THE OLD TESTAMENT
PART
Charles P.
Poole, Jr.
1.
Introduction
2. The
Guidance of God Through History
3. What is a
prophet ?
4. The
Nature of Prophesy
5. Office of
the
6.
Chronology of the
7.
Chronology of the Southern Kingdom Judah (Two Tribes)
8.
Characteristics of the Prophets
9. The Book
of the Prophet Isaiah
10. The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah
11. The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel
12. Lamentations
13. The Book of Minor Prophet Amos
14. The Book of Baruch
15. The Book of the Prophet Daniel
16. The Prophets Elijah and
Elisha
17. The Book of Minor Prophet Habakkuk
18. The Book of Minor Prophet Haggai
19. The Book of Minor Prophet Hosea
20. The Book of Minor Prophet Joel
21. The Book of Minor Prophet Jonah
22. The Book of Minor Prophet Malachi
23. The Book of Minor Prophet Micah
24. The Book of Minor Prophet Nahum
25. The Book of Minor Prophet Obadiah
26. The Book of Minor Prophet Zechariah
27. The Book of Minor Prophet Zephaniah
28. Remembering Characteristics of
Individual Prophets
1. Introduction
In
Part I of these talks we discussed some general aspects of the Old Testament, and
last Wednesday in Part II we covered the Historical books. This evening we will talk about the prophetic
books, and then next Wednesday the Wisdom books will be the topic for
discussion. Before considering the messages of the individual prophetic books
it will be appropriate to review how God had shepherded the Israelites before
the advent of the major and minor prophets,
and to try to answer the question: ‘What is a prophet in the Hebrew
tradition’?
2. The
Guidance of God Through History
In
the previous class we showed how the Lord God Yahweh guided his people
through out the period covered by
the Old Testament. In the early days
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all in direct communication with Yahweh, as
described in the book of Genesis. Abraham
received a direct call to go from
With
the arrival of the monarchy and the subsequent split-up of the Chosen People
into two kingdoms more formal prophets began to play a role. Yahweh called Samuel and sent him to anoint
David as King (1 Sam 3, 16), and he dispatched the prophet Nathan to bring
instructions to David (2 Sam 7), and to chastise him for his sin of adultery (2
Sam 11). The prophet Ahijah
predicted the schism when he tore his cloak into 12 strips and gave 10 to
Jeroboam saying “Thus speaks Yahweh ....... I am going to tear the kingdom from
Solomon’s hand and give ten tribes to you” (1 Kings 11). The prophet Shemaiah
persuaded Solomon’s son king Rehoboam of the Southern
Kingdom not to embark on a civil war
against king Jeroboam of the split-off Northern Kingdom (1 Kings 12). Shortly thereafter the prophet Elijah made
his appearance (1 Kings 17), and the era of the prophets had arrived. Henceforth communications from Yahweh to the Chosen People and
their leaders would be through the mouths of prophets. The nature of these communications and the
types of men who proclaimed them constitute the subject matter of the present
class.
3. What is a prophet?
To obtain
some idea of what a prophet is we can refer to the beginnings of the books of
the three major prophets. In Isaiah we read: “The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz concerning
God
communicates with his prophets in various ways, such as directly, in visions,
in dreams, or during ecstasies. God
makes use of prophets as instruments to communicate with other human
beings. Prophets are different from
priests, although some prophets, such as Isaiah and Jeremiah, were also
priests. A priest belongs to the tribe
of Levi and is a member of a formal hierarchy with functions prescribed by the
Mosaic laws, whereas a prophet has a charismatic flavor, with no required
hereditary background, and no prescribed duties except to proclaim the message
from the Lord. The Hebrew prophets come
from many walks of life, and a variety of social classes.
4. The Nature of Prophesy
The
Introduction to Prophets in the Jerusalem Bible says that the prophets asserted
and clarified three dominant features of Old Testament theology, namely
monotheism, morality, and messianism. They all made clear that there is only one
God, namely Yahweh, and he is to be obeyed and worshiped by all. There is no room for any other gods. The worship of pagan gods by Jews was
continually being condemned by the prophets.
