The first prophets:
The books called historical (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings) are called by the Jews “the first prophets,” and they are equated with the last prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the rest of the prophets). These books were named this way because tradition attributed their authorship to the Prophetic schools (from the eighth to the sixth century BC). However, what also justifies this name is the intervention of many prophets in these books, such as Samuel, Gad, Nathan, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah and others, and that they (the books) provide a prophetic interpretation of history. The authors contemplated the traditions that convey the events and narrated them in their various aspects, and in this contemplation of the past, these prophets seek, through the word they spoke, which reveals the people’s honesty or betrayal, to provide light for the present and hope for the future.
Some historians have disputed over the affiliation of the Book of Joshua. Some of them assert that it was originally one of the books of the Torah, for reasons related to its content and form. Its sources are the sources of the five books of the Torah themselves, and it naturally completes them by delivering the people to the Promised Land, and the Sinai Covenant is renewed in Shechem. Not to mention the long sermons (chapters 1 and 23), which are the result of reflections on the history of Israel in light of new experiences, and whose author (seventh and sixth centuries BC) relied on the Book of Deuteronomy, the book that stresses the choice of the people, the importance of the land, and the unity of the temple, which is Jerusalem Temple. In Deuteronomy, for example, we see a humanitarian spirit in the military legislation. Treaties with distant peoples are preferred over battle (20:10-15), and female captives are treated with kindness (21:10-14). However, the relationship with the inhabitants of the land (the Canaanites) is different, because they are polytheists, that is, they worship many gods. The main motive for fighting them comes from loyalty to the one God of Israel, which may be corrupted by association with pagans. However, if we mention that the process of liberating the land and distributing it among the tribes continued until the days of King David, we realize that the comprehensive annihilation of the people of the land, which was spoken about in the Book of Joshua, is not a historical fact, and that there was often existing coexistence between the Canaanites and the children of Israel (15: 63, 16:10 and 17:12-13). The meaning of the book is truly understood if it is understood that what is meant is the fulfillment of the promise, because the personality that is more prominent than Joshua is the Promised Land. This is what gives Joshua importance, as he is Moses’ successor, and the work that was begun with Moses is completed with Joshua. There is a strong tradition that tells us that Moses replaced the name of Hoshea bin Nun (Numbers 13:16) with Joshua (the name of Jesus in the New Testament), thus indicating his new destiny.
The Book of Judges tells of the establishment of the Israelite tribes in Palestine, and the story of the prominent men whom God appointed as leaders of His people and saved them from their distress in the period preceding the days of Samuel. The name of the book goes back to these men. Their title “judges” (Sheftim in Hebrew) does not mean that they were judges in the legal sense of the word. In Hebrew, “Shevat” means “ruled,” meaning that he corrected a suspicious situation or administered justice, that is, he triumphed over lost truth in the sense that he achieved a kind of liberation. Except for Abimelech, who was elected king in Shechem by his own authority and who was apparently not counted among the judges, we find a total of twelve judges up to the days of Samuel and below him.
The two books of Samuel (which first made up one book) recount the establishment of the monarchy. What they narrate is not complete except with the Book of Kings in its first and second books. The book was given the name Samuel because ancient traditions considered that Samuel wrote most of it. The book's narratives concern Saul and David, and are characterized by accuracy and freshness that deserve admiration. It is certainly a contemporary testimony, but it is difficult to determine exact dates. If we start from the date of the split of the ten tribes (about the year 935 BC), we arrive at defining the reign of David as approximately one thousand BC, because both the reigns of David and Solomon lasted, as is accepted, for forty years.
The Book of Kings starts from the documents found in the royal court to tell us about the kings of Judah and Israel in the light of God’s words and teachings. Solomon, with his prosperous reign and his perfect face among the faces of the eleven kings, fills the first chapters of the Book of Kings. The book narrates the separation between the two kingdoms of Israel caused by the split of the ten tribes. The history of the two kingdoms together until the demise of the Northern Kingdom in 722 BC. And then the history of the Kingdom of Judah until its collapse in 587 BC..
The authors of the Bible took advantage of the failure of the kings after David and the fall of the monarchy (sixth century BC) in order to speak about the expected king, because it was believed that the inheritor of divine promises would be sent by the Lord to lead the people on their way, and he is not any king, but rather the descendant of David, that is, Christ. .
The last prophets:
Under the name “The Last Prophets,” the Hebrew Torah collects three major prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and twelve prophets who form one book and are called, because of their few traces, “the minor prophets.”
