God's Megaphone: Thus Says the Lord

4 Major (Longer)
Isaiah
Jeremiah (Lamentations?)
Ezekiel
Daniel

12 Minor (Shorter)
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi

Written in brief period of time: 760-460 BC
(Abraham was 1800 BC)

This was a time of great upheaval in Israel, exile, unprecedented political, military, economic and social upheaval enormous level of religious unfaithfulness and disregard for the original Mosaic covenant shifts in populations and national boundaries.

Determine when and where the prophet was

1. Israel to the north (Elijah, Elisah, Jonah, Amos, Hosea)
   


2. Judah to the south (Isaiah, Micha, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, Obadiah)
   


3. Exile to the East


4. Prior to exile
   


5. During exile
   


6. After exile (Zechariah, Haggai, Malachi)
   

The Nature of Prophecy
Dictionary Prophecy Definition: Foretelling or prediction of what is to come

• Only 7% of OT prophecies regarding Jesus or the End Times
• Hundreds of prophets spoke for God
  
• Record of Prophets differs
  
• Only a handful wrote or had their oracles recorded into books.
• Difficult books to interpret.
• They are strung together oracles
• Beginnings and endings are not typically signaled
• You don’t know when one ends and the next begins.
• Historical distance makes it hard to understand some of what they say.

4 Functions of Prophecy in Israel

1) The Prophets were Covenant Enforcement Mediators
Given that the Law constituted the terms of the relationship between God and Israel, and given that the Law included blessings and curses as incentives for covenant-keeping, the prophets served as enforcers of that covenant, handing out the blessings and curses accordingly. They reminded the people of their obligations to obedience, promising blessing for obedience and warning of curses for disobedience.

6 Kinds of Blessings Promised

1. life
2. health
3. prosperity
4. agricultural abundance
5. respect
6. safety

10 Kinds of Curses Threatened

1. death
2. disease
3. drought
4. dearth
5. danger
6. destruction
7. defeat
8. deportation
9. destitution
10. disgrace

These blessings and curses were given corporately
In times of independence and prosperity they warn of impending danger
In times of exile and poverty, they promise blessing

2) The Prophets’ message was not their own, but Gods
Each prophet has a style all his own but the prophet speaks as one representing God. They were called by God to speak for God.

3) The Prophets were God’s direct representatives
The prophets were generally recognized by their societies as voices for God, and as leaders in the community they were not generally radical social reformers they were proclaimers of God’s Law and were continually calling the people to obey that Law and were the ones who handed down sentences when the people were disobedient.

4) The prophets’ message is unoriginal
The essential message of the prophet was the Law
Their wording and style might be original, but their content was not. Even the prophecies about the Messiah originate in Gen 3 and especially in Deuteronomy (God promising to raise up a leader to guide them)

They use several literary devices: 5 in particular

1. The Lawsuit prophecy written up as a lawsuit against the people with God as the plaintiff and Israel as the defendant
2. The Woe Oracle predictions of doom and gloom, with attendant singing of “woe is me, woe are we”
   
3. The promise “salvation oracle” speaks of the future “In that day…” of radical change and blessing
   
4. The prophet acts out the story: Hosea marrying a harlot or Isaiah walking around in underwear like when people are taken, deported and held in exile
   
5. The messenger speech “Thus says the Lord…”
   

Most prophets are written like poetry which makes them more easily memorized but not as scientific and obvious in meaning.

Much of the writings of the prophets is just like the epistles: Do this Don’t do that.

The prophets see the distant future thru the lens of the present be very cautious to not over interpret what they say about today.