Wednesday, May 26, 2021

The Prophet Books in the Old Testament

The Latter Prophets in the Old Testament are divided into two groups:

  • The Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel).
  • The Twelve Minor Prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi).

The terms "Major" and "Minor" have nothing to do with the achievement or importance of the prophets, rather with the length of the books.

These prophets lived in the northern Kingdom of Israel, in the southern
Kingdom of Judah, and during the Babylonian captivity in Babylon. 
The prophets lived in a turbulent period in Jewish history.
They saw the northern Kingdom of Israel being conquered by Assyria in 722 BC,
and the southern Kingdom of Judah being conquered by Babylon in 587 BC.

Also the term Ephraim and Judah is used for these two kingdoms of Israel:

  • Ephraim was ultimately the primary tribe in the northern kingdom, and Judah was the primary tribe in the southern kingdom.
  • When the two regions split into two separate kingdoms, Israel would also be called Ephraim, whose capital was Samaria.
  • The southern region would become known as Judah, and later Judea during the time of Christ. The capital would be Jerusalem.
  • Ephraim (or Israel) would be the first kingdom to go into exile after being conquered by the Assyrians.
  • In later years, Ephraim (or Israel) would be called Samaria (named after its capital) and its inhabitants known as Samaritans, Jews who mixed with
    Assyrians and people from other nations. They literally lost their identity as Jews. This is why the Samaritans were despised at the time of Christ.

The Major Prophets:

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