Leonard Theological College, Jabalpur

Topic: Theological Themes: Understanding of God, History and Day of Yahweh.

Subject: Prophetic Response to the struggles of the People of God

Submitted To: Dr. Tekayaba Walling

Submitted By: Sandeep Pharmaha On 30thJanuary, 2017.

Introduction: A major part of the Hebrew Bible is consists of prophetical books. It has been

divided into two parts, former prophets and Minor Prophets. The four books Joshua, judges, Samuel and

kings are grouped under the former prophets and the remaining twelve are grouped under Minor

Prophets. Most of the prophets were discussing about the spiritual and social situations of their periods.

Based on these facts, the major themes can be classified into various categories. In this paper we will be

discussing on “God, History and the day of the Lord.

Understanding of God: Though the Prophets were not theologians, a well-defined conception of

God underlies their teachings and informs all their thought. One Prophet may stress one divine attribute,

and another Prophet put his chief emphasis on another, but they all had the same conception of God.1

The Concept of One God: Prophets discovered the one God. They were the pioneers of

monotheism. They made Judaism a religion of monotheism, the only religion of monotheism in the

ancient world. Amos, the first of the writing Prophets, declared that Yahweh was not the national God of

the Hebrews, but the God of all the nations, with the Hebrew in a special relation to Him.2

Surely Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and the other eighth and ninth century prophets believed that there was

only one God in the universe. At the time of these prophets, development had advanced to the point

where idols and local deities had given way, among people of progressive thought, to belief in the

national gods. Each country had its own deity. Yahweh, sometimes written Jehovah, was the God of the

1
Rabbi Israel I. Mattuck, The Thought of the Prophets (New York: Collier Books, 1962), 41.
2
Ibid., 41.

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Hebrew people in Palestine. Similarly each neighboring nation thought a special deity controlled its

territory. Chemosh was the God Moab; Molek of Ammon; Rimmon of Syria etc. The pre-exilic prophets

had spent considerable of their time trying to get their people to abstain from the worship of others gods.

Second Isaiah went one step farther here to asserting that these did not exist and were nothing more than

figments of the imagination. There is only one God and beside Him there is no others. In and of Himself,

this one deity has created all things that are in existence.3

God, the Good Shepherd: It is usually thought that the concept of the good shepherd, which

comes to highest development in John 10:1-39, is distinctive in the New Testament. By most people it is

forgotten that it goes back to the Second Isaiah and the twenty third Psalms. The figure of God, the

Good Shepherd as developed in second Isaiah by prophet anticipated that the restored Palestine would

have no human ruler. He anticipated a theocracy in which God himself would rule. Prophet expected

that the deity would descend from heaven in all his glory and would take personal care, protect and help

His people as they sought to realize their new dream of returning to their native Palestine and restoring

it. He pictured God with kindness and concern for even the least. There is something intimate and

touching in the way the exalted deity comes down and gathers the lambs in His arms, carries them in his

bosom and gently leads those who are in difficulties. This is simply a figure of how he protects and leads

his people.4

God, Source of Knowledge: The Prophet Isaiah thinks not only physical origins but also of first

cause with regard to the immaterial. The wonder of the creation proved that God was wise, and had

knowledge. God is the source of all knowledge, wisdom and standard of justice. As God was the creator

of the material world about us, he was conceived by Isaiah as the author of the arts, sciences and those

spiritual qualities of life which raise man above his savage ancestry and make him civilized. For all

these higher development of life, mankind is indebted to God who is responsible for furnishing the

world of man’s mind with its rich cultural heritage.5

3
Rolland Emerson wolfe, Men of Prophetic Fire (Boston: The Beacon Press, 1951), 258-259.
4
Rolland Emerson wolfe, Men of Prophetic Fire………........255-256.
5
Rolland Emerson wolfe, Men of Prophetic Fire…………………261.

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 God, the Judge: The God of the Prophets is the God who punishes injustice by intervening in

history.6 The severity of the punishment that sin attracts may conceal the element of love and the

assurance of love in the divine forgiveness. The moral order of the universe conforms to God’s nature of

justice and love. Justice and love are integrated in their conception of God. Together they constitute the

righteousness of God and the consequent righteousness in the moral order of the universe. This

combination explains God’s attitude towards Israel. He loves Israel, yet threatens it with dire penalties

for its transgressions (Jeremiah). The Prophets’ sympathy for all nations was also ascribed to God

(Isaiah 21). His attitude towards all nations includes justice and love; they too come under His rule in

the moral order of universe.7

History: The Old Testament has no word for “History.” It has no one term as inclusive as that

English word has, it is denoting both the record of events and events themselves. The term that found in

the Old Testament is “Chronicles” and it has two related meanings “memory or memorial.” The memory

of individuals, of the dead, of destroyed cities, of Israel as a nation, of events and occasions significant

for the future, is spoken of in a way to suggest the recollection of memorable experience which is the

essence of history.8

Tillich says, “History is the totality of remembered events, which are determined by free human

activity and are important for the life of human group. History is the current of events, but remembered

events, whether in the living memory, in tradition or in some form of record. These events are selected

for record because they are felt to have an important beyond the moment of their happening. Thus

history can be defined as the record and interpretation of significant human experience.9

The importance of the history

6
John F.A.Sawyer, Prophecy and the Biblical Prophets (oxford: Oxford university Press, 1987), 48.
7
Rabbi Israel I. Mattuck, The Thought of the Prophets..................46.
8
R.B.Y.Scott, The Relevance of the Prophets (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1957), 131.
9
R.B.Y.Scott, The Relevance of the Prophets………………………………132.

