February 25, 2025 • 17 mins
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This is a re-airing of the episode that focuses on the historical context of Old Testament prophets, highlighting their significance during three major periods: the pre-monarchy, monarchy, and writing periods. Key figures such as Elijah, Isaiah, and Jeremiah are examined, emphasizing how their messages were shaped by their times and continue to resonate today.
• Overview of Old Testament prophetic tradition
• Examination of early prophets before the monarchy
• Insights into the monarchy period and influential prophets
• Discussion of the writing prophets and their historical stages
• The role of exilic and post-exilic prophets in conveying hope and renewal
• Connection between prophet messages and historical contexts
Related Episode:
The Prophets: Messengers of God's Word in the Bible - Pt 1 (Re-Airing)
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Note: All scripture references are from the NIV translation unless otherwise indicated.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jacqui (00:12):
Greetings again, listeners.
If you're tuning in after ourlast episode, welcome back.
If you haven't listened to partone yet, I highly recommend
going back and checking it outbefore diving into this one.
Now that we know who theprophets were and what they did,
it's time to answer anothercrucial question when did they
(00:36):
live, and how does that shapethe meaning of their messages?
Reading a prophetic bookwithout understanding its
historical backdrop can feellike jumping into the middle of
a conversation.
But once you place the prophetsin their time periods before,
during or after Israel's exile,their messages make a lot more
(01:00):
sense.
So in this episode we'll breakdown the major periods of Old
Testament prophecy, introducekey figures like Elijah, Isaiah
and Jeremiah, and show how theirmessages fit into the bigger
story of the Bible.
Let's jump into the prophetsand their historical context.
To the prophets and theirhistorical context.
(01:25):
Well, welcome everyone.
I'm your host, Jacqui Adewole,and this is the Bible Basics
Podcast where weekly, we breakdown the Bible into
understandable, bite-sizedchunks.
Yes, it's easy to get confusedwhen reading Old Testament
prophecy without knowledge ofwhen the prophets spoke.
(01:49):
To study Old Testament prophetsresponsibly, we must understand
the periods of time in whichthey ministered.
For me, it helps to think ofprophecy in three historical
stages.
To think of prophecy in threehistorical stages.
First, the time before theUnited Kingdom, when the kings
(02:10):
arose in Israel.
That's called the pre-monarchyperiod.
Then there's the period fromthe start of the United Kingdom
to the first of the writingprophets, and that's called the
monarchy period.
And the third period isreferred to as the writing
period.
That's covered in the books ofthe Bible that are named for
(02:31):
various prophets and thatwriting period.
We'll break that down evenfurther into pre-exilic, exilic
and post-exilic, exilic andpost-exilic.
So to recap, for those of youwho are taking notes, we'll
(02:56):
cover the pre-monarchy period,the monarchy period and the
writing period.
Let's kick things off with atrip back in time to the
pre-monarchy period.
The prophets of this era werethe trailblazers, the early
voices who proclaimed God'smessages.
This group of individuals spokefor God before the
establishment of the Israelitemonarchy in 1050 BC.
(03:19):
They're often referred to asthe early prophets.
While their roles as prophetsmay not be as prominent as those
of later writing prophets,their interactions with God and
the messages they conveyed arean essential part of the
prophetic tradition in the Bible.
Figures like Abraham around2000 BC, moses and his sister
(03:58):
Miriam during the period of theExodus, and Deborah, who served
during the period of the Judges,were among those who carried
the prophetic mantle during thisperiod.
Way, this is a good time togive a shout out to listener
Marilyn D.
She was the first to correctlyanswer our Bible nerd question
about women prophets fromepisode seven.
Sister Marilyn, you rock girl.
Okay, getting back to theprophets Going back before
(04:22):
Abraham, you may have also heardof others identified as early
prophets, such as Enoch.
He walked with God.
You can read more about him inJude 14.
Or Noah, who warned of thegreat flood See Hebrews 11: 7.
But there's more to the story.
(04:43):
But there's more to the story.
Some scholars even suggest thatthe very first prophet recorded
in scripture might have beenAbel, adam's son, whose faith
and righteousness made him apowerful witness.
These early prophets, alongsideothers you may be familiar with,
(05:03):
played vital roles indelivering God's messages and
guiding the people during aperiod when the Israel monarchy
had not even taken shape.
Their contributions are woveninto the rich history of
biblical prophecy.
So that was the pre-monarchy,and this second chapter of our
(05:25):
exploration will delve into theera of monarchy, prophets who
are not written down in theirown books.
As Israel transitioned from aloose federation of tribes to a
united monarchy under kings Saul, David and Solomon, a new breed
(05:46):
of prophets emerged.
These were the monarchyprophets, and their role was
vital during times ofsignificant political change and
upheaval covering the periodfrom approximately 1050 to 781
BC.
Samuel played a central roleduring this era.
(06:08):
His birth was an answer toprayer and he was dedicated to
serving God from an early age.
Samuel was called by God tofulfill multiple roles,
including that of a prophet,priest and judge.
Notably, samuel anointed bothKing David and Saul.
(06:31):
He even went on to establish aschool for prophets.
Check out 1 Samuel 19 (06:35):
18-24 for more about that.
These were groups of prophetswho lived in communities
dedicating themselves to a lifeof service and prophecy
communities dedicatingthemselves to a life of service
and prophecy.
At least three of theseprophetic schools or communities
existed, and the men who werepart of these bands were deeply
(06:59):
devoted to God and his service.
They followed the teachings ofprominent prophets of this
period, like Samuel, Elijah andElisha, and were often referred
to as their students.
So who are the other monarchyprophets, and what contributions
did they make?
During this period, prophetsnot only became more numerous,
(07:24):
but also more influential.
Like the pre-monarchy prophets,these monarchy prophets didn't
have books named for them.
We know about them throughhistorical accounts that recount
their revelations,pronouncements and exploits.
These accounts were intricatelywoven into the history of
(07:45):
Israel, as documented in thebooks of Joshua through 2 Kings.
Prominent figures like Elijahand his successor Elisha played
significant roles during thisera.
Nathan is another noteworthyprophet who famously confronted
(08:05):
King David.
Additionally, there's Ahijah,who condemned Jeroboam, the
first king of the NorthernKingdom.
These prophets served asadvisors to the kings, offering
counsel and guidance duringtimes of political and social
(08:25):
flux.
Now let's shift our focus to themost well-known group of
prophets the writing prophets.
In ancient Israel, there werehundreds of prophets, but only
16 were chosen to convey God'smessage in a way that would be
collected and written in thefinal 17 books of the Old
(08:50):
Testament.
It's worth noting that, whilethere were 17 books, one of them
Lamentations is associated withJeremiah, who is believed to
have written it in addition tothe book bearing his name.
Now, an important note While werefer to this third group of
(09:13):
prophets as written prophets,it's essential to recognize that
they also delivered theirmessages orally.
They spoke, preached andlectured, and their words were
later transcribed.
For instance, the evidence inthe book of Jeremiah indicates
that he was, for the most part,an oral prophet and the writing
(09:35):
down of his prophecy was largelythe work of Baruch.
Most of the prophetic bookswere initially spoken messages
written down later, possibly bythe prophets themselves or by
their followers.
These prophetic books aredivided into five major prophets
(10:05):
, including Isaiah, jeremiah, lAmos, obadiah, jonah, micah,
nahum, habakkuk, zephaniah,haggai, zechariah and Malachi.
Remember 512, 5512.
You know what I mean, right?
If you don't have a clue aboutwhat I'm talking about, check
(10:28):
out episode 5.
If you don't have a clue aboutwhat I'm talking about, check
out episode five.
Meanwhile, let's organize thesewriting prophets and their
associated books by theirhistorical periods.
First we have the pre-exilicprophets, from 755 to
(10:55):
approximately 586 BC, followedby the exilic period, that's the
time when Judah was exiled toBabylon, and that would be 586
to 520 BC.
And finally the post-exilicperiod when Israel returned from
exile 520 to 432 BC.
Written prophecy began in the8th century during the reign of
(11:17):
Jeroboam II in the northernkingdom of Israel.
The prophets of that time arecalled the pre-exilic prophets.
Amos and Hosea were among thefirst to put their messages in
writing in the northern kingdomof Israel.
Assyria would bring God'sjudgment upon Israel, and he
(11:37):
sent his prophets to warn themabout it.
Ultimately, it was idolatry andthe failure of the nation to
heed God's warnings through hisprophets that caused the
northern kingdom to fall.
It was taken captive by Assyriain 722 BC.
See 2 Kings 17 (11:56):
5-23.
In the southern kingdom of Judah, micah and Isaiah were the
initial known writing prophets.
They are followed by Nahum,Jeremiah, Zephaniah and Habakkuk
(12:17):
.
These writing prophetsprimarily address four main
subject areas the worship offalse gods and idolatry, empty
ritualism, injustices with afocus on the oppression of the
poor, and repentance to avoidGod's judgment.
