1. The Latter
Prophets
BE 502 Old Testament Studies 2

2. Introduction to the
Latter Prophets

3. The Canon of the Hebrew Bible
Torah Prophets Writings
Former Latter
Genesis Joshua Isaiah Psalms
Exodus Judges Jeremiah Job
Leviticus Samuel Ezekiel Proverbs
Numbers Kings The Twelve Ruth
Deuteronomy Song of Songs
Ecclesiastes
Lamentations
Esther
Daniel
Ezra-Nehemiah
Chronicles

4. What’s the Torah about?
✦ God desires to bless humanity.
✦ God covenants with His people.
✦ The God of Sinai (Yahweh) is the God of the Patriarchs and
the God of Creation.
✦ Salvation was always by grace through faith.
✦ Law seems to be a barrier to faith.
✦ God’s people need the new heart that He will provide.
✦ The way God worked in the past is the way He will work “in
the last days.”

5. Gen 49 Num 24 Deut 31
Jacob Balaam Moses
“assemble
“come” “assemble to me”
yourselves”
“I will advise “that I may
“I may tell you”
you” speak”
“what will “what this people
“you will”
happen” will do”
“in the last days” “in the last days” “in the last days”

6. What are the Former Prophets about?
✦ Blessing and security comes to God’s people under the leadership
of God’s righteous king.
✦ Israel & Judah were exiled because they
✦ failed to believe
✦ failed to worship Yahweh exclusively (idolatry)
✦ failed to listen to God’s written torah or to the words spoken
by the prophets
✦ The law did not provide lasting change in the hearts of the people
or the kings.
✦ THE son of David had not yet come.

7. Relationship to the Former
Prophets
10 Since that time no prophet has risen in
Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew
face to face, 11 for all the signs and wonders
which the LORD sent him to perform in the
land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his
servants, and all his land, 12 and for all the
mighty power and for all the great terror
which Moses performed in the sight of all
Israel.
Deut 34:10–12

8. Relationship to the Former
Prophets
15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet
like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall
listen to him. 16 This is according to all that you asked of
the LORD your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly,
saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my
God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’ 17
The LORD said to me, ‘They have spoken well. 18 I will
raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you,
and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to
them all that I command him.’
Deut 18:15–18

9. Historical Classification
Preexilic Prophets Exilic Prophets Postexilic Prophets
Isaiah Ezekiel Haggai
Jeremiah Daniel Zechariah
Hosea-Zephaniah Malachi

10. Designations for the Prophets
1. Prophet (nabhi)
2. Man of God
3. Seer

11. Reformation rather than
Innovation
Sent to a disobedient people, they were like
modern-day revivalists, calling the people
back to the faith of the fathers, the faith of
the covenant promises to Abraham, Moses,
and David. Thus they were not so much
innovators as revivalists.

12. Preservation of Tradition, seen
in…
✦ prophetic cry for Israel to return to Yahweh
✦ literary dependence of later prophets upon Torah
and earlier prophets

13. Interpretation
1. A Textual Approach
2. Intertextuality
3. Biblical Realism

14. 3 Ways to Read the Bible:
1. Mythological Approach
2. Naturalism
3. Biblical Realism

15. Biblical Realism & Interpretation of
Prophecy
When applied to biblical prophecy, biblical
realism believes that future events are also
described in the Bible just as they will
happen. That is, both future events and
past events are recounted realistically—
though one must remain sensitive to the
various types of literature used by the
biblical authors to depict future events.

16. Interpretation
1. A Textual Approach
2. Intertextuality
3. Biblical Realism
4. Theology (see “Importance” below)
5. Apocalyptic Literature

17. Apocalyptic Literature
✦ Definition – a highly symbolic form of historical
narrative
✦ A picture of what the future holds, yes.
✦ Specific details of its fulfillment, no.

18. Hope & Promise:
Why the church needs the prophets
1. They continue to be God-breathed Scripture.
2. They speak of the Messiah or the messianic promise.
3. They reflect a New Covenant theology and hope.
4. They demand and impart godly wisdom.
5. They present a balanced picture of judgment and grace.
6. They are “big picture” books, so keep the “big picture”
in the forefront.

19. Big Picture Book
✦ God’s sovereignty over the nations.
✦ God’s covenant with His people.
✦ God’s judgment of sinners.
✦ God’s plan of redemption.
✦ God’s work in the past as a pattern for God’s
work now and in the future.