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  The distinctively religious interpretation of History sees man’s social life as the arena of

moral judgment of God, and the course of history, with all its relativity and ambiguities, as ultimately

conforming to the will of God. it recognizes man’s freedom, and the conflict of his will with the wills of

others men and with the active purpose of God.

 It recognizes an inexplicable element of tragedy in man’s experience, an element which

marks God’s own relationship to his world. In the historic experience of Israel, it recognize the

persistent purpose of Yahweh, to create and to bless a people obedient to his will. Man’s temporal

experience is not illusion, for in it he meets the final reality of God the righteous, the merciful and the

true.

 It finds the presence and activity of God in persons and events, and in the continuing stream

of a community’s life.

 It finds the meaning of human life, past, present and future, in its relationship to One who

makes himself known under the condition of time but who is not bound by those conditions, and in

whose hands are the issue of life.10

The Nature of the Day of the Lord

The Day of the Lord is clearly characterized by a pouring out of divine wrath on God’s enemies

(Joel 2:1-2; Amos 5:18-20; Zech 1:14-15). Imagery of natural disaster, devastating military conquest,

and supernatural calamity is connected to Day of the Lord references. On the other hand, the day is also

characterized by a pouring out of divine blessing upon God’s people in form of restoring them. (Isa 4:2-

6; 30:26; Hos 2:18-23; Joel 3:9-21; Amos 9:11-15; Mic 4:6-8; Zeph 2:7; Zech 14:6-9).

The dual nature of the Day of the Lord is further illumined by its purposes. The writing prophets

describe the Day of the Lord as coming so that people might turn from idols (Isa 2:18, 20) and turn to

Yahweh (Joel 2:12-14).4 Those recognizing the severity of the day will cry for God’s mercy (Joel 2:17),

call on the name of the Lord to be saved (Joel 2:32), and seek refuge in the Rock (Isa 2:21). All of the

above purposes highlight the blessing of this day for those who have responded appropriately.
10
R.B.Y.Scott, The Relevance of the Prophets……………………135.

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Ultimately, all the nations will recognize Yahweh in that day (Joel 3:17), but then it will be too late for

those destined to destruction and death (Zeph. 2:12-14). The example of the nations provides a clear

picture of the dark side to this same day that is a blessing for others.11

The Scope of the Day of the Lord

In light of the fact that the Day of the Lord has a duality to its nature and purpose, it is natural to

assume that its scope will encompass the diversity of peoples affected by both the side that brings

blessing and the side that brings judgment. Indeed, the Day of the Lord was connected to the judgment

pronounced upon Babylon (Isa 13:1, 6, 9, 13), Edom (Isa 34:8), Egypt (Jer. 46:10; Ezek 30:3), and the

Philistines (Jer. 47:4). Obadiah expands the individual references to peoples and announces that the Day

of the Lord will bring corporate judgment to all of the nations. Isaiah broadens the scope of judgment

even further, describing calamity that will fall upon the entire earth on the consummate Day of the Lord

(13:10-13). This increasing scope suggests that judgment is not only directed toward particular peoples

or even the collective nations, but toward evil in general. Thus, the Day of the Lord is properly spoken

of as bringing judgment to evil wherever it may be found in fallen creation.

Since the Day of the Lord involves both judgment and blessing, we would expect to see a

development of the scope of blessing in a manner similar to the scope of judgment. Indeed, references to

blessing expand from David’s kingdom (Amos 9:11-15), Zion (Isa 4:2-6), and all of Judah (Zeph. 2:7),

to the entire earth (Zech. 14:6) and its creation (Isa. 11:1-10; Hos. 2:18). The Day of the Lord not only

has a diverse nature, but that nature accordingly affects diverse categories of God’s creation.12

Theological Reflection and conclusion: The Prophetical books tell different prophecies to the

world including the socio-political and spiritual needs of the society. The major themes in the Old

11
https://bible.org/article/basic-introduction-day-lord-old-testament-writing-prophets Accessed on

08-11-2017.
12
Ibid.

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Testament prophecy is still a living message for Christian all over the world. Its fulfillment does not

mean that its use is at an end, so that it may be laid on one side, because its purpose and significance are

exhausted. Nor does it mean that for us the sole use of prophecy is as one of the credential which attests

Christ’s mission. It is this and as such it would claim our reverent study: but it is far more. All these

prophecies will come to a conclusion when God shall be all in all.

Bibliography

Mattuck. Rabbi Israel I. The Thought of the Prophets. New York: Collier Books, 1962.

Sawyer, John F.A. Prophecy and the Biblical Prophets. Oxford: Oxford university Press, 1987.

Scott,R.B.Y. The Relevance of the Prophets. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1957.

wolfe .Rolland Emerson, Men of Prophetic Fire. Boston: The Beacon Press, 1951.

Webliography

https://bible.org/article/basic-introduction-day-lord-old-testament-writing-prophets

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