The Ten Commandments supplemented by various Mosaic Laws described in
the Pentateuch constituted the code of morality to which the Chosen People were
expected to conform their lives. As a people they did not always do so, so the
prophets were sent to call them back to observing the laws. Punishment of sin, however, was not an end in
itself since in his covenant God had promised to look out for his people. There would always be a remnant of the faithful
that would survive to carry on the ancient traditions and observe the ordinances
of the Law. Many of the prophets,
especially those who prophesied during the exile, made a point of this.
Many
of the prophets proclaimed what are called oracles, or
particular messages from God, often addressed to groups such as nations. An oracle sometimes starts with an
introductory statement such as : “Thus says Yahweh”,
and ends with a recognition statement such as “That you may know that I am
Yahweh.” For example Chapter 21 of
Isaiah has three oracles, one on
5. Office of the
Every
day the Office of the
The prophets fit into the history of
6.
Chronology of the
(Asher,
KINGS YEARS (BC) PROPHETS
Jeroboam I, Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri 922-876 -
Omri, Ahab,
Ahaziah, Jehoram (Joram) 876-842 Elijah
Jehu, Jehohaz
(Joahaz), Jehoash (Joash) 842-786 Elisha
Jeroboam II 786-746 Amos, Hosea, Jonah
Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem,
Pekiahiah, Pekah 746-732
Hosea
Hoshea 732-724
Siege of
Exile to
7. Chronology of the Southern
Kingdom Judah (Two Tribes)
(Benjamin and
Judah)
Rehoboam, Abijah,
Asa 922-873
Jehoshaphat 873-849
Jehoram (Joram), Ahaziah, Queen Athaliah 849-837
Jehoash, Amaziah, Uzziah (Azariah) 837-742
Josham, Ahaz, Hezekiah 742-687 Isaiah (part 1), Micah
Manasseh, Amon 687-640
Josiah 640-609
Jeremiah, Nahum, Zephaniah
Jehoahaz II 609 Jeremiah
Jehoiakim 609-598
Jeremiah, Habakkuk
Jehoiachin 597 Jeremiah
Zedekiah 597-587 Jeremiah, Ezekiel
First deportations 598 Jeremiah, Ezekiel
Siege of
Exile in
Baruch, Lamantations
Return from Exile 539- Haggai, Joel, Obadiah, Malachai,
Zechariah, Trito-Isaiah
8. Characteristics of the Prophets
Name Book
Chaps Type Country Exile
Date BC Profession
Message and Comments
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ahijah 1 Kings other united 922 - announced split of
Kingdom to
Amos Amos 9
Minor Israel before
760 sheep-farmer warning sermons, universal God
Baruch
Baruch
6 other
Daniel Daniel 14
other
Deborah Judges other united
before 1100 judge served as judge; organized
military campaign
Elijah 1,2
Kings - other
Elisha 2
Kings - other
Ezekiel Ezekiel 48 Major Judah b & d 590
priest warned of
peril, consoled exiles, son of man
Gad 1,2 Samuel -
other united 930 - advised King David
Habakkuk Hab 3
Minor Judah before
600 - troubled by evil &
oppression in the world
Haggai
Haggai
2 Minor Judah
after 520 - urged building new
Hosea Hosea 14
Minor Israel before
760 had wife of harlotry fierce prophet of disaster
Isaiah 1st Isaiah 66
Major Judah before
700 prominent here I am, send me, Messiah
predictions
may have written Lamentations
Joel Joel 4 Minor
Jonah Jonah 3 Minor
Israel before 760 - angry at converting
Malachi Malachi 3
Minor Judah after
550 - malachi
means messenger, day of reckoning coming
Micah Micah 7
Minor Judah before
700 from small town
prophet of social protest, defended poor
Nahum Nahum 3
Minor Judah before
620 - confines himself to
chastising
Nathan 2 Samuel -
other united before
930 - adviser to king David, accused him of adultery
Obadiah Obadiah 7
Minor Judah after
560 - shortest OT book, teaching
is against Edomites
Samuel 1 Samuel - other united
before 1050 - last of the judges, also
called a prophet
Shemaiah 1 Kings - other Judah
before 922 - persuaded Rehoboam of
Zechariah Zech 14
Minor Judah after
560 - pressed for building of
Zephaniah
Zeph
3 Minor Judah before
620 - condemned idolatry, day of the Lord is coming
9.
