The Major Prophets

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The Major Prophets
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The Major Prophets

• Isaiah
• Jeremiah
• Ezekiel
• Daniel

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The Major Prophets

• Unlike prophets of other cultures they were not
  employed by government and religious leaders to
  make them look good
• Jewish prophets often denounced these leaders and
  told the people to change their ways

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Pattern of Prophet Books

• 1. Demand for reform
• 2. Refusal of the demands
• 3. Predictions of Gods punishments if the people
  do not change
• 4.The punishments comes to the people
• 5. Reminder that God will help them if they
  listen to him

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Isaiah

• Messianic Prophet
• In the future God would look at the heart as well
  as actions
• Gods blessing would be for everyone not just the
  Jews

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Isaiah

• Isaiah 24 can be found on a wall at the United
  Nations in New York and a statue outside of the
  building also references the verse

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Jewish and Christian Views of Isaiah

• Jews are still waiting for many of his prophecies
  to come true
• Christians believe that Jesus fulfilled the
  prophecies

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Views on the Authorship of Isaiah

• Two views on the authorship of Isaiah
• Conservative view- One author who was the prophet
  Isaiah (Orthodox Jews, Evangelicals, and
  Christian Fundamentalists)
• Liberal view- Three authors wrote the book over a
  period of 200 years (Reformed Jews, Roman
  Catholics, Mainstream Protestants)

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Jeremiah

• Prophesied right before Judahs downfall
• Judah was booming at the time and many citizens
  were doing well financially and enjoying life
• Jeremiah told the people that despite the fact
  there was no hope for their generation God would
  eventually return the Jews to the promise land
  and eventually give the world the messiah

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Response to Jeremiah

• The people would not listen to Jeremiahs call
  for repentance
• Made fun of him and jeered him
• Threw him in into the castle dungeon where he was
  waist deep in mud

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Ezekiel

• Prophesied from Babylon during the captivity
• A priest and prophet who saw himself as a
  watchman for the exiled Jews
• Tried to keep their hopes up and reminded them to
  remain faithful to God

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Ezekiel's Style

• Ezekiel would act out some of his prophecies and
  used symbolic images to represent all of his
  prophecies
• Once set his hair on fire to illustrate one of
  his prophecies

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Daniel (Belteshazzar)

• Taken into Babylonian Captivity
• Three Friends taken with him
• Shadrach
• Meshach
• Abednego

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Daniel and His Friends

• Faced challenges in their attempts to obey God
• Refusal to eat Babylonian Food
• The Fiery Furnace
• Daniel and the Lions Den

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Key Prophecies of Daniel

• Apocalyptic literature
• The dream of Nebuchadnezzar
• The writing on the wall
• Visions of the end of time
• The archangel Michael

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Nebuchadnezzar's Dream

• Statue made of several metals
• Head of gold
• Arms and chest of silver
• Belly of bronze
• Legs of iron
• Feet of iron and clay
• Huge stone destroyed statue

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Interpretation of Dream

• Metal represent world powers
• GoldBabylon
• SilverPersia
• BronzeGreece
• IronRome
• StoneKingdom of God