. (<span style="font-family: 'Hebraica'">aybin:</span>) is derived from "bubbling or pouring forth," alluding to God's action in inspiring him; "Seer" (<span style="font-family: 'Hebraica'">ha&lt;ro or az&lt;jo</span>) points to the vision which distinguished such. Its scriptural meaning transcends the classical usage as the living and true God rises above the demons, who acted behind the idols that were adored by the heathen and interpreted by their prophets.

"Seer" is the term used in common parlance in Samuel's time for prophet; another word is used in Genesis 20.

He tells us first what he heard. A powerful voice of authority bade him write the things he was about to see in a book, and send it to seven selected churches in the Province of Asia. John was thus constituted a Seer. He was also told that it was the Divine intention that the revelation he was now to receive should be enshrined in a Book. In their eagerness to get rid of a written revelation from God, men decry the Scriptures and accuse of "Bibliolatry" those of us who accept the Bible and reverence it as the Word of God. They would like us to regard a book revelation as something quite beneath the Divine dignity. We, on the contrary, regard it as exactly suitable to His dealings with men whom He has endowed with powers of reading and writing, and who have learned to hand on knowledge from one generation to another by means of books. The seven churches were to have the book, and that which they symbolized — the whole church throughout the centuries until the Lord comes — was to have it too.