The Book of the Prophet Isaiah
Some consider Isaiah the greatest of the
prophets. Many of the chapters of his book constitute the most sublime poetry
in the entire bible. He was born in
Isaiah
lived during interesting times in the history of the two kingdoms. He preached
in the Southern Kingdom Judah between a hundred and a hundred and fifty years
before
The Immanuel passage of Chap. 7 is much quoted: “The maiden
is with child, and will soon give birth to a son, whom she will call
Immanuel.”
The
book of Isaiah contains a number of oracles, or revelations of Yahweh,
generally in poetic language. Some of
them are woes, or revelations of coming evils.
Chapters 13 through 23
contain oracles, many more properly called woes, against a number of pagan nations:
The
second part of Isaiah, Chap. 40 to 55, called Deutero-Isaiah
or the Book of the Consolation of Israel, was written during the Babylonian
captivity. It begins “Console my people,
console them says your God.” In Chap. 41
Yahweh foretells the victory of Cyrus over the Babylonians. A prominent feature of Deutero-Isaiah
is the four short poems called servant songs, about the suffering
servant. The Great Servant Song
(52:13-15. 53:1-12) reads, in part: “Ours were the sufferings he bore, ours the
sorrows he carried.....yet he was pierced through for our faults, crushed for
our sins”, a passage reminiscent of the sufferings of Jesus.
The
third part of Isaiah, called Trito-Isaiah, was
written by disciples who continued carrying on the mission of the prophet after
the return from exile in
10. The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah
The prophet Jeremiah, like Ezekiel, was a
priest. He lived during the last 40
years of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, he was present during the first
unsuccessful siege of
The
life of Jeremiah had many parallels with that of Jesus: Jeremiah taught in
parables, wept for his people, was rejected in his home town, scourged,
imprisoned, and put on trial for his life, he
predicted the destruction of
After
Jeremiah had preached for 23 years, in 604 BC, he dictated the first part of
his book (Chap. 2-25)
to his secretary Baruch.
The book was expanded later with the addition of biographical material
(Chap. 26-44), prophecies against pagan nations (Chap. 45-51) and a conclusion
(Chap. 52). Unfortunately these
additions are not in chronological order.
Many of the chapters of this book contain detailed narrations and
historical material in addition to traditional prophecy.
The call of Jeremiah is
presented in Chap. 1: “I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” He proceeded to preach that
Jeremiah
mentions (
11. The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel
Ezekiel, like his counterpart Jeremiah, was a priest. He was captured during the first unsuccessful
siege of
His mission was to console
the other exiles in their misery, and to prepare them for the final destruction
of
Perhaps the best known interlude in the book is the
story of the dry bones (37:1-14).
Ezekiel was carrried away by the spirit to a
valley full of dry bones and told to prophesy: “The Lord Yahweh says to these
bones: I am now going to make the breath enter you, and you will live. I shall put sinews on you,
I shall make flesh grow on you. I shall cover you with skin and give you
breath, and you will live, and you will learn that I am Yahweh.” The bones came
together and formed people, a vast army of them. The Lord said: “These bones are the whole
House of Israel. They keep saying, “Our
bones are dried up, our hope is gone;
we are as good as dead.” So prophesy.
Say to them “The Lord Yahweh says this: I am now going to open your graves; I
mean to raise you from your graves, my people, and lead you back to the soil of
This parable was meant to
encourage the people, and prepare them for their eventual return from exile. The prophesy was fulfilled at the death of Jesus when the
Gospel of Matthew reports (27:51-53) that tombs were opened and many holy men
arose from the dead and appeared to people in
12.
Lamentations
In the Greek Septuagint and
Latin Vulgate this book is placed immediately after that of Jeremiah, and is
called the Lamentations of Jeremiah. The
Jewish canon includes it among the Writings.
There is an acrostic format with chapters having 22 verses, each
beginning with words from successive letters of Hebrew alphabet.
13.
The Book of Minor Prophet Amos
Amos, a prophet of the Northern Kingdom Israel, was by
profession a shepherd and a trimmer of sycamore trees from a village north of
14.
