Understanding Seers and Seer Prophecy

(Formerly in Israel, if someone went to inquire of God, they would say, “Come, let us go to the seer,” for the prophet of today used to be called a seer.) (1 Samuel 9:9 NIV).

The Ra’ah Prophetic Realm—The Seer-Prophet

Within the realm of the prophet ministry in the Old Testament, there lies a distinctive and peculiar prophetic emphasis in the seer realm.

The seer realm is made up of two spheres of the seers, which are the ra’ah and chozeh prophets, according to Strong’s Concordance. The seer realm functions in the office of the prophet as those who see into the realm of the spirit. It describes the nature and frequency of how they receive particular types of prophetic revelation and impartation. The seer’s mode of receiving divine revelation is distinctly by “seeing” and receiving insight and supernatural downloads and uploads from God.

The Hebrew word ra’ah, according to Strong’s Concordance, is the second Hebrew word used in the Scriptures to define the prophet in the Old Testament. This is the realm that defines the revelatory realm of the seer and is the second type of prophet mentioned in the Bible. The ra’ah prophet is commonly regarded today as the seer prophet. Most people are not aware that there are two types of seers in the Bible. We will define and bring clarity and distinction between the two—the ra’ah and the chozeh prophets. Ra’ah means a seer, someone who sees. Ro’eh is another word Hebrew word for the aspect of seeing, which comes from the primitive root Hebrew word ra’ah, which means “to see, look at, inspect, observe, perceive and consider.”

The ra’ah function of the seer comes out of the realm of the ra’ah to see. The ro’eh aspect is to see prophetic vision—they can see visions of the future. They have the prophetic vision to see a person in the past, present, and future. This dimension of the seer realm can see into different times, seasons, eras, dispensations, and ages. Simply put, a ra’ah prophet is particularly someone who is given revelatory vision from God in the sense of seeing a vision or seeing supernaturally.

There is a navigational dimension to this realm of the seer prophetic where they can provide direction, guidance, and insight into finding things that are lost or hidden.

The first mention in the Bible regarding the seer aspect of the prophet is found in 1 Samuel 9:9 (NIV):

(Beforetime in Israel, when someone went to enquire of God, they would say, “Come, and let us go to the seer [ra’ah],” because the prophet of today used to be called a seer [ra’ah]).

We find in 1 Samuel 9:9 that the nabi prophet today was formerly called a seer—ra’ah—in the past. Whenever someone would enquire of the Lord, they would search for the seer who is now called a prophet. In other words, they would go to see a prophet who was the seer. The seer was a prophet and a prophet was a seer.

However, it is important to know that not all who see are prophets. Samuel, who was a prophet, identified himself as a seer according to 1 Samuel 9:19:

Samuel answered Saul and said, “I am the seer [ra’ah]. Go up before me to the high place, for you shall eat with me today; and tomorrow I will let you go and will tell you all that is in your heart.”

Here we can see that the prophetic function of the seer was to tell and reveal all that is in a person’s heart. God would give a ra’ah prophet visions into a person’s life. They can see visions into a person’s heart. Samuel was a seer-prophet. He redefined and revolutionized the office of the prophet. Samuel the prophet was known formerly as a seer, but he reestablished the office of the prophet that encompasses both the prophetic and the seer realms. Essentially, Samuel established that a prophet and seer are the same office but with revelatory distinction.

God’s Prophetic Servants (GPS)

Saul, before being anointed the first king of Israel, was first introduced to the ministry of the seer prophet when he was searching for his father’s lost donkeys. The following is an example of those inquiring the navigational function of the prophet operating as a seer. Saul’s father sends him to look for his lost donkeys in 1 Samuel 9:3: “Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. And Kish said to his son Saul, ‘Please take one of the servants with you, and arise, go and look for the donkeys.’”

Saul was advised to seek guidance and direction by Samuel, the seer prophet, in 1 Samuel 9:5-6:

When they had come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come, let us return, lest my father cease caring about the donkeys and become worried about us.” And he said to him, “Look now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honorable man; all that he says surely comes to pass. So let us go there; perhaps he can show us the way that we should go.”

Samuel the seer tells Saul that his father’s donkeys have been found and precisely how long they were lost in 1 Samuel 9:20:

But as for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not be anxious about them, for they have been found. And on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on you and on all your father’s house?

