Before the Babylonian exile, Biblical prophesy reached its highest point. Prophets such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel changed and molded the scope of Israelite religion. Their writings were intelligent, insightful, well developed, and contained a great spiritual meaning.
Following the Babylonian exile, however, prophesy took a depressing downward turn. There are many post exilic prophets, yet their writings are usually short, mostly irrelevant, repetitive, and, for the most part, anonymous.
Though this is the case for many of these prophets, their works cannot be overlooked. Haggai and Zechariah were leaders in the cultic reform of the Israelite people. Malachai calmed their fears, and assured them of God's love. Still other prophets told of a new,
Messianic time when the word of the Lord would be held in its former glory. These were the most important works, as post exilic Israel needed not only protection, but spiritual guidance to sustain their society. The prophet Haggai was in integral figure in uniting the Israelite people. Upon return to their homeland, the Israelites found most of the infrastructure in a state of disrepair, with the people uncaring for their moral and social responsibilities, to say nothing for their religious practices. (OVC) Even the temple of the Lord had been destroyed. Haggai emphasized the return to a more cultic society.
Through Haggai, God explained the plight of the Israelite people, as in
Haggai 1:6: "You have sown much, but harvested little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough...Why? Because of My house which lies desolate while each of you runs to his own house." (Haggai 1:9) The word of Haggai is accepted as the word of God, and the temple is rebuilt in less than four years. "I am with you," said the Lord,in Haggai 1:13 when the temple was finally built. (EIB)
The prophesy of Haggai did not end with the building of the Lord's temple. He offered a message of hope to the people of Israel. Haggai said that the promises made by God would be kept, now that He had a dwelling place within the city. God inspired the people of the newly reformed city, saying: "Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory?...Does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison? The latter glory of this house will be grea...
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...he post-exilic period have lasted in Israel for hundreds of years. I found it ironic, however, that after the nation healed itself, it immediatly began to discuss plans for war with other nations.
Throughout the Bible, there are discussions of prosperity and pease, but does it have to come at the expense of other nations? It would have been more economical for the Israelites to at least establish a solid medium for trade, and a constant source of manpower and funds before they began to wage war on other cities. In researching this paper, I found the OVC to be especially helpful. It contained a verse by verse breakdown of the entire book, as well as historical backgrounds.
Scripture quotations are from my New American Standard Bible.
Works Cited
Carstensen, Roger N. The Book of Zechariah. From The Interpreter's
One Volume Commentary on the Bible. Abingdon Press, 1971.
Achtemeier, Paul J. Harper's Bible Dictionary. Harper and Row, 1985.
Carey, Gary. Cliff's Notes on Old Testament. Cliffs Notes, Inc, 1995.
Barker, William P. Everyone in the Bible. Fleming H. Revell, 1966.
Brownrigg, Ronald and Comay, Joan. Who's Who in the Bible. Crown
Publishers, Inc, 1946 and 1952.
It is believed that Tecumseh was born in 1768 in central Ohio. He was the second son of a Shawnee warrior who was killed at the Battle of Point Pleasant. In his dying breaths, his father commanded his eldest son Cheesuaka, to train Tecumseh as a warrior and to never make peace with the whites. Cheesuaka was good to his word and became an excellent warrior and a teacher. He grew close with his younger brother, and after their mother moved to Missouri he acted as a foster parent as well. Tecumseh was a model child, and although it is claimed that he ran in terror from his first battle, his courage never faltered from then on. Tall, muscular, intelligent, and highly charismatic, Tecumseh proved to be a master battle tactics and an excellent speaker. (Edmunds)
to Canaan. God only told him "the land which I will show you." 4 When he
Everyone wants to be “happy.” Everyone endeavors to fulfill their desires for their own pleasure. What makes this ironic is, the fact that most don‘t know what the actual definition of happiness is. “In Pursuit of Unhappiness” presents an argument, which states that not everyone will be happy. Darrin McMahon, the article’s author, explores the ways our “relentless pursuit of personal pleasure”(McMahon P.11;S.3) can lead to empty aspirations and impractical expectations, making us sad, and not happy. Rather than working to find the happiness of others, we should all focus on finding what makes ourselves happy. It is easier to find happiness in the little things
According to the dictionary, the definition of dissatisfaction is the quality or state of being unhappy or discontent. Dissatisfaction is a disease that theoretically knows no prejudices, has no cure, and almost everyone has it. This is a global epidemic, that can destroy a man in the time it takes to snap your fingers. Physically most people will be alright but discontent will rot you to the core on the inside. Unfortunately, not being content seems to be a very common part of society today and in the past. The theme of not be satiated by life is especially seen in the famous novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. All the characters in this novel seemingly have achieved the american dream but they are all unhappy and never get what they really want in the end. Also, no character is satisfied with their marriage, with love, and with life in general. They are all unhappy with their lives and they destroy the lives of others in order to satisfy themselves. The Great Gatsby teaches us that even being wealthy and powerful, people can still be dissatisfied and will do anything in order to be happy. Therefore, despite believing that we have it all, dissatisfaction still plagues the human spirit.
