The Four Major Prophets

Chapter 1

Day 4

        The prophet served a major role in Old Testament times. Prophets were God’s spokesmen, sent to give God’s guidance to individuals and to the nation of Israel.

God had warned His people not to seek guidance from occult sources (Deut. 18). In that scripture God promised to send prophets to disclose His will. These prophets were to be recognized by predicting future events. What the true prophet foretold would surely happen. Of course there were many “false prophets” who sought only glory and prestige, but they were quickly unveiled. 

The primary message of the Old Testament prophets was to the men and women of their own time. And the authenticating signs could be observed by their people. But many of the Old Testament prophets looked far beyond their own times and their writings convey a sweeping vision of the distant future. Many of these prophecies concern Jesus in His first coming. Others concern events hundreds of years in the future, but events now far in our past. But perhaps most of the far-view prophecies concern the time of the end.

As we read the written works of the prophets in our Old Testaments, we are struck by common end-time themes that appear again and again in both the Major and Minor Prophets. While we do not have enough data to speak with certainty about the details of what still lies ahead, we surely have enough to see the future’s broad outlines.

In today’s lesson we will look at five books that are called “The Four Major Prophets.” Let us now learn something of the authors of these five books.

Isaiah: Written by Isaiah the Prophet son of Amoz. The book of Isaiah is divided into two parts. The first part is chapters 1-39, the second part is chapters 40-66. Some skeptics contend that Isaiah wrote the first part and someone close to him wrote the second part after his death. Point of truth is, Isaiah wrote the first 39 verses when he was young and the remainder of the book in the latter part of his life.

When Isaiah first rose up as a prophet, he was very popular. As time passed Isaiah fell from the favor of the people because his messages were hard for them to hear. Isaiah prophesied under four different rulers in chapters 1-39; Uzziah and Jotham (chapters 1-6), Ahaz (chapter 7), and Hezekiah (chapters 15-39). Historical evidence indicates he was married to a prophetess. According to tradition, Isaiah was executed after being a prophet for 60 years during the reign of Manasseh.  The name Isaiah means “the Lord saves,” or “the Lord is Savior.”

Jeremiah: Written by Jeremiah the Prophet who lived in Jerusalem which was, during his time, the capitol of the southern kingdom of Judah. Jeremiah’s 40-year ministry spanned the final days of Judah’s existence as an independent nation. Jeremiah was often called the weeping prophet because of the personal anguish he knew in his ministry, and he witnessed the utter destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple that he, like other godly Jews, loved.

Jeremiah prophesied during the reign of Judah’s last five kings before they were taken away to Babylon. Their names were Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin (Coniah), and Zedekiah.

The name Jeremiah means, “whom the Lord has appointed.” In verse (5) we see that Jeremiah was appointed by God to be a prophet before his birth. We also see how he complained about his abilities in verse (6) much the same as Moses did (Exodus 4:10), so the Lord touched his mouth to give him a divine message (9).

        Lamentations: Tradition says that Jeremiah himself found his way to Babylon from Egypt, and wrote these anonymous words soon after the fall of Jerusalem in 586b.c. This book was added to the Megilloth and is read at the fast of Tisha B’av, usually in July, to commemorate the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem both in 586b.c. (2Kings 25:8-9) and in A.D. 70.

In his great sorrow, Jeremiah gives a horrible account of the city’s destruction, confesses the great sinfulness of his people and pleads to God for mercy toward his people.

Ezekiel: The prophecies recorded in this book were first prophesied by Ezekiel between July 593 b.c. (Ezek. 1:1-2), and April 571 b.c. (Ezek. 29:17). Ezekiel was the son of Buzi, a Zadokite priest. He was on of three prophets that were also priests; the other two were Jeremiah and Zechariah. Ezekiel was take from Jerusalem to Babylon in the second deportation (597b.c.), along with King Jehoiachin (2Kings 24:8-17; Jeremiah 22:24-30).

At age 30 (Ezekiel 1:1) when a priest would normally begin his ministry, Ezekiel received his prophetic call from the Lord. He spent the rest of his life in Babylon, but had visions of both contemporary and future events relating to Jerusalem. The name Ezekiel means “God strengthens.” How appropriate!!

Daniel: Written by Daniel, this book contains the personal history and visions of the future of Daniel, a Jew deported to Babylon as a teenager in 605 b.c. There Daniel was trained, with young people from other nations, to become administrators in the empire of Nebuchadnezzar.

The Book of Daniel is written in two languages: (1:1–2:4a), and (8:1–12:13) are in Hebrew. The rest of the book, (2:4b–7:28), is written in Aramaic. Archeology has shown that other writings of the same time share this trait.

The name “Daniel” means “God is my judge.” The first six chapters of this important Old Testament book show how the conviction represented by Daniel’s name guided his actions from youth through old age. Committed to pleasing God alone, this man was unshakable in his determination to do what he knew was right.

Daily Bible Readings:

Read the book of Lamentations, it’s only five chapters.