What is the Difference Between a Seer and Prophet?

What is the Difference Between a Seer and Prophet? What Bible Study topic, subject, or chapter would you like to learn in more detail? We are opening those again now that the Father is once again, sending His Spirit to gather His saints once again for the last time; we feel the need to address questions.

Many of the questions are not asked clearly, but we’ll do our best to answer them as well as we can.

Questions and Answers from BSM Newsletter

Today’s question is:

What is the difference between a seer and a prophet in the times of kings and prophets? How many kings in Judah. How many kings are in Israel? Are there any human kings Now? Who were all the kings that were good and all the kings that were bad?

These are good questions. We’ll take one at a time. The generic answer is this from our educational systems as it pertains to a seer and prophet. In summary: A prophet is a teacher of known truth; a seer is a perceiver of hidden truth, a revelator is a bearer of new truth.

In the widest sense, the one most commonly used, the title ‘prophet’ includes the other titles and makes of the prophet, a teacher, perceiver, and bearer of truth. This response was found on Wikipedia. However, I would have answered as Jack Wellman did from patheos.com. Here is what he said:

A Seer and a Prophet

There was a man named Benjamin who had a son named Saul and he sent him out to find his lost donkeys so Saul took some young men with him to go and find them (1st Sam 9:1-3) and when Saul couldn’t find them one of Saul’s servants said, “there is a man of God in this city, and he is a man who is held in honor; all that he says comes true.

So now let us go there. Perhaps he can tell us the way we should go” (1st Sam 9:6). At this time in Israel’s history, “when a man went to inquire of God, he said, “Come, let us go to the seer,” for today’s “prophet” was formerly called a seer” (1st Sam 9:9).

This shows that at one time, a seer was the same thing as a prophet as one who also inquired of God. Only the name was different but both the seer and the prophet could inquire directly to God and could also say what is to come but this was not from their own ability but from God alone Who knows the future. (See Jack Wellman’s Response)

Seer is someone who can see, as in seeing things. Technically we would all be seers. But this type of seer can see things revealed from God or the Holy Spirit. Essentially, a seer and prophet is the same thing, much like a pastor and priest.