Bible In A Year: Pre-Exilic Prophets

The prophetic books call God’s people back to covenant faithfulness. Prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and others warned Israel and Judah that continued disobedience would bring the judgment described in the Law, including exile from the land. They confronted idolatry, injustice, and rebellion against God. At the same time, the prophets also proclaimed God’s promise to restore His people and fulfill His purposes. These books reveal God’s justice, mercy, and faithfulness to His covenant.

Transcript

Welcome And Where We Are

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You're listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast. Our mission is to help the people of God understand the Word of God. Join us each Monday and Thursday for new episode releases. Listen to our full library of content at teachmethebible.com or by downloading the Teach Me the Bible app from any app store. You're listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast.

What The Prophets Actually Do

SPEAKER_03 0:27

Welcome back to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. My name is Alex Wolf. I'm here with Dr. David Klingler. Uh, and in this series, we are walking through the story of the Bible in a year, basically book by book. And if you're this far in, you probably know what's going on. But if you're new, I'll encourage you to go back and start in Genesis because we are we are building week by week on what we had said in previous weeks. And so we're we'll probably say some things. If this is your first thing that you need some information in the back, and you can also hop over to teachmethebible.com for other resources, uh, for other books, uh, book studies we've done, blog posts, all kinds of different resources for you. Uh, but today uh we find ourselves in beginning in the prophets. Uh so we've come out of the major story, the major narrative in the Old Testament, uh, where we were watching the judges, the priests, and the kings uh all sort of fail miserably. And now our our the scene kind of begins to turn to these prophets. And so if you could kind of orient us to what we're looking at here.

Dr. David Klingler 1:38

Yeah, so so uh so the prophets are probably the section of the Old Testament, at least one of the sections of the Old Testament where people get lost pretty quickly. You feel uh that they're not organized in any chronological order per se. Um, you don't have any context, you don't know what to do with them. Right. And you start reading them, and it's like, yeah, I I don't know what they're talking about. Uh I, you know, I have no idea who these people are. And so it can be a little bit confusing. And uh, and so we're gonna try to to just uh help you you know think through what what are the prophets doing? And so so the prophets in Deuteronomy 16 through 18, Moses spells out the officers who are supposed to ensure that Israel did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord. The the judges, uh, then the pre uh priests, then the kings, then the prophets. And and through the the historical books, what we call the historical books, through Joshua judges, and the judges uh show up and they you know they start off pretty good, they they uh begin to fail. At the end of the book of Judges, they're introduced to the priests, and uh and that uh the priests are leading Israel uh until you can continue into 1 Samuel. Samuel uh takes over um for the the priests and uh and uh but Israel wants a king. They ask for a king, and so God gives them what they ask for. That's what Saul's name means to ask. They ask for a king. Uh and so that introduces you to the kings. David comes next, the kingdom is united. Uh, you know, Israel, north, and south are together. There really isn't uh so much a north and a south at this point, but Israel is one nation um under God, indivisible, with uh little American joke there. Um but uh but um uh uh and then uh Solomon uh takes over uh David's son, and we we talked about that transition. Um but then uh because of Solomon's sin, uh the the kingdom is going to be divided. And so ten tribes are gonna be in the north, and two tribes are gonna be in the south, and the kings are failing. They're they're doing what's good and right in their own eyes, they're not doing what's good and right in the eyes of the Lord. And so this is the point of the story where the prophets begin to show up. And uh if you are familiar with first and second kings at all, probably maybe the only thing you know about first and second kings uh is um Elijah and Elisha. These are the two prophets, they get quite a bit of airtime in the book of first and second kings. You know, you expect to find in kings the book's about kings. Well, it is, but but the prophets come in to correct the kings, and so Elijah's coming in to to deal with uh with the disobedient king. And and so um the prophets are coming in and they're saying to the king, if you don't repent and if you don't turn this thing around, then the Lord will execute his judgment, what he promised in the book of Deuteronomy, yeah, in the law. Okay, so so you better you better quit it, or you're gonna get it. Yeah, shape up. Yeah, don't like we said last week, don't make us stop this car. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 4:58

You know, I had a another professor say that prophets are covenant enforcement mediators, right? They're the uh which is kind of a fancy way of saying they're basically the referees enforcing the rules.

