Introduction to the Prophets
Lesson 5
I. The Mediated Word of God
a. Word of God
i. Heb. 1, 1-2—God has spoken through the prophets
1. Prophets here refers to OT—not necessarily the specific prophets with books (e.g. Moses would be included here)
ii. Do not take for granted or discount that God talks
1. Essential to Judeo-Christian Revelation
2. Speaking is first action attributed to God in Scripture (Gen. 1, 3)
A. This is His choice, not a necessary action
3. First time He speaks to someone, it is internal dialogue (Gen. 1, 26— “Let us make man in our image.”)
iii. How to understand God’s talking
1. Necessarily mediated for man’s sake because man would die otherwise (different from pagan religions)
A, But how do prophets work? (Nm 12, 5-8; Dt. 5, 4)
i. God works with material and nature—clouds, fire, dreams, vision, etc.
b. Non-prophetic mediation
i. Word mediated by “things”? Divination forbidden by 1st Commandment
ii. Non-prophetic human mediation
1. These are ways of theophany: representing God while at the same time keeping him respectfully at a distance
2. Messenger/Angel of YHWH: e.g. sacrifice of Isaac, Annunciation
3. Priests
a. Differ from prophets
i. Prophets were called, but priests were so by lineage and heritage
4. Urim and Thummim—some sort of lots
II. Prophets
a. Mouthpiece of God, message bearer, announce Messiah, remember covenant, look to history, judge, teach, call to conversion, called by God, relationship with God, deal with problems of Israel
List of Prophetic books: Isaiah, Jeremiah (with Lamentations, Baruch), Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi