Prophets

Question 1

What are two things prophets are called?

Answer 1

nabi - one who is called

ro’eh - one who sees

Question 2

What was the role of prophets in ANE cultures?

Answer 2

spokesperson for deities

Question 3

What is the primary purpose of prophecy (and what is it often confused with)?

Answer 3

Forth-telling (speaking directly on behalf of God)

NOT fore-telling (predicting the future)

Question 4

What are three different status/functions that different prophets had in the OT?

Answer 4

Prophet-leader (Moses, Deborah)
Prophet-advisor (Samuel [post king], Nathan, Elijah, Elisha)
Prophet-preachers (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel)

Question 5

What was the main call of Israelite/Jewish prophets?

Answer 5

For the people to hear and heed the covenant

Question 6

How was prophetic content originally delivered?

Answer 6

Orally

Question 7

What are five prophetic themes?

Answer 7

1. Yahweh’s case against his people.
2. Yahweh’s defence against idolatry.
3. Yahweh’s communication of his interpretation of reality.
4. Yahweh’s pronouncement against social injustice.
5. Yahweh’s double-edged actions. (salvation & judgement)

Question 8

What is the structure of Isaiah?

Answer 8

Chapters 1-39 - Audience: pre-exilic Judah under Assyrian domination. Content: warnings of rebellion.
Chapters 40-55 - Audience: exilic Judah under Babylonian domination. Content: Promises and pronouncements of comfort and restoration.
Chapters 56-66 - Audience: post-exilic Judah under Persian rule. Content: Greater emphasis on comfort and restoration with more attention to social issues.

Question 9

What are six parts of Isaiah’s message?

Answer 9

1. Yahweh’s plan is far bigger than his people can imagine.
2. Yahweh is the “Holy One of Israel”
3. Yahweh’s people described as rebels or in rebellion
4. Contrasting imagery
5. Hope in the Davidic covenant/restored Davidic king
6. Cosmic scope of redemption beyond Judah

Question 10

What are twelve contrasting images in Isaiah?

Answer 10

1. wilderness/garden
2. blindness/sight
3. deafness/hearing
4. sickness/wholeness
5. destruction/rebuilding
6. scattering/gathering
7. original Exodus/new Exodus
8. rebellion/trust
9. failed leadership/restored Davidic kingship
10. old creation/new creation
11. pride/humility
12. judgement/comfort

Question 11

What is the political context for Jeremiah?

Answer 11

In Judah:

• Pre-exile (and hated because of his message!)
• Puppet kings under Babylonians
• Exile in which he stayed in the land until he was forced to flee to Egypt.

Question 12

What is the structure of Jeremiah?

Answer 12

• Call of Jeremiah (1)
• Book 1 - oracles of Jeremiah (2-25)
• Biographical interlude (26-29)
• Book 2 - the book of consolation (30-31)
• Biographical interlude (32-45)
• Book 3 - oracles against the nations (46-51)
• Historical appendix: the fall of Jerusalem (52)

Question 13

What are the three messages of Jeremiah?

Answer 13

1. Pre-exile - Surrender to the Babylonians!
2. Exile - Submit to the Babylonians!
3. Yahweh must and will destroy that which is utterly corrupt in order to make something new again.

Question 14

What were five sign acts of Jeremiah?

Answer 14

• Buried a linen belt
• Not allowed to marry
• Bought and smashed a clay jar
• Wore an oxen yoke
• Bought a field

Question 15

What is distinct about each chapter of Lamentations?

Answer 15

Each chapter is a discrete poem (1-3 are acrostic poems)

Question 16

What are the two themes of lamentations?

Answer 16

• The pain of Yahweh’s abandonment.

- The covenant faithfulness of Yahweh and call for confession and repentance

Question 17

How many parts are there in Ezekiel and what is the focus of each?

Answer 17

• Two Parts
  1. Prophecies against - Israel and the nations.
  2. Prophecies of restoration - people and the temple & land

Question 18

What are six parts of Ezekiel’s message?