(12:38):
Just another point I didn'tmention Obadiah, Joel and Jonah.
the exact dates of theirministries is not clear, but
they could have been servingduring this period as well.
Now we move on to the exilicprophets.
This is the second period ofthe writing prophets.
(13:02):
After Israel fell in 722 BC,Judah continued to exist for
over a century due to theinfluence of some good kings and
righteous prophets.
However, they too turned awayfrom God and were sent into
exile under the Babylonians.
(13:23):
During their captivity inBabylon, they needed hope and
encouragement.
They had to be reminded thatGod's covenant was still in
force and that he would completehis redemptive purpose in the
world.
Daniel and Ezekiel served asthe prophets, the messages of
(13:45):
hope, during this period.
The third period of the writingprophets was the post-exilic
period.
After Israel's return toJerusalem under Persian
authority, the people beganrebuilding the temple, the city
(14:06):
and the nation.
Post-exilic prophets encouragedrebuilding the temple,
re-establishing the kingdom andthe throne of David and resuming
the formal worship that helpedpreserve Israel's separate
identity.
The prophet Haggai's messagewas to build the temple.
Zechariah encouraged thecompletion of the temple and
(14:27):
also saw visions of themessianic period.
Malachi warned the people toreturn to God and to watch for
the coming of Elijah beforequote, the great and terrible
day of the Lord.
So in our exploration we touchedon the pre-monarchy prophets,
(14:51):
the monarchy prophets that werenot formally written down, and
now the writing prophets thatspread over three periods
pre-exilic, exilic andpost-exilic.
We also looked at some of theirkey messages.
We also looked at some of theirkey messages.
Note that the most directapplication of the prophet's
(15:16):
message was to the people oftheir time, but in the distance,
on the horizon, they also sawthe coming of the Messiah and
his kingdom.
Ultimately, these messages fromGod pointed to the coming
Christ.
Let's conclude with this tip Tounderstand Old Testament
prophecy, it's crucial to relatetheir words to their
(15:40):
circumstances.
By connecting the words of theprophets to the historical
context they faced, we cancomprehend what their messages
meant for the people of theirtime and what they mean for us
today.
A wealth of information on thecontext and background can be
(16:01):
found in the historical books ofJoshua, through 2 Chronicles.
Indeed, the more we consultthat history, the better we'll
understand the prophets andtheir Christ-centered messages.
And that wraps up our twofoundational episodes on the
(16:22):
prophets.
Now that we've covered who theprophets were and when they
spoke, we're ready to dive intoseason four of the Bible Basics
podcast, which covers the booksof prophecy themselves.
So make sure you don't miss it.
Until then, keep seeking, keepreading and keep growing in your
(16:45):
faith, and so we can spreadGod's word further.
Please share, like, follow,comment and subscribe.
Greetings again, listeners.
If you're tuning in after ourlast episode, welcome back.
If you haven't listened to partone yet, I highly recommend
going back and checking it outbefore diving into this one.
Now that we know who theprophets were and what they did,
it's time to answer anothercrucial question when did they
(00:36):
live, and how does that shapethe meaning of their messages?
Reading a prophetic bookwithout understanding its
historical backdrop can feellike jumping into the middle of
a conversation.
But once you place the prophetsin their time periods before,
during or after Israel's exile,their messages make a lot more
(01:00):
sense.
So in this episode we'll breakdown the major periods of Old
Testament prophecy, introducekey figures like Elijah, Isaiah
and Jeremiah, and show how theirmessages fit into the bigger
story of the Bible.
Let's jump into the prophetsand their historical context.
To the prophets and theirhistorical context.
(01:25):
Well, welcome everyone.
I'm your host, Jacqui Adewole,and this is the Bible Basics
Podcast where weekly, we breakdown the Bible into
understandable, bite-sizedchunks.
Yes, it's easy to get confusedwhen reading Old Testament
prophecy without knowledge ofwhen the prophets spoke.
(01:49):
To study Old Testament prophetsresponsibly, we must understand
the periods of time in whichthey ministered.
For me, it helps to think ofprophecy in three historical
stages.
To think of prophecy in threehistorical stages.
First, the time before theUnited Kingdom, when the kings
(02:10):
arose in Israel.
That's called the pre-monarchyperiod.
Then there's the period fromthe start of the United Kingdom
to the first of the writingprophets, and that's called the
monarchy period.
And the third period isreferred to as the writing
period.
That's covered in the books ofthe Bible that are named for
(02:31):
various prophets and thatwriting period.
We'll break that down evenfurther into pre-exilic, exilic
and post-exilic, exilic andpost-exilic.
