THE PROPHETS

Our second division of the Old Testament, as the Jewish people follow it, is The Prophets. This large section of Scripture covers 21 books of the English Bible, ranging from right after the Exodus to about 400 years before the birth of Christ.

The prophets maintained significant roles in the religious life of Israel. Just as mothers typically maintain order and routine in the home, the prophets kept the people of Israel in check.

What is a prophet? Walton and Hill offer a simple, but helpful, definition. They write,

“A prophet is best understood as a spokesperson for deity—a mouthpiece for God, though not a passive one.”

John H. Walton and Andrew E. Hill, Old Testament Today: A Journey from Ancient Context to Contemporary Relevance 2nd Ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013), 250.

These mouthpieces for God would proclaim messages of comfort to people in trouble. These spokesmen would faithfully declare proclamations of God’s coming wrath at unrepentant sin.

Now, our goal isn’t to examine these prophets in an academic or laboratory fashion. Our goal is to sit in the doctor’s office of God’s Word and allow the messages of these prophets to perform a thorough examination of our own hearts and lives. Just as the nation of Israel was prone to wander, so too our hearts are prone to leave the God we love. The message of the prophets, the message of the entire Old Testament, is come to God. Whether it involves a forsaking of sin, a clean break with a spiritually adulterous relationship, or a reminder of the grace-filled comfort of God, we need the messages of the prophets today.

Before we dive into these twenty-one books, I want to give you one more reminder of how The Prophets fit within the larger text of Scripture. The prophets, as mouthpieces for God, foretold of the Coming Messiah, that Seed of the Woman () and the Blessing of Abraham (), by describing Him in every-increasing light and clarity, specifying His birth, the events surrounding His brith, and even His life, ministry, and death.

I. THE FORMER PROPHETS

The Hebrew people divided this section of Scripture into two: the former prophets and the latter prophets. This division is due to the authors of the former prophets were viewed by the Jewish people as actual prophets. There were four books in the Hebrew Bible that consisted the Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. In the Hebrew collection, 1 and 2 Samuel were one book, and the Greek Translation of the OT (Septuagint) divided them into two books: 1 and 2 Kings, while what we know as 1 and 2 Kings was denoted as 3 and 4 Kings. I know, its a little confusing, but I had to go a little nerdy this morning.

A. THE BOOK OF JOSHUA

Joshua’s name is the Hebrew version of the Greek name Jesus. His book picks up the history of Israel as they are transitioning from the wilderness to the land God promised them in . Joshua’s book is a helpful analogy of the life of the Christian.

As Joshua fought battles against the physical enemies of Israel, we are reminded that we are engaged in warfare, though our warfare is spiritual against the forces of darkness and our own flesh. For connecting Scripture, see: ; and .

The key to Joshua and Israel’s victory can be found in .

Joshua 1:8 ESV

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

God directly tells Joshua the importance of meditating and obeying Scripture provides blessing and success. Now, this does not apply to us the same way it did to Joshua. We do not necessarily enjoy physical blessings as we obey God. In fact, there are times in which obeying God can be extremely costly, even up to our very lives. However, believers today can meditate and obey the Scriptures and lead blessed lives, fulfilled, joy-saturated and God-glorying lives.

Before moving on from want to highlight that God kept His promise to Abraham. In Joshua demonstrates that God is actively keeping His promise to the people of Isreal. What a comforting thought that we serve the same promise-keeping God!

B. THE BOOK OF JUDGES

If Joshua is a book of encouragement, Judges is a book of discouragement. But the discouragement is due to the failures of Israel to stay faithful to God (remember Joshua’s charge in ), not to a failure on God’s part. And this gives us a glimpse into our own struggles with the flesh (natural desires that are horrendously marred by our fallen natures). You can see your sermon notes for the Judges’ Cycle. The key verses for understanding the framework of Judges (and its connection to the rest of Scripture) are and .

Judges 17:6 ESV

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Judges 21:25 ESV

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Israel would forsake God, then God would punish them through foreign powers, then Israel would repent, and God would restore them, and then the cycle would repeat itself. I encourage you to use that little graphic the next time you read Judges. Jot down the references for each time you come across those points, and it will be a profitable study. We see this cycle in the life of Paul in .

Romans 7:15–20 ESV

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

Judges reminds us of the battle we have in sin and the results of not living in submission to our King, Jesus. It helps us also see God’s remarkable grace. Israel sins over and over again, and each time they repent, God forgives. It reminds us of David’s words in , “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”

Psalm 32:1 ESV

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

But we must press on. Now we will look at...

C. THE BOOKS OF 1 & 2 SAMUEL AND 1 & 2 KINGS

This section finishes up the period of the judges with Samuel being the last judge and the first prophet. This large section of Scripture focuses on the development of the kingdom (a problem in the book of Judges). Most important to our overview is the Davidic covenant, found in .

2 Samuel 7:8–16 ESV

Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”

2 Samuel 7:1–17 ESV

Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.” But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” ’ Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ” In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

The focus is on the development of God’s Covenant, introduced in and 12:3, and established in the Mosaic Covenant, is refined in this Davidic Covenant. Sam Renihan helps clear up the confusion for me when he writes,

“Abraham’s inheritance of Canaan continues to determine the boundaries of the kingdom. The Mosaic Covenant simply expands on the obligations of the people in that land. And the Davidic Covenant focuses the kingdom into one person through whom obedience must be rendered and through whom blessings and curses will fall on the nation.”—Sam Renihan

[Sam Renihan, The Mystery of Christ: His Covenant & His Kingdom (Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press, 2019), 134.]

This covenant that God made with David is the very line through whom the Seed of the woman, the Blessing of Abraham, would come. But with the glories of King David and Solomon, we also witness the division of the Kingdom to Israel (the northern 10 tribes) and Judah (Benjamin later on and Judah). The kingdom, through the wickedness of the kings, has been severed. The people of Israel, following their track record of struggling with idolatry, would face destruction and exile from the land promised. This leads us to the Latter Prophets.

II. THE LATTER PROPHETS

The Later Prophets, the second half of the section of The Prophets, mirrors the first section with four books: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve (what we call the Minor Prophets). Now, if you are unlike me and are excellent at math, you will notice we have only covered 6 out of 21 books. Because of this, and due to the limited nature of many of the Latter Prophets’ books, we will fly through some of these.

A. THE BOOK OF ISAIAH

Isaiah was written to help save Judah from their apostasy, that is, their failure to worship God as the only true God. His book displays God in a glorious and unrivaled manner. But Isaiah also contributes much to our understanding of the Seed of the Woman, as Isaiah tells us that He will be born of a Virgin ().

Isaiah 7:14 ESV

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

And that He would be the “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” And “of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” ()

Isaiah 9:6–7 ESV

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

There are so many more prophecies about the Messiah, this Seed of the woman, the blessings to all nations from the seed of Abraham, however, Isaiah also presents much material dealing with the judgments of Israel and other nations. Which leads us to our next book of focus: Jeremiah.

B. THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH

Jeremiah had an extensive ministry to the Jewish people, none of which repented from their sins. In fact, Jeremiah’s book is filled with much persecution and mistreatment.

As with many of the Old Testament prophets, Jeremiah sought to rid Israel and Judah of their idolatry. And in Scripture, this idolatry is often pictured as spiritual adultery. Consider and