Under Nebuchadnezzars successors Daniels service seems not to have been desired. by means of a broken line. Four eminent Hebrew prophets addressed themselves to the people of Israel and Judah in the latter half of the 8th pre-Christian century: Amos, Hosea, Micah, and Isaiah. It was Gods design that the whole earth be prepared for the first advent of Christ, even as to-day the way is preparing for His second coming. Nothing is known concerning the prophet Habakkuk beyond his name. The kings of Assyria, Babylonia, and Persia, whose dates for this period are well established, are shown in a separate column. For a graphic picture of how one nation would have responded to the irresistible appeal radiating from an Israel faithful to God, see Isaiah 19:18-22; cf. John 4:23, 24; 2 Tim. Then came a pause in his activity of almost two years, at the end of which Zechariah received another divine message, on December 6, 518 (chapter 7:1), recorded in chapters 7 and 8. Gods word is sure (Isaiah 40:8; 55:11; Romans 11:29), and His plan for the salvation of man will ultimately prevail (Isaiah 46:10). The British-Israel movement teaches that the Anglo-Saxon peoples are the literal descendants of the ten so-called lost tribes of the northern kingdom and that the promises will, in large measure, be fulfilled to their modern posterity. In these tragic events the words of Moses met their final and complete fulfillment: As the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goes to possess it. 3. The period following 750 BC, beginning with Hosea and Amos, is often referred to as the classical period of prophecy and those prophets as writing prophets. chapter 9:7; Isaiah 66:23). 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. Moses their great leader warned the people of Israel not to disobey the LORD or else: Jeremiah 12:14-16). This chart shows only those events that are mentioned in the Bible and that are of importance to an understanding of the prophetic messages. Deported to Babylon, they were to learn in adversity the lessons they had failed to learn during times of prosperity (Jeremiah 25:5-7; 29:18, 19; 30:11-14; 46:28; Ezekiel 20:25-38; Micah 4:10-12), and to impart to the heathen Babylonians a knowledge of the true God. The short book of Obadiah, consisting of only 21 verses, is not dated and its chronological setting is uncertain. The futurist school ignores both the conditional element pervading predictive prophecy, clearly and emphatically proclaimed by the prophets themselves, and the specific statements of the New Testament that affirm that the privileges and responsibilities of ancient Israel have, in Christ, been transferred to the church. A study of the Old Testament prophets that consists primarily of lifting selected passages here and there out of their historical context and arbitrarily applying them to our dayas if the prophet spoke exclusively for our benefitis fraught with grave danger. His work is characterized by skill in the use of language, a well-balanced syntax, and a lively and impressive poetry. Map Store - Download High-Res Maps and Images, 2023, Bible History | All rights reserved, Bibliography Resources on the Old Testament, Jeroboam II to Hoshea (Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz), to the Jews Before and During the Captivity. Had Jerusalem known what it was her privilege to know, and heeded the light that Heaven sent her, she would have stood forth in magnificent prosperity, the queen of kingdoms, the mighty metropolis of the earth, and would, like a noble vine, have filled the face of the world with fruit (Isaiah 27:6). It was Gods design that the whole earth be prepared for the first advent of Christ, even as to-day the way is preparing for His second coming. In an age when every wind of doctrine is blowing it is well to make certain that our understanding of Bible prophecy rests upon a positive Thus saith the Lord (see Deuteronomy 29:29; Isaiah 50:11; Jeremiah 2:13; Matthew 7:24-28; 1 Corinthians 2:4, 5, 12, 13; Eph. Nehemiah 13:23-27). In the 5th year of Jehoiachins captivity, 593/92, Ezekiel had his first vision by the river Chebar, a canal near the famous city of Nippur in lower Babylonia (chapter 1:1-3). Numbers 14:26-34. He states that he ministered under King Josiah (chapter 1:1), who reigned from 640 to 609 B.C. Roman Empire Map - Historical setting Unfortunately, Nehemiahs second term as governor cannot be dated, which fact makes it also somewhat difficult to date Malachi. Paul states the same truth in Romans 9:30, 31, where he makes it plain that the Christian church has replaced the Hebrew nation in the divine plan. He is commemorated by Christians on July 20 and is recognized as a prophet in Islam. Micah was a prophet from Moresheth-gath (chapter 1:1, 14), probably Tell ejJudeideh in