先知是一群撲朔迷離的人物。儘管他們留下了篇幅可觀的講論或著作，對許多讀者而言，這些深奧的經文常常使得認識先知以及他們的事奉變得挑戰更大。猶太神學家 Abraham J. Heschel 於1962年將他苦心研究先知的成果出版，引起許多迴響。對他而言，神並非如亞里士多德所描繪，是個不動的推動者（unmoved mover），而是充滿神聖而強烈情感的永恆存在，先知則是被神呼召來參與他的理想與情感，或者說是被這些神聖悲憫深深擄獲的人

Having been called by God to realize his plans, a prophet is constantly engaged in (1) performing signs and wonders, (2) communicating God’s will, and (3) praying for God’s people. In the Pentateuch, Moses is regarded as the prototypical prophet (Deut. 18:15-18). As a result, his calling becomes the framework by which other call narratives are to be understood. Likewise, the Mosaic Covenant is the foundation for the prophetic lawsuits against Israel and the substance of all prophetic proclamations. The third aspect of prophetic ministry, the intercession, is less studied in relation to Moses as the prototype. This paper investigates the role of Moses as an intercessor after the golden calf incident. It then examines how closely Elijah’s ministry follows the contours of the intercession of Moses. The paper concludes that the source of inspiration of the prophetic tradition comes from the life and ministry of Moses.