#62 Walk where our prophets walked

According to the Talmud, there were 48 prophets and 7 prophetesses of Judaism. The last prophet is believed to have been Malachi. In Jewish tradition it is believed that the period of prophecy, called Nevuah, ended with Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi at which time the “Shechinah departed from Israel”. 

Although the Talmud states that only “48 prophets and 7 prophetesses prophesied to Israel”, it does not mean that there were only 55 prophets. The Talmud challenges this with other examples, and concludes by citing a Baraita tradition that the number of prophets in the era of prophecy was double the number of Israelites who left Egypt (600,000 males). The 55 prophets are recorded, because they made prophecies that have eternal relevance for future generations and not just for their own generation, or own ecstatic encounter with God.  Hebrew scripture makes references to groups of such ecstatic prophets, for example concerning King Saul:

And when they came there, to the Hill, he saw a band of prophets coming toward him. Thereupon the spirit of God gripped him, and he spoke in ecstasy among them. When all who knew him previously saw him speaking in ecstasy together with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What’s happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul too among the prophets?” But another person there spoke up and said, “And who are their fathers?” Thus the proverb arose: “Is Saul too among the prophets?” And when he stopped speaking in ecstasy, he entered the shrine. I Samuel 10:10-13