Blackiston 1

Gillian Blackiston
Bible as Literature
Dr. Martin
December 4, 2014
Prophecy in Harry Potter and the Bible
The art of prophecy is not really commonly used in todays society. However that cannot
be said about the past. In the past there are many stories about how people have these visions
about the future and they try to tell people what is to come. In todays society, we see this a little
bit in the fortune tellers and horoscopes. We also see the art of prophecy in the literature of
today. We can see it in the secular and non-secular works of literature. For example, one piece
of non-secular work that showcases prophecy is The Bible. An example of a secular piece of
work that displays prophecy is the Harry Potter series. Even though these pieces of literature
both have prophets and prophecies, they are vastly different in many areas of the art of
prophesying. Some areas that they are different in are: who the prophets are, what the prophecies
are, how the prophets live and how they are treated.
In the Bible, there are several people that are called the prophets. The Major Prophets are
considered Isaiah and Jeremiah, while Ezekiel and Daniel are Minor Prophets. Another character
that can be considered a prophet is Samuel in 1 Samuel. According to the Fully Revised Fourth
Edition the new Oxford Annotated Bible the prophet was essentially an intermediary between
God and the people, and one of the major functions was that of messenger (Coogan 962). This
gives a nice description of what a prophet is and what their role in society is. Another
explanation of what a prophet is He is the man who speaks forth truth which is of value to
humanity. He is one who finds and brings a divine message from god to men (The Reward of

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the Prophet 5). This shows more about the type of person that prophets have to be. However, it
is important to consider how seriously the prophets took their job when writing down their
stories: The prophetic writer is the writer who establishes his life and his action as the ultimate
poem (Becker 259). From this, it seems like they take their seriously and want to produce work
that will sound nice to the audience that has to read their writings. According to John McFayden,
prophecy is the passionate presentation of the divine character and demands before the sluggish
and besotted consciences of men (85). This highlights the type of style that some of the
prophets use in order to write their prophecies down. They could be trying to preserve their
dignity by making it sound like their prophecies are not all that bad. Prophets are believed to
make very extravagant claims; they seem egocentric, theatrical, perhaps even clownish or
ridiculous (Becker 259). This shows how the people during Biblical time periods sometimes
saw the prophets when they are delivering a message to the people. The people are not always
open to the idea that God can destroy them all like he says he will. The prophets are said to
demand that we stand beside them, uncomfortable as such pushy intimacy may be to us, as they
try to put into words what is awry with the established order of reality (Becker 260). The
prophets are not seen as very nice people all the time. They can seem a little hard at times, but
that is because they are scared of what they have to tell people. They just want people to believe
them so that they do not have to keep getting messages from God. They are trying to convey to
the people that the power of language resides in the power to tear down the structures within
which injustice looks merely like the facts (Becker 261). One prophet that is named in the Bible
is The lord said to Moses, See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron
shall be your prophet (Exodus 7:1). Even early on in the Bible before the Prophet books of the

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Old Testament, we have a prophet named by God who is called to help Moses. The prophets in
the Bible are vastly different than those in the Harry Potter series.
In the Harry Potter series there is essentially three people who are considered to be a
prophets. The first person would be Professor Sybil Trelawney, who teaches the class of
divination. She is considered to be a prophet because she claims to be a descendant of another
well-known seer Cassandra. A seer is another name that means the same thing as a prophet. As
readers we gather this information when Dumbledore is first telling Harry about the prophecy:
The applicant, however, was the great-great-granddaughter of a very famous, very gifted Seer,
and I thought it common politeness to meet her (Order 840). Many people have doubts that she
actually makes true prophecies. However, this seems to be false because she is believed to have
made only two real prophecies in her life time. Another character in the series that can be seen as
a minor prophet is Firenze, the centaur. The first hint that we get that the centaurs can be seen as
prophets is in the first book, the Sorcerers Stone, when Hagrid says, Theyre deep, mind,
centaurs . . . they know a things . . . jus don let on much (254). Here the reader can see that
centaurs have the ability to tell people what is to come, but they simply chose not to due to some
of their own reasons. Later in the series, we learn why the centaurs are not keen to spread what
they know to the human population: I, however, am here to explain the wisdom of centaurs,
which is impersonal and impartial. We watch the skies for the great tides of evil or change that
are sometimes marked there. It may take ten years to be sure of what we are seeing (Order 603).
This shows that the centaurs are careful about what they tell people as to not cause alarm until
they know for sure what is to come. Another example of Firenze being a prophet is when he tells
Harry, It was foretold that we would meet again (Order 601). He was able to see what was to
come in their lifetime and that they would be seeing each other more often. One other character

