REL 113: Old Testament Faith and History. Prophets. RJDKnauth
I. Former
Prophets (Histories – “Deuteronomistic History”: Joshua, Judges,
1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings)
Historical
Prophets:
Moses
Samuel (Saul, David)
Nathan (David, Solomon:S)
Ahijah (Jeroboam: N)
Elijah (Ahab:N)
Micaiah ben Imlah (Ahab, Jehoshaphat)
Elisha (Joram, Jehu: N)
II. Latter Prophets / Writing Prophets – collections of sayings (poetic) mixed with biographical narrative.
A. Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
1. Isaiah:
S (1st part: Hezekiah, 2nd part: Exile, 3rd
part?)
Issue
of unity / dispute over authorship (test-case for conservativism).
Collection of sayings, judgements, etc.
Part matches Kings.
“Isaiah of Jerusalem” (1st Isaiah)– within Royal Court of
Hezekiah. Davidic Theology.
Trust Yahweh and wait for fulfillment. No
alliances!
Ch.
6 “Call Narrative”: Kingship of Yahweh, Vision of Divine Council.
Need for
cleansing. “Here am I – send me!”
3 major crises: Syro-Ephraimite
alliance against Judah; Fall of Samaria; Sennacherib Invasion.
“Song
of Vineyard,” “Emmanuel” sign - relevance to Syro-Ephraimite war.
Alliance against Assyria as “Covenant
with Death.”
Ch.
37-39 re invasion of Sennacherib matches Kings word for word:
both draw from “Annals
of the Kings of Judah.”
2nd Isaiah (Ch. 40-66): Significance in Exile. Comfort!
Payment for sins is complete, prepare for
return (through desert).
Men
wither like grass, but “the word of the LORD endures forever.”
Arguments against idolatry: “Do you not
know? Have you not heard?”
“To whom will
you compare God?” Idols ridiculed.
“Servant Songs” – Messianic
prophesy.
Possible 3rd Isaiah (Ch. 56-66): Significance in Restoration?
Recurring themes in all give sense of unity… "school"?
2. Jeremiah:
S [+ Lamentations] (Josiah > Exile in Egypt) Priest.
Connections with Deuteronomistic History.
Hebrew text vs. Greek
Septuagint: major difference in length, order of chapters.
Both versions at
Qumran (no concern for single, authoritative text).
Book consists of: Prophetic
oracles and Biographical Narrative (by Baruch the scribe).
No alliance with Egypt! - (taken there
against his will)
“Temple Sermon” –
critical of Solomon, Temple (remember Shiloh – don’t rely on Temple).
Reforms threaten livelihoods.
Oracles against the nations;
prediction of the fall of Jerusalem, exile
(despite theology
of the invulnerability of chosen place).
Burning of Jeremiah’s
scroll; persecuted, stuck in well; taken to Egypt against his will.
“Confessions” cursing day of his
birth.
But also predicts
restoration: buys land in Jerusalem and buries the deed.
Vision of “New Covenant.”
3.
Ezekiel: S (Exile in Babylon) Priest. “Son of Man” title.
Connections with “Priestly” redactor of Pentateuch?
Receives “call” in exile (vision of Cherubim, wheels).
“Watchman” burdened with responsibility for sins of nation: must warn!
Prophetic Symbolism: (Lie on side for a year and a month; cook food with
excrement for fuel; shave head with sword; forbidden
to mourn for his dead wife; pack for exile, dig hole in side of house with hands
and crawl out…)
Vivid Imagery and Recurrent Themes:
Two adulterous sisters =
Israel and Judah in foreign alliances.
Shepherd imagery: Kings
don’t care for flock.
Sword of Judgment=Babylon as
God’s instrument of punishment to explain the fall of Jerusalem.
Vision of the valley of dry bones
= spiritual dryness, revival: “Can these bones live?”
Vision of the Glory of the LORD
leaving the temple, returning to the temple.
Major theme of the Presence of YHWH.
Vision of the new Jerusalem, river
of life flowing out of the Temple of God.
The name of the city: “The LORD is there!”
First part is Judgment until destruction of Jerusalem, then Hope.
B. Minor Prophets (The Book of the Twelve)
Assyrian Crisis - Leading up to the fall of the North and its aftermath (along with 1st Isaiah):
1. Amos:
N. Concern for social justice,
oppression of the poor.
Non-Professional:
“I am not a prophet or the son of a prophet, but a pruner of sycamore
trees.”
Social commentary, literary artistry, poetic form, divine
lawsuits, laments, and visions.
Judgments against the nations=tightening noose of sin for
Israel.
Divine lawsuit. Nor more empty worship: “Prepare to meet
your God!”
The “Day of the LORD” will be darkness, not light.
Death dirge for Israel. Woes, Judgments and Visions.
Obedience, not Sacrifice!
Famine of hearing the word of the LORD.
2.
Hosea: N. Prophet as
object lesson for God's unconditional love.
Adulterous wife = unfaithful Israel – foreign worship, Children as signs.
God wants love and faithfulness, not sacrifice!
God’s continuing fatherly love and forgiveness despite Israel’s
unfaithfulness.
Come back!!! Repent and be restored!
3. Jonah:
to Assyrian Nineveh – more like a wisdom tale, full of humor, irony.
Fish story, poem, repentance, anger, lesson.
Very different style from other books of prophecy.
8th cent date? Restoration?
Foreigners show up the Israelites. Universality of God.
4. Obadiah: S - one chapter, prophesy against Edom (descendants of Esau), disputed date.
5.
