It is important to note that all the Old Testament promises looking forward to a time of restoration for the Jews were given in anticipation of their return from captivity (see Isaiah 10:24-34; 14:1-7; 27:12, 13; 40:2; 61:4-10; Jeremiah 16:14-16; 23:3-8; 25:11; 29:10-13; 30:3-12; 32:7-27, 37-44; Ezekiel 34:11-15; 37; Amos 9:10-15; Micah 2:12, 13; etc.). To pray by faith for God to fulfill His promises, we must be obedient to Gods difficult commands. 4. Some believe that the prophet refers to the conquest of Jerusalem at the time of King Jehoram (2 Kings 8:20-22; 2 Chronicles 21:8-10, 16, 17) in the 9th century; others believe that the prophet is speaking of Jerusalems destruction by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. Then Gabriel came to reassure him of the restoration of his people and the eventual coming of the Messiah (verses 24, 25). Answer Isaiah's opening statement in the Book of Isaiah, that he lived during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, means that he actually lived in the eighth century BCE. He was therefore a somewhat younger contemporary of Isaiah, to whose vocabulary and terminology his prophecies show great similarity (Micah 4:1-4; cf. It was ordained of God to meet the needs of His people at the time it was given and to remind them of the glorious destiny that awaited them as a nation, of the coming of the Messiah, and of the establishment of His eternal kingdom. In Gods Economy toward His Chosen People 1. Inasmuch as it is possible to date the kings of Judah and Israel, especially the later ones, with comparatively high accuracy, the various reigns during which these sixteen prophets ministered have been entered in this chart according to the tentative chronology used in this commentary. Isaiah He probably died in the Nile country. Had Israel as a nation preserved her allegiance to Heaven, Jerusalem would have stood forever, the elect of God (Jeremiah 7:7; 17:25). It was their unwillingness to submit to the restrictions and requirements of God that prevented them, to a great extent, from reaching the high standard which He desired them to attain, and from receiving the blessings which He was ready to bestow upon them. The last part of the lecture turns to Second Isaiah and the famous servant songs that find a universal significance in Returning to their homelands, the Gentile ambassadors would counsel their fellow countrymen, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord (Zechariah 8:21, 22; cf. They were to become a nation of intellectual geniuses, and feebleness of mind would eventually have been unknown among them. COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PROPHETS ISAIAH, DANIEL, AND ZECHARIAH According to Jewish tradition Isaiah was sawn asunder. Remember that the record of Gods dealings with His people in ages past has been recorded for the benefit of all later generations to the end of time. Superior intellect. 2. What are the common divisions of Isaiah made by contemporary scholars? Copyright 2008 - http://www.BibleChronologyTimeline.com. Hearing of all the advantages with which the God of Israel had blessed His people and all the prosperity He had procured for them (Jeremiah 33:9), the pagan nations would admit that their own fathers had inherited lies (chapter 16:19). Having declined, thus, to surrender themselves to God as His agents for the salvation of the human race, the Jews, as a nation, became agents of Satan for the destruction of the race. Obadiahs prophecy, directed against Edom, presupposes that a looting of Jerusalem and a carrying away of many Jews into captivity had recently taken place. WebThe great prophet Jeremiah lived during one of the most critical periods in Jewish history. All rights reserved. 3. Also, Jeremiah (chapter 26:18), quoting Micah (chapter 3:12), testifies that Micah ministered during Hezekiahs time. A Anathoth 51 Q Who became king of Babylon about the same time as Jeremiah was called by God? Post Exile c. 530 BC First view (and traditional one) is that Daniel was written immediately after the Babylonian exile ended and many Jews returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. 5. WebJer 31:34. When Messiah came, His own people, the Jews, received him not (John 1:11). WebEzekiels use of dramatic prophetic signs, his rejection of collective divine punishment and assertion of individual responsibility are discussed. The prophet Hosea was a citizen of the northern kingdom of Israel, whose ruler, Jeroboam II, is called by the prophet, our king (chapters 1:1; 7:5). A comparison between some of his prophecies and those of Amos indicates that Hosea was a younger contemporary of Amos (cf. But when the Jews rejected Christ there was no such assurance of reinstatement. 740-700 B.C. The consecutive order of the book of Haggai would indicate that his whole recorded ministry lasted not longer than 31/2 months, beginning (chapter 1:1) on August 29, 520 B.C., and extending, in his last two recorded speeches (chapter 2:10, 20), to December 18, 520. Jeremiah 49:14, 16), and Joel (Obadiah 15, 17; cf. The day, before, He had called it my house (chapter 21:13), but henceforth He no longer owned it as His. This article surveys the fundamental problem of the interpretation of the prophetic portions of the Old Testament in terms of their message to Israel of old and to the church today. What archaeological evidence implies Isaiah was a unified book? Through His people Christ is to manifest His character and the principles of His kingdom. Tell them that in Isaiah 9, Jesus entire life and death is referenced. In other words, they prophesied and ministered about the same time. Literal Jews may still find salvation by being grafted into spiritual Israel, in precisely the same way that Gentiles are to be grafted in (verses 23, 24). When the Jews rejected Christ as the Messiah, God in turn rejected them and commissioned the Christian church as His chosen instrument for the salvation of the world (Matthew 28:19, 20; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20; 1 Peter 2:9, 10; etc.). Had Israel measured up to the noble ideal, all of the promises contingent upon obedience would long since have been fulfilled. But it is only against the background of the original historical context of the message that its meaning and value for us can be established with certainty. All nations of earth were to share in the blessings so generously bestowed upon Israel. Yet the book contains no clear indication of the time in which the prophet lived. It was therefore not alone unto themselves and to their contemporaries that the prophets ministered, but also to all sincere men and women of later generations (1 Peter 1:12). WebThis tables shows the reigns of each of the Kings of Judah and Israel, together with the dates and lengths of the