THE L.I.F.E. PLAN MAJOR AND MINOR PROPHETS BLOCK 3 THEME 4 - THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS LESSON 4 (88 of 216)
BLOCK 3 THEME 4: THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS LESSON 4 (88 OF 216): MAJOR AND MINOR PROPHETS LESSON AIM: Identify the major and minor prophets of the Old Testament. SCRIPTURE: (Luke 24:44) And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. The Old Testament in the time of Christ followed a different arrangement than it has in our day. The verse above tells us that the Scriptures were grouped in three categories: the law, the prophets, and the psalms, or writings. Today, we observe a different order but include the same books. We recognize the order as the law, the historical books, the poetry books, and the prophets. The last 17 books of the Old Testament are the prophecy books. The most basic way to group them is as the major prophets which are the first five books, and the minor prophets which are the remaining twelve. A prophet is one who speaks on behalf of another. The prophets of the Old Testament spoke on behalf of God. God gave them the very words which he wanted to communicate to his people. The prophets spoke them exactly as God had given them. Many times, the message of the prophet was scathing to the audience, therefore, the prophet delivered the word of God often at the risk of his own life. The prophets of God were abused and even killed for speaking the words God had given them to speak. The message of God through the prophet usually had one of two aims. At times, the prophet might foretell a future event or occurrence. We tend to think of this kind of utterance as a prediction of some kind. Since the words of the prophet came from God, his foretelling of a future occurrence was more of a revelation from God than it was a speculative prediction about the future. God had actually revealed the future to the prophet, as it pertained to the occurrence, and he simply told what God had shown to him. Daniel s prophecy of the 70 weeks is a great example of this. God revealed the future to Daniel and he told of the future events as God had shown them to him. Much of the message of the prophets came by way of another aim and this was to forth-tell the message given from God. Prophets were not as much about predictions and foretelling as they were about forth-telling God s words. In other words, we could say that all God-given prediction was prophecy but not all prophecy was prediction. Most prophecy was simply a telling forth of the words and the messages that God had given to the prophet. We look to 1 Samuel 3 as an example of a prophet forth-telling a message from God. God told the young boy and prophet Samuel of the future judgement which was coming upon the house of Eli, the priest. When asked by Eli what God had said to him, Samuel merely repeated the words God had said to him.
When we examine the prophetic books of the Old Testament as a whole, we can make several interesting observations. There are 17 prophetical books. As we have already stated, the first five we call the major prophets, and the last 12 are the minor prophets. If we recall from our structural analysis of the Bible, there is a number sequence in the putting together of the books of the Old Testament. This sequence is 593 5 593. The first group, 593, is the law and history books. The middle 5 are the poetry books, and the last group, 593, are the prophecy books. Add these numbers together and we get 17; the number of prophecy books in the Old Testament. In this segment, the 5 represents the major prophets while the 9 and 3 represent the minor prophets. Looking into the major prophets, we find the 5 major prophets are written by 4 individuals; Isaiah, Jeremiah who wrote two of them, Ezekiel, and Daniel. The 5 books have a number sequence of their own as well: 2 1 2. The one book in the middle, Lamentations, divides the major prophets between the pre-exile prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah, and the exile to post-exile prophecies of Ezekiel and Daniel. Lamentations is a literary masterpiece in its construction and details the fall of Jerusalem after the Babylonian siege which took Judah into Babylonian captivity. The minor prophets are grouped by the numbers 9 and 3. There are 9 pre-exilic prophets and 3 post-exilic prophets. In order to get a better grasp on the Bible, we can also note the kingdoms to which the prophets ministered. Fourteen prophets brought the messages of God to Judah while 3 prophesied to the northern kingdom. Since we know this, we can also consider the reign of the kings in each kingdom during the ministries of the prophets. These may seem like unnecessary details but they actually help us see how the Scriptures are assembled, giving us a knowledge of the Scriptures which leads to a better interpretation, understanding, and application of them in our own lives. We may ask, why bother with all this ancient history? What does it have to do with us today? We have heard the saying, Those who are ignorant of history are bound to repeat it. This is true, so we can learn by reading the prophets not to make the same mistakes as Israel and Judah made in their relationships with God. The other thing we learn is what we can expect if we do make those mistakes. The exact same things may not happen to us as happened to them, but we can be sure that the consequences of our sin will bring some form of judgement from God. The sowing and reaping principle works in our lives, too: whatever we sow is what we reap. If we are God s people and we rebel against God, we can expect corrective action from him. On the other hand, when we are obedient, he rewards our effort. We may not see the reward in this life, but it is on reserve for us in heaven awaiting the day when God rewards his children for their service on earth. The message of the prophets is old, even ancient. But, the relevance of them is as fresh as home-made apple pie, cooling on the window sill. God s word and principles are timeless and are applicable to every generation. A wise disciple of Christ will read God s message in the Bible and will seek to live his or her life according to God s word.
LESSON OUTLINE BLOCK 3 THEME 4: THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS LESSON 4 (88 OF 216): MAJOR AND MINOR PROPHETS I ARRANGEMENT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES A. In Christ s day B. In our day II THE AIM OF PROPHECY A. To foretell B. To forth-tell III ARRANGEMENT OF OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY BOOKS A. Major prophets 1. Pre-exilic 2. The fall of Jerusalem 3. Exilic to post-exilic B. Minor prophets 1. Pre-exilic 2. Post-exilic SCRIPTURES TO BROADEN YOUR UNDERSTANDING 1. God s prophecy to Samuel concerning Eli 1 Samuel 3 2. Sowing and reaping Galatians 6:7-9 3. New Testament prophecy book Revelation
LINES OF THEOLOGICAL CONNECTION 1. THE DOCTRINE OF THE SCRIPTURES Prophets and prophecy Arrangement of the Scriptures 2. ESCHATOLOGY Future events foretold by Old Testament prophets QUESTIONS ANSWER KEY 1. How was the Old Testament arranged in the time of Christ? The law, the prophets, and the writings 2. How is the Old Testament arranged in our day? The law, history, poetry, and prophets 3. How many prophecy books are in the Old Testament? 17 4. How are the Old Testament prophecy books arranged? Major prophets (5); Minor prophets (12) 5. What is a prophet? One who speaks on behalf of another 6. What was the risk taken by a prophet of God? Mistreatment; death 7. What were the two aims of a prophetic message? To foretell and to forth-tell 8. What lesson do we learn from the ancient prophets of God? If we disobey God s Word, we can expect judgement
BLOCK 3 THEME 4: THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS LESSON 4 (88 OF 216): MAJOR AND MINOR PROPHETS QUESTIONS TO INSPIRE THOUGHT 1. How was the Old Testament arranged in the time of Christ? 2. How is the Old Testament arranged in our day? 3. How many prophecy books are in the Old Testament? 4. How are the Old Testament prophecy books arranged? 5. What is a prophet? 6. What was the risk taken by a prophet of God? 7. What were the two aims of a prophetic message? 8. What lesson do we learn from the ancient prophets of God?