Narrative Summary A Kingdom Divided Understanding the Bible after Solomon and Before Jesus David and Solomon each ruled 40 years. So for 80 years, the Kingdom of Israel prospered and expanded. Yet, despite the advances of the Kingdom, Solomon had not stayed faithful to the Lord. Read 1 Kings 11:9-13 Sure enough that happened. What s going on in this passage? Solomon, in his later years, had effectively abandoned the worship of the one true God of the covenant. In view of Solomon s rejection of God s commandments, specifically his devotion to idol gods, the Lord announced His judgment upon the king and his people. Note that the Lord s specific complaint against Solomon was that through his idolatrous ways he had violated the covenant (v. 11). First, the Lord indicates that Solomon s kingdom will come to an end following his death. Out of regard for David, the Lord will allow Solomon to remain Israel s king until he dies. Yet, the Lord will most certainly tear the kingdom out of the hand of your son. Secondly, again for the sake of David, the Lord promises that Solomon s son, Rehoboam, will be allowed to rule a fraction of the divided kingdom of Israel (v. 13). Here, then, we have the tragic assurance that Israel will become a divided nation. The tribes of Benjamin and Judah will be merged into one tribe, the southern kingdom of Judah, while the ten remaining tribes will ultimately become the northern kingdom of Israel. Israelites from the north came to Rehoboam and asked him to lighten their load. Solomon had been rough with them, and they asked for the new king to be easier. Rehoboam said no and that he would make their work even harder. As a result, ten of the tribes separated themselves and set up a new kingdom. Since the ten tribes were much larger, they just kept the name Israel, selected a new king and a new capital. 1
The two remaining tribes Judah and Benjamin remained and was collectively called the nation of Judah. Jerusalem continued to be the capital. Who had better kings Israel or Judah? Israel had 20 kings and none obeyed God. Judah had 19 kings and 6 kings followed God Foreshadowing later developments, the South was a more righteous group. (hehe!) The next 200 300 years of the divided kingdom were characterized as straying from God. The prophets warned that unless the nation turned back to God, they would be destroyed. Some prophets addressed their books to Israel and some to Judah. In Judah there were at least some times of revival. But it was always followed by a time of falling away again. As a direct result of their disobedience, God allowed both nations to go into exile. The ten tribes of Israel were scattered by the Assyrians. Judah was later captured by King Nebuchadnezzar and carried to Babylon. Some of the prophets wrote their books while God s people were in exile. After 70 years of captivity in Babylon, God restored Judah to her homeland led by Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Categorizing the Prophets I think most of us would agree at the outset that these prophetic books are among the most difficult parts of the Bible to interpret or to read with understanding. We shouldn t be embarrassed to admit we have difficulty reading the prophets, for actually we are in good company if we do. In referring to the prophets, Martin Luther once said the following: They have a queer way of talking, like people who, instead of proceeding in an orderly manner, ramble off from one thing to the next so that you cannot make heads or tails of them or see what they are getting at. 1 To see the prophets as primarily predictors of future events is to miss their primary function, which was, in fact, to speak for God to their contemporaries. 1 Cited by Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Trans. D.M.G. Stalker, 2 Vols. (New York: Harper & Row, 1962, 1965) 2:33, n. 1. 2
They were enforcers of the covenant. The prophets spoke for God to His people. They functioned to call Israel back to God, which meant a call back to faithfulness to their Covenant relationship with God. How many prophetical books are there? 17 (many would say there are 16, with Lamentations classified as poetry) There are major prophets and minor prophets. Does anyone know what the distinction between the two is? Its sounds overly simple... but the difference is that major prophets are longer books and the minor prophets are shorter books. How many major prophets are there? There are 5 major prophets Minor prophets? 12 What are the major prophets? Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel We have three time periods: pre-exile, exile, and post-exile. How long did the exile last? 70 years Who wrote prophetic words prior to the exile? Obadiah wrote to or about Edom. Amos, Hosea and Joel wrote to the northern kingdom. Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Habbakkuk, Zephaniah and Jeremiah wrote to warn Judah. Who wrote during the exile? Lamentations, Ezekiel, Dainiel Who wrote after the exile? Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi The post exilic prophets wrote to assure the people that God would deal with the restored community according to the same principles. They might have been tempted to think that because Babylonia had defeated Israel, the Babylonian gods were superior to Yahweh. One of the postexilic prophet's jobs was to point out that Yahweh was superior and the only reason Israel was defeated was because Yahweh was disciplining them. Most of the prophets spoke words of prophesy to Judah, the southern Kingdom. Who did not? Jonah Obadiah 3