reigns, and the prophets who were active at that time. Similarly, the ways in which God dealt with men in crises of the past are often cited as examples of the manner in which He will deal with all the world in the last day (see on Deuteronomy 18:15). Several of the prophets messages are dated exactly, and the last of these dated prophetic messages was received in the 27th year of Ezekiels captivity (chapter 29:17), 571/70. This fact is recognized by the various New Testament writers, who quoted Isaiah more than 90 times. Few passages of Scripture are more commonly misunderstood and variously interpreted than those containing the divine promises made to ancient Israel through the prophets. In the endeavor to account for this seeming enigma, Bible expositors have set forth various explanations: 1. But the Scriptures record the fact that they disobeyed God and proved disloyal to Him instead. Now it is spiritual Israel, in the past not a people but now the people of God, that are to shew forth the praises of the One who has called them out of darkness into his marvellous light (1 Peter 2:9, 10). The formal rejection of Jesus by the Jews, as a nation, marked the close of their last opportunity as the special agents of God for the salvation of the world. Prophets: Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel 1 Peter 2:6-8; 1 Corinthians 1:23) but this need not mean that they are to fallGod forbid, he exclaims (Romans 11:1, 22). Dead sea scrolls. Eventually, however, it became apparent that the Jews would never measure up to the standard God required of them, as Malachi makes evident (chapters 1:6, 12; 2:2, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 17; 3:7, 13, 14). Nothing is impossible with God. Nehemiahs first term lasted from 444 to 432 B.C. Jeremiah 12:14-16). Obedience to the law of God would make them marvels of prosperity before the nations of the world, living witnesses to the greatness and majesty of God (Deuteronomy 8:17, 18; 28:11-13). WebThere are four major prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. They forgot that God abhors a multiplication of the forms of religion (Isaiah 1:11-18; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:7; Malachi 2:13), and asks of man nothing but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with his God (Micah 6:8; cf. Between the return from Babylon and the rejection of the Messiah, Israel was to have its second and final opportunity as a nation to cooperate with the divine plan (see Jeremiah 12:14-17). Another reason to trust God is there is nothing too complicated for Him. From generation to generation these holy men of God (2 Peter 1:21) called Israel to repentance and righteousness and kept alive the Messianic hope. Since the hostile acts of the heathen peoples committed against Judah (chapter 3:4 ff.) As the nations of antiquity should behold Israels unprecedented progress, their attention and interest would be aroused. The prophets vivid description of the catastrophe that had befallen Thebes leaves the impression that the event was still fresh in the memory of the people, whereas Assyrias power, although waning, was not yet near its end. If chapter 52, a historical appendix, was written by the prophet, he must have lived until 561, when Jehoiachin was released from prison by King Evil-Merodach of Babylon (see chapter 52:31). Furthermore, Old Testament prophecy must first be examined in terms of its historical application to literal Israel before the validity of a derived application to spiritual Israel may be undertaken. The material advantages that Israel enjoyed were designed to arrest the attention and catch the interest of the heathen, for whom the less obvious spiritual advantages had no natural attraction. Since Josiah came to the throne as a child, he must have lived under a regent, which explains why no king is mentioned by Joel. He went to Bethel, a sanctuary city of the northern kingdom, to deliver prophecies of warning, reproof, and doom to Israel. The postexilic view.The absence of any reference to a king of Judah or to Assyria or Babylon, the reference to the hostility of Tyre and Sidon, and the mention of Greeks have been taken by some commentators as evidence for a postexilic date for Joel. They voluntarily accepted God as their sovereign, and this constituted the nation a theocracy. The glorious promises originally made to literal Israel are meeting their fulfillment today in the proclamation of the gospel to all men (Revelation 14:6, 7). Isaiah and Jeremiahs preaching against false idols and false prophets, mutual oppressions between nations, and against general injustice remains timely. answer. Thus Israel was to blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit (Isaiah 27:6). In fact, this procedure is responsible more than anything else for the fanciful interpretations that distinguish the teachings of certain religious groups. These observations seem to place Zephaniah in the early years of Josiahs reign, perhaps about 630 B.C., as a contemporary of Habakkuk. 6465). Its people were given no promise of complete restoration to their former power in Palestine. Thus. With the crucifixion of Christ they forever forfeited their special position as Gods chosen people. logos.com Finally, it was demonstrated before the universe that, apart from God, humanity could not be uplifted, and that a new element of life and power must be imparted by Him who made the world. Jeremiah 32:17 highlights this point by stating, "O Sovereign Lord! Even the heathen would recognize the superiority of those who served and worshiped the living God. Who became king of Babylon about the same time that Jeremiah was called by God. Aha was used as an expression of malicious joy. The 7th-century view.This view holds that Joels ministry seems to fit into the early years of Josiah, when Assyrian power was nearing its end and Babylon was still a weak kingdom. In that day every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts (Zechariah 14:16; cf. Unparalleled prosperity. Since no conclusive evidence for any of these three views exists, all are presented here: 1. Thus it was with Moses, of whom, to the very day of his death, it could be said that his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated (Deuteronomy 34:7). They looked for Messiah to reign as a temporal prince (cf. Prophecies of the Restoration (Ezekiel 2548) So early a date for Jonah1s ministryabout 790 B.C.fits well into Assyrian history. by means of a broken line. This prophecy must have been pronounced either before Jeroboam came to the throne (approximately 793 B.C.) (This rule does not apply to those portions of the book of Daniel that the prophet was bidden to shut up and seal, or to other passages whose application Inspiration may have limited exclusively to our own time.).