Micah: S – same time as Isaiah, small village perspective -
opposes Isaiah’s Davidic theology.
Appeals to the history of the Exodus: Remember Moses!
Remember Balaam!
Lament form (Qinah meter); Lawsuit form.
Zion as a place for all the nations to come up and find
Justice. Vision of Peace:
“They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning
hooks,
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn
war anymore.
And every man beneath his vine and fig tree shall live at peace and
unafraid…”
The sacrificial system is inadequate.
“What does the LORD require? Act justly! Love mercy! Walk
humbly!”
Enemies are not to
gloat. God’s faithfulness to Abraham continues.
Predicts fall of Samaria but hope for future.
From the time of Josiah and the fall of Assyria leading into the Exile (along with Jeremiah), all in the South:
6. Nahum – Woe to Nineveh (Assyrian capital)
7. Zephaniah
– Coming of the “Day of the Lord” as a day of doom, punishment, judgment.
(descendant of Hezekiah!)
8. Habakkuk
– Prophet’s personal wrestling with God
Question – What will
you do about Judah’s corruption?
Answer –
Babylonians will bring judgment!
Question – But
Babylon is worse than Judah – how can you use them to judge us?
Answer –
They will be punished in turn.
Response Prayer
– Trust and Praise.
Exile: Jeremiah (at the end of his ministry), Ezekiel, 2nd Isaiah, and possibly 1st part of Daniel.
Post-exilic period of Restoration, 2nd Temple (along with 3rd Isaiah?):
9.
Haggai – ca. 520 BCE, 70 yr old witness of destruction of
Solomon’s Temple?
Encouragement to rebuild Temple (cf Ezra) in time of Darius the Persian.
Problems of lethargy, Samaritan and local opposition, disappointment
(new Temple hasn’t the glory of the 1st)
Zerubbabel to restore Davidic kingship and Covenant. God’s glory will fill the
Temple.
Consequences of disobedience and obedience
(obedience will bring God’s strength and blessing).
Coming of the Messiah as “desired of all nations.” Paraphrases from
Deuteronomy.
Questions highlight key issues. “I
will shake the heavens and the earth!”
Repetition/Refrain: “Give careful thought…” “I am with you!” “Be
strong!” (cf Joshua)
10.
Zechariah – issues of unity, apocalyptic element.
Contemporary of Haggai, but continuing long after.
Encouragement to rebuild the Temple (cf Ezra: Persian Darius spurs renewal of
effort).
Prophet/Priest born in Babylon, came with 1st return in 538 under
Joshua, Zerubbabel.
Ch. 1-6 = 8 apocalyptic “night visions.” Joshua crowned.
Repentance>>Blessing
(Dedication of Temple, 516 BCE).
Ch. 9-14 final prophecy – eschatological/messianic oracles.
If Judah returns to God, then God will return to Judah.
God’s word will continue to be fulfilled!
Exhortation, call to repentance, visions, oracles of judgment and salvation.
11. Joel
– disputed date (no references in text; some say 9th cent, some say
post-exilic)
Invasion of
Army of Locusts – too numerous to deal with, consuming everything.
>> Real? Symbolic? Or
both?
A foretaste
of the “great and dreadful day of the LORD”
– call to mourning, prayer, and
repentance.
Repent!
“Rend your heart and not your garments!”
Judgment, Repentance >> Restoration,
Renewal, Blessing.
“Why should they
say among the peoples ‘Where is their God?’?” (quote from Psalms?)
The pouring
out of God’s spirit upon all of the people
(i.e. not just the
prophets or leaders. A democratization of the spirit):
“Your sons and
daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your
young men shall see visions.”
The sun shall be
turned into darkness and the moon into blood, stars will no longer shine.
Vision of the
River of Life flowing out from the Temple – just as in Ezekiel.
Valley of Decision. “The LORD roars from Zion!”
“Then you will know…”
“The LORD dwells in Zion!”
11.
Malachi – last prophet, from the time of Nehemiah.
Returnees are discouraged, disappointed, losing hope.
They doubt God’s love, no longer trust his Justice.
Worship has degenerated to mere forms. Law is disregarded.
Priests are corrupt and unfaithful: their sacrifices dishonor God, the Law is
not taught.
People are also unfaithful.
Repetition: “The Lord Almighty…” “But you ask…”>>God’s
response.
The “great and dreadful day of the LORD” is coming!
“Where is the God of Justice?” > God will judge…but will judge
his own people first!
Remember the Law of Moses.
He will send Elijah the Prophet to prepare the way.
Call to repentance, faithful giving, faithful service. No intermarriage.
Begins with “Oracle” on the wasteland of Edom;
Ends with warning of Israel’s destruction: refiner’s fire – purification.
Messianic image: “the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in its
wings…”
(winged sun-disk image?! Cf LMLK jars)
Chronicler’s History:
1-2 Chronicles,
Ezra (arr. 458 BCE),
Nehemiah
(cupbearer>>Governor; arr. 445, 433 BCE). Sent by Artaxerxes.
Apocalyptic:
Zechariah’s “night visions” (see above).
Daniel
1st part: wisdom/hero tales re Babylonian Exile.
2nd
part: apocalyptic vision/prophecy, Maccabean Revolt?
Wisdom Festival Scrolls:
Ruth (period
of Judges)
Esther (Persian
period). Novellas/Hero Tales (cf Joseph cycle in Genesis).
+ Lamentations (Jeremiah), + Song of Solomon, + Ecclesiastes.