Prophets

1
Prophets

• Their Relationship to the Monarchy

2
Messages of Hope (8th century)

• Isaiah 3733-35 Therefore thus says the Lord
  concerning the King of Assyria He shall not come
  into this city, shoot an arrow there, come before
  it with a shield, or cast up a siege ramp against
  it. By the way that he came, by the same he
  shall return he shall not come into this city,
  says the Lord. For I will defend this city to
  save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my
  servant David.

• Isaiah often seen as supportive of Judah and the
  kings
• Isaiah (the prophet of 1-39) often dated 742 -701
  BCE
• Line of David emphasized

3
Historical Info

• Division of the Kingdoms into Israel (Northern)
  and Judah (Southern) in 922 BCE
• Assyrian ruler, Tiglath-Pileser III (also named
  Pul) gets aggressive to the north shortly after
  Ahaz comes to power in Judah(735 BCE)

• Israel is in real disarray
• Death of Jereboam II in 746 BCE
• His son, Zechariah, is assassinated after only 6
  months by Shallum
• Shallum is killed by Menahem in a month
• Menahem (745-738) makes tribute payments to TPIII
  to keep him out (2 Kings 1519-20)

4
More History

• Pekahiah suceeds his father Menahem
• Murdered by one of his officers Pekah (737-732)
• Pekah resists TPIII along with Rezin, the King of
  Damascus among others

• Pekah and Rezin come to Ahaz to get Judah to join
  in the resistance
• Isaiah advises him to refuse (71-9 and 10-17)
• They approach in 734
• Attack on north by Assyria succeeds in 722-21

5
Assyria Does Not Go Away

• Ahaz survived by being an Assyrian puppet
• Hezekiah hoped for independence when Sargon II
  dies in 705 and is replaced by Sennacherib
• Receives a Babylonian delegation (Isa 391-2)

• Sennacherib wages a campaign that destroys much
  of Judah (Isa 361-22)
• Jerusalem spared Isa 1024-27

6
Isaiahs Support of the Davidic Line

• 91-7
• Probably a hymn to Ahaz at his coronation or one
  to his son Hezekiah at his
• child and son references to the king Psalm
  27 another example

• Wonderful Counselor
• Divine wisdom that the king exercises
• Mighty God
• Not divine, but a representative of God
• Everlasting Father
• Davidic line celebrated father also common for
  king
• Prince of Peace
• Like vv 1-5

7
A Similar Text of Support

• 111-9
• Probably celebrates Hezekiah
• Stump of Jesse is Davids family
• Spirit of the Lord comes on kings (I Sam 1613)

• Fair Judge
• Time of peace
• Jerusalem is the center

8
Amos a different perspective

• Message is to Israel or the Northern Kingdom
  during reign of Jereboam II
• Prosperity of Jeroboam IIs reign has led to
  class division
• Judgment (by God but via Assyria) is on the way

• 510-13
• 518-24
• 41-3
• 81-384-14
• Even takes it to the kings sanctuary 710-17

9
Micah

• Southern Kingdom around 701 BCE
• Social evils of those in power denounced 21-11
  and 31-12.
• Note he sees Jerusalem falling although that
  does not happen immediately

• Also some support for the kingship 51-6
• Like Amos in the demands of God 61-8

10
A Move to the 6th and 5th Centuries

• Assyrian leader Ashurbanipal dies in 627 BCE
• Babylonian leader Nabopolassar starts to reassert
  his nations power
• Josiah, in Judah, begins to reclaim northern
  territory
• Josiah also instigates a major religious reform
  in 621 BCE

• Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire fall once and for
  all in 612 BCE to the Babylonians and their
  allies
• The Egyptians enter with a challenge from the
  south Josiah dies in battle with them in 609
  (Pharaoh Necho)
• Josiahs son Jehoiakim takes the throne

11
History Review Continued

• The Egyptians were defeated by the Babylonians at
  Carchemish in 605
• Jerusalem, which had been an Egyptian vassal, now
  came under Babylonian control
• Nabopolassar is succeeded by his son
  Nebuchadnezzar
• Jehoiakim saw his chance to be free and renounced
  his vassal status

• Nebuchadnezzar was slow to respond
• Jehoiakim died and his son Jehoiachin took his
  place
• Babylonians came in 597 and easily took Jerusalem
• Jehoiachin and the elite are taken into exile
• Zedekiah, a son of Josiah, is placed on the
  throne as a Babylonian vassal

12
And even more history

• Zedekiah ruled 10 years in 594 he decided to try
  and throw of the Babylonians
• Nebuchadnezzar sieged Jerusalem for a year and a
  half and then it fell
• 587/86 BCE the Temple, palace, city walls were
  all destroyed and many people carried off in what
  is called The Great Exile

• Nebuchadnezzar puts a governor on the throne
• Nebuchadnezzar dies in 562 Babylonian empire is
  in decline from then
• 539 the Babylonians fall to the Persians and
  the Medes and their ruler Cyrus the Great
• Cyrus issues his famous edict (see Ezra 1)

13
Last of the History

• Sheshbazzars mission is not sucessful
• 520 Darius (new Persian ruler) tries again with
  Zerubabbel and Joshua
• Rebuilding of the temple is completed then
  Second or Zerubabbels Temple