Answer 18

1. Covenant relationship in exile.
2. Individual responsibility for sin.
3. Confrontation of idolatry
4. Confrontation of false prophets
5. Confrontation of exploitive leadership
6. Visions of restoration and rebuilding

Question 19

What are four key visions Ezekiel had?

Answer 19

1. God’s throne
2. Defiled temple & Yahweh’s departure
3. Dry bones
4. New temple

Question 20

What are three distinctive of the structure of Daniel?

Answer 20

• Two haves (1-6 Narratives) and (7-12 Visions)
• Parallel topical structures (1 & 6; 2 & 7; 3 & 8; 4 & 9; 5 & 10-12)
• Part written in Hebrew and part in Aramaic

Question 21

What are three parts of Daniel’s message?

Answer 21

1. Yahweh is present.
2. Yahweh is sovereign.
3. Yahweh has a plan.

Question 22

What are the three most popular Daniel stories?

Answer 22

• The fiery furnace. (3)
• Belshazzar’s feast (writing on the wall) (5)
• The Lion’s Den (6)

Question 23

What are two key visions in Daniel?

Answer 23

• Beasts from the sea, followed by a human figure

- Visions of successive kingdoms with a final crisis and bodily resurrection

Question 24

What are three key themes aha run through the minor prophets/book of the twelve?

Answer 24

• Idolatry
• Social Justice
• Day of the Lord

Question 25

Which "Book of the twelve" prophets are timed around the fall of the North? Where are they prophesying?

Answer 25

- Hosea - North - Amos -North (although from the South) - Micah - South - Jonah (but not the character in the book!)

Question 26

Which "Book of the twelve" prophets are timed around the fall of the South?

Answer 26

- Zephaniah - Nahum - Obadiah - Habakkuk

Question 27

Which "Book of the twelve" prophets are timed around the return from Exile?

Answer 27

- Haggai | - Zechariah

Question 28

Which "Book of the twelve" prophets are hard to time?

Answer 28

- Joel - Malachi - Jonah (the book)

Question 29

What are three parts of Hosea's message?

Answer 29

- Unfaithfulness to God (in worshipping Baal) - Punishment - God's faithfulness to covenant

Question 30

What is the basic structure of Joel?

Answer 30

- current disaster (locust plague) - impeding disaster (Day of the Lord) - future Day of the Lord

Question 31

What are the three parts of Amos' structure?

Answer 31

- Oracles against the nations - Oracles against Israel - Vision reports

Question 32

What is the primary message of Obadiah?

Answer 32

God will judge Edom (and the nations)

Question 33

What is the narrative sequence of Jonah?

Answer 33

- First call/Jonah's flight - God's rescue/Jonah's response - Second call/Nineveh's response - God relents/Jonah's anger - Concluding reflection on God's right to have compassion

Question 34

What is the primary focus of Jonah?

Answer 34

God's right to show compassion as he desires

Question 35

What is Micah's appeal for a minimal response of steps towards God?

Answer 35

Micah 6:8 - "He has told you, O mortal, what is good; what does Yahweh require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."

Question 36

What is Micah's primary message?

Answer 36

Judgement against Judah's leadership

Question 37

What is Nahum's primary message?

Answer 37

Judgement against Nineveh (Assyria)

Question 38

What are three key elements in Habakkuk?

Answer 38

- Complaints about Judah's sin - Questions about God's justice - Request for mercy

Question 39

What is the primary two point message of Zephaniah?

Answer 39

- Judgement | - Restoration

Question 40

What theme does Zephaniah introduce?

Answer 40

-A remnant

Question 41

What is the three part structure of Haggai?

Answer 41

- Exhortation to rebuild the temple - Encouragement for restoration - A message on the day the foundation is laid

Question 42

What symbol of the David line is used in Haggai?

Answer 42

signet ring

Question 43

What is a key framework for Zechariah?

Answer 43

Call and response

Question 44

What is the primary message of Malachi

Answer 44

Steps necessary for God's people to come into conformity with covenant values. (appropriate worship, faithful relationships, concern for socially disadvantaged)