The prophets in Israel is a mouthpiece; he has no doubt that 'the word of God' has come to him and that he must pass it on to others. In whatever way the divine message comes to him and whatever method he uses to convey it, he is a man to whom the holiness and the will of God have been revealed. He contemplates present and future through the eyes of God and is a man sent to remind the nation of its duty to God and to bring them back to obedience and love.
Moses is accounted the father of them all and prophets play a part in the whole history of the nation whether in confraternities or singly as influential persons. At times the prophet may be powerful enough to reprove a king or direct national policy; at other times he may be in lonely opposition and his message takes the form of a tissue of menaces and reproaches against the ruling powers.
Great prophets can be found in the historical books but the men of whom we know most are those whose prophecies were collected into separate books bearing their names and sometimes including biographical incidents and these books are grouped together in the Hebrew scriptures. Traditionally, they are arranged without regard for chronological order: the four 'Major Prophets'(distinguished only for the great length of their books) - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel - coming before the rest who are called "Minor Prophets'. With Jeremiah, the Greek Bible added Lamentations and Baruch as associated works though the Hebrew Bible put Lamentations with 'the Writings' and did not include Baruch; it is the order of the Greek which is followed here.
The great age of prophecy lasted less than two centuries from the mid-8th century to the Exile; it is dominated by the figures of Isaiah and Jeremiah though it also saw the works of Amos, Hosea, Micah, Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Obadiah, Joel, Jonah - 'the Minor Prophets' - In later prophets, we find a greater literary freedom: there is apocalyptic writing and the parabolic teaching style known as mid-rash; there is also a growing note of messianic hope. In Daniel, images of past and future come together in one great vision and at this point it seems that the high inspiration of the prophets is exhausted and Israel must await a new outpouring of the Spirit.
This is the last expression of messianic prophecy in the Old Testament. The coming of the kingdom will be the central theme of the Synoptic Gospels and Jesus, king of the kingdom, will call himself "Son of Man' thus clearly asserting that he has come to fulfill the prophecies of the Book of Daniel. This 'sealed book', 12:4 with its revelation of a divine secret, its angelic commentators, its message for generations to come, its deliberately enigmatic style, is the first mature apocalypse, a literary form found already developing in Ezekiel and later to flower in Jewish literature.
The New Testament counter-part to the Book of Daniel is the Book of Revelation, but in this the seals of the closed book are broken - Rev. chapter 5 to 6 - its words are secret no longer since 'the time is at hand' - Rev. 22:10 - and the coming of the Lord is expected - Rev. 22:20 - 1Cor. 16: 22 -
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Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
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