If the nation had been faithful to its trust and had appreciated the high destiny reserved for it by God, the whole earth would have awaited the coming of the Messiah with eager expectancy. who were active at that time. Human traditions came to be honored in place of the revealed will of God (see on Mark 7:6-9). 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. chapter 9:7; Isaiah 66:23). ;vx(>_w$ [U-hFzy\v?>}_|z|wxuzv/jO]vNNrz'_=}2 @/^? It is ever the privilege of those who witness the fulfillment of prophecy to remember and believe (John 13:19; 14:29; John 16:4). 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. However, that earthquake must have been very severe, for the memory of it was still fresh in the minds of people who lived 250 years later, as Zechariah 14:5 shows. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other (Deuteronomy 28:63, 64). The covenant with literal Israel proved faulty, not because God failed to carry out His part of the covenant, but rather because Israels fair promises proved evanescent as the morning dew (Hosea 6:4; 13:3; Hebrews 8:6, 7). Louis F. Hartman and Alexander A. One challenging point in history is the divided kingdoms of Israel (the 10 northern tribes) and Judah (the 2 southern tribes). All that had been promised might yet come to pass if they would only love and serve Him (Zechariah 6:15; cf. In spite of Israels ultimate failure, a limited knowledge of the true God and of the Messianic hope was widespread when the Saviour was born (see on Matthew 2:1). 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. We shall be protected against the grossly literal explanation of some expositors concerning the return of literal Israel to literal Palestine to rule the world for a thousand years prior to the close of human probation, and also against other equally unscriptural interpretations that propose to apply allegorically to the church all the details of the promises originally made to literal Israel. Seventy Years in Babylon - Bible History 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. Though, on the whole, literal Israel failed to realize her exalted destiny, the chosen race did make a worth-while, though imperfect, contribution to the preparation of the world for the first advent of the Messiah (see on Matthew 2:1). 3:5). Hence the year 571/70 must not be considered as necessarily marking the end of his ministry. 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). Accordingly, the book can probably be dated about 425 B.C. BC dates, I've also included the number of years since the end of But it was not until his 3rd year in captivity, the 2nd year of Nebuchadnezzar, that young Daniel gave the first proofs of his prophetic calling (chapters 1:5, 17; 2:1, 19). Judah was conquered by Babylon in 586 BC and returned to the land after 70-year captivity. According to Jewish tradition Isaiah was sawn asunder. In Babylon: prophecy of Ezekiel, Return to the land under Persian rule, and writings of Ezra-Nehemiah These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features. The promises and threatenings of God are alike conditional. Moses their great leader warned the people of Israel not to disobey the LORD or else: Deuteronomy 28:49-50 - "The LORD will bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies; a nation whose language you will not understand; a nation of fierce facial expressions, that doesn't respect the elderly, nor show favor to the young.". Any idea that the return of the Jews to their ancestral home, that is, to the new state of Israel, may in any way be related to Bible prophecy is without valid scriptural foundation. Instead of becoming light bearers to the world they absorbed its darkness and reflected that darkness instead. It is impossible to date the devastating plague of locusts that the prophet so vividly describes and compares with the terrors of the coming day of judgment. This fact weakens the arguments for such a late date. Through Israel of old, God planned to provide the nations of earth with a living revelation of His own holy character and an exhibit of the glorious heights to which man can attain by cooperating with His infinite purposes. Mormons have distinctive beliefs on what a prophet is. One of the main objectives of the Bible commentator is to reconstruct the historical setting in which the declarations of the prophets were originally made. seem to refer to those recorded in 2 Kings 8:20-22 and 2 Chronicles 21:8-10, 16, while nothing points to the troubles caused by Hazael, as narrated in 2 Kings 12:17, 18 and 2 Chronicles 24:23, 24, it has been concluded that Joel gave his messages during the time lying between these two events. (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.). A closer dating is impossible in spite of the statement that his first divine message came to him two years before the earthquake (chapter 1:1), because the date of this event is unknown. You may not distribute or commercially use the content on any other website or other form of electronic retrieval system. Nehemiahs first term lasted from 444 to 432 B.C. 