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Understanding and Interpreting the Prophets

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Understanding and Interpreting the Prophets Understanding & Interpreting the Prophets Understanding the Prophets: 1. About the Prophets • 17 Prophetical Books • 25% of the Scripture (17 of 66 books) • 2nd Division of the Hebrew Bible • Law (Pentateuch - History and the Law) and the Prophets • Former Prophets and Latter Prophets - Law and the Prophets - Former Prophets = Joshua, Judges, 1&2 Samuel, 1&2 Kings - Largely the history of God’s dealings with His people - From end of the wilderness wanderings to the Babylonian Captivity - Latter Prophets = Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel PLUS 12 minor prophets - Latter = More about their place in the Canon1 than chronological order of appearance - Male and female prophets - Writing Prophets and Oral Prophets - Writing = Left written records of their ministry (All the prophets whose written work bears their name - Oral = Left no records that survived (e.g., Nathan, Elijah, Elisha) - Major & Minor Prophets = So designated because of the length of their works not the significance of their work • Characteristics - “Prophet” = Derived from 2 Greek words that literally mean, “speak for” - Greek word translated ‘Prophet’ occurs more than 300 times - Greek word means: one who has been called or appointed to proclaim the message of God Himself = divinely chosen spokesmen who received and related God’s messages in oral, visual, or written form - God spoke through: dreams, visions, angels, nature, miracles, an audible voice - The True Prophet = 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who presumes to 1 Refers to the whole of the Scriptures as the authoritative Word of God Myers, A. C. (1987). In The Eerdmans Bible diconary (p. 187). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. 1 Pastor Larry Taylor, July 01, 2020 Understanding & Interpreting the Prophets speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ 2. About the Prophet’s Message: • They wrote from the 9th - 5th Centuries B.C. • Foretelling and Forthtelling - Foretelling future events - Forthtelling required knowledge of the law, spiritual insight, courage, & boldness = (Heb 11:33–38) — “33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.”2 • Four Major Themes - They exposed the sinful practices of the people. - They called the people back to the moral, civil, and ceremonial law of God. - They warned the people of coming judgment. - They anticipated the coming Messiah. More than 300 OT prophecies were precisely fulfilled by Messiah. More than 400 more remain to be fulfilled when He comes again. — Talk Thru the Bible, p. 187 • Delivering the Message - Some were given orally - Some were acted out (Exek. 4:1-17) — 1 “And you, son of man, take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem. 2 And put siegeworks against it, and build a siege wall against it, and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around. 3 And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; and set your face toward it, and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is a sign for the house of Israel. 4 “Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their punishment. 5 For I assign to you a number of days, 390 days, equal to the number of the years of their punishment. So long shall you bear the punishment of the house of Israel. 6 And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of 2 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Heb 11:33–38). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. 2 Pastor Larry Taylor, July 01, 2020 Understanding & Interpreting the Prophets Judah. Forty days I assign you, a day for each year. 7 And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city. 8 And behold, I will place cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed the days of your siege.” 9 “And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer, and put them into a single vessel and make your bread from them. During the number of days that you lie on your side, 390 days, you shall eat it. 10 And your food that you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from day to day you shall eat it. 11 And water you shall drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin; from day to day you shall drink. 12 And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung.” 13 And the Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.” 14 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself. From my youth up till now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has tainted meat come into my mouth.” 15 Then he said to me, “See, I assign to you cow’s dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread.” 16 Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the supply of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water by measure and in dismay. 17 I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and look at one another in dismay, and rot away because of their punishment.” - Sometimes the message was immediately written down - Frequently, their message was not collected and written down until later (Jer. 36:2) - They repeatedly began and ended their messages with: • “Thus says the Lord” • “Thus declares the Lord;” • “An oracle of the Lord” • “The Lord God came to me and said.” In almost every case, God warned His people and called them to repent. He showed them deep and undeserved grace (Israel, Judah and the nations as well) The Interpretation of Prophecy: To accurately interpret what the prophets said and wrote, it is important to keep several things in tension: • Prophets spoke in the context and background of their times • Prophets each emphasize chronological periods of time: - Their own day - The captivity / return - The first coming of Christ 3 Pastor Larry Taylor, July 01, 2020 Understanding & Interpreting the Prophets - The Messianic Kingdom • “The chronology was not as important in their minds as the events themselves, and they sometimes blurred the distinctions between the four periods. Some events were literally fulfilled, some were partially fulfilled, and some are yet unfulfilled. Their messages use symbols and figures of speech, but they point to real events.” — Talk Thru…., p. 187 • Their prophecies span the times from their individual days to the New Heaven and the New Earth • Of the seventeen writing prophets: - Twelve writing prophets were pre-exhilic - Two were exhilic - Three were post-exilic Jonah, Amos, Hosea Early Prophets from Israel Steve Burch Micah & Isaiah Early Prophets from Judah Pastor Taylor Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Joel Late Pre-Exile Prophets Steve Burch Jeremiah, Lamentations, Obadiah Late Pre-Exile Prophets Steve Burch Ezekiel Exile Prophet to (Israel) Pastor Taylor Daniel Exile Prophet to (Israel) Steve Burch Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi Post Exile Prophets (Israel) Pastor Taylor 4 Pastor Larry Taylor, July 01, 2020.
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