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THE PROPHETS (NEVI’IM) II

Individual Spokespersons for God (Chapter 7)

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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;

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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.

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The Latter Prophets:

- The prophets, whose oracles received canonical status, were active for several generations after the return from Exile in Babylon;

- however, editorial additions and revisions of almost all the prophetic books continued well into the last centuries BCE.

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The Latter Prophets:

The Three Major Prophets:

- Isaiah;

- Jeremiah;

- Ezekiel;

-The Twelve:

- Hosea; Joel; Amos; Obadiah; Jonah; Micah; Nahum; Habakkuk; Zephaniah; Haggai; Zechariah; Malachi.

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• 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 in Textbook);

• Most clustered at royal courts where they offered counsel or criticism to kings such as David, Solomon, etc.;

7The World of Elijah and Elisha.

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• 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.).

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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.

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• 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.

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The Three Major Prophets:

• Isaiah;

• Jeremiah; and

• Ezekiel.

• Ranking probably derives as much from the length of the book as from their theological influence.

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The Twelve Minor 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.

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• 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.

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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 in Textbook.)

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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;

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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.

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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.

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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).

23Tekoa in Judah: the village of Amos the prophet.

24Sycamore tree

25Sycamore tree

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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).

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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).

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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).

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Amos:

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

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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.

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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;

Chs. 40-66: cannot be earlier than the 6th century; reflect the fall of Jerusalem and the deportation to Babylon;

Within chs. 40-66, chs. 56-66 (or poss. 55-66) may date to an even later period, after the return from Babylonian Exile, that is, to the period after 538 BCE;

Thus: First, Second, and Third Isaiah.

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The Background of Isaiah:

Four Pivotal Moments:

1. The Syro-Ephraimite War of the mid-730s BCE and its aftermath;

2. The Assyrain Invasion (721 BCE);

3. The Conquest of Jerusalem (587 BCE) and the Exile (587-538 BCE);

4. The Return (538 BCE).

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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;

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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;

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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, “Events and Rulers in the Divided Kingdom”.)

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Some Extra-Biblical Evidence for the Events Described Above.

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

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

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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).

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Questions:

1. List the Latter Prophets (Nevi’im) of the Hebrew Bible.

2. Discuss the Prophets of the Hebrew Bible under the headings: (a) what did they see their function as being? (b) with what places were they usually associated? (c) in what periods did they flourish in ancient Israel? and (d) the manner of their message.

3. What are the Hebrew and Greek words for “prophet”? What do these words mean?

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4. Why did the final editors of the Hebrew Bible place the Latter Prophets immediately after the Deuteronomistic History?

5. What are the three critical periods to which most of the Latter Prophets belong?

6. Describe clearly the order of the Latter Prophets’ appearances.

7. Discuss Amos under the headings: a) the outline of the book; b) the person; c) his message; d) what does Amos see as the consequence of Israel's actions? e) the relationship between ethical behaviour and ritual observances; f) visions of judgment; and g) the place of the epilogue.

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8. Describe clearly the main divisions of the Book of Isaiah. What main events are necessary to understand the historical context in which these divisions are located?

9. a) Who was Jeremiah? b) At what period in history did he appear? c) What was the essence of his oracles? d) By whom were his pronouncements put down?

Shalom/Salem/Peace!