The Book of Baruch
Baruch had been the secretary of the major prophet Jeremiah. The contents of this book of five chapters
are written for the exiles in
15. The Book of
the Prophet Daniel
The book is about various adventures of Daniel (his
Babylonian name was Belteshazzar) and his three
companions Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
during the Babylonian captivity 587-539 BC when King Nebuchadnezzar ruled. It was written long after Daniel died. A main purpose of the book was to instil faith and hope in Jews who were being persecuted
four centuries later under the regime of Antiochus Epiphanes
who ruled about 165 BC.
The four companions were chosen to be scribes for the
king. They declined to eat food from the
royal table and were allowed to subsist on a vegetarian diet. When they refused to worship a huge golden
statue they were thrown into a fiery furnace which they survived with no harm
to themselves. Because of this miracle
Nebuchadnezzar ordered all Hebrews to be treated with respect in his
kingdom. Later a hand wrote on the wall
“Mene, Mene, Tekel and Parsin” during a royal banquet, and we read Daniel’s
interpretation in Dan 5:25: “The meaning
of the words is this: Mene:
God has measured your sovereignty and
put an end to it, Tekel: you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting, and Parsin: your kingdom has been divided” That same night the reigning
King Belshazzar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, was
assassinated and Darius the Mede took possession of the kingdom. Darius issued an edict that everyone was to
worship him for thirty days, and when Daniel refused and his enemies reported
this to the king he
was put into a den of lions.
The next day Daniel emerged unharmed so the King fed Daniel’s enemies to
the lions and proclaimed that everyone was to honor the God of Daniel. These
stories of the greatness of Yahweh were a consolation to the Israelites when
they were proclaimed
during the Maccabeen revolt 167-164
BC.
We have described the initial narrative parts (Chap. 1-6)
of the book of Daniel. The remainder of
the book has an apocalyptic character with similarities to the New Testament book Revelations. Daniel reports visions of the four beasts,
the ram and the he-goat,
the angel Gabriel and the seventy weeks, and the Hellenistic
wars, visions full of apocalyptic imagery.
There is a promise deliverance and days of
glory for Jews in the future. In Chap. 7
we read: “I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man. .....on
him was conferred sovereignty, glory and kingship ....... his sovereignty is an eternal
sovereignty.” This is clearly a
foreshadowing of the Messiah Jesus who repeatedly referred to himself as the
‘son of man’. These later chapters
contain messages relating to the necessity of leading morally good lives, the
control of God over what happens in the world, and the ultimate triumph of the
16. The
Prophets Elija and Elisha
The exploits of Elijah and Elisha,
who prophesied in the Northern Kingdom Israel, are
recounted in the first and second
Books of Kings. Elijah made his
appearance during the reign of King Ahab whose wife was Jezebel, the daughter
of the king of
Later when Elijah was passing on the mantel of prophesy he
asked Elisha what he desired, and Elisha
replied “Let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” Soon thereafter a chariot of fire appeared
and Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. His successor worked a number of miracles.
For example Elisha cured the Syrian general Naaman who came from
Elisha made his home on
17. The Book of Minor Prophet Habakkuk
The prophet Habakkuk was very disturbed by the rampant
idolatry and political intrigue
in the Southern Kingdom Judah,
and he wondered why the Lord allowed his people to suffer so much. Unlike most other prophets, he had the
audacity to question the Lord about it: “How long, O Lord, am I to cry for help while you do not
listen; to cry oppression in your ear,
and you will not save?“. The
Lord replied “Cast your eyes over the nations, look, and be amazed and astounded. For I am doing something in
your days that you would not believe if you were not told of it.” Questioning God like this represents a new
disposition in prophecy introduced by Habakkuk and his contemporary Jeremiah.
Years earlier Abraham had questioned God about killing innocent people in
18. The Book of Minor Prophet Haggai
Haggai initiates the postexilic period of prophecy, when
the theme changes from the much earlier preexilic
warnings “reform or be punished”, and that of consolation during the exile, to
encouragement of restoration after the return.
It begins with an oracle or call to rebuild the
19.
The Book of Minor Prophet Hosea