Denise Ratliff Course: BIB-104-0101 Instructor: Dr.

Brent Ballew 25, August 2013

The Message of the Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah In the Old Testament there are five books of Moses, the Poetical Books, and the Historical Books. The last section of the Old Testament is called the Prophetic Books. They consists of 16 prophetic books and each one of them produces the name of the prophet that foretold of what was to come, predictions and revelation in writing these books. The sixteen Books were divided into two groups; the Minor Prophets and the Major Prophets. There were four Major Prophets, Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah and Jeremiah. These men were servants of God summoned to relay Gods Divine messages to the nation of people during the days of spiritual chaos and decline. They were named the Major Prophets because the greatness in size of their books (meaning more pages and chapters in their writings). It did not matter if the writings were done by Major Prophets or minor, the word Of God was still Important. Majority of the prophets lived in the time of the Kings. Some live during Babylonian captivity and some thereafter also known as exile,(when the Jews was forced out of their native land).

Isaiah lived and wrote before the exile. Isaiah ministry was about 700 years before Christ. He would write how the Jesus Christ the Savior of sinners would come from God, birth by a virgin, that will live among the people, perform miracles, teach, live a holy life

and spill his blood to pay for the sins of the world. God spoke through the prophet Isaiah. Isaiahs spiritual purpose and role was to send the warnings from God out to His Nation of people, his role was to be their conscience and guide to righteousness. He was summoned by God as a prophet to urge the nation of Judah (the southern kingdom) and Israel (the northern kingdom) to change their ways, repent their sins and return to the Lord God. Judea and Israel both of these nations were in a spiritual and moral decline compared to Sodom and Gomorrah. The fundamental sins that was enacted because of their tongues and their and what they did against the Lord. They were materialistic, intensely absorb in themselves, they were hypocrites, self-serving, self centered, shown only self interest and shown acts of false holiness (meaning doing things elaborately in order to impress other with their wealth and make those less fortunate feel worthless) unfairly treating the poor, along with breaking the Sabbath, with improper worshiping among many other host of sins.

Isaiah warned and urged the people of the national destruction because God could see through their deceit and deception. Isaiah did have concerns of the peoples viability and inspired them by giving hope by foretelling of comfort and the joy the people can look forward to in the perfect world when they return to God. God Judged the nation by, taking away food and water and depriving them of competent godly leaders, they were inflicted with oppression and there was a breakdown of order in their society. (E.g. children would be rude and disrespectful towards the elders, and the base toward the honorable). Times got so bad from their oppressed minds the smallest achievement from one man can qualify him as a leader. There was a total collapse of the people and state.

For behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah the

stock and the store, the whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water; the mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet, and the diviner and the elder; the captain of fifty and the honorable man, the counselor and the skillful artisan, and the expert enchanter. I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. The people will be oppressed, every one by another and every one by his neighbor; the child will be insolent toward the elder, and the base toward the honorable. When a man takes hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, You have clothing; you be our ruler, and let these ruins be under your power, In that day he will declare disapproval by saying, I cannot cure your ills, for in my house is neither food nor clothing; do not make me a ruler of the people. Isaiah told the people that Lord God has high expectation of the people and the nation and they are not living up to Gods divine standards. He warned the city can be destroyed and the people will be exiled. Menashe the king of Judah was Isaiahs grandfather, because he was threatened by his predictions he had Isaiah murdered.

Jeremiah another Major Prophet was categorized as the prophet of doom. He was Gods main person authorized to speak in the generation of the destruction of the first Temple of Jerusalem. Jeremiah was not a man of fear; he would risk his own life to plead with the King and people urging them to change their ways before its too late. For his persistence he was imprisoned without food or water. Jeremiah wrote the scroll that eventually became the Book of Lamentations. He foretold the destruction and terror but

Enduring Word Media." Enduring Word Media. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Aug. 2013.

his writing was ripped apart and thrown into a fire. He perceives the world differently than his fellow Judeans. He is fully aware unlike others that destruction is inevitable because the people have broken the Covenant with God. After all that he had endured, imprisonment and then being rescued from prison by the King of Babylonia he regained the courage to once again confront the patrons with prophecies that predicts the potential end of the nation. He was a man that rallied in the suffering lines along with other marchers exiling to Babylonia he mimicked and place chains on his shoulders, following them into their destitute self imposed exile in Egypt in lieu of the fact that they refuse to listen to