4.4 The Major Prophets
Key Concept
Major Prophets refers to messenger whose prophetic pronouncements are memorialized in long books that bears their name.
Key Terms
Major Prophet Decadence
Immanuel Prophecy Suffering Servant Second Isaiah Citadel
Massacre/Innocents Lamentations Vulgate Dry Bones
Son of Man
Outline
The Prophecy of the Major Prophets
A. The writing of the Major Prophets spans three centuries from eighth to the fifth century before Christ.
B. Prophecy had three purposes.
1. They offered guidance for future conduct Nathan confirms that a Temple should be built in Jerusalem. 2SM07:03
2. They offered moral correction. David sinned when he took Bathsheba as his wife. 2SM 12:01
3. They explained the consequences of keeping the covenant and violating the covenant. Amos predicts the destruct of the altars at Bethel. AM 03:14
C. Most importantly, they offer clues that can be used to understand Salvation History.
1. These prophecies focus on the Messianic Promise meaning the person who will offer salvation and eternal happiness to humanity, which explains how humanity will be saved.
2. The Day of the Lord refers to the time when the Messianic Promise will be fulfilled.
3. They also offer clues that can be used to validate the claims to Messiahship
Isaiah
A. Introduction
1. Active in the latter half of the Eighth century before Christ in the Kingdom of Judah.
2. He was born in Jerusalem around 765BC.
3. He received his prophetic call at the age of twenty-five.
4. He seems to have been well respected having access to the king.
5. He was married with two sons.
6. His prophecies cover about fifty years across the reigns of Judean kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
B. Historic Situation
1. His life and his prophecy focus on Jerusalem.
2. The Middle East was politically and militarily unstable.
3. The major power was Assyria.
a. The Assyrians conquered the North in 722BC.
b. Four times during Isaiah’s life, the Assyrians rolled into Judah, but they never conquer Jerusalem.
4. The kings of Judah sought alliances with Egypt and others against Assyria. Isaiah disapproved.
C. The Message of Isaiah
1. He foretold the fate of each of Judah’s enemies.
2. His most damning messages were against the Children of Israel.
a. End religious hypocrisy.
b. Not ritual and prayer, but do good and avoid evil.
c. Isaiah despised the decadence of the royal court. Decadence means to fall into a defective lifestyle because of self-indulgence and moral laxity.
3. Prophecies concerning the immediate future
a. The lack of moral rigor and genuine spiritual vigor would lead to the destruction of Judah.
b. A Holy Remnant would survive and return to Zion.
D. Second Isaiah refers to an anonymous prophet who lived near the end of the Babylonian Captivity.
1. This person had a valid call to be a prophet and may have been a student of Isaiah.
2. His material begins with chapter 40 and has a more consoling in his tone.
3. He foretells a Suffering Servant whose suffering and death will lead to the
forgiveness and salvation.
E. Structure of the Book of Isaiah Book of Judgment
01:01-05:30 Indictment of Israel & Judah 06:01-12:06 Immanuel Prophecy
13:01-23:18 Against Pagan Nations 24:01-27:13 Apocalypse of Isaiah
28:01-33:24 The Lord is Salvation 34:01-35:10 Zion’s Avenger 36:01-39:08 Historical Appendix Book of Consolation
40:01-48:21 Lord’s Glory/Israel’s Liberation 49:01-55:13 Expiation of Sin
56:01-66:24 Return from Captivity
Isaiah’s Messianic Prophecies
A. Isaiah foretold more about the Messiah than any other Old Testament prophet.
B. These prophecies taken as a whole point to Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah.
1. Immanuel Prophecy meaning that the Messiah will be born of a virgin (07:14) 2. Messiah will have both a divine and human nature. (09:06-07)
3. From Nazareth in Galilee (09:12) 4. Root of Jesse (11:01-05,10) 5. House of David (16:05)
6. Perform Miracles (29:18, 35:05-06) 7. House of Judah (37:31)
8. Save the Gentiles (42:01-06, 49:06) 9. Despised and rejected (49:07, 53:03)
Jeremiah
A. Introduction
1. Active in the late seventh, early sixth centuries before Christ in the Kingdom of Judah.
2. He was born in the village of Anathoth located three miles from Jerusalem.
a. Anathoth was in the territory of Benjamin, but it was one of the villages set aside for the priestly tribe of Levites.
b. Jeremiah’s father Hilkiah was a priest.
3. He received his prophetic call at the age of eighteen.
4. He was a quiet man who was persecuted for his fearless preaching.
5. He never married and had no children who suffered from loneliness.
6. His prophecies cover about forty years beginning in the thirteenth year of
Josiah’s reign and extending into the first years of the Babylonian Captivity.
B. Historic Situation
1. King Josiah of Judah died at Megiddo in a battle with the Egyptians.
a. Megiddo was a citadel city that guarded the western branch of a narrow pass through which ran a key
trade route between Egypt and the empires of Mesopotamia.
b. Citadel is a well-fortified town that guards a territory.
2. No strong successor followed and the situation for Judah worsened.
3. Babylon marched on Judah and the kingdom fell.
C. The Message of Jeremiah
1. He preached against religious laxity and the unjust practices in Judah.
2. He preached the destruction of the Temple if the people of Judah did not repent.
3. For over two decades he warned of the fall of Jerusalem.
4. When the captivity began he preached that the Jews should continue to marry and have children—they should multiply and not decrease in population.