In today’s world of chaos and war, many people are turning to religion. People look to organized religion not only for solace but on the contrary, they also look to attribute cause for the world’s woes. The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11th has many people looking to the religion of Islam for a culprit, as the men who flew the planes were Israeli suicide missionaries. These men thought themselves to be on a mission from God (Allah). This implies that they were acting on the words of a prophet, or thought themselves prophets. In response to this, I decided to research the major religions in today’s world that rely on modern day prophets for guidance. By doing so, I am attempting to prove the religion of Islam innocent by comparing it to many other religions that have similar structure but no terrorist intentions.
However, while Jesus was roaming the Earth, many of the Jews began to worship the Temple complex rather than worship God, and Jesus was not pleased. “Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, ‘You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down’” (Matthew 24:1-2).
fulfillment of his desires, yet with every demand met, he soon finds dissatisfaction. The longer a
...nant of land, people and a blessing to all families. By this time in the Bible all three of these promises have been demonstrated. And the love of God for his people is finding to be everlasting, an idea that will be then carried into the New Testament.
“He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.” - Socrates
“We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren't happy. Something's missing.” This quote from Montag sums up the effects of a deteriorated social society. He recognizes that people have gotten to a point where they are a slave to their techonolgy, but he has no idea where to start, and in the end, the fixing begins at the end.
Revelation identifies itself as “both an “apocalypse”…and as prophecy”, making it distinctly different from the rest of the New Testament. “Jewish apocalyptic literature flourished in the centuries following the completion of the OT canon”, and it is scattered throughout the Old Testaments in books such as Daniel, Ezekiel, and Isaiah. Apocalyptic literature is full of “visions that dramatize the prophet’s admission to God’s heavenly council”, and convey their meaning primarily through symbolism. John brings a “balanced message of comfort, warning, and rebuke” in Revelation, testifying to the end of the world and the second coming of Jesus Christ. Apart from the OT literature, Revelation shows a distinct optimism toward the end of days, for “Christ’s death has already won the decisive victory over evil”, with the Kingdom of God already among believers. This book was written in “approximately A.D. 95 on the island of Patmos”, which is still standing to this day. It was written under the emperor Domitian, with Roman authorities exiling John “to the island of Patmos (off the coast of Asia)”. The events in Revelation are also “ordered
Surveying the Old Testament reveals the theme of God’s faithfulness to his people. In light of this understanding, the restoration of the Israelites prophesized in the Old Testament is essentially the fulfillment of every covenant with God. This perspective relates to the work of Christ and encourages any follower of God to trust in his faithfulness.
The writing Prophets are distinctive from Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who were called prophets but they did not write any books. The writing Prophets are called so to make a distinction between the two prophetic groups commonly referred to as the writing or oral prophets. Prophets have a long presence in Israel’s history certainly this maybe why similarities have been found in the writing of the prophetic books. The writing prophets have been studied by many scholars and they have found some common themes in the books such as God, worship and punishment (McConville, 2002). With a short critique of some general information, patterns should reveal themselves. Thus, using a chronological review that includes information about the nations in the time of the prophets that notes the King of their time along with the general message of each prophet some similarities should standout.
Judgment, wrath, anger, gloom, and doom, all are just a few of the words that come to mind when one thinks about the Old Testament. The last 12 books entitled the Minor Prophets are pages usually skipped over. Idolatry, social injustice, and religious ritualism seem to be a theme throughout the last twelve books of the Old Testament. Can these books still be relevant today? Hindson and Yates suggest they are. “The message of the minor prophets still speaks to us today. They remind us that God holds the people responsible for their behavior. Especially those who claim to belong to him.” (P. 367)
The book of Isaiah is a prophetic book that was written by Isaiah himself around 700 BC. Isaiah prophesies the coming Messiah as well as judgement for those who have sin and blessings to those who seek after God.