BE 502 Old Testament Studies 2

The Latter Prophets

Introduction to the Latter Prophets

Torah ProphetsProphets Writings

Former Latter

GenesisExodus

LeviticusNumbers

Deuteronomy

JoshuaJudgesSamuelKings

IsaiahJeremiahEzekiel

The Twelve

PsalmsJob

ProverbsRuth

Song of SongsEcclesiastes

LamentationsEstherDaniel

Ezra-NehemiahChronicles

The Canon of the Hebrew Bible

✦ God desires to bless humanity.

✦ God covenants with His people.

✦ The God of Sinai (Yahweh) is the God of the Patriarchs and the God of Creation.

✦ Salvation was always by grace through faith.

✦ Law seems to be a barrier to faith.

✦ God’s people need the new heart that He will provide.

✦ The way God worked in the past is the way He will work “in the last days.”

What’s the Torah about?

Gen 49 Num 24 Deut 31

Jacob Balaam Moses

“assemble yourselves” “come” “assemble to me”

“I may tell you” “I will advise you”

“that I may speak”

“what will happen”

“what this people will do” “you will”

“in the last days” “in the last days” “in the last days”

✦ Blessing and security comes to God’s people under the leadership of God’s righteous king.

✦ Israel & Judah were exiled because they

✦ failed to believe

✦ failed to worship Yahweh exclusively (idolatry)

✦ failed to listen to God’s written torah or to the words spoken by the prophets

✦ The law did not provide lasting change in the hearts of the people or the kings.

✦ THE son of David had not yet come.

What are the Former Prophets about?

10 Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew

face to face, 11 for all the signs and wonders which the LORD sent him to perform in the

land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land, 12 and for all the mighty power and for all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all

Israel.Deut 34:10–12

Relationship to the Former Prophets

15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. 16 This is according to all that you asked of

the LORD your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my

God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’ 17 The LORD said to me, ‘They have spoken well. 18 I will

raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to

them all that I command him.’Deut 18:15–18

Relationship to the Former Prophets

Preexilic Prophets Exilic Prophets Postexilic Prophets

Isaiah Ezekiel Haggai

Jeremiah Daniel Zechariah

Hosea-Zephaniah Malachi

Historical Classification

1. Prophet (nabhi)

2. Man of God

3. Seer

Designations for the Prophets

Sent to a disobedient people, they were like modern-day revivalists, calling the people back to the faith of the fathers, the faith of the covenant promises to Abraham, Moses,

and David. Thus they were not so much innovators as revivalists.

Reformation rather than Innovation

✦ prophetic cry for Israel to return to Yahweh

✦ literary dependence of later prophets upon Torah and earlier prophets

Preservation of Tradition, seen in…

1. A Textual Approach

2. Intertextuality

3. Biblical Realism

Interpretation

1. Mythological Approach

2. Naturalism

3. Biblical Realism

3 Ways to Read the Bible:

When applied to biblical prophecy, biblical realism believes that future events are also

described in the Bible just as they will happen. That is, both future events and past events are recounted realistically—though one must remain sensitive to the various types of literature used by the

biblical authors to depict future events.

Biblical Realism & Interpretation of Prophecy

1. A Textual Approach

2. Intertextuality

3. Biblical Realism

4. Theology (see “Importance” below)

5. Apocalyptic Literature

Interpretation

✦ Definition – a highly symbolic form of historical narrative

✦ A picture of what the future holds, yes.

✦ Specific details of its fulfillment, no.

Apocalyptic Literature

1. They continue to be God-breathed Scripture.

2. They speak of the Messiah or the messianic promise.

3. They reflect a New Covenant theology and hope.

4. They demand and impart godly wisdom.

5. They present a balanced picture of judgment and grace.

6. They are “big picture” books, so keep the “big picture” in the forefront.

Hope & Promise:Why the church needs the prophets

✦ God’s sovereignty over the nations.

✦ God’s covenant with His people.

✦ God’s judgment of sinners.

✦ God’s plan of redemption.

✦ God’s work in the past as a pattern for God’s work now and in the future.

Big Picture Book