Isaiah is at the top of the major prophets, and his ranking is due to the size of his book. He is among the first prophets who preached in the Kingdom of Judah. A great poet and a clever politician, he preached between 740 BC and 700 BC. He had such a great influence that his disciples, who came two centuries later, added their works to his works. What specialists have distinguished is that the Book of Isaiah (66 chapters), with its clear intellectual and literary evidence, is in fact a book that includes several books written in different times and circumstances. Chapters 1-39 are partly written by Isaiah ben Amos himself, and chapters 40-55, which foretell the reform of Judah by Cyrus, the Persian king, are written by an unnamed disciple who most likely lived during the days of the exile. Chapters 56-66 were written by another student who lived after the captivity. However, the unity of the entire book is as amazing as its parts are separated by centuries. Perhaps the emphasis on the holiness of God and the Messianic element (relative to Christ) in the book is what called for linking the parts.
Micah, a farmer who prophesied in the Kingdom of Judah, was hurt by the politics of the elders, which caused war and the injustice of the rich. He called out God's wrath and foretold of the king coming to shepherd his people, not from Jerusalem, but from Bethlehem.
Amos, a shepherd from the south from Tekoa near Bethlehem, was sent by God to the north during the reign of Jeroboam II, around the year 750 BC. Samaria was enjoying pride, so its people spoke about social justice. What distinguishes Amos from the prophets who preceded him is that he was the first to begin writing down his words. In his days, Hosea, who was from the Northern Kingdom, preached. He discovered God's love and compassion through his love for his wife, who restored her youthful heart after her bad life. Hosea proved the sin of his people because no one is acquainted with God’s love, and a brother does not have compassion for his brother.
After Isaiah was martyred, a generation of prophets arose in the Kingdom of Judah: Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, and Jeremiah. While Nahum preached around 660 BC, and spoke about the destruction of Nineveh (612 BC), the capital of Assyria, and considered its destruction an indication of God’s justice, Zephaniah the prophet was shocked by the fact that Jerusalem, kings, prophets, and priests, was far from the Lord, so he turned to the humble. Heart who put their trust in God (2:3).
Habakkuk preached around the year 600 BC. When the people of Babylon began their advance on Palestine, he wondered: Why does God allow the wicked to punish His people? However, the Lord’s answer to him: “The righteous shall live by faith” (2:4) makes him a call to trust in God, who must intervene.
In the year 605 BC. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated the Egyptians at Carchemish, in northern Syria. He arrived in 603 BC. To Jerusalem and subjugate it. Jeremiah (628-580 BC) realized that the enemy was coming from the north, from Babylon, so he anticipated the disaster and alerted his people to it, but the people persecuted him. Jeremiah emphasized God's supremacy and the people's betrayal of him, and called on him to repent.
Ezekiel was one of the first Magi caravan to Babylon (597 BC). He prophesied there and, at first, blamed the people for their behavior, but after the disaster struck (i.e. the captivity to Babylon in the year 587 BC), his preaching turned into a message of hope and he talked about returning to the Holy Land.
Obadiah is the shortest book of the prophets. We do not know anything about the identity of its author. He directed his words to the people of Edom, a Semitic tribe that settled in the mountains south of the Dead Sea, who rejoiced at the destruction of Jerusalem (785 BC), and he denounced their position. He encouraged the survivors after the evacuation and foretold the coming of the Day of the Lord, the day when the nations will be punished.
The prophets of the return from exile are: Haggai, Zechariah (the first), Malachi, Joel, and Isaiah (the third). In the year 520 BC. The prophet Haggai called for the rebuilding of the temple and foretold the coming of the Messiah.
The fourteen chapters that make up the Book of Zechariah are a collection of sermons by two prophets, the first (chapters 1-8) and the second (9-14). The first supports Haggai's preaching, but he does so in a special, visionary style, and declares that the building of the temple is a pledge of a glorious future for Jerusalem and a promise of God's blessings. As for the second, an unknown prophet dates back to the Greek era. He sent the idea of waiting for a Messiah through whom God would establish his kingdom.
Malachi is the Messenger of God who spoke about the duties of the priests who neglected to preach the Word of God, the importance of marital fidelity (the sin of those who divorce their wives), and the comprehensive sacrifice that symbolizes the sacrifice of the New Testament.
It is not known exactly when Joel preached. He was concerned about the environment while pollution was prevailing in the country, and for him it was a sign of the coming of the “Day of the Lord.” He talked about the coming of the Holy Spirit in recent times.
The writer of the Book of Jonah uses the name of a prophet mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25. He is a prophet from the eighth century known for his extreme nationalist spirit. However, the time of writing the book goes back, without a doubt, to after the return from the exile, specifically to the Persian era. The book tells the story of a prophet who does not agree with God being as he is (merciful, compassionate...), so he refuses to send him to Nineveh, the pagan city, and tries to flee from the face of the Lord, but he returns and obeys. It is a book that beautifully depicts the repentance of the pagans and the Lord’s satisfaction with them.
From my parish bulletin 1995