southwestern Judah. The ministry of Amos may therefore have fallen in the years 767-753 B.C. Ezekiel 38:16, 18-23; 39:1-7). Since the hostile acts of the heathen peoples committed against Judah (chapter 3:4 ff.) Bible Commentary / Produced by TOW Project, 10 Key Points About Work in the Bible Every Christian Should Know, Beyond Rank and Power: What Philemon Tells Us About Leadership, Learning From the Psalms How to Pray Through Your Work, Situating the Prophets in Israels History, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Yet in mercy, God still bore with His people, and in due time Messiah came (Malachi 3:1-3). You can also change some of your preferences. According to His beneficent purpose, the covenant promises were to have met fulfillment in large measure during the centuries following the return of the Israelites from the lands of their captivity. <>/ExtGState<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> The student of the Bible who hopes to secure from it the greatest help will first proceed to reconstruct the historical context of each passage. Since only these two kings are mentioned, Amos seems to have prophesied during the time when both kings were sole rulers in their respective kingdoms. Israel would reply, Accept our God as your God, love and serve Him as we do, and He will do the same for you. The blessings thus assured Israel were, on the same conditions and in the same degree, assured to every nation and to every individual under the broad heavens see Acts 10:34, 35; 15:7-9; Romans 10:12, 13; etc.). Di Lella, "Daniel" in, Center of Contemporary Jewish Documentation, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Timeline_of_the_Hebrew_prophets&oldid=1082234151, Short description with empty Wikidata description, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2012, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 12 April 2022, at 01:53. God designed that Israels experience should prove to be a warning to Judah (see Hosea 1:7; 4:15-17; 11:12; Jeremiah 3:3-12; etc.). Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer. But, said the angel, Messiah would be rejected and cut off, because of the abominations of Israel, and Jerusalem and the Temple would once more life waste (verses 26, 27). 2. All rights reserved. Holiness of character (Levites 19:2; see on Matthew 5:48). Blessings if they followed the LORD and curses if they forsook him. He has a controversy with them because they have rebelled against His authority (Jeremiah 25:31-33), and He will judge (Joel 3:9-17) and destroy them there (Isaiah 34:1-8; 63:1-6; 66:15-18). There, he spent an unknown number of years before his return to Judea and his discovery of the abuses described in chapter 13. They looked for Messiah to reign as a temporal prince (cf. 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. together with the dates and lengths of the reigns, and the prophets God placed His people in Palestine, the crossroads of the ancient world, and provided them with every facility for becoming the greatest nation on the face of the earth. During all these times, God sent his prophets to challenge and encourage his people. Earlier commentators attempted to equate the two men, because of the use of similar expressions in their utterances (Micah 1:2; cf. Daniel himself so understood these promises (Daniel 9:1-8). They forfeited Gods blessing because of failure to fulfill His purpose in making them His chosen people, and thus brought ruin upon themselves. Owing to the failure of the Jews as Gods chosen people, many of the prophecies of the Old Testament, such as those affirming the worldwide mission of Israel and the ingathering of the Gentiles (see Genesis 12:3; Deuteronomy 4:6-8; Isaiah 2:2-5; 42:6; 49:6; 52:10; 56:6, 7; 60:1-3; 61:9; 62:2; Zechariah 2:11; 8:22, 23; etc. One column provides a list of certain special events of this periodsome of a political nature, concerning the nations surrounding Israel and Judah, others of a domestic nature. Shortly after this event he once more rose to a high position of honor and responsibility in the newly formed Persian Empire (chapter 6). But the Scriptures record the fact that they disobeyed God and proved disloyal to Him instead. Superior craftsmanship. This leaves Ezekiel with a ministry of at least 22 years, from 593/92 to 571/70. What makes it challenging when reading straight through the Bible [in chronological order] is that the history is covered in 1 and 2 Kings and then again in 1 and 2 Chronicles. National greatness. Where the Bible text summarizes a king's reign -- - - Partial years were sometimes counted as full years. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website. The remaining messages and prophecies, found in chapters 9-14, are not dated, a fact that prevents us from fixing the duration of the prophets activity. Solomon made his great mistake when he failed to realize the secret of Israels prosperity, and with a few noteworthy exceptions, leaders and people sank lower and lower from generation to generation until apostasy was complete (Isaiah 3:12; 9:16; Jeremiah 5:1-5; 8:10; Ezekiel 22:23-31; Micah 3). 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. ; (locust and Day of the Lord pictures in Joel), written against Edom (which was enemy of Jerusalem under Jehoram? For example, Nathan was King David's prophet, and he was financially supported by the king. 2 Ch 34 - 35 5, 6Josiah was 8yr old when he was made king and reigned 31 years 627BCJer1 1Godcalls Jeremiah to be prophet in Judah. The various abuses rebuked by Malachi are mostly the same as those Nehemiah found when he returned to Jerusalem for his second term of governorship (Malachi 3:8, 9; cf. They were to be far in advance of other nations in wisdom and understanding. Hence, the year 603 can be considered as the beginning of Daniels ministry as a prophet. It was probably at this time, when Daniel was nearly 90 years of age, that he was commanded to conclude his book and seal it up (chapter 12:4, 13). Based on a work at www.theologyofwork.org. Nothing is known of the prophet Joel beyond the fact that he was the son of Pethuel (chapter 1:1). Israel was confronted with the choice of blessings or curses. 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. Hence, 640 B.C., about midway between the two limits, marked by the destruction of Thebes and the fall of Nineveh, would seem to be a reasonable conjectural date for Nahums prophetic ministry. 1 Kings 22:28). The prophets did not always clearly understand messages they themselves had borne pointing forward to the distant future, to the coming of the Messiah (1 Peter 1:10, 11). Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, Copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission. Thus Israel was to blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit (Isaiah 27:6). The Kings of Israel & Judah Why Study the Kings? In fact, this procedure is responsible more than anything else for the fanciful interpretations that distinguish the teachings of certain religious groups. All Israel consists of both Jews and Gentiles, thus all Israel shall be saved (Romans 11:25, 26). Continuing faithfully under the following three kings, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (chapter 1:1), he seems to have been fiercely hated by Manasseh, Hezekiahs wicked son. c.1050-c.930 BC From King Saul to the prophet Samuel and young King David and his royal dynasty through Solomon. In a mysterious way known only to God the prophets words were sometimes intended to meet their fulfillment in the then far-distant future. According to the Talmud, there were 48 prophets and 7 prophetesses of Judaism. Scripture is sometimes definitive about who was a prophet. Superior intellect. Yet, since Gods purposes are immutable (Psalms 33:11; Prov. In the prophetic picture God is represented as gathering the nations to Jerusalem (Joel 3:1, 2; Zephaniah 3:6-8; cf. . The chart allows both ideas, indicating his possible ministry during the two decades preceding 560 B.C. In the endeavor to account for this seeming enigma, Bible expositors have set forth various explanations: 1. Had Israel as a nation preserved her allegiance to Heaven, Jerusalem would have stood forever, the elect of God (Jeremiah 7:7; 17:25). The fundamental principle by which we can tell unerringly when any particular promise or prediction of the Old Testament made originally to literal Israel is to meet its fulfillment with respect to spiritual Israel iswhen a later inspired writer makes such an application of it. All dates are given according to the Common Era, not the Hebrew calendar. (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.). Without this, the many advantages would only result in harm to themselves and to others. The Temple is mentioned as still existing (chapter 2:20), which shows that the book was written before Nebuchadnezzars destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. [3][4] Part of a serieson (prophecy of Deborah) During the Kingdom of Israel and Judah c. 1025 BC-c. 1003 BC [citation needed] King Saul, prophecy of Samuel, At the same time, He permitted the heathen nations to walk in their own ways (Acts 14:16), to furnish an example of what man can accomplish apart from Him. These were remedied by the vigorous actions of the governor. 