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that could be seen as a prophet in the series is Professor Dumbledore. He could be seen as a
prophet because he is the one with the power to recite and deliver the most important prophecy
to Harry Potter after the record of the prophecy is destroyed in the Department of Mysteries.
Dumbledore tells Harry, But the prophecy was made to somebody, and that person has the
means of recalling it perfectly (Order 840). Since he has the power to deliver what is about to
come because of this prophecy, he is a prophet because no one else can deliver the message to
the people. Next, the prophecies made to the people and the impact hey have on the society is
different because the subject matter and outcomes of the prophecies differ from the two books.
In the biblical world, there have been prophecies made by the prophets. Many of the
prophecies have been about what the people have been doing wrong and how God is going to do
something terrible until the people repent for forgiveness. This is an ongoing cycle throughout
the bible. For example, in 1 Samuel, Samuel is called upon God because he is still a younger one.
When he is first called to be a prophet, he is not sure what is going on and who is calling him.
However, after he knows that it is God calling him, he bears the mind to pay attention he calls
again. When God speaks to Samuel again he says, See, I am about to do something in Israel that
will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I
have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end, For I have told him that I am about to
punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God,
and he did not restrain them (1 Samuel 3:11-13). This is a pretty severe prophecy that Samuel
must deliver to Eli because it is filled with destruction. This prophecy has a great impact on
Samuel because he does not know what to do with this information. He is not sure if he should
spread the news of destruction or try to plead with the people to repent and try and stop the
destruction from coming. However, no matter how hard the prophecy is to hear, it will come as it

Blackiston 5
is said. God is a wrathful one on his people that disobey him. That is the major impact on all the
people in his kingdom is that the future will hold great destruction and great reward depending
on the behavior. In the book of Isaiah, the first half of the book is all prophecies about the doom
of the people. They talk about the exile in which they will suffer for all their wrong-doing. For
example, a prophet tells the people, Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth; for the lord has
spoken: I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows
its owner, and the donkey its masters crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not
understand (Isaiah 1:2-3). This prophecy is a warning for the people that to disobey God is a
bad thing and that it should not be done. The prophet is getting information from God that bad
times are coming for the people if they do not repent. Another prophecy in the Old Testament
that foretells of Gods destruction is Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and
terrible day of the lord (Malachi 4:5). This prophecy is foretelling the people that someone is
going to be sent to them to help them repent for what they are doing and to try and help them get
out of the danger that is coming with Gods wrath. Most of these prophecies have to do with the
wrath of God and how the people will be punished if they disobey.
There are many prophecies mentioned in the Harry Potter series, but there is only two
that hold any real significance to the novels. The first prophecy is first found out in the Order of
the Phoenix, after Harry discovers it in the Department of Mysteries. The Prophecy was then
smashed in the pursuing fight, before Harry could hear what it said and why Voldemort wanted it
so badly. Luckily, there was someone in which the prophecy was told to and that person is able
to tell Harry. Dumbledore sits Harry down and explains everything that has happened that year
and tells him that it is all because of this prophecy:
The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches . . . born to those

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Who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies . . . and the dark lord
Will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not . . .
And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other
Survives . . . the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the
Seventh month dies . . . (Order 841)
This is the prophecy that explains to Harry why he is connected to Voldemort the way that he is.
He finally learns what he must do later in life and that he is the only one that can do it. This
prophecy is essential to the entire series because without it we would have no Harry Potter
series. In this prophecy, it tells the reader that either Harry or Voldemort have to kill the other
and that no one else can kill Voldemort. It also foretold who would have this power by saying
that they would be born at the end of July. The impact of this prophecy affects two main
characters in the series. First of all it affects Harry because it is about him. However, it is only
about him because Voldemort made it so. There was another kid born at the same time as Harry
and that was Neville Longbottom. Neville could have been the chosen one had Voldemort
decided to wait and not act irrationally. It affects Harry because he now knows what he has to do
with his life, whether or not he wants to. Dumbledore tells him, You see, the prophecy does not
mean you have to do anything! But the prophecy caused Lord Voldemort to mark you as his
equal. . . . In other words, you are free to choose your way, quite free to turn your back on the
prophecy! But Voldemort continues to set store by the prophecy, He will continue to hunt you . .
. (Half-Blood Prince 512). Harry does have the choice to decide what he wants to do with his
life, but since Voldemort is keen on fulfilling the prophecy, Harrys choice is made for him. This
prophecy also has an impact on Dumbledore because he is trying to teach Harry everything that
he can in order to know that he has a chance of defeating Voldemort. He knows a lot more about