5. Jeremiah taught that the captives should seek the welfare of city where God had sent them.
6. Jeremiah foretold that the coming of the Messiah would trigger the Massacre of the of the Innocent referring to Harrods’s murdering the male infants of Bethlehem in order to kill the Messiah
D. Jeremiah was aided by his disciple and scribe Baruch who escaped with him to Egypt.
E. Lamentations is a literary work consisting of poems that express the loss and suffering caused by the destruction of the Temple.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ in Scripture CDOPHRC01
Unit Number Unit Name Page 59 1. Vulgate attributed the lamentations to Jeremiah.
2. The Vulgate refers to the Latin translation of the Bible made by St Jerome in the late Fourth Century.
F. Structure of the Books of Jeremiah and Baruch Jeremiah
01:01-06:30 Oracles in the Days of Josiah 07:01-20:18 Oracles in the Days of Jehoiakim 21:01-33:26 Last Days of Jerusalem
34:01-45:05 Fall of Jerusalem
46:01-51:64 Oracles against the Nation 52:01-34 Historical Appendix
Baruch
01:01-03:08 Prayer of the Exiles
03:09-04:04 Praise for the Law of Moses 04:05-29 Jerusalem consoled
04:30-05:09 Letter of Jeremiah
Ezekiel
A. Introduction
1. Active during the Babylonian Captivity 2. He was the son of Buzi.
3. He lived in Babylon 4. He was a priest.
5. He married and his wife died leading to the only place in his book where he expresses any personal feelings.
6. He was deported to Babylon in 597BC.
7. He received his call in Babylon—the first person called to prophecy outside the Promised Land.
B. Historic Situation
1. Ezekiel’s preaching is to the Jewish exiles as opposed to the king.
2. His preaching and the response it generated among the Children of Israel have led Ezekiel to be called the father of Judaism.
C. The Message of Ezekiel
1. His early preaching prepared the exiles for the final destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem.
2. Ezekiel’s prophetic call was validated when the Temple was destroyed, 3. After the loss of the Temple, Ezekiel preached the coming of a new covenant and explained the conditions needed to obtain it.
a. People will need a new heart and a new spirit.
b. Only God can accomplish this—no human being can do it.
4. Ezekiel preaches the absolute majesty of God—all God acts are motive by zeal for His Holy Name.
D. Ezekiel’s Messianic Prophecies 1. Dry Bones Prophecy foretells the resurrection of the dead. (37:1-4) 2. Ezekiel foretells the restoration of the Davidic line. (34:20-24)
3. He foretells the return of God to the Temple (43:1-7)
E. Structure of the Book of Ezekiel 01:01-03:27 Call of the Prophet
04:01-24:27 Before the Siege of Jerusalem 25:01-32:32 Prophecies against Pagan Nations 33:01-39:29 Salvation for Israel
40:01-48:35 The New Israel
Daniel
A. Introduction
1. The author the Book of Daniel is unknown.
2. The name is taken from its hero, a young Jewish boy who had been taken to
Babylon during the early years of the captivity.
3. The contents of the book are more apocalyptic then prophetic.
4. The characters are likely based on one or more historic person.
5. The stories were popular and passed on for centuries before being collected.
B. Historic Situation
1. Although it is set during the Babylonian Captivity, it was written around 165BC during the persecution of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. This is the Maccabean Period.
2. The immediate purpose of the book as with all apocalyptic literature is to comfort and inspire people during persecution.
C. The Message of Daniel
1. Daniel and his companions illustrate that people of faith can resist temptation and triumph over adversity.
2. The book promises deliverance and glory to the Jews in the days ahead.
D. Daniel’s Messianic Prophecy 1. Daniel’s message is apocalyptic.
a. Prophetic messages call for action.
b. Apocalyptic messages call for patience.
2. Daniel foretell of a future time when God will act decisively on behalf of humanity’s salvation.
a. Prophecy emphasizes humanity’s cooperation with God.
b. Apocalyptic writing emphasizes God’s sovereign control.
3. Daniel says that one like the Son of Man will receive power and dominion.
a. The Son of Man unites the king in David’s line foretold by Nathan and the Holy Remnant into one figure who will bring salvation.
b. The Gospels refer to Jesus as the Son of Man 72 times in the New American Bible translation. MT-24, MK-12, LK-25, JN-11.
c. The rest of the New Testament refers to Jesus as the Son of Man four times. AA-1, HB-1, RV-2.
E. Structure of the Book of Daniel
01:01-06:29 Daniel and the King of Babylon 07:01-12:13 Daniel’s Visions
13:01-14:42 Appendix
Exercise
Read a section from one of the books of a Major Prophet Identify an example that illustrates the points in the outline concerning that book.
Applications
Find an article, photo, video clip, or music bite that illustrates renewed hope.
Discussion
Mr. Baldtempler assigned his students the task of determining what an apocalyptic vision might say if it were written today.
Faith Formation
Discuss a religious insight revealed by a Major Prophet.
Discuss an example of morality rewarded or immorality corrected by a Major Prophet.
How might you explain something that God revealed by a Major Prophet?
Review
1. What are some of the behaviors denounced by the prophets?
2. What are some of the themes that appear in the various books of the Major Prophets?
