Covenant

Advocates

by

Chaplain Ron McCants

Prophet

• Someone who predicts future events before they occur and to prophesy is simply to predict.

Basic Call Narratives Pattern

Prophecy as a Social Phenomenon

• Hebrew word Nabi means “one who announces or one who is called.” It is the notion that prophets were speakers who carried messages from the divine realm to the earthly.

Hosea - salvation - 753-715 B.C.E

The mind of God is revealed to this prophet, and by him to the people.The word of the Lord that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, …and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam…, king of Israel. Hosea 1:1 He belonged to the kingdom of Israel, the northern part of Palestine.He must convince them of their sin in going a whoring from God, by marrying a wife of whoredoms (v. 2, 3).

… the Lord said to Hosea

• "Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry And children of harlotry, For the land has committed great harlotry By departing from the Lord."

• So he went and took Gomer.. she conceived and bore him a son…Call his name Jezreel, For in a little while I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu

Joel841-835 B.C.E.

• Joel was probably a resident in Judah, as his commission was to that people. He makes frequent mention of Judah and Jerusalem (1:14; 2:1,15,32; 3:1,12,17,20,21).

• A prophecy of a great public calamity then impending over the land, consisting of a want of water and an extraordinary plague of locusts ((1:1-2:11).).

• The prophet then calls on his countrymen to repent and to turn to God, assuring them of his readiness to forgive (2:12-17), and foretelling the restoration of the land to its accustomed fruitfulness (18-26).

Messianic Prophecy Quoted by Peter (Acts 2:39)

• Joel 3:1

And after that, it will come about, says the Lord, that I will send my spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will be prophets, your old men will have dreams, your young men will see visions:

Amos 760-750 B.C.E.

• He was a man of humble birth, neither a "prophet nor a prophet's son," but "an herdman and a dresser of sycomore trees,"

• He prophesied in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and was contemporary with Isaiah and Hosea (Amos 1:1; 7:14,15; Zechariah 14:5),

Covenant

Advocates

Amos’ Five Prophetic Visions

• (a) The first two (7:1-6) refer to judgments against the guilty people.

• (b) The next two (7:7-9; 8:1-3) point out the ripeness of the people for the threatened judgements 7:10-17 consists of a conversation between the prophet and the priest of Bethel.

• (c) The fifth describes the overthrow and ruin of Israel (9:1-10); to which is added the promise of the restoration of the kingdom and its final glory in the Messiah's kingdom.

Obadiah 853-841 B.C.E or 605-586 B.C.E.

• The Book of Obadiahconsists of one chapter, "concerning Edom," its impending doom (1:1-16), and the restoration of Israel (1:17-21). This is the shortest book of the Old Testament.

• For the day of the Lord is coming quickly on all nations: as you have done it will be done to you; the reward of your acts will come on your head.

Jonah785-760 B.C.E. Chapter 1

• I. A command given to Jonah to preach at Nineveh (v. 1, 2).

• II. Jonah’s disobedience to that command (v. 3). • III. The pursuit and arrest of him for that disobedience by

a storm, in which he was asleep (v. 4-6). • IV. The discovery of him, and his disobedience, to be the

cause of the storm (v. 7–10). • V. The casting of him into the sea, for the stilling of the

storm (v. 11–16). • VI. The miraculous preservation of his life there in the

belly of a fish (v. 17), which was his reservation for further services.

The Book of Jonah

• Some critics have sought to interpret the book as a parable or allegory, and not as a history. They say it is not prophetical but narrative in its form.

Jonah is Given a Second ChanceChapter 3

• I. Jonah’s mission renewed, and the command a second time given him to go preach at Nineveh (v. 1, 2).

• II. Jonah’s message to Nineveh faithfully delivered, by which its speedy overthrow was threatened (v. 3, 4).

• III. The repentance, humiliation, and reformation of the Ninevites hereupon (v. 5-9).

• IV. God’s gracious revocation of the sentence passed upon them, and the preventing of the ruin threatened (v. 10).

• And am I not to have mercy on Nineveh Jonah 4:11

Micah Who is like Jehovah? 742-686 B.C.E.

• The prophet exercised his office in the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.

• Reign of Jotham to Hezekiah's (B.C.E. 743-698)• This word of the Lord came to the prophet,

came plainly, came powerfully, and he saw it, saw the vision, saw the things themselves with as much clearness and certainty as if they had been already accomplished.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

• Micah 1:5 All this is because of the wrongdoing of Jacob and the sins of the children of Israel. What is the wrongdoing of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?

• Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, offering forgiveness for evil-doing and overlooking the sins of the rest of his heritage? he does not keep his wrath for ever, because his delight is in mercy

Nahum consolation

663-612 B.C.E. • He was probably a native of Galilee, and after

the deportation of the ten tribes took up his residence in Jerusalem.

• Nahum prophesied in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz. Others think that his prophecies are to be referred to the latter half of the reign of Hezekiah.

• Probably the book was written in Jerusalem, where he witnessed the invasion of Sennacherib and the destruction of his host (2 Kings 19:35).

Nahum 1:3

• The Lord is slow to get angry and great in power, and will not let the sinner go without punishment: the way of the Lord is in the wind and the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

Habakkuk612-589 B.C.E.

• Levitical choir member and contemporary with Jeremiah and Zephaniah.

• I. The prophet complains to God of the violence done by the abuse of the sword of justice among his own people and the hardships put upon many good people.

• II. God by him foretells the punishment of that abuse of power by the sword of war, and the desolations which the army of the Chaldeans should make upon them.

• III. Then the prophet complains of that too, and is grieved that the Chaldeans prevail so far, so that he scarcely knows which is more to be lamented, the sin or the punishment of it, for in both many harmless good people are very great sufferers.

Habakkuk 2:1-2

• I will take my position and be on watch, placing myself on my tower, looking out to see what he will say to me, and what answer he will give to my protest.

• And the Lord gave me an answer, and said, Put the vision in writing and make it clear on stones, so that the reader may go quickly.

Zephaniah Jehovah has concealed

circa 630 B.C.E. • The son of Cushi, and great-grandson of Hezekiah. He

prophesied in the days of Josiah, king of Judah (B.C.E. 641-610), and was contemporary with Jeremiah

The book of his prophecies consists of: • a) An introduction (1:1-6), announcing the judgment of

the world, and the judgment upon Israel, because of their transgressions.

• (b) The description of the judgment (1:7-18). • (c) An exhortation to seek God while there is still time

(2:1-3). • (d) The announcement of judgment on the heathen (2:4-

15). • (e) The hopeless misery of Jerusalem (3:1-7). • (f) The promise of salvation (3:8-20).

Haggai festiveapproximately 520 B.C.

• He may have been one of the captives taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.

• He began his ministry about sixteen years after the Return.

• The work of rebuilding the temple was resumed through the efforts of Haggai and Zechariah (Ezra 6:14) after 15 years inactivity.

• Their exhortations roused the people from their lethargy and induced a change in the policy of the Persian government.

• Haggai's prophecies characterized: 'Be strong, be strong, be strong' (2:4). 'Cleave, stick fast, to the work you have to do;' or again, 'Consider your ways, consider, consider, consider' ((1:5,7;2:15,18).).

Zechariah Jehovah is rememberedChapters 1-8 520-518 B.C.E. Chapters 9-14 480 B.C.E.

• His prophetical career began in the second year of Darius (B.C. 520), about sixteen years after the return of the first company from exile. He was contemporary with Haggai (Ezra 5:1).

• Series of eight visions ((1:7-6:8),), succeeding one another in one night, which may be regarded as a symbolical history of Israel, intended to furnish consolation to the returned exiles and stir up hope in their minds.

Malachi messenger or angelapproximately 430 B.C.E.

• The whole consists of three sections, preceded by an introduction (Malachi 1:1-5), in which the prophet reminds Israel of Jehovah's love to them. The first section ((1:6-2:9)) contains a stern rebuke addressed to the priests who had despised the name of Jehovah, and been leaders in a departure from his worship and from the covenant, and for their partiality in administering the law. In the second (2:9-16) the people are rebuked for their intermarriages with idolatrous heathen. In the third ((2:17-4:6)) he addresses the people as a whole, and warns them of the coming of the God of judgment, preceded by the advent of the Messiah.

• Mal 3:8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings.

• Mal 3:9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation.

• Mal 3:10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this," Says the Lord of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.

Covenant

Advocates

CLASS ASSIGNMENT

Write a Research Paper Outline

Be prepared to discuss in class

• RESOURCES:• Hauer, Christian E., & William A. Young. An Introduction

to the Bible: A Journey into Three Worlds. 8th edition. Boston: Pearson. 2012. Print.

• The Holy Bible• Eagle’s Web• www.ChaplainRon.com/College