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the prophecy than he is letting on as demonstrated in the book Deathly Hallows. Harry finds out
from Snape that Dumbledore continues to retain other knowledge of Harrys eventual necessary
sacrifice and the path leading to it, but never does he overtly lie to Harry concerning the
prophecys inevitability (Pond 187). Furthermore, the prophecy has an impact on Dumbledore
himself because he wants to make sure that Harry is prepared for what lies ahead. He has known
for sixteen years what lies ahead for Harry and he had to be burdened with delivering the news to
him at the proper moment. Dumbledore makes an impassioned plea that Harry understands his
choices rather than obsess about the prophecy, which, to Dumbledore, means nothing
(Blackford 162-3). This impacts Harry and Dumbledore because we have one character trying to
lead the other in the direction that one ought to go, regardless of if the other wants to go in that
direction. Dumbledore is setting Harry up for his life and he does not want Harry to stray from
this path because he thinks it is what is best for him.
The other prophecy presented in the series is the one where Professor Trelawney predicts
the return of Lord Voldemorts servant back to his master. She makes this prophecy during Harry
Potters final exam for the class of Divination. When he told Dumbledore about it, he says that it
was the only other real prophecy that she has ever made. The prophecy is as follows:
The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His
Servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight . . . the
Servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise
Again with his servants aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was. Tonight
. . . before midnight . . . the servant . . . will set out . . . to rejoin . . . his master
(Prisoner 324)

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This prophecy is predicting that Peter Pettigrew is going to return to his master, Lord Voldemort,
to help him rise to greater power by the end of the school year. This prophecy has an impact on
Sirius Black because it means that no one will know the truth about who really killed Harrys
parents. The real murderer is Peter Pettigrew, who happens to be the servant that escapes and
runs back to Lord Voldemort. The impact of this prophecy is that it allows for Voldemort to
finally gain enough power to become human again and have a body again, so that he can
continue his manhunt for Harry. The ensuing books would not have happened if Pettigrew did
not escape and return to Voldemort. Another impact of this prophecy is that now Harry and
Dumbledore are aware that the return of Voldemort is even closer than it was before. As the
reader can see there are many characters in the Harry Potter series that are affected by the
prophecies made in their world. In the series, the prophecies are different than the ones in the
Bible because they are not dealing with the wrath a person. These prophecies are talking about a
war that must be fought and won by certain people.
The prophets in the Bible lead very different lives than the rest of the society. Their
amount of time that they have actually spent delivering prophecies is far greater than what could
be said for Trelawney in the Harry Potter series. For example, in this journal article it says that
the early life of a prophet is a most interesting, for as a rule we find in this period or seership the
first inspiring visions (Butterworth 444). This shows that before the time of the prophets,
prophecies were not that common to the people. However, since the prophets were around, the
years spent prophesizing were far greater than before. In the lives of prophets, the prophets spend
a vast majority of their lifetime making prophecies. Some examples of the amount of time they
spent delivering these messages are as follows: And after him arose Joshua, his disciple. This
one prophesied twenty-seven years. . . . And after him Samuel. This one prophesied forty years. .

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. . After him Solomon his son. He prophesied, like his father, forty years (Hall 30). As the
reader can see, the prophets have spent at least twenty years or more to the gift of delivering
Gods messages to the people. Another aspect of the prophets lives is how many people they
come into contact with during their ministry. They probably meet lots of people from all
different regions. In the article The Methods of the Prophets in Teaching the author writes, in
the realization of this purpose the prophets necessarily touched all sides of the national life; they
came into contact with all classes (245). They had to work closely with everyone in all classes
in order to deliver the messages of God. They could not skip out and only tell a select few, or
they would not be doing their job correctly. One thing that the prophets contribute to their
society is Without doubt these sons of the prophets composed sacred poetry and music and used
them widely in their praises and worship (Price 248). They use their prophecies to create many
of the things that the people use to worship God, and also to get the messages across in a way
that is not harsh. These lives of the biblical prophets are different from Trelawney in the sense
that the time periods are completely different from one another.
The life that Professor Trelawney lives in the Harry Potter series is very much isolated
from the other people in the school, but that is all her choice and doing. She chooses to remain
isolated from everyone except for when she comes to teach her classes. Trelawney even tells her
class, You may not have seen me before. I find that descending too often into the hustle and
bustle of the main school clouds my Inner Eye (Prisoner 103). However, she does break her
isolation for one meal during the third book. The break in her isolation is only due to the fact that
she looked into her future and saw that she would dine with the others for the Christmas Day
feast, I have been stargazing, Headmaster, . . . and to my astonishment, I saw myself
abandoning my solitary luncheon and coming to join you (Prisoner 228). Professor Trelawney

