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Intro to the Prophets

With help from How to Read the Bible Book by Book
and The ESV Study Bible – Highly recommended resources!

The next part of the biblical story comes in the form of 16 books that we call the Prophets. In Jewish tradition they are known as the
Latter Prophets and were usually counted as 4 books, in this order: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and The Book of the Twelve (the so-called
Minor Prophets; Lamentations and Daniel were included among The Writings). The prophetic tradition had a long history in Israel, going
back as far as Moses and Samuel. But those whose words were eventually written down in scrolls bearing their names flourished from
the middle of the eighth century B.C. until the middle of the fifth century B.C.
The Divisions with the Tanakh:
The prophets have an especially crucial role to play in the “story of Israel” part of the grand The name is an acronym (TaNaKh)
formed from the initial Hebrew letters
biblical story. Indeed, they cannot be properly understood apart from their function in relation
of the three traditional subdivisions:
to the Torah and the Former Prophets (i.e., Joshua – 2 Kings). As God’s appointed spokesmen,  The Torah ("The Teaching" or
they call Yahweh’s people back to Torah, their covenant roots, announcing both the curses and ”The Law”, also known as The Five
blessings for covenant disloyalty or loyalty (Deut 27–30). The exilic prophets also helped the Books of Moses)
people through their twofold loss of the divine presence and of the Promised Land—thus  Nevi'im ("The Prophets")
playing the role of Moses and Joshua in reverse.  Ketuvim ("The Writings")

Thus the prophets constantly call God’s people back to divine realities (back to Torah): They belong to God; and God has called them
into being for his purposes of redeeming what was lost in the Fall and of blessing the nations. At the heart of the prophets’ message,
therefore, is deep concern that Israel reflect God’s character by walking in his ways and keeping covenant with him (which is the whole
point of Torah!). At the same time, they are constantly reminded that Yahweh is not a local Israelite deity, but is the sovereign God of
the universe—Creator and Sustainer of all things and therefore also sovereign over all the other nations.

The nations, accordingly, play a very important role in the prophets’ part of the grand biblical story. On the one hand, the nations are
included in the Abrahamic promise (Gen 12:2–3), so Israel is often reminded of her failure to be God’s “blessing” for them. This
dimension of the promise is thus regularly seen as part of God’s final fulfillment of his promises (e.g., see Isaiah, in particular ch. 66),
something central to the New Testament. On the other hand, since the Abrahamic promise included God’s “cursing” those who “curse
you,” the prophets also regularly pronounce God’s judgment on the nations. Thus Israel is not alone in coming under God’s righteous
judgments—indeed, Obadiah and Nahum are exclusively oracles against the nations (Edom and Assyria, respectively).

Keep in mind as you read the Prophets:

#1 In much the same way as the New Testament Letters, these writings were addressing ad hoc situations; therefore some
awareness of the social-religious-political situation into which they were speaking is essential in order for you to read well. Each
prophetic book has its own historical context, but here are three important matters that apply across the board for the prophets:
that it was a time of (1) significant political, military, economic, and social upheaval, (2) a very high level of unfaithfulness and
disregard for Torah (the Mosaic covenant), and (3) enormous shifts in the political power on the international scene.

It is especially important to note that all of these prophets spoke at a time when Israel had been permanently divided into north
(Israel/Ephraim) and south (Judah). Most of them address Judah, some of them speak into the situation of the exile, and several of
them speak after the exile when a small remnant had returned to their historic land. Because it will be useful for you to relate
these books to the sections of 1–2 Kings and 1–2 Chronicles to which they correspond, the relevant passages will regularly be
called to your attention.

#2 As you read, you will want to be aware of the frequent tension that exists in the prophets between the near future and the
ultimate future, since the final consummation of the biblical story often serves as the backdrop for what is said about the near
future. Thus Haggai, for example, is speaking directly to the situation of the rebuilding of the temple after the return from exile.
Yet in encouraging the people to return to this work, he speaks both of the greater future of the temple and of the near future of
Zerubbabel as the Davidic heir. And so it is with most of these books in their final form.

#3 It is important also for you to be reminded that most prophetic speech takes the form of poetry. Here it would benefit you
greatly to read an entry on Hebrew poetry in a recent Bible dictionary, so that you can appreciate the kinds of parallelism involved.
Also, because these books are poetry, you will want to pause at times to notice the powerful and evocative images and metaphors
that the prophets regularly use to capture the people’s attention.
 Activity of the Writing Prophets during the Reigns of the Kings of Israel and Judah

Timeline King of Judah // Event Prophet to Judah Prophet to Israel King of Israel // Event
780 B.C. Jeroboam II (781–753)
770
760 Uzziah (c. 760) (c. 760)
(Azariah) Amos Jonah
(767–740)
(c. 755)
Hosea Zechariah (753–752)
Shallum (752)
750 Jotham Menahem (752–742)
(750–735) Micah (c. 742) Isaiah (c. 740) Pekahiah (742–740)
740 Pekah (740–732)
Ahaz (735–715) Hoshea (732–722)
730
720 Fall of Samaria (722)
710 Hezekiah (715–686)
700
680 Manasseh (686–642) Nahum (c. 660–630)
660 Amon (642–640)
640 Josiah (640–609) Zephaniah (c. 640–609)
Habakkuk (c. 640–609)
620 (c. 627)
600 Jeremiah
Jehoahaz (609)
Jehoiakim (609–597) (c. 605)
Jehoiachin (597) Daniel
Zedekiah (597–586) (c. 597)
Ezekiel
Fall of Jerusalem (586) Obadiah
(after 586)
580
560
540
520 1st return of exiles (538) Haggai (c. 520)
Temple rebuilt (516/515) Zechariah (c. 520)
500
480
460 2nd return of exiles (458) Malachi (c. 460)
440 3rd return of exiles (445)
 Joel is not displayed as the dates are uncertain and estimates range from the 9th to the 4th centuries B.C.
 Micah's prophecy was likely directed toward both Judah and Israel.