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. }[~-?)\ Israel's Kings & Prophets | Craig T. Owens Living in a crisis period of his nation, Jeremiah was called to proclaim many messages of reproof and solemn predictions of doom over his people for their disobedience. 1 0 obj <> 4 0 obj 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). A Harmony of the Life of Jesus - Four gospel accounts in harmony. 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). He would have come, He would have died, and would have risen again. Also, Jeremiah (chapter 26:18), quoting Micah (chapter 3:12), testifies that Micah ministered during Hezekiahs time. Prophet to Judah. Based on a work at www.theologyofwork.org. He purposed to make them an honor to His name and a blessing to the nations about them. Prophecies of the former classification cannot now be fulfilled because they were strictly conditional in nature and limited in scope, by their very nature, to literal Israel. These promises of prosperity and a successful mission were to have met fulfillment in large measure during the centuries following the return of the Israelites from the lands of their captivity. The ministry of Amos may therefore have fallen in the years 767-753 B.C. Then Gabriel came to reassure him of the restoration of his people and the eventual coming of the Messiah (verses 24, 25). Hosea, Prophet Hosea was a biblical prophet in the land of Israel and spoke the messages of the Lord. One royal visitor to Jerusalem exclaimed, The half was not told me! (1 Kings 10:1-9). A Jewish legend claims that he was stoned to death by his people. They were to be far in advance of other nations in wisdom and understanding. The following discussion sets forth the principles of interpretation described under 5, and followed by this commentary, together with the scriptural basis on which these principles rest. Prophets of the Assyrian Period Jonah Jonah (790-770 B.C.) Micah's prophecy was likely directed toward both Judah and Israel. All the visions of Daniel recorded in chapters 7-12 were received during the last years of his life, the first one (chapter 7) in Belshazzars 1st year (552 or possibly later), and the last one (chapters 10-12) in the 3rd year of Cyrus, 536/35 B.C. 7. Story of Esther, (535 BC: First portion of Ezra; 515 BC: Second portion of Ezra and Haggai and Zecharia; Joel possibly some time later; 474 BC: Esther; 450 BC: Remainder of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi. Click to enable/disable _gid - Google Analytics Cookie. Several prophecies followed a few months later (Zechariah 1:7 to 6:15). Where the Bible text summarizes a king's reign -- - - Partial years were sometimes counted as full years. 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. Israel was confronted with the choice of blessings or curses. Psalms 68:31. 2 0 obj But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site. 2. Seventy weeks490 years of literal timewere determined upon the Jews, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness (Daniel 9:24). However, there is also no reference made to Persia, which would be expected if the book was of so late a date. It would become an object lesson of the results of acting in harmony with moral, as with natural, law. Formal worship took the place of sincere religion (cf. Maps are essential for any serious Bible study. . 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. But he will listen also for the further import the prophets words may have for later times, particularly, our time. The prophets call us to re-learn the lesson that a respect for the creator of the earth we occupy is a starting point for peace between the earth and its inhabitants. --"when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken". 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). The prophet Zephaniah traces his genealogy back to an important personage by the name of Hizkiah, probably King Hezekiah (the names are the same in Hebrew) of Judah. from the ends of the earth (Jeremiah 16:19), to the light of truth shining forth from the mountain of the Lord (Isaiah 2:3; 60:3; 56:7; cf. 5. 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. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. These observations seem to place Zephaniah in the early years of Josiahs reign, perhaps about 630 B.C., as a contemporary of Habakkuk. This chart includes only the major prophetic figures of the Old Testament period. Had Judah remained loyal to God its captivity would not have been necessary. Many messages and prophecies can be understood correctly only if seen against the background of the time in which the prophets ministered and in the light of the events that happened during their lives.
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