6441. 'Is a wolf' means an eagerness to rescue and deliver the good. This is clear from the meaning of 'a wolf' as one who seizes and scatters; and since natural desires are meant in the Word by 'beasts', 'a wolf' means an eagerness to seize, as is also clear from places in the Word where 'a wolf' is mentioned, as in Matthew,

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Matthew 7:15.

In John,

The hireling who is not the shepherd, whose sheep are not his own, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf seizes them, and scatters them. John 10:12.

Similar references to the wolf occur in other places, such as Luke 10:3; Jeremiah 5:6; Ezekiel 22:27; Zephaniah 3:3. From all these places it is evident that 'a wolf' means those who seize, but here one who rescues from hell those who have been seized. How it is with the meaning of the wolf is much the same as it is with that of the lion, which is also a rapacious creature. The lion too is said to seize the prey, collect the spoil, and gather the plunder, as the wolf here is said to do; but in the good sense 'lion' means truth when empowered by good, see 6367. Something similar applies also to other ravenous creatures, such as leopards or eagles.

The idea of a "prophet" is very closely tied to the idea of the Bible itself, since the Bible was largely written by prophets. At a lower level, prophets represent people who teach from the Bible. At a higher level, they represent the Lord as He reveals himself through the Bible. Viewed in a abstract way, prophets represent the holy parts of the Bible themselves, and also represent doctrine drawn from the Bible. The reason we say "largely written by prophets" and "the holy parts of the Bible" is that not all of the books currently included in the Bible have a complete and continuous internal sense. Some -- like Job, Ruth, and Song of Solomon -- are wonderful literary pieces that got included, but which lack the systematic meanings for words and phrases. Others -- the Acts and Epistles, primarily -- are really doctrinal works, the first attempt by others to extract meaning from Jesus' life and words.