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THE PROPHETS ( NEVI’IM ) II

THE PROPHETS ( NEVI’IM ) II. Individual Spokespersons for God (Chapter 6 or 7). See Textbook, pp. 190-229/165-206. The Latter Prophets : Anthologies of oracles (oral pronouncements believed to be divinely inspired); compiled in the name of 15 different prophets;

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THE PROPHETS ( NEVI’IM ) II

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  1. THE PROPHETS (NEVI’IM) II Individual Spokespersons for God (Chapter 6 or 7)

  2. See Textbook, pp. 190-229/165-206.

  3. The Latter Prophets: • Anthologies of oracles (oral pronouncements believed to be divinely inspired); • compiled in the name of 15 different prophets; • span a period of more than 300 years – from around the mid-eighth to the late fifth centuries BCE; • the prophets reveal God’s will, especially when Assyria and Babylon threatened to destroy the communities of Israel and Judah;

  4. The Latter Prophets: • The messages of the prophets typically involve: • 1) warnings that foreign invasions and plagues are God’s punishment for covenant-breaking and social injustice; • 2) appeals to avoid national catastrophes by returning to God; • 3) visions of a distant future in which God reigns supreme from a restored Jerusalem.

  5. The Latter Prophets: • The prophets, whose oracles received canonical status, continued to be active for several generations after the return from Exile in Babylon in 539 BC; • moreover, editorial additions and revisions of almost all the prophetic books continued well into the last centuries BC.

  6. The Latter Prophets: • The Three Major Prophets: • - Isaiah; • - Jeremiah; • - Ezekiel; • The Twelve: • Hosea; Joel; Amos; Obadiah; Jonah; Micah; Nahum; Habakkuk; Zephaniah; Haggai; Zechariah; Malachi.

  7. The Prophets (Nevi’im) felt Yahweh's presence and communicated it through oracles, pronouncements, revealing the divine will or purpose; • Some early prophets were Moses, Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, and Elisha; • Some were associated with shrines like Shiloh or Bethel (see Figure 3.12, p. 59/3.13, p. 53 in Textbook); • Most clustered at royal courts where they offered counsel or criticism to kings such as David, Solomon, etc.;

  8. The World of Elijah and Elisha.

  9. Hebrew prophecy flourished from the 10th to the 6th centuries B.C.; • It almost disappeared shortly after the end of the Babylonian Exile (ca. 5th century B.C.E.).

  10. In Hebrew the word for “Prophet” is Navi while the plural is Nevi’im: • “One who is called”; • “One who announces”; • Its Greek equivalent in prophetes: • “A person speaking for God”, that is, one chosen to proclaim God’s message; • it includes both men and women (e.g., Huldah and Deborah);. • The Navi is said to be Israel's means of ascertaining the divine will; • It is Yahweh who sends Israel the Nevi’im whose messages have the force of divine commands.

  11. The Nevi’im were not primarily fortune-tellers or prognosticators of future history; • Their function was to perceive and then announce Yahweh's will in an immediate circumstance; • Their message had to be announced in terms that were comprehensible or at least relevant to their original audience; • The Nevi’im endeavour to illuminate Yahweh's intentions in the present; • They attempted to bring the people back into harmony with the Mosaic Law/Yahweh’s will; • However, little mention of the Mosaic Law and hardly any mention of Moses.

  12. The ThreeMajor Prophets: • Isaiah; • Jeremiah; and • Ezekiel. • Ranking probably derives as much from the length of the book as from their theological influence.

  13. The TwelveMinor Prophets: • Hosea through Malachi; • they are Minor only in length, not in religious significance; • Amos is the earliest (8th Century B.C.); • Jonah (Late 6th or Early 5th Century B.C.); • The Twelve present a 300-year continuum of Yahweh’s Oracles to Israel.

  14. The Prophets appeared in response to political or ethical crises that troubled their people; • The final editors of the Hebrew Bible placed these collections immediately after the Deuteronomistic History because they illustrate the reasons why Yahweh rejected his people; • The prophets bear witness to Israel's failure to heed Yahweh's warnings sent through his chosen messengers.

  15. Most of the Latter Prophets belong to one of three critical periods: 1. The Assyrian Crisis (Amos and Hosea in the north and Isaiah and Micah in the south); 2. The Babylonian Crisis (Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakkuk and Jeremiah); and 3. The Post-Exilic Adjustment (e.g., Obadiah, Ezekiel,Second Isaiah, Haggai, Zechariah). (See Table 3.1: “Some Major Events ….”, pp. 42-44/40-42 in Textbook.)

  16. Order of the Prophets’ appearances: The Eighth Century: the Assyrian Crisis: Amos, Hosea (in the north) and First Isaiah and Micah (in the south); The Seventh Century: the decline of Assyria and the rise of Babylon: Zephaniah, Nahum, and Habakkuk;

  17. The Sixth Century: the Babylonian Exile and the Partial Restoration of Judah: Jeremiah, Obadiah, Ezekiel,Second Isaiah, Haggai, Zechariah. The Late Sixth or Fifth Century: The Post-Exilic Adjustment: Third Isaiah, Joel, Malachi, and Jonah.

  18. Amos: • (the earliest of the written prophets [8th Century B.C.]): • Outline of the Book: • Oracles condemning Israel's neighbours (1.2-2.3); • Amos threatens the Northern Kingdom with destruction (2.4-16); • Three warnings of judgment (Chs. 3-6); • Five visions of disaster (Chs. 7-9); • Epilogue, promising restoration and peace (9.9-15) - an addition.

  19. Amos: • The person: • First Prophet to have his words recorded in book form; • Active about 750 B.C.E.; • An older contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah of Jerusalem; • A native of Tekoa in Judah (1.1); • However, active in the north rather than in his own area; • A shepherd/herdsman and dresser of sycamore trees (7.14); • Not a professional prophet (Amos 7.14-15).