The seer as a prophet has the extraordinary ability to see things that ordinary eyes cannot see. They were able to see in the realm of the Spirit. The ra’ah prophet can see with both their natural and spiritual eyes. God trains the eyes of His prophets. They are typically those who are usually visual learners. God trained the spiritual eyes of Jeremiah the prophet to be able to see visions and to interpret what he saw in order to prophesy the revelation. Prophets can see the vision clearly and know what God is about to do:

Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.” Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word.”

Ra’ah prophets are enabled by the Spirit to see beyond what the natural eyes can see. Ra’ah prophets have supernatural vision to perceive things beyond the natural realm, giving them access into the realm of the Spirit.

Seeing the Realm of Secrets

The ra’ah prophets have the ability, by definition of their revelatory function, “to see” or “to perceive,” which is generally used to describe the seer’s ability to reveal secrets. The ra’ah—seer—prophet can see secret, hidden, and mysterious things. Though a ra’ah prophet will see a vision, what makes this prophet unique in the seer anointing is that he or she sees things that are hidden from the natural eyes of others. They see things that are not easily seen by others and they will see things that others will not see. The seer not only sees visions but sees secrets.

The eyes of the ra’ah prophet are piercing and like a key that unlocks the secrets of the human heart. When they prophesy, they unlock what is hidden in us. The ra’ah prophet is simply one who reveals secrets, one who envisions. Seers, or ra’ah prophets, are nabi prophets who were entrusted with the secrets of God. They declare the secrets of God. God reveals His secrets to His prophets who are stewards of revelation and secrets.

Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets (Amos 3:7).

The ra’ah (seer) prophets, because of their powerful visions, provided supernatural navigation, direction, and guidance to those who inquired of God. The ra’ah prophet’s eyes are opened. What the seers see speaks to them prophetically. They see and hear from the Lord when a person comes into their presence. The ro’eh prophet sees beyond the natural. They have x-ray vision; and when someone comes into their presence, they tend to perceive, see, and pick up things in their spirit or spiritual vision regarding that person. What they perceive is supernaturally received.

Seer Versus Prophet

The difference between the seer (ra’ah) and the prophet (nabi) is based solely on the seer’s ability to see. A ra’ah is a seer and the nabi is a speaker. The prophet speaks more and the seer sees more—this is the only distinction between the two functions of prophet and seer. The prophetic dimension and activity of ra’ah in the seer means “to see with your eye or to perceive with you mind.” The ra’ah aspect in seers gives them the supernatural ability by the Spirit to see things with their spirit’s eye or in the spirit of their mind. They will see with their natural, spiritual and mind’s eyes.

In other words, the ro’eh prophets will see and perceive things with their eyes (both natural and spiritual), mind, spirit, vision, and their inner knower. It is important for me to add that the Hebrew word ro’eh also means “vision.” Therefore, the seer dimension of the prophetic is seeing in the realm of visions and dreams. There is no limitation to the seer’s realm. They exercise full capacity of sight.

Ra’ah prophets are what I call “Masters of Sight,” as they have the ability to be advisors and counselors of kings and to provide strategies in times of war. The prophet had extraordinary sight and vision in seer prophetic realm. There are four dimensions of the seer’s vision in the prophetic realm:

1. Prophetic Insight – the ability to understand the root issues in situations, circumstances, people’s motivations, agendas, and plans. They have the keen vision to see into a matter, evaluate the problem, and see in-depth. They have extraordinary insight to counsel and provide wisdom, to bring divinely inspired solutions. Prophets have insight to puzzle together critical, hard, or obscure cases. They are like “spiritual detectives.”

2. Prophetic Foresight – the ability to see into the future, see things before they happen; see things ahead of time or in advance. They have the visual acuity to predict events, happenings, and pending things in the future.

3. Prophetic Oversight – the ability to understand prophetic context, ecosystems, service roles, functions, and perspectives.

4. Prophetic Hindsight – the ability to see things that are in the past. They have the ability to comprehend things that have occurred in someone’s past or events that consequently affected the present and could potentially alter the future. Prophets are natural, spiritual historians who understand the pages, books, writings, and literature of history. They have eyes to read the writing on the walls of a person’s history. Prophets have a powerful prophetic ability to see and read into someone’s personal and spiritual background checks. Their gift of discerning of spirits gives them a higher level of perception to understand someone’s spiritual profile.

