These, at various periods in the history of Israel, appeared in large numbers: Ahab had “about four hundred” of them (1 Kings 22:6). Such are described as speaking “a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord” (Jer. 23:16). There were three that opposed Jeremiah to his face—Hananiah, Ahab, and Zedekiah (Jer. 28:1; Jer. 29:21). In the New Testament the Lord, early in His ministry, warned His hearers to beware of false prophets (Matt. 7:15); and in the church, the spirits are to be tried, for many false prophets have gone forth into the world (1 John 4:1). They were and are Satan’s counterfeits of the prophets of God, and their purpose is, on the principle of imitation, to neutralize the word of God.