Reading the prophets – some preliminary comments
I suspect that many of us feel ambivalent about the prophetic books in the Bible. On the one hand, the passages of judgment on God’s people make for dismal reading. As we only get one side of the conversation and do not always appreciate how badly Israel behaved, God comes across as harsh and angry. On the other hand, we may love the messages of hope and Messianic prophecies whose fulfilment we recognise in Jesus Christ. Sometimes we could wish that God interpreted our lives for us as He did Israel’s through the prophets. The truth is though that then as well as now, there were and are many voices, including false prophets and discernment is always necessary to know what is of God. Our advantage as Christians is that we have God’s Holy Spirit indwelling us so that we have a Helper guiding us in ways God’s people in the OT could not experience.
Prophetic books are not exhaustive of all the prophecies spoken by a specific prophet but only contain a selection, probably written down and organised by the prophet or his disciples later. The material is not necessarily arranged in chronological order either, but often thematically, so it carries a message for later generations who may not be familiar with the original context of the first hearers. Sometimes Scripture gives us some background and we can use that to make sense of a passage. For example, prophetic books often start with an editorial comment (e.g. Mic 1:1). This can tell us about the prophet a little and state the kings whose reign he operated under. We can find further information about these rulers from 2 Kings 14 and 2 Chronicles 26 onwards.[1]
Having a basic knowledge of Israel’s history is helpful so we don’t get lost. The prophets who have books named after them operated from the 8th century BC onwards. At this time, Israel was split into two kingdoms, Israel in the north and Judah in the south (both having separate kings and operating as two separate countries). During the period, God’s people were often threatened by foreign invasion from the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (modern-day Iraq). First the Assyrian empire started expanding south, took the northern kingdom of Israel into captivity (which they never returned from) and also invaded parts of Judah. Then as its power weakened, Babylon arose in the same geographic area and won a decisive victory conquering the territory and eventually taking Judah into Babylonian exile. Finally, the Persians took control of the region and allowed the Jews to return to their homeland. Below are the key events in summary form.
Assyrian period
- 745 BC – Assyria begins to expand
- 722 BC – Israel (northern kingdom) into captivity
- 701 BC – Assyria invades Judah and threatens Jerusalem
Babylonian period
- 605 BC – Babylon rises to power
- 587 BC – Judah (southern kingdom) into exile
Persian period
- 539 BC – exiles allowed to return home
Asking whether a prophet operated in Israel or in Judah and in which period give us some general orientation. However, specific utterances in a book are rarely connected to the exact circumstances that gave rise to a message. In such cases, we should take our cue from this lack of information and focus on how a speech makes sense in the context of the book, rather than speculate on specific scenarios.
Finally, it is important to note that biblical prophecy is not simply a laying out of the future which hearers give intellectual assent to. Rather, it is exhortation, rebuke, encouragement that calls for a response. When the prophet speaks of impending judgment, it is an implicit appeal to repent, so that paradoxically, the judgment may not happen. In this respect, it is more like the parent’s words to a child warning of the consequences of their action (‘If you touch the hot oven, you will burn your fingers.’). Conversely, when the prophet paints a picture of restoration, it encourages hearers to strengthen their resolve, to keep going through difficulties with endurance looking to the hope beyond. Although biblical prophecy was given to a specific people at a specific time, the fact that the words have been preserved and recognised as God’s Word means that they still call us to respond. Through it, we learn how the Lord deals with His people, and it teaches us about His ways and character, lessons that we can then apply to our lives.
[1] Kings and Chronicles cover some of the same material. The difference is that Kings deals with both the kings of Israel and Judah and Chronicles only tells the story of the kings of Judah (the descendants of King David).
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