6. One challenging point in history is the divided kingdoms of Israel (the 10 northern tribes) and Judah (the 2 southern tribes). It should be remembered that God does not force the human will, and that Israels cooperation was essential to the success of His plan for the nation. Among them about 30,000 are specified (Ezra 2 and Neh 7) as belonging to the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. Jonah fled his call because it was the Assyrians who were destroying the Jews. All who turned from idolatry to the worship of the true God, were to unite themselves with His chosen people. It was to be the result of wholehearted cooperation with the will of God as revealed through the prophets, and of divine blessing added to human efforts. After Jerusalems fall in 586, Nebuchadnezzar allowed Jeremiah to stay with the remnant of his people who were left in the country (chapter 40:1-6). Christianity is a historical religion, and its inspired messages are anchored to the hills and valleys, the deserts and rivers, of the ancient world, and to literal men and women who once walked the earth. After the murder of Gedaliah, the new governor of Judea, the Jews of Mizpah, fearing the revenge of Nebuchadnezzar, went to Egypt and took with them Jeremiah as well as his secretary Baruch (chapter 43:6). stream Psalms 68:31. Ultimately Israel was conquered by Assyria and went into captivity in 721 BC, never to return as an independent nation. Jesus own verdict was, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof (Matthew 21:43; cf. prophecy of Jonah[1] during the time of Babylonian captivity, though dating of the book ranges from the 6th to the late 3rd century BC. 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). It is possible that he worked much longer, as part of chapters 9-14 may have been given at a much later time. His word endureth for ever (1 Peter 1:25). His call came to him sometime in October/November, 520 B.C., in the same year as Haggais first appearance (chapter 1:1). Indeed, this secondary application is for us today the more significant. Ch 2: Israel Forsakes God Ch 3:6 Unfaithful Israel Ch 4:5 Disaster From the North Ch 5: Not One Is Upright Furthermore, it should be remembered that the Messiah, after the flesh, was a Jew, that the charter members of the Christian church were all Jews, and that Christianity grew out of Judaism. 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. For Haggai, the drought of the land and the ruin of the temple are inseparable. The kingdom was overturned (Ezekiel 21:25-32) and the people removed from the land, which had been theirs only by virtue of the covenant relationship (Hosea 9:3, 15, Micah 2:10; cf. This ties together all the other material: consult the separate tables The glory that distinguished the early part of the reign of Solomon was due in part to his own faithfulness during that time, and in part to the fact that his father David had seemed to appreciate fully Israels exalted privileges and responsibilities (see Psalms 51:10, 11; Isaiah 55:3; cf. Span includes the period of co-regency (if any). 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. Hosea, Prophet Hosea was a biblical prophet in the land of Israel and spoke the messages of the Lord. Pests and diseases, flood and drought, crop failureall these would eventually disappear. His early ministry seems to have coincided with the last years of King Uzziahs reign (see Introduction to Isaiah), but his official call to the office of a prophet came in 740/39, the last year of King Uzziah (chapter 6:1). Israels unwillingness to submit to the restrictions and requirements of God, prevented them, to a great extent, from reaching the high standard He desired them to attain, and from receiving the blessings He was ready to bestow upon them. Timeline: Prophets in the Reigns of Kings of Judah and Israel. Even the heathen would recognize the superiority of those who served and worshiped the living God. Spiritual prosperity was to prepare the way for material prosperity. Remember thatgenerally speakingit was originally given with respect to the historical circumstances that called it forth. Jeremiah had been chosen by God for his office before birth (chapter 1:5), and was called to be a prophet at a tender age (chapter 1:6, 7). Filed under Bible, Bible Reference, History, Infographics, Literacy, Old Testament. 7. The success of Israel was to be based on and to include: 1. Louis F. Hartman and Alexander A. They voluntarily accepted God as their sovereign, and this constituted the nation a theocracy. As individuals and as a nation God proposed to furnish the people of Israel with every facility for becoming the greatest nation on the earth (see Deuteronomy 4:6-8; 7:6, 14; 28:1; Jeremiah 33:9; Malachi 3:12). We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. Whatever the Jews, as a nation, may do, now or in time to come, is in no way related to the former promises made to them. He would be king over all the earth verses (3, 8, 9), and His dominion from sea even to sea, even to the ends of the earth (chapter 9:9, 10).