Major Versus Minor Prophets

Dr. David Klingler 5:11

They are they they they yeah, they they they come and they pronounce the the judgment, or at least pronounce the warning to get Israel to repent. So we're come to this book called The Prophet, the section of the Bible called the Prophets, they're all kind of lumped together in our English Bible. Uh starts with Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, you got Lamentation. It just then there's a bunch of these this section, and you can just feel like you get lost. So let's let's sort this out a little bit. So so when you're around the the you know, the English Bible, um, and you're talking about prophets, you're gonna hear the terms major prophets and minor prophets. Uh the major prophets uh doesn't mean they had better things to say or even more important, they were just had more to say.

SPEAKER_03 6:04

Those lowly minor prophets over there.

Pre Exilic Exilic Post Exilic

Dr. David Klingler 6:06

Yeah, the minor prophets. Y'all just have little stuff to say. We have big stuff to say. No, no, that's not it. The major prophets just wrote more. The books are longer, they take up a whole scroll, whereas the minor prophets basically take up uh all twelve minor prophets take up one scroll. Yeah. And uh and so you have Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, you know, regarded as the major prophets, and the minor prophets, Hosea, Joel Amus, and all that. Okay. So that's how they're categorized. Um, but they're not in any particular order chronologically. There's some order uh in the minor prophets, uh, but but there may be some exceptions to that chronological order. So so anyway, so so you've got uh Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. Um so that's one way that you'll hear the prophets talked about, major prophets, minor prophets. Okay. A second way you'll hear uh the the prophets talked about is pre-exilic, exilic, and post-exilic. You say, well, what on earth is that? Well, first you have to understand that the exile. So the prophets um are coming along in three waves. Uh the the first wave is uh they're saying, Israel, if you don't repent, uh then the Lord's going to execute his judgment upon you. He's gonna raise up a nation from afar, a foreign nation, and they're going to come and they're going to overtake the land and they're going to um exile you from the land. They're going to kick you out of the land. And so Deuteronomy 28, you know. So that's the that's the exile. Okay, so uh in both the north and the south. So after Solomon is king, um, the the judgment is pronounced on Solomon, the kingdom is divided, ten tribes in the north, two in the south. All the kings in the north are wicked, most in the south are evil. And so the prophets start to show up. Some of the prophets are going to show up in the north, most of them are gonna show up in the south, uh, and they're going to begin to tell the king, if you don't repent, um the enemy's coming, the Assyrians are coming. Uh, and and though those that's the first big threat, the Assyrians. And so uh you've got uh prophets like um uh Hosea, uh Amos, Jonah in the north, uh, and they are uh prophesying against Israel and proclaiming that the that the the Assyrians are coming. And so, yeah, pre-exilic. These are these are the the prophets that are proclaiming the that the the Gentiles are coming uh before they come. So that's pre-exilic. Well, they come. Uh the Assyrians come in 722 BC, and they basically they overtake the northern kingdom, and they overtake all the southern kingdom, uh, they surround Jerusalem. Hezekiah is the king, and Hezekiah cries out to the Lord, and so that's kind of the South's saving, you know, saving grace. Uh, but Hezekiah sends, uh invites the Babylonians in, uh, and so the Lord pronounces judgment through Isaiah. Okay, the Babylonians are coming. Okay. So you have the Assyrians that haul off the north, the Babylonians come in three waves to haul off the south. And so during that Babylonian captivity, you'll hear it called Babylonian captivity. Um, basically, when Israel is out of the land, both the north and the south, it's called the the exile. So you have pre-exilic prophets. Um, and that's basically most of them. So if you it's easier to remember the ones that aren't pre-exilic. Uh, and so uh the the exilic prophets, and we'll talk about those in weeks to come. Uh that's two books. When we talk about exilic prophets, we're talking about Ezekiel Daniel. Uh Ezekiel um and Daniel are were both uh hauled off into captivity in uh in 605, Daniel's hauled off into captivity in 597, Ezekiel's hauled off into captivity, and they write these books, Ezekiel and Daniel, while they're in Babylon. Uh and so we call those the exilic prophets. The post-exilic prophets are three books. And so if you remember, uh uh Ezekiel uh and Daniel, exilic prophets, post-exilic prophets, haggai, uh Haggai has to do with the temple, right? Rebuild the temple, uh, Zechariah and Malachi. So, so Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, those three books uh are post-exilic. Right. Everything else is pre-exilic.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

Right. So you got a lot of them.

Dr. David Klingler 10:43

Yeah, so so everything is is uh in the uh is is pre-exilic except for five books Ezekiel, Daniel, exilic, uh, and then Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, post-exilic. Uh and so what would you expect? What do you expect in pre-exilic prophets? Well, it's pretty simple. Um repent or the enemy's coming. Right. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 11:06

And when they come, this is what's gonna look like.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 11:08

Okay, so you have warning, hey, they're coming.

SPEAKER_03 11:11

Right.

Tanakh And Book Categories

Dr. David Klingler 11:12

When they come, this is what's gonna happen, prediction. And after they have destroyed you and hauled you off, because they will, because you won't repent, then here's what it'll look like when you're restored. Okay. Uh and so that's basically what all of the pre-exilic prophets, with a couple of exceptions, yeah, are doing. Yeah. Now, so you have three ways to talk about the prophets. You've got uh major-minor, um, you've got pre-exilic, exilic, post-exilic. That's the second way. The third way that you might hear is former prophets, latter prophets. And you'll hear this more in uh in Jewish circles, uh, more in Hebrew Bible circles. Uh the Hebrew Bible is divided into three parts. Um you'll you'll hear uh this the Tanakh, uh T-A-N-A-K, Tanakh. Um and and it's divided. So the the the Hebrew Bible is divided into Torah, that's the T, uh Torah, the the N, T-A-N, so the A is in there, they just connect the T N K. They just connect, right? So the T is Torah, that means law. Um if you're talking about the set you might hear Pentateuch, right? Right. So Torah or Pentateuch, that's law, that's Moses. Right. So Moses, you know, the the book of the law, uh, the law, Torah, Pentateuch, all interchangeable wording, and that's Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Uh then uh uh you have the prophets, the Navaim. Uh and then the Navaim are uh which means prophets, that's the that's the N in Tanakh. Uh and then the third part is writings, Kettavim. Okay. In the Neva Neveim, in the prophets section in Hebrew Bible, uh, it's Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, uh, and then all the the prophets that we call prophets, right, except for Daniel. Right. Daniel is actually in the the Ketavim in the writings. And so uh and so those those prophets are divided into two categories. Right. Former prophets, and that would be Joshua Judges, Samuel Kings, right, and latter prophets, the ones that come latter later. And that's Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel Lamus, and all those. So the uh so Hebrew Bible doesn't divide major minor, uh, it divides former latter.

unknown 13:48

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 13:49

The former uh prophets we would call historical books. Usually that's how you'll hear that referred to uh around uh English Bible uh circles, the historical books, and then the prophets are the prophets. And so there's one of the problems with understanding this is there's just so much conflicting language on how these books are even referred to. You say, well, where do I begin? Yeah, and then the order's all messed up. So, you know, you have to orient the books into some kind of historical situation because these uh these books, the the uh the the writing prophets, um whether we call them former and latter uh uh former or the latter prophets, excuse me, the latter prophets or major minor, uh these prophets are writing in a particular context to address a particular situation.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 14:42

And that that situation is established by the historical books, by the former prophets, the the uh Joshua judges, Samuel, kings, and mostly kings.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 14:55

Uh and so these kings are are reigning during this time, and a prophet shows up, and so it so the way that uh that uh, for example, Isaiah, you know, the vision of Isaiah the son of Amos, uh concerning Judah and Jerusalem during the reigns of Uzziah and Jotham and Ahaz and Hezekiah. So um That's all you get. Yeah, that's all that's all you get. And so you go to uh you've got to go into the kings and say, okay, what's going on during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah?

SPEAKER_02 15:32

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 15:33

Uh and this is the context within which Isaiah is addressing the situation. And he's gonna say, Y'all are sinners. Yeah. Um remember the law. Um, the the Lord is going to judge you. Um, you're a stiff-necked, rebellious people, uh, weighed down with sin. Though your sins are like scarlet, I'll make them white as snow. If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land. If you reject, then I'll wipe you off the map. Yeah. So basically, they're just coming along and they're saying uh Deuteronomy 28. They're repeating Deuteronomy 28, blessings and curses.

SPEAKER_03 16:12

Saying a lot of what they should already know.

Habakkuk And Faith Under Judgment

Dr. David Klingler 16:14

Oh, yeah, they're just repeating it. Yeah. So so they're not saying um much new stuff. When we think of prophets, we we tend to think of predictive prophecy. Yeah, most of what, you know, I don't know what percentage. If I had to guess, I'd say, I don't know, 80, 90 percent of what they say isn't predictive at all. Right. They're just restating the law. The law, that's right. Um, hello. Um you know, the Lord told you through Moses that if you do this, this is gonna happen. You're doing this it's not raining. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, have you noticed the rain is not coming? Have you noticed that uh that your kids are sick and that the crops are failing and the locusts are coming? And by the way, Babylonians and Assyrians are coming. Yeah, I like Habakkuk. So so Habakkuk, there's a couple prophets. So we talked about pre-exilic, exilic, post-two. There's a couple prophets that are right there on the edge in between pre-exilic and exilic. In other words, here come the Babylonians. Yeah, and it's Habakkuk in uh in Jeremiah.

SPEAKER_02 17:22

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 17:23

And Habakkuk, um, you know, basically his his his book, he cries out to the Lord and he says, Lord, you know, this is a loose uh translation, a loose explanation. He says, You know, Lord, I don't know if you've been paying attention. This is my Klingler rendition, right? Which is which is very loose. Um but uh uh but but he he says uh um you know it's the oral of Habakkuk uh uh the prophet, and he says, How long, O Lord, will I call for help and you not hear? I call out violence, and you don't save. Why do you make me see this iniquity? Cause me to look upon this wickedness, this destruction and violence that's before me, this strife that exists and contention arises. Therefore, the law is ignored, and justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous, therefore, justice comes out perverted. What's he talking about? He's saying, Look, Lord, I don't know if you've been paying attention, but I'm I'm here in Israel, you know, here in uh living in Israel and Judah, and these people are wicked. Yeah. They're evil. They they they do whatever they want. Yeah, they're wicked all the time. Destruction and violence are everywhere, strife is everywhere, contention is all over the place, and the wicked surround the righteous. And I'm righteous, and frankly, I'm getting tired of it. I wish you'd do something. Yeah. And the Lord says, I'm on it. Now, here's what I'm gonna do. I'm going to bring the uh the Babylonians, the Chaldeans, uh, and I'm gonna haul you into exile. Wait a second. Um what's gonna happen to the righteous? Oh, you're going with them. Uh-oh. I I don't know that I like this plan, Lord. Right. So, you know, and so uh, of course, the you know, uh then the end of the book is well, then how will the righteous live? How will the righteous uh survive, exist, uh, the way that they always have. Uh he who is righteous by faith shall live. Um this whole story starting from Genesis chapter three, it was always by faith that you were uh uh going to be uh realized the promise of Messiah in the future, and so this is no different.

SPEAKER_04 19:37

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 19:37

And so Habakkuk, uh Jeremiah, uh lamentations, you know, he's he's looking upon Jerusalem destroyed, and so they're right there on the edge. Though the you know, Habakkuk and uh uh and Jeremiah, which would include lamentations, uh are are right there on the they're they're watching the enemy come. So they're getting really close to the Babylonian captivity. Yeah, but but the prophets in the north, um, you know, they're just saying, hey, uh, y'all need to shape up, and the prophets in the south are saying the same thing. And so you'll hear uh y'all are just like your, you know, you're you're you're just no, you're no different than Israel. You know, you Judah are no different than Israel. You're the same, you're getting hauled off too. Right. So uh pre-exilic prophets, when you're thinking of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Omadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah. There's your pre-exilic prophets. Yeah. And they're all saying the same thing. Right. Shape up. Yep. Uh Israel's uh going to be judged. Uh with uh uh with a couple of uh of uh of exceptions, uh you know Nahum forgiven. Yeah, uh Obadiah. Um but uh but but other than that they're they're they're judgments. Those two are speaking to other nations in particular.

SPEAKER_03 21:07

So you have Edom and Nineveh.

Dr. David Klingler 21:09

Yeah. When when you think of uh when you think of uh the prophecy against other nations, you think of you know uh this way I think of you know two brothers sitting in the back seat, one of them's getting in trouble, the other one's over there laughing. You know? Ha ha ha ha ha you're getting in trouble. And they're kind of rejoicing because they're you know, the the other the brothers get in trouble. Right. And the and the prophet, you know, which is mom or dad sitting in the front seat turn around and say, uh, you're next. Oh yeah. And you go, whoop, gulp, whoops. Yeah, yeah, you're next. And it's gonna be worse for you. Don't you laugh when I judge my child.

SPEAKER_03 21:44

Which is essentially, you know, we talked way back uh in Genesis about the Abrahamic covenant. I will bless those who bless you, I'll curse those who curse you. That's essentially what's happening in these prophets.

Misread Favorite Verses Corrected

Dr. David Klingler 21:56

Yeah, if you line yourself against Israel uh and against uh God's people and against Against God's promises, you're gonna get you're gonna get hit. That's good. So that's it. So so um just uh by by means of helping you think through what to expect in these books. Um uh pre exilic prophets uh expect to hear judgment. Uh judgment on the north, if you're in the on the north, uh you think uh Hosea, Amos, Jonah, uh those three in particular come to mind as judgment upon the north. The south, it's the rest. Yeah, you know uh uh Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, um who else? Um Micah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, all those in the South. Right. Um so so uh those are the the pre-exolic prophets, uh and and some some key passages that uh that you'll you'll hear that that uh come to mind this you know, Isaiah. Isaiah is uh you'll you'll often hear, or or maybe maybe not often, but but you you may hear Isaiah referred to as the fifth gospel. Yeah. Um very significant later in the Isaiah is is quoted uh everywhere throughout the New Testament, and Isaiah is really interacting with uh with um with Deuteronomy 32, with the story, uh the judgment, and it's extensive and the detail that Isaiah gives concerning the Messiah, and that's really uh the passages that most of us know in um uh in the prophets. Uh you know the story of Jonah, because you heard that one, Jonah and the whale.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 23:41

Uh you you know um a few Christmas verses. You know Isaiah 7:14, behold, the virgin is pregnant and will bring forth a son, and you call his name, Emmanuel. Behold, the child is born to us, the government will rest upon his shoulders. 9.6, Isaiah 9.6, Isaiah chapter 7. Uh we know Isaiah 53, um, which we call the suffering servant. Uh often familiar with that passage. Um, maybe a song we sing, you know, though though your sins are like scarlet, I'll make them white as snow, and we make that about us. It's really uh this is in Isaiah uh about uh about Israel. This is uh this is found back in Isaiah chapter one. And so uh there's a few passages that we know uh in Isaiah, um but but not many. Um Jeremiah, uh everybody knows Jeremiah 29, 11. Um, you know, I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, future and a hope, and your life's gonna be great and all that. But actually Jeremiah 29, 1 through 10. Remember, we said Jeremiah is prophesying during the time right when Babylonians, yeah, the Babylonians are coming. Uh and so Jeremiah pronounces the exile. He says, You're going into exile, and you're going into exile for 70 years. Yeah. And so, pack your junk, you're not coming back here for 70 years. Yeah. Uh, and and that's one through ten, chapter 29, 1 through 10. But I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. And this was all set forth in Deuteronomy. Uh, Israel would reject, they would be expelled from the land, then they would be restored at some point, and the Lord would uh keep his good promises to them.

SPEAKER_04 25:28

Right, right.

Dr. David Klingler 25:29

And so that Jeremiah 29, 11 uh is um uh really just talking about God's promise to bless Israel even after their rebellion, which was all foretold. So there's nothing new here.

SPEAKER_03 25:43

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 25:44

Isaiah has said that Israel is going to rebel. Um all of the the prophets who come before Jeremiah have said that Israel is going to rebel, that Judah is going to rebel, and they're going to be hauled off into Babylonian captivity. Right. Jeremiah is just telling us how long. And so 2911 needs to be understood in light of 29, 29, 10. Right. So we know Jeremiah 29.11. Um you may not be familiar with Jeremiah 3031 directly, but you've heard of the New Testament. Um so we have the Old Testament or the Old Covenant and the New Testament or the New Covenant. The new covenant was promised to Israel.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 26:28

Uh, and so when we talk about Old Covenant and New Covenant, we're talking about the old covenant God had with Israel, and now the new covenant God has with Israel. And uh and and so you may not know that Jeremiah 31 is talking about the New Testament, the new covenant, but it's talking about the new covenant, right? And God's promise to restore Israel, he will keep his promises to them. So, so again, Isaiah, Jeremiah, God's gonna judge you, yeah um, then he's going to restore you, and when he restores you through Messiah, this is what it'll look like, and this is what'll happen. And so you'll get all kinds of kingdom talk, restoration to the kingdom, all kinds of passages like that in Isaiah, Jeremiah, uh, and so forth. So those are the types of things that you will uh you'll expect. Yeah. Um so you know Jonah, uh, you've heard some uh some verses, uh, a couple passages in Isaiah and Jeremiah. Other than that, uh you're probably not familiar with much of the pre-exilic prophets. And when you open up the pre-exilic prophets and you start to read, you're gonna say, Man, this sounds like a lot of dealing with Israel. Uh yeah, that's exactly what it is. That's right. It's uh uh you know, there there are no verses for me to apply to my life. Well, that because it's not written to you. Uh uh the Lord is pronouncing judgment through the prophets upon his people Israel because they've rebelled against him. Um you can certainly get some principles from this that God judges sin and and and all that, but yeah, but uh you don't have too many life verses coming out of the uh out of the pre prophets. I'm trying to think of others. Uh the only other one that that uh that comes to mind uh is uh is over there in uh in Micah.

SPEAKER_02 28:21

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 28:22

And uh, you know, what does the Lord ask from you? Um, you know, and the the so so so uh this is uh you know Micah has some really good uh um uh just really great uh great stuff in Micah. It's one of my my favorite uh uh favorite uh uh books. But uh but you know, that's the what does the Lord uh ask of you or require of you uh but uh to to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly before the Lord your God. That's over there in Micah chapter six, verse eight. Uh and uh and so there aren't many other verses though that you kind of grab out of the pre-exilic prophets.

SPEAKER_03 29:04

You know, they're they're pretty intense.

Dr. David Klingler 29:09

I want to put uh the Lord's gonna wipe you off the Mac map and kill you dead.

SPEAKER_03 29:13

That's my life verse.

Dr. David Klingler 29:14

Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna put that on my refrigerator. Uh maybe we ought to. The Babylonians are coming um and they're going to kill everyone and haul you into exile.

SPEAKER_03 29:25

Um that that's hardly a life verse, right? When you start selling uh uh refrigerator magnets with those verses. Yeah, yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 29:34

There aren't many the the the the um the the preexolic prophets are not coming to say, hey, um let me make your life great and give you some encouraging verses to put on your refrigerator. They're saying if y'all don't shape up, right, you're not gonna have a refrigerator. Of course, they didn't have that.

SPEAKER_03 29:54

But with that said, most of these, as intense as they can be, most of them end with an encouragement to Israel. Right.

Dr. David Klingler 30:03

Oh, all of them end in a re a promise of restoration. Even though the Lord will judge you, right? The Lord will cause you to repent and cause you to be restored. He's gonna drag you back into the land, he's gonna he's gonna make you do what you don't want to do. Yes. Um, and so so there there's always, I say always, uh, you know, almost always, in each of these, you should expect to hear judgment, restoration, and what it's gonna look like when it's restored through through Messiah to the kingdom.

SPEAKER_03 30:37

Well there's there's one there's one phrase that I know that that our uh listeners may run into often, and it's the day of the Lord. Can you help us kind of understand what that is?

Dr. David Klingler 30:48

Yeah, so the the day of the Lord, the the the the whole day of the Lord discussion, um uh it it it it's it can refer to you know God's judgment coming upon you know the day of the Lord is coming. In other words, the Babylonians are coming. Right. Uh you know, so it's the day that the Lord has brought. Uh and it it can be a day, it can be a period, it can be a time. Um it's just you know it it is this uh the Lord has caused this event to happen. Gotcha. Uh the Lord has brought the Babylonians to judge you.

SPEAKER_02 31:21

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 31:21

Um the Lord will cause you to be restored. Right.

SPEAKER_03 31:25

Um, you know, so and that becomes really important, especially because, for example, Jeremiah 28, 29, you get these prophets that come up and they're saying, no, no, no, this is a mistake, right? The Lord's gonna wipe these guys out in a year and you'll be back in no time. And and it's like, no, no, no, the Lord has brought this upon you, right?

Dr. David Klingler 31:45

So And that that's a that's a good point. So through the through the is the the historical books, through first and second Kings, um through passages in the writing prophets, Ezekiel uh 13 comes to mind, uh several passages about the uh the evil shepherds or the false shepherds that leave is lead Israel astray. There are those who are saying, no, no, uh, good is coming, not evil. The Lord's not going to judge, the Lord you wants you to be prosperous, uh prosperous. He has a you know, they would have missed, they would have loved Jeremiah 2911 as well. They would have ignored 2910. They'd have loved 2911. No, no. Uh the Lord has a wonderful plan for your life, peace and prosperity when judgment's coming. Right. And uh and so uh the false prophets are are going to be showing up in increasing numbers. Um and how do you know the false prophet from the true prophet? Well, um, first of all, if the prophet um disagrees with the words of Moses, disagrees with the law, disagrees with judgment that's coming, well, then he's a false prophet. And if what he says doesn't come to pass, he's a false prophet. Uh you shall not uh listen to that one. But even if he if what he says does come to pass, but he tells you to follow another God. So um so there was ways that you could tell what a false prophet was, and that was back in Deuteronomy 13, uh Deuteronomy 18. There was instruction given there. Um but the uh but these these prophets, uh when you open up the prophets, when you think, okay, I'm gonna go tackle the prophets, um if it's not Ezekiel, Daniel, that's exilic, uh, or post-exilic, right? Haggai, Zachariah, Malachi, then what you ought to expect is um before the exile, pre-exilic, um the enemy's coming, they're going to judge you.

SPEAKER_03 33:42

Yeah, buckle up.

Dr. David Klingler 33:43

Uh when they judge you, um um endure. You know, if you're the righteous, the righteous remnant, endure. Um the Lord will restore you through faith in the future. So there's a hope, a future hope. Uh, but it won't be in your lifetime. Yeah. Uh you're going to have to be raised, resurrected to see it. Yeah.

How To Read Prophets Next

SPEAKER_03 34:06

Yeah. That's very and that's a very important thing to grasp to going into the New Testament is this idea that the those who are righteous, who are keeping the law, they're going, they're going into exile with the rest of the world. They don't get to stay. Yep. Right. And so absolutely they're going to suffer with them, but their hope is in the future resurrection, not in the yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 34:31

And so um so when we're talking about the prophets, and next uh next week we're gonna talk about uh the wisdom books. And it's this is the same. The the wisdom books, the prophets, these are not standalone. There's not enough information in these books for you to to make sense of kind of where they fit. You you kind of have to know the story of the Bible. If you know the story of the Bible, then these books fit right in. And so there is um we we would call this prerequisites in uh in Seminole. There's prerequisite knowledge that you need to know to be able to interpret Isaiah, Jeremiah, um, you know, you know, Micah, uh Habakkuk, whatever. Um, it's the story, it's the law, uh, it's the covenant, it's Israel's failure of their prophets, the priests, the kings, uh, and the judges. All of those are failing. And so the prophets are coming and saying, All right, you're going into exile. Right. And so read those books in that context. Yeah. Uh and uh, and that's pre-exilic. We'll come back in weeks to come. Uh as we get a little further uh into the story, we're gonna look at uh we're gonna look at uh the the wisdom literature, then we're gonna come back and look at exilic prophets, and we'll jump into a little more depth into the exilic prophets because they give us some indication of what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 35:52

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 35:52

Uh, and then we'll talk about the the restoration, Israel's return to the land after 70 years, at least a remnant will return. We'll talk about uh the books of uh Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, and then the post-exilic prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. That's good. And that will close out the the Old Testament uh for us.

SPEAKER_03 36:11

Yeah, good. So we know that uh we just kind of threw a lot at you. Here's a bunch of books in just a few minutes. Uh, but you know, our goal is that you understand the characteristic of pre-exilic prophets, what they're saying, what kind of content, namely, Israel, you messed up. Here's the judgments that's coming upon you, buckle up, but uh the Lord will be faithful to his promises in the end. And so um through Messiah. Through Messiah. Through Messiah to restore you to the kingdom. Absolutely. Good, good, good. Well, thank you for continuing to walk us through this story. Uh, we hope that it's been helpful to you to continue to learn. We encourage you to just keep pressing on uh and keep tuning in, and and we're we're gonna keep trekking our way through uh the biblical story week by week.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

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