Poetic and Prophetic Literature of the Old Testament
RELG 301
Modules 9-15 Notes - The Prophetic Literature of the Old Testament
The sequence in which we will study the prophets is not the sequence in which their writings are presented in the Bible. We will study the prophetic writings in roughly chronological order, rather than read through them in their order in the Bible.
The prophetic books in the Bible were arranged more by their length than by their dates. When assembling the individual scrolls into the Tanakh (the Jewish scriptures), the Jews put the long books first, and called them the "Major Prophets", then they put all the shorter ones together and called them "the Twelve", or the "Minor Prophets". The terms Major and Minor do not indicate a difference in importance - they merely indicate that a book is long or short.
The Tanakh recognizes three "Major Prophets" - Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. The Books of Lamentations and Daniel were classified as "Writings". Christian Bibles do not have a section of "Writings", so Lamentations and Daniel are classed as Prophetic literature.
In Christian Bibles, there are four Major Prophets, placed before the Minor Prophets. They are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Because the Book of Lamentations is closely associated with Jeremiah it is placed just after the Book of Jeremiah
Most of the Prophetic Books can be dated on internal evidence (they say which kings were reigning, etc.)
The Book of Joel is undated, but it was possibly placed before Amos because parts of a verse near the end of Joel (3:16 [4:16 in Hebrew]) and one near the beginning of Amos (1:2) are identical. Also we can find in both Amos (4:9 and 7:1-3) and Joel a description of a plague of locusts.
All the prophets address the relationship between people and God, so they all contain the underlying theme of the sinfulness of unredeemed human nature. Human sinfulness expresses itself in rebellion and disobedience towards God, and the worship of other things (idolatry). It also affects the way we treat other people - oppression, injustice, cruelty.
The inability of humanity to "save" itself from the consequences of unredeemed human nature also brought into focus the need for a Savior or Redeemer, and the theme of God's provision of a Messiah (an anointed Savior) is also present in the Prophetic literature.
The conditions under which the various prophets lived varied throughout the history of Israel, so the emphasis of their message varies somewhat, to address the current problems of their social and spiritual environment.
For the "Writing Prophets" - those whose writings are included as Books in the Bible - the times stretch from the period of the Divided Monarchy to that of the Return from Exile in Babylon
During the period of the Divided Monarchy (ca.931 BC to 722 BC)
The Kingdom of Israel was in the north, and the Kingdom of Judah was centered on Jerusalem in the south. Jerusalem was in Judah, and was the place where the tribes were supposed to assemble for worship. The first king of the Northern Kingdom, Jeroboam I, was afraid that if his people visited Jerusalem they would eventually join up with Judah against him. So he made two religious cult centers featuring golden calves (typical Canaanite idols), in Bethel and Dan, and told his people that they had to worship in those places. (1 Kings 12:26-33)
The two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, were small compared to the powers of Egypt and Assyria (later Babylonia). They were also bordered by other small kingdoms who all tended to fight one another for pre-eminence. Part of making a political alliance in those days was for a vassal state to adopt the gods of a more powerful kingdom, or at least to build an altar to one of the gods of the powerful kingdom and offer sacrifices to the foreign god. So the prophets of this period tried to combat the increasing idolatry of kings, leaders, and people.
One technique used by several of the prophets of this period was to start their message with a public denouncement of the cruelties inflicted by some of the neighboring kingdoms, so their audience would get caught up in a wave of shouting "Yeah, God, zap those Philistines, stick it to those folk in Tyre, smash the Edomites - They deserve it, give it to them!". Then the prophet would "get to meddling" and show his audience that they had done the same sorts of things and were just as bad, and also needed to repent. (Amos 1:3-2:3, then 2:4-16; Isaiah, chapters 13, 15-21)
One of the popular themes of the prophets of this period was that God's love for His people was like the love of a husband for his wife. Some of the prophets were called upon to portray that in their own lives - Hosea was called to marry a woman whom he knew to be adulterous (Hosea 1:2-3), and although so far as we know Isaiah's wife was faithful, yet their child was to have a name that reflected the current situation (Isaiah 8:3-4)
During the period of the Kingdom of Judah alone (722 BC to 586 BC)
After the Northern Kingdom of Israel was invaded and fell to the Assyrians, the prophets used that as an example and warning to the remaining Kingdom of Judah. The leaders and people usually did not listen. The leaders were caught up in politics with the warring powers of Egypt and Assyria (later, Babylon). The people liked to follow some of the idolatrous fertility religions of neighboring nations. The rich and powerful thought only of themselves, and continued to cheat their workers and oppress the poor and needy.
During the period of the Exile in Babylon (586 BC to 538 BC)
Being taken into Exile in Babylon, knowing that Jerusalem and the Temple had been destroyed, was shattering to the Jews. The prophets were called to proclaim God's enduring love and care, and to reassure the Jews that God would provide deliverance and restoration. They were also called to speak to the other nations, to warn of a Day of Reckoning, and call all peoples to worship the true God.
After the Return from Exile (after 538 BC)
After a returning from Exile in Babylon, the Jews faced a very long hard job of rebuilding their city and their society. Neighboring nations were antagonistic and tried to prevent them rebuilding Jerusalem. The city was in ruins. The Temple had been totally destroyed. They were no longer a free country with their own king, but were a small state within a large Empire. There were problems with intermarriage between some of their leaders with foreign women (who did not bring up their children as Jews.) The rich continued to oppress and cheat the poor. A terrible feeling of depression started to develop, and the first impetus of rebuilding the city faltered and stopped. Only an Altar had been built. The work of rebuilding the Temple seemed to be too much for them. The prophets had to counteract the hopelessness of the leaders, and challenge them to renewed trust in God and obedience to God's call.
Copyright © 2025 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