Nahum Amos Hosea The north, where obedience to the covenant was far less than anything in the south, was slated for destruction by God because of its sins. Amos, beginning around 760BC and Hosea around 755BC, announced the impending destruction. And they would fall to the Assyrians. Thereafter, the mounting sinfulness of Judah led to its fall to Babylon. The prophets speak largely to these major events. To understand God s Word we much know something of that history. It would be helpful for you to have a study Bible, or Bible dictionary, or commentaries to help you understand the context for the things you are reading. Mostly when they spoke, they spoke in oracles. We don t speak in oracles, so this is challenging. It is also challenging because the longer prophetic books are collections of spoken oracles, not always presented in their original chronological sequence, often without any indication as to where one oracle ends and another begins, and often without hints as to their historical setting most of the oracles were recorded in poetic form o The language of poetry is imagery. It is designed to stir the emotions and create vivid mental pictures, not feed the intellect. Consequently, poetry uses devices such as simile, metaphor, personification, and hyperbole to create images that evoke a sensory experience in our imagination. It is therefore important that we be able to identify and interpret the devices of poetic language. Poetry must be read, understood, and interpreted as poetry. Most of the time, what the prophets said is presented in their books in run-on fashion. Now are you understanding why I suggest you get some help in interpreting the Prophets? Understanding the Prophets Message through Jesus It should be pointed out that less than 2% of Old Testament prophecy is messianic. Less than 5% specifically concerns the New Covenant age. And less than 1% concern events still future to us. 2 2 William W. Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, & Robert L. Hubbard, Introduction to Biblical Interpretation (Word Publishing, 1993), p. 303. 4
Nevertheless, it is there and worth mentioning. Let s talk about the book of Ezekiel for a minute. When was Ezekiel written? Jerusalem was a shell of a city and it was just a matter of time before the temple would be destroyed. But the book ends with great hope. Ezekiel has another vision of a new temple, more magnificent than the first (chapters 40-48), and he sees God entering it. A river flows from this temple, giving life to the world. It is too magnificent to be real. It is a symbol of a new creation. God s plan is not limited to the Israelites, but to people of all nations. Jeremiah also had a word from God of a day coming when God would make a new covenenat. Read Jeremiah 31:31 This will not be a completely new start. God is not abandoning the promises he made in the past. But the fullness of His plan of redemption is coming. Whereas the blood of bulls and goats were temporary and foreshadowing, the blood of the lion from the tribe of Judah will offer an eternal sacrifice. Read Jeremiah 31:33 This new covenant was inaugurated at the death of Jesus and will be something we talk about more extensively the next time we meet. So when are the Prophets talking about Jesus or even the end of the world? Look for the obvious. Ie. Use of the word new covenant Look to see if the prophesy was fulfilled already. Isaiah 7:14 Look at the cross references provided. Though the specific references to Jesus may be small, Jesus is found throughout the Prophets. Isaiah pointed to a child whose name means God with us Jeremiah pointed to a new covenant that was initiated by the blood of Jesus. Jeremiah described a cup filled with the wine of God s wrath. Later Jesus would hold up this cup of wine and call it the new covenant. 5
Lamentations is about sorrow, but there is a hope in that sorry because of God s great love for us. In John 3:16, we learn the greatest expression of the Great Love. Ezekiel says God s presence is the key to life. In Jesus, the veil is torn and we are now in Christ. In Daniel we see a king who thought he was all sovereign. In Jesus we finally have someone who has all authority over heaven and earth. In Hosea, we identify with the adulterer. But in Jesus, we are given the one who was perfectly faithful. In Joel he says the day of the Lord is near. In the NT, Peter says on the day of Pentecost that the day of the Lord was upon them. In Amos, God judges his people for their social injustice. In Jesus, we see Jesus breaking down social barriers and loving the unlovable. In Obediah, God judged the Edomites who were like a family nation to the Israelites. In Jesus, we see him not have patience with people who would abuse In Jonah, we see God wants all to repent. In Jesus, we see his great commission to go to all nations. In Micah, God promises a time when he will bring about restoration that will include far more than Israel and Judah. Many nations will come to the Lord to learn his ways (4:2). In Nahum 6