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Home , Ahijah, Amos (prophet), Deborah, Elijah, Ezra, Haggai

THE PROPHETIC

INTRODUCTION Exile. About 750 B.C., the earliest "literary ," , appeared. In the Our contains a number of that bears his name we have a collection that we classify as prophetic litera­ of his oracles, visions, and some bio­ ture. , , and are graphical information. Similar materials called the Major because the are found in the other writing prophets. books that bear their names are longer We often speak of the preexilic than the books of , , , prophets-Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, , Amos, , , Micah, , , Nahum, and Jeremiah, and , Zephaniah, , Zechariah, perhaps Habakkuk and Obadiah. The dat­ and (called the Minor Prophets, ing of some of the prophets is uncertain. primarily because their length is shorter Jonah is nl0re a story about a prophet than than the Major Prophets). a collection of prophetic oracles. The Daniel is not included among the story is set in the preexilic period. prophets in the second section of the The Old Testament prophets warned Hebrew . That book is placed in the and of a national disaster that third section of the canon, the Holy would come upon them from the Lord Writings (Hagiographa). Daniel is consid­ because of religious and social ered a sage in Jewish , which injustice. They spoke out against kings, helps to explain the book's place in the , and people as spokespersons for third section, composed primarily of the Lord. The key phrase that introduces books of wisdom. their oracles again and again is, "Thus says the LORD." PROPHETS IN ISRAEL Before Israel, the Northern Kingdom, In , non-Israelite prophets are was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 acknowledged (Numbers 22:2), but the B.C., Amos and Hosea had prophesied prophetic tradition in Israel was extraordi­ there. The remainder of the literary nary in the numbers and fervor of the prophets spoke to the . prophets. Before the establishment of the The oracles of the preexilic prophets were monarchy, tradition recalls , carried to by devout disciples. , , , and as There they played an important role in the prophets. Six important figures appeared religious reforms of the people before the from the eleventh to the ninth centuries: return. , , , , , All of Ezekiel and the last half of Isaiah and . To all of them the term encouraged the in exile. Obadiah and prophet was applied. These are the "non­ possibly Daniel are also set in this period. literary" prophets. They were endowed They gave hope of . After the with prophetic and sometimes miraculous return to and until the time of powers. Sometimes groups of persons (about 430 B.C.), Zechariah, Haggai, were associated with a , Joel, and Malachi prophesied. They are such as Elisha. called the postexilic prophets. According The great age of was during to Jewish tradition, the prophetic spirit left the Divided Kingdom period and into the Israel in the time of Ezra.

THE PROPHETIC LITERATURE 79 THE PROPHETIC MESSAGE ahead of their time in social, moral, and humanitarian issues. They taught that Prophets were spokespersons for . religious ritual without a genuine concern They were "forthtellers" more than "fore­ for the welfare of the weaker members of tellers." Their predictions usually concern , an approaching day society was unacceptable before God. of destruction, due to the sin and rebellion This idea prepared for the survival of the of the people. But later generations could Jewish religion when the Temple was often see how the words of the prophets destroyed. spoke to their times and to the future. This While they described the suffering that characteristic of prophecy is in line with would come as the result of transgression, the recognition that the word of God is the prophets also planted the idea that a living and active. remnant would return. This idea gave rise The influence of the prophets grew to the messianic hopes of postexilic times. after the destruction of Jerusalem when Even in the postexilic era, the prophets the doom they had foretold came about. continued to look forward to a bright The prophets inspired the religious con­ future for God's people. Thus Malachi, cept of ethical . This is the the last of the Old Testament prophets, concept of God as the only ruler of the closes with the promise: "Lo, I will send universe. you the prophet Elijah before the great The biblical prophets emphasized the and terrible day of the LORD conles" (4:5). relationship between God and Israel was the fulfillment of through the . They were well that prophecy (Matthew 11: 11-15).

BOOKS OF THE BIBLE 80