So to recap, for those of youwho are taking notes, we'll
(02:56):
cover the pre-monarchy period,the monarchy period and the
writing period.
Let's kick things off with atrip back in time to the
pre-monarchy period.
The prophets of this era werethe trailblazers, the early
voices who proclaimed God'smessages.
This group of individuals spokefor God before the
establishment of the Israelitemonarchy in 1050 BC.
(03:19):
They're often referred to asthe early prophets.
While their roles as prophetsmay not be as prominent as those
of later writing prophets,their interactions with God and
the messages they conveyed arean essential part of the
prophetic tradition in the Bible.
Figures like Abraham around2000 BC, moses and his sister
(03:58):
Miriam during the period of theExodus, and Deborah, who served
during the period of the Judges,were among those who carried
the prophetic mantle during thisperiod.
Way, this is a good time togive a shout out to listener
Marilyn D.
She was the first to correctlyanswer our Bible nerd question
about women prophets fromepisode seven.
Sister Marilyn, you rock girl.
Okay, getting back to theprophets Going back before
(04:22):
Abraham, you may have also heardof others identified as early
prophets, such as Enoch.
He walked with God.
You can read more about him inJude 14.
Or Noah, who warned of thegreat flood See Hebrews 11: 7.
But there's more to the story.
(04:43):
But there's more to the story.
Some scholars even suggest thatthe very first prophet recorded
in scripture might have beenAbel, adam's son, whose faith
and righteousness made him apowerful witness.
These early prophets, alongsideothers you may be familiar with,
(05:03):
played vital roles indelivering God's messages and
guiding the people during aperiod when the Israel monarchy
had not even taken shape.
Their contributions are woveninto the rich history of
biblical prophecy.
So that was the pre-monarchy,and this second chapter of our
(05:25):
exploration will delve into theera of monarchy, prophets who
are not written down in theirown books.
As Israel transitioned from aloose federation of tribes to a
united monarchy under kings Saul, David and Solomon, a new breed
(05:46):
of prophets emerged.
These were the monarchyprophets, and their role was
vital during times ofsignificant political change and
upheaval covering the periodfrom approximately 1050 to 781
BC.
Samuel played a central roleduring this era.
(06:08):
His birth was an answer toprayer and he was dedicated to
serving God from an early age.
Samuel was called by God tofulfill multiple roles,
including that of a prophet,priest and judge.
Notably, samuel anointed bothKing David and Saul.
(06:31):
He even went on to establish aschool for prophets.
Check out 1 Samuel 19 (06:35):
18-24 for more about that.
These were groups of prophetswho lived in communities
dedicating themselves to a lifeof service and prophecy
communities dedicatingthemselves to a life of service
and prophecy.
At least three of theseprophetic schools or communities
existed, and the men who werepart of these bands were deeply
(06:59):
devoted to God and his service.
They followed the teachings ofprominent prophets of this
period, like Samuel, Elijah andElisha, and were often referred
to as their students.
So who are the other monarchyprophets, and what contributions
did they make?
During this period, prophetsnot only became more numerous,
(07:24):
but also more influential.
Like the pre-monarchy prophets,these monarchy prophets didn't
have books named for them.
We know about them throughhistorical accounts that recount
their revelations,pronouncements and exploits.
These accounts were intricatelywoven into the history of
(07:45):
Israel, as documented in thebooks of Joshua through 2 Kings.
Prominent figures like Elijahand his successor Elisha played
significant roles during thisera.
Nathan is another noteworthyprophet who famously confronted
(08:05):
King David.
Additionally, there's Ahijah,who condemned Jeroboam, the
first king of the NorthernKingdom.
These prophets served asadvisors to the kings, offering
counsel and guidance duringtimes of political and social
(08:25):
flux.
Now let's shift our focus to themost well-known group of
prophets the writing prophets.
In ancient Israel, there werehundreds of prophets, but only
16 were chosen to convey God'smessage in a way that would be
collected and written in thefinal 17 books of the Old
(08:50):
Testament.
It's worth noting that, whilethere were 17 books, one of them
Lamentations is associated withJeremiah, who is believed to
have written it in addition tothe book bearing his name.
Now, an important note While werefer to this third group of
(09:13):
prophets as written prophets,it's essential to recognize that
they also delivered theirmessages orally.
They spoke, preached andlectured, and their words were
later transcribed.
For instance, the evidence inthe book of Jeremiah indicates
that he was, for the most part,an oral prophet and the writing
(09:35):
down of his prophecy was largelythe work of Baruch.
Most of the prophetic bookswere initially spoken messages
written down later, possibly bythe prophets themselves or by
their followers.
These prophetic books aredivided into five major prophets
(10:05):
, including Isaiah, jeremiah, lAmos, obadiah, jonah, micah,
nahum, habakkuk, zephaniah,haggai, zechariah and Malachi.
Remember 512, 5512.
You know what I mean, right?
If you don't have a clue aboutwhat I'm talking about, check
(10:28):
out episode 5.
If you don't have a clue aboutwhat I'm talking about, check
out episode five.
Meanwhile, let's organize thesewriting prophets and their
associated books by theirhistorical periods.
First we have the pre-exilicprophets, from 755 to
(10:55):
approximately 586 BC, followedby the exilic period, that's the
time when Judah was exiled toBabylon, and that would be 586
to 520 BC.
And finally the post-exilicperiod when Israel returned from
exile 520 to 432 BC.
Written prophecy began in the8th century during the reign of
(11:17):
Jeroboam II in the northernkingdom of Israel.
The prophets of that time arecalled the pre-exilic prophets.
Amos and Hosea were among thefirst to put their messages in
writing in the northern kingdomof Israel.
Assyria would bring God'sjudgment upon Israel, and he
(11:37):
sent his prophets to warn themabout it.
Ultimately, it was idolatry andthe failure of the nation to
heed God's warnings through hisprophets that caused the
northern kingdom to fall.
It was taken captive by Assyriain 722 BC.
See 2 Kings 17 (11:56):
5-23.
In the southern kingdom of Judah, micah and Isaiah were the
initial known writing prophets.
They are followed by Nahum,Jeremiah, Zephaniah and Habakkuk
(12:17):
.
These writing prophetsprimarily address four main
subject areas the worship offalse gods and idolatry, empty
ritualism, injustices with afocus on the oppression of the
poor, and repentance to avoidGod's judgment.
(12:38):
Just another point I didn'tmention Obadiah, Joel and Jonah.
the exact dates of theirministries is not clear, but
they could have been servingduring this period as well.
Now we move on to the exilicprophets.
This is the second period ofthe writing prophets.
(13:02):
After Israel fell in 722 BC,Judah continued to exist for
over a century due to theinfluence of some good kings and
righteous prophets.
However, they too turned awayfrom God and were sent into
exile under the Babylonians.
(13:23):
During their captivity inBabylon, they needed hope and
encouragement.
They had to be reminded thatGod's covenant was still in
force and that he would completehis redemptive purpose in the
world.
Daniel and Ezekiel served asthe prophets, the messages of
(13:45):
hope, during this period.
The third period of the writingprophets was the post-exilic
period.
After Israel's return toJerusalem under Persian
authority, the people beganrebuilding the temple, the city
(14:06):
and the nation.
Post-exilic prophets encouragedrebuilding the temple,
re-establishing the kingdom andthe throne of David and resuming
the formal worship that helpedpreserve Israel's separate
identity.
The prophet Haggai's messagewas to build the temple.
Zechariah encouraged thecompletion of the temple and
(14:27):
also saw visions of themessianic period.
Malachi warned the people toreturn to God and to watch for
the coming of Elijah beforequote, the great and terrible
day of the Lord.
So in our exploration we touchedon the pre-monarchy prophets,
(14:51):
the monarchy prophets that werenot formally written down, and
now the writing prophets thatspread over three periods
pre-exilic, exilic andpost-exilic.
We also looked at some of theirkey messages.
We also looked at some of theirkey messages.
Note that the most directapplication of the prophet's
(15:16):
message was to the people oftheir time, but in the distance,
on the horizon, they also sawthe coming of the Messiah and
his kingdom.
Ultimately, these messages fromGod pointed to the coming
Christ.
Let's conclude with this tip Tounderstand Old Testament
prophecy, it's crucial to relatetheir words to their
(15:40):
circumstances.
By connecting the words of theprophets to the historical
context they faced, we cancomprehend what their messages
meant for the people of theirtime and what they mean for us
today.
A wealth of information on thecontext and background can be
(16:01):
found in the historical books ofJoshua, through 2 Chronicles.
Indeed, the more we consultthat history, the better we'll
understand the prophets andtheir Christ-centered messages.
And that wraps up our twofoundational episodes on the
(16:22):
prophets.
Now that we've covered who theprophets were and when they
spoke, we're ready to dive intoseason four of the Bible Basics
podcast, which covers the booksof prophecy themselves.
So make sure you don't miss it.
Until then, keep seeking, keepreading and keep growing in your
(16:45):
faith, and so we can spreadGod's word further.
Please share, like, follow,comment and subscribe.
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