Understanding Prophetic Literature

[sevenzedek]

I have always struggled with how to understand the prophetic books of the Bible. It seems like this is a challenge that many students of the word have. Trying to fit theses books in their historical timeline is such a challenge to me.

Aside from just simply reading the Bible, how have the PB folks overcome this hurdle in their understanding? I have thought seek out resources like chronological bibles (which misses the literary context), and commentaries (which are either too brief or to long). I haven't looked much a Bible handbooks yet. What resources or techniques might anyone recommend that would help me put it all together? How did it come together for you?

 

[Bill The Baptist]

The first thing to remember is that virtually all of the prophecies in the Bible find their fulfillment in Christ, either in his first coming or his second. Their are many good books you could read on this topic and I would recommend the Goldsworthy Trilogy by Graeme Goldsworthy. It contains three of his books in one volume, Gospel in Wisdom, Gospel in Kingdom, and The Gospel in Revelation.

 

[Contra_Mundum]

Read the sacred histories, Samuel and Kings, so that you are somewhat familiar with the flow of the Israelite timeline. Don't neglect the return from exile, Ezra & Nehemiah.

It isn't always important to know when a prophet wrote. Obadiah and Joel are not dated, and therefore we should conclude that it is not vital that we know their dates. You can create something of a timeline for the other prophets, here's a short list in order (without dates):

Obadiah
Joel
Jonah
Amos
Hosea
Isaiah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Jeremiah

Lamentations​

Daniel
Ezekiel
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi​

One thing to remember is that reading the prophets is usually like reading sermons (Daniel is a noteworthy exception; the Jews didn't even include his book among the prophets, but in the Writings). Read the books and portions of the books as occasional messages. The audience might be one group, or several different settings and assemblies. Isaiah has words of doom for the frivolous who only come to hear a popular preacher; his comfort is for those who weep for the sins of the people, and grow weary waiting for reformation and deliverance. Some of the prophets speak in particular against foreigners: Nahum, Obadiah, Jonah--but even so, the underlying message is to the covenant-people, either to comfort or to warn those who have ears to hear the Word of God.

Amos comes to town to confront the idle complacency of the northern tribes. Hosea is a long-lived witness to the slow-spiraling collapse of Israel-north. His book has (I believe) three parts: the living parable portion, Hosea, Gomer, and the children; a covenant-lawsuit at the center, in which the people's thorough apostasy and wholesale breaking of all of the covenant is laid out; and a lament for Ephraim.

The prophets to Judah cover the period before the exile, during, and after. The consistent message is a call to repentance, to cleave to God, and trust in him; wickedness brings wrath, righteousness (by forgiveness) is a way of life. Jeremiah is something of a counterpart to Hosea in terms of what he lived through in the south: the decline and fall of the house of David. Isaiah was more of a contemporary to Hosea. Ezekiel is a prophet to the exiles, most of whose hearts are not converted despite the trial. Haggai, Zechariah, & Malachi are all post-exilic, and continue the effort to reform a still-rebellious people, who are hard to make-ready for Messiah's coming.

Finally, I echo the principle of reading with a Messianic-consciousness. The hope of God's people is always in what the Promised One will do for them. And his salvation is dyed in moral or ethical color. This is often misunderstood as, "be good, so Messiah will come." This is how the Jewish faith down to this day reads the prophets. But the reality was (and is, with reference to the Second Coming), "Repent, no matter how good you think you are, because Messiah is coming."

 

[sevenzedek]

Read the sacred histories, Samuel and Kings, so that you are somewhat familiar with the flow of the Israelite timeline. Don't neglect the return from exile, Ezra & Nehemiah.

It isn't always important to know when a prophet wrote. Obadiah and Joel are not dated, and therefore we should conclude that it is not vital that we know their dates. You can create something of a timeline for the other prophets, here's a short list in order (without dates):

Obadiah
Joel
Jonah
Amos
Hosea
Isaiah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Jeremiah

Lamentations​

Daniel
Ezekiel
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi​

One thing to remember is that reading the prophets is usually like reading sermons (Daniel is a noteworthy exception; the Jews didn't even include his book among the prophets, but in the Writings). Read the books and portions of the books as occasional messages. The audience might be one group, or several different settings and assemblies. Isaiah has words of doom for the frivolous who only come to hear a popular preacher; his comfort is for those who weep for the sins of the people, and grow weary waiting for reformation and deliverance. Some of the prophets speak in particular against foreigners: Nahum, Obadiah, Jonah--but even so, the underlying message is to the covenant-people, either to comfort or to warn those who have ears to hear the Word of God.

Amos comes to town to confront the idle complacency of the northern tribes. Hosea is a long-lived witness to the slow-spiraling collapse of Israel-north. His book has (I believe) three parts: the living parable portion, Hosea, Gomer, and the children; a covenant-lawsuit at the center, in which the people's thorough apostasy and wholesale breaking of all of the covenant is laid out; and a lament for Ephraim.

The prophets to Judah cover the period before the exile, during, and after. The consistent message is a call to repentance, to cleave to God, and trust in him; wickedness brings wrath, righteousness (by forgiveness) is a way of life. Jeremiah is something of a counterpart to Hosea in terms of what he lived through in the south: the decline and fall of the house of David. Isaiah was more of a contemporary to Hosea. Ezekiel is a prophet to the exiles, most of whose hearts are not converted despite the trial. Haggai, Zechariah, & Malachi are all post-exilic, and continue the effort to reform a still-rebellious people, who are hard to make-ready for Messiah's coming.

Finally, I echo the principle of reading with a Messianic-consciousness. The hope of God's people is always in what the Promised One will do for them. And his salvation is dyed in moral or ethical color. This is often misunderstood as, "be good, so Messiah will come." This is how the Jewish faith down to this day reads the prophets. But the reality was (and is, with reference to the Second Coming), "Repent, no matter how good you think you are, because Messiah is coming."

When we get to heaven, let's hang out sometime.

 

[jwithnell]

You should have no trouble if you remember that Gog is Russia and Magog is Iran ...

Seriously, aside from what's been mentioned, I have found good sermon series to be extremely helpful along with G. Vos Biblical Theology (though other prefer more recent volumes of this nature). Though Ezekiel and the latter part of Danial are still extremely foreign to me.

 

[Tbordow]

Jon,

It helps me to remember that the prophets have a two-fold ministry to Israel - to execute a covenant lawsuit against them, i.e, judgment, according to the conditions laid out in mostly in Deuteronomy, but also prophesy of a new and better covenant coming, using the culture and language of Israel's understanding ( a resurrected David, wine, rebuilt tabernacle, etc...) to foretell the coming glories of the new covenant. What you have to be ready for us the often abrupt change from the first theme to the second in the prophetic literature.

 

[sevenzedek]

Thanks for the help PB.

 

[jgilberAZ]

It helps me to read them chronologically ... ie, to read the prophets in the context of the greater narrative (Kings/Chronicles).

Try this:

www.esv.org/assets/pdfs/rp.chronological.pdf

 

[GulfCoast Presbyterian]

Anthony Hoekema's book: The Bible and the Future was helpful to me, as was Kim Riddlebarger's book: A Case Foe Amillennialism.


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