Hebrew Bible: biblical prophesy

What is Biblical Prophecy?

today's notes are a courtesy of Jacqueline Miller

10/26/2011

Reading

*Collins, “Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, and Zephaniah”

*Read the introductory material to Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, and Zephaniah in NOAB

*Isaiah 6-9, 36-39

Notes

Amos and Hosea-Northern Kingdom

Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah-Southern Kingdom

Isaiah

·         The most complicated book in the Hebrew Bible because it has a lot of Authors (3-4 authors)

·         Chapters 1-39 (Called “First Isaiah”)

o    The writings of a prophet named Isaiah

o    Isaiah was from the southern kingdom; he worked in Jerusalem

o    Lived in the 8^th century

§  Wrote before the Assyrian invasion in 722 BCE

·         Chapters 40-55 (Called “Duetero Isaiah”)

o    Makes direct reference to the Babylonian exile (586 BCE) and even King Cyrus

o    Gets attributed to isaih because of sematic material

·         Chapter 56-66 (Called “Trito Isaiah”)

o    Roughly comparable with the chapters 40-55

§  Although different author

·         Happy ending is written by editors

“First Isaiah”

·         Isaiah 6

o    His prophetic call

§  Probably began in the year that  King Uzziah died

§  Sees angles with 6 wings that burn his lips; saw the Lord sitting on a throne (when he is in the temple)

·         Only the priests were allowed in the temple, so possibly a priest

§  Isaiah says that he is unclean so the angles push a burning coal onto his lips to purify him

·         The problem with this vision is that according to Exodus, no man can see God and live

·         Different tradition than we see in Exodus

·         When calls a prophet he gives him a mission. Isaiah’s mission is:

o    Tell the people to look but don’t understand and to listen but not comprehend.

§  God says to Moses to tell the pharaoh to let the people go and then God hardens pharaohs heart so that he says no

·         Isaiah 7

o    Verse 10: God speaks to the terrible king (Ahaz)

§  God tells him to ask him for a sign, but he says no

§  God has Isaiah offer Ahaz a sign

o    Verse 12-14

§  The sign is that a young woman is with child and she will call him Immanuel

·         El is with usà”God is with us”

·         Young woman in Hebrew is translated into virgin in Greek

o    Virgin birth

·         Ahaz’ wifeàsign that God was with the Israelites

·         Isaiah 8

o    God says to Isaiah to take a tablet and write “This belongs to Maher-shalal-has-baz”

§  Which means “the spoil speeds, the prey hastens”

§  Names his kid with prophetess Maher-shalal-has-baz

§  Symbolic names as prediction

·         Isaiah 9

o    Verse 6

§  Disputed between Christians/Jews

·         Christians think that this is prophetic about Jesus, Jews do not

o    Jews think it is enthronement liturgy (sung to a king)

·         Isaiah 37

o    Paralleled precisely in 2 Kings 19

§  Word for word the exact same as Isaiah 37

§  Circa 722 BCE

·         Possibly written at the same time, by the same person

·         Someone copied it from Isaiah or Isaiah copied it from 2 Kings

o    Deuteronomists were writing during the exile, so it was probably written after Isaiah; the Deuteronomists got their information from previous books about the kings

o    Isaiah didn’t write this because it is in the 3^rd person, Isaiah wrote in first person and his words were put into it

Micah

·         Younger than Isaiah

·         Prophesying in the south, not connected to the royal court (Isaiah was part of the royal court)

·         Really harsh in condemnations

·         Chapter 3

o    Verse 9

§  Oracles against the southern kingdom

·         “…its prophets give oracles for money”

§  All prophets, kings, etc are corrupt

·         Chapter 6

o    Put people on trials

o    Verse 6

§  The people ask, “What am I going to bring to serve God?”

§  Indication that some Israelites practice child sacrifice (verse 7)

Nahum

·         First prophesying after the fall of the northern kingdom

·         Is one of our only examples of extended prophesies by a professional prophet

o    Only concerned with Nineveh

o    Talks about the places that Assyrians have destroyed

Zephaniah

·         Prophesied during the time of Josiah

·         Two primary concerns

o    Chapter 1 verse 8

§  Idolatry

§  During the reign of Joshiah there was a big push to get rid of idols

§  They have been leaping over the threshold, foreign attire (dress like Assyrians)

·         Not Judean, it was not set apart and the materials were being mixed

Friday

Before Friday, write down as many different kinds of prophets that you can think of with examples

                Magic, worked for king, against king, etc