The Shepherding Prophetic Function

The Lord is my shepherd [ra’ah]; I shall not want (Psalm 23:1).

Prophets have a shepherding function within their prophetic office. The term “shepherd” in the Hebrew is also the word ra’ah found in the Scripture passage Psalm 23:1. The term shepherd derives from the original word ra’ah, which means to tend to a flock, graze, and to lead with vision—being the eyes of the sheep, to help them to see, ra’ah. Prophets are the ra’ah of the Lord, leading the sheep onto the paths or in the right direction. They provide guidance, direction, and steering of the flock. The Lord leads His sheep with His eyes through the prophets and seers.

The prophetic seer aspect of this ra’ah prophet also has a leading and leadership dimension in their prophetic office according to Psalm 23:2-3:

He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

This is the prophetic vision within the pastoral anointing to lead the way. Prophets have the capacity to see through the eyes of a shepherd or pastor. Ra’ah dimension within the prophetic realm is to simply see as a shepherd. It is also important to note that shepherds, or pastors, of God’s flock have the ability to see in the prophetic. Pastors typically are seers of their local churches. Pastors of local churches are given a prophetic anointing to lead and provide vision for the sheep of God. That is why some may say that they are the “prophet of the house,” because they are the visionary leaders who have the vision of where God desires to take them.

Shepherds functions in the seer realm of the ra’ah in order to see for the sheep. They are the eyes that lead the sheep in the ways of the Lord. Pastoral leadership in the church are given a prophetic anointing. The prophetic and pastoral anointing work hand in hand. God is restoring the ra’ah anointing where the prophets and pastors today will be able to see eye to eye in helping provide the necessary spiritual vision and oversight to lead the church progressively into the future and into their destiny.

Prophets also have the capacity to function in the shepherding grace or operate in a pastoral function. Prophets can be pastors or leaders in the local church. New Testament prophetic ministry should be ordained leaders in the church helping to steer the house toward the purpose of God.

The job description of the ra’ah prophet in the shepherding function is to be able to see ahead for the sheep. The role of the prophet is to lead the sheep with the Lord as their shepherd.

Navigational Seers

The prophet in the ra’ah function of shepherding is to see prophetically and lead the sheep as the Lord provides revelation of the way they should go. We can vividly see the ra’ah aspect of providing “spiritual navigation” for the sheep in the shepherd’s function. It is critically important that pastors are prophetic—that they are able to offer spiritual guidance, direction, wisdom, and counseling for those to whom they have spiritual oversight.

Prophets historically demonstrated the ra’ah function in their role as counselors, advisors, and strategists to the kings of Israel as seers. The prophets and seers worked hand and hand within the king’s realm, offering the highest level of spiritual intelligence and insight. Ra’ah prophets, formerly called seers, were in modern terms coined as “spiritual navigators.” Like to us today with our GPS providing vision to show us the way. The shepherding aspect in the prophetic is to lead the way for the sheep and to show the way of the Lord. The prophet has the ability to reveal to the church the way and direction that God is leading the church. Likewise, the ra’ah anointing resident in the pastoral and prophetic anointing is “to see the way.”

Seers functioned commonly as counselors and advisors to the king within the royal courts. We will see in the following passages of biblical examples of the seer occupying a position in the realm of the kingdom.

Gad the prophet also served as David’s seer. Gad functioned in his prophetic office similar to Samuel, as both a prophet and a seer:

Now when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, “Go and tell David, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you”’” (2 Samuel 24:11-12).

Asaph the seer also functioned in the royal courts of King David as a seer advising kings:

Moreover King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praise to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped (2 Chronicles 29:30).

There is an example in the Scripture that reveals the working relationship of prophets (nabi) and seers (ra’ah and chozeh) in ancient Israel and their position and station as God’s official spokespersons:

And he [Hezekiah] stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, of Gad the king’s seer [chozeh], and of Nathan the prophet [nabi]; for thus was the commandment of the Lord by His prophets (2 Chronicles 29:25).

These examples show Asaph and Gad as seers to King David, but the following Scripture passage shows Nathan serving him distinctively as a prophet:

The king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside tent curtains.” Then Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.” But it happened that night that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, “Go and tell My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Would you build a house for Me to dwell in?”’” (2 Samuel 7:2-5).