The Prophets
I wanted to begin a series of articles on the prophets but thought an introduction to prophets may be helpful. I know in my youth I had very little detailed knowledge of the prophets. I knew the children’s story about Jonah and knew the names, but I only had a vague awareness at best of the topics. I can distinctly remember a chapel talk by one of my fellow students at college where he talked about the possibility of meeting one of the minor prophets in heaven and if you would have any idea of what his book was about. This really struck me and got me on a path of wanting to study the prophets in more detail.
When you look at the life of a typical prophet, it was honestly hard. Elijah asks to die at his lowest. Isaiah is told to go around naked for three years. Hosea is told to marry a prostitute. Jeremiah is dumped into a pit. Ezekiel has to lay on his side for over a year. Even harder, he was told his wife would die and he was not to mourn. This was all on top of preaching an unpopular message. It was not an easy life.
So – what is a prophet exactly? The dictionary defines it as one who is an inspired teacher or proclaimer of the will of God. Moses was called a prophet and his sister, Miriam, a prophetess as she sang her song after crossing the Red Sea. Samuel is called a prophet. and there is Elijah and Elisha during the time of Ahab. Prophets are not only the men listed in the last few books of the Old Testament. In some cases, we may only have a verse or two about a prophet. For each of the books named for a prophet, these men wrote down their message. The major prophets have this description because of the length of the books – in the same way, the minor prophets are called this due to their brevity. Moses, in Deuteronomy chapter 13, detailed how to test to confirm a prophet is from God. If that prophet tells you to follow other gods – then you know he is NOT a prophet of God. This is an important test because by the time you get to the kings, you will see the word prophet associated with the prophets of Baal. A prophet of God is one who proclaimed the will of God.
Why did God need to send these men? It really points to His deep love and mercy that He continues to send men to call His people back to Him. In 2 Chron. 24:19, it states “Nevertheless, He sent them prophets to bring them back to the Lord; they admonished them, but the people would not listen.” The intent was to bring the people back to the Lord. These were men who were meant to be guides to the people and to give warnings about the consequences if they continued the path they were on.
One thing to keep in mind as you read the prophets is that the literary style is significantly different than what we are used to in most cases. There are some historical interludes in books like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel – but many of these books use poetic language and Hebrew literature techniques such as repetition. There is even apocalyptic language that utilizes metaphors and symbols to the extreme. However, one thing to keep in mind when reading all of these prophets is that the writing in these books is based on the original covenant made between God and His people back in Genesis and Exodus. Keep in mind that a covenant is not a business contract like we would think of today, but rather an agreement around a permanent relationship between two parties based on faithfulness, obedience, and trust. It is vital that we understand this principle of a covenant as well as understand the very real differences in the literary styles in order to comprehend and interpret the prophets accurately.
So why study these books today? Honestly, their message is still as valuable and true today as it was then. When you really read these books, you discover it sounds similar to our times and the issues we face. As Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes – there is nothing new under the sun. In the same way, this basic message doesn’t change. You also understand very quickly that God has never wanted rote acts from His people, but the true acts of faithfulness – seeking justice, loving mercy, walking humbly. Finally, it gives a deeper richness and depth to the New Testament scriptures where these prophets are so often quoted and referred back to. Peter, in 2 Peter 3:2, states that he is writing to his audience to help them recall the word of the prophets and the commands of Jesus. We need to know the words of the prophets in order to recall them and understand their importance in scripture. So, my prayer would be that we can all dig a little deeper into these texts together to discover these men and the message that they have to convey.