  20. Tekoa in Judah: the village of Amos the prophet.

  21. Sycamore tree

  22. Sycamore tree

  23. Amos: • His message: Yahweh demands economic justice: • Oracles of doom: • Against Israel's various neighbors (1.2-2.16); • Against Israel (2.5-16); • A higher standard demanded of Israel (3.1-2); • Israel exploited the poor (2.7; 4.1; 5.11); • Israel was indifferent to human rights; • Social justice is vital to religion (5.7, 15, 21-27).

  24. Amos: • He reminds Israel that Yahweh causes everything that happens; • he predicts the destruction of Bethel’s popular sanctuary and the ruin of magnificent palaces … (5.5; 1.3-2.3); • no fruit of the harvest to those who cheat the poor and the defenseless (5.11); • More is needed than ceremonial religion; • Ethical behaviour is more important than ritual observances (5.21-27).

  25. Amos: • Visions of Judgment (5 visions: 7.1-3; 7.4-6; 7.7-9; 8.1-3; 9.1-6): • The prophet declared that contrary to popular expectations the “Day of Yahweh” to be a “Day of Judgment” (5.18-20); • As a result of his preaching, Amos was expelled from the sanctuary of Bethel (7.10-17); • He continued his pronouncements of doom (8.1-4); • He saw Yahweh as directing the fate of all nations, not Israel alone; • He anticipated Assyria’s destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel (see Isaiah 10.5-11).

  26. Amos: - Frequent references to exile (3.11; 6.7; 7.17).

  27. Amos: • Epilogue: • Amos’ preaching was pessimistic; • Thus, a later hand added a prediction of Israel's future restoration and prosperity (9.11-15). • Nevertheless, Amos set the tone for many later prophets, e.g., Jeremiah.

  28. The Book of Hosea: Divisions of the book: Chapters 1-3: describe Hosea’s marriage; Chapters 4-13: enumerate Israel’s crimes and punishments; Chapter 14: an epilogue promising future repentance and reconciliation.

  29. Hosea: • Active during the last turbulent years of the northern kingdom; • the only native prophet of the northern kingdom whose oracles have been recorded in book form; • he uses the metaphor of an unhappy marriage to illustrate Yahweh’s relationship with Israel; • he compares the people to an unfaithful mate; • he urges a return to Yahweh’s loving embrace; • this alone can save Israel from disaster.

  30. Hosea’s Marriage: • Hosea’s domestic situation exactly paralleled his view of Yahweh’s relationship to Israel; • both he and Yahweh were loving husbands who had suffered betrayal by their wives; • see 1.2: Hosea and Gomer; • however, Yahweh will not permanently abandon his disloyal consort; • Yahweh’s steadfast love will eventually reconcile him to his errant people, as Hosea is reunited with his faithless wife.

  31. Hosea: • Chapter 11: contains one of the Bible’s most moving expression of divine love; • Yahweh’s love is stronger than divine vengeance; • 12.9-11: Yahweh waits to effect a reconciliation; • Chapter 14: a final call for Israel’s return and a promise of future happiness.

  32. The Book of Isaiah: Division of the Book of Isaiah: Chs. 1-39: refer mostly to events of the 8th century, the Assyrian crisis and the fall of Israel; First Isaiah Chs. 40-55: from the conclusion of the Babylonian exile: Second Isaiah; cannot be earlier than the 6th century; reflect the fall of Jerusalem and the deportation to Babylon; Chs. 56-66: from the early Persian period; after the return from Babylonian Exile, that is, to the period after 538 BCE; Third Isaiah. Thus: First, Second, and Third Isaiah.

  33. The Background of Isaiah: • Four Pivotal Moments: • The Syro-Ephraimite War of the mid-730s BCE and its aftermath; • The Assyrain Invasion (721 BCE); • The Conquest of Jerusalem (587 BCE) and the Exile (587-538 BCE); • The Return (538 BCE).

  34. The Book of Jeremiah: • The Prophet Jeremiah: • 627 B.C. as the time of his birth rather than the time of the beginning of his preaching? • he died sometime after 586 B.C., presumably in Egypt;

  35. Jeremiah: • - Spoke in the last years of the existence of Judah; • the final years of 7th century and first decades of the 6th century; • following the destruction of Jerusalem in 587/586, Jeremiah was taken protesting into Egypt;

  36. Book of Jeremiah: • A collection of oracles against Judah and Jerusalem; • these Jeremiah dictated to his aide Baruch; • from the time of Kings Josiah (640-609 BCE), Jehoiakim (609-598/597 BCE), and Zedekiah (597-587 BCE). • (See Table 6.1, pp. 178-79/Table 5.1, pp. 154-55 “Events and Rulers in the Divided Kingdom”.)

  37. Some Extra-Biblical Evidence for the Events Described Above.

  38. Sennacherib V (726-722 BCE): Cuneiform Inscription – proclaims victories over Palestinian states and their Egyptian allies.

  39. Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 BCE) – Babylon at the time of Judah’s Exile.

  40. The Cyrus Cylinder – Cyrus the Great (ca. 600 or 576-530 BCE): Cyrus the Persian captured Babylon; Second Isaiah views Cyrus as Yahweh’s national deliver (Isa. 45.1-3).

  41. See pp. 195-97/172-74 for a recap of the “Order of the Prophets’ Appearances”: the Assyrian Crisis (8th century); the Decline of Assyria and the Rise of Babylon (7th century); the Babylonian Exile and the Partial Restoration of Judah (6th century); and the Postexilic Adjustment (late 6th or 5th century ). See also “Photo Essay”, pp. 230-31/ p. 207.

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