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also dresses quite erotically when compared to some of the other professors at the school. This
sets how she lives her live apart from the others because it shows a little bit of how she takes care
of herself. Another thing that the reader concludes from the series is that Trelawney does not
have anywhere else to go once she is banned by Umbridge. She says, you c-cant sack me! Ive
b-been here sixteen years! H-Hogwarts in m-my h-home! (Order 595). This shows that she has
devoted all of her live to her job and had not chosen to look elsewhere in case something were to
happen to her job. She also spends most of her free time in other areas of fortune telling when
she is not actually making prophecies. She spends a fair amount of her time in her tea leaves and
fate cards.
Another aspect of prophecy that is different in the Harry Potter series and The Bible is
how the prophets are treated by the regular people. The prophets are treated differently in the
Bible because they affect a lot more people than in the Harry Potter series. In the series, most of
the prophecies are only about a few people. The Bible prophecies are usually about a big group
of people like the Jews or the Hebrews. For example, most of Ezekiels prophecies were for the
exiles and for those who lived in Judah (Coogan 1159). According to our textbook, Neither
group accepted Ezekiels indictment of their guilt or believed his prophecies about Jerusalems
coming destruction (Coogan 1159-60). Most of these people were not the type of people that
were permanently faithful to God, they were only temporarily faithful for whenever it suited
them the best. Another way that the prophets were treated was that they thought that everyone
would have the ability to have prophecies. According to Gabel, Joel expresses the belief that
prophecy will become a function not of special individuals but of everyone (181-2). In the
Bible, Joel says, Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and daughters
shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions (2:28).

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Both of these examples show how the prophets treat themselves. They think that eventually the
rest of their people are going to be able to have their power and that they will understand more
about the messages that they have to deliver to the people. They think that they will not be
outcasts forever and that they can have their friends and family back without any hard feelings.
Another way that the prophets are treated is that they are outcasts from everyone else. For
example, in Luke, the author writes, And he said, Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the
prophets hometown (4:24). This passage clearly shows that the prophets are not widely
accepted in the places that they know. They are usually the ones that have to go out and find
people that will listen to them. The towns that they call home often do like to hear about the bad
news that is coming their way. Another reason that the townspeople do not like prophets in the
town is that they do not fully trust or believe that the prophecies are from God himself. They
could believe that they could be words of Satan trying to test them. According to Chantel Lavoie,
prophecy is open to interpretation, and so to manipulation, by anyone, on any side (45). This
shows why the people do not treat the prophets properly because they all interpret the prophecies
in their own ways and take a different meaning of it than from what the prophet is telling them.
Also, it seems like the prophets are held at a different standard than the other people at the time.
As this one article points out, The prophets may denounce private sins and call for personal
holiness; but the ideal they hold before the minds of their hearers is that of a righteous, pure, and
holy nation that shall prove the channel of salvation to all the ends of the earth (Gordon 282).
This shows that the prophets are held to a higher standard because they are the people that are
representing God and therefore, have to act accordingly. Another way that the prophets are
treated differently is by the position that they held in the society. According to F. B. Denio,
These men seldom held an official position, yet they had an indefinite amount of power,

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sometimes enough to change the reigning dynasty (50). Even though they did not hold positions
recognized by most of the society, they had enough presence to have enough power to make
changes.
In the Harry Potter series, Professor Trelawney is not treated very nice by a lot of people.
She is the one professor that is usually being made fun of the most. In the book Order of the
Phoenix, after Umbridge inspects Trelawney, she says, Yes, those with eyes too clouded by the
mundane to See as I See, to Know as I Know . . . Of course, we Seers have always been feared,
always persecuted. . . . It is alas

our fate. . . . (366). This shows that prophets in the modern

world are not really looked as being normal and they are often the first people to be targeted
against. Another example of Trelawney being attacked is from another colleague, Professor
McGonagall. McGonagall says to her class after their first Divination class is Divination is one
of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal from you that I have very little
patience for it. True seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney

(Prisoner 109). The reader

knows that McGonagall was going to say that she thinks that Trelawney is not really a true Seer,
and only pretends like she has the true gift. McGonagall is not putting her faith in the Seer at the
school because there has been no need to believe that the prophecies from Trelawney are true.
She thinks that the prophecies from her are just plain silly. Hermione also has a similar reaction
to the class of Divination and Professor Trelawney. She tells Ron that I think Divination seems
very wholly, she said, searching for her page. A lot of guesswork, if you ask me (Prisoner
111). Hermione did not enjoy the first class that she had of Divination. She thinks that Trelawney
is a fraud and that there is no science behind the art of divination. However, after Hermione
travels to the Department of Mysteries with Harry, she starts to change her mind a little bit about
prophecies and their value to her classwork: Hermione, who formerly scoffed at the art of

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divination since it was not an exact science to be learned from a textbook, has changed her mind:
weve just found out that there are real prophecies (OP 849) (Adney 111). It only takes
Hermione to see the prophecies herself to finally begin to think that maybe Trelawney is not
really a fraud after all. She is finally able to begin researching the truth in what others say about
Seers, and make up her own idea better now that she has proof that they do actually exist. In the
series the prophecies from the Seers are set on a little bit of a pedestal for the Department of
Mysteries protects the prophecies with the same dedication that the Ministry shows to the control
of all information (Flaherty 100). This shows that the Seers can be held to a higher standard
than the rest of society because they have more information that not everyone needs to know.
The Ministry of Magic tries to keep all the Seers in line and try to get all of them to keep a record
of their prophecy in the Hall of Prophecies so that they can keep track of them all.
In conclusion, the art of prophecy is different in many aspects of the Bible and the Harry
Potter series. The main areas that they are different were in the subject matter of the prophecies
and how the lives of all the prophets are not the same from the secular and non-secular works of
literature. There are of course many more difference between the two, but these are the ones that
are the most important and affect the literature the most. As the reader of these two stories, we
can gain a lot of insight into the world in which the characters are living in.

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Works Cited
Adney, Karley Kristine1. "From Books To Battle: Hermione's Quest For Knowledge In Harry
Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix." Topic: The Washington & Jefferson College
Review 54.(2004): 103-112. Humanities Source. Web. 7 Oct. 2014.
Becker, John E. "The Law, The Prophets, And Wisdom: On The Functions Of Literature."
College English 37.3 (1975): 254-264. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 23 Sept.
2014.
Blackford, Holly. "Private Lessons From Dumbledore's 'Chamber Of Secrets': The Riddle Of
The Evil Child In Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince." Lit: Literature
Interpretation Theory 22.2 (2011): 155-175. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 14
Sept. 2014.
Butterworth, Hezekiah. "The Education of the Young Prophet Daniel." JSTOR. The University
of Chicago Press, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.
Coogan, Michael David., Marc Zvi. Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, and Pheme Perkins. The New
Oxford Annotated Bible. New York: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.
Denio, F. B. "The Work of the Prophets." JSTOR. The University of Chicago Press, n.d. Web. 30
Oct. 2014.
Flaherty, Jennifer. "Harry Potter And The Freedom Of Information: Knowledge And Control In
Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix." Topic: The Washington And Jefferson
College Review 54.(2004): 93-102. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 14 Sept. 2014.
Gabel, John B., and Charles B. Wheeler. The Bible as Literature: An Introduction. New York:
Oxford UP, 1986. Print.
Gordon, Alexander R. "The Prophets And the Social Question." JSTOR. The University of

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Chicago Press, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.
Hall, Isaac H. "The Lives of the Prophets." JSTOR. The Society of Biblical Literature, n.d. Web.
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Lavoie, Chantel M. "Rebelling Against Prophecy In Harry Potter And The Underland
Chronicles." Lion And The Unicorn 38.1 (2014): 45-65. MLA International Bibliography.
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McFadyen, John E. "Communion with God in the Bible." JSTOR. Chicago Journals, n.d. Web.
30 Oct. 2014.
"The Methods of the Prophets in Teaching." JSTOR. The University of Chicago Press, n.d.
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Pond, Julia. "A Story Of The Exceptional: Fate And Free Will In The Harry Potter Series."
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Language Association Division On Children's Literature 38.(2010): 181-206. MLA
International Bibliography. Web. 14 Sept. 2014.
Price, Ira M. "The Schools of the Sons of the Prophets." JSTOR. The University of Chicago
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"The Reward of the Prophet." JSTOR. The University of Chicago Press, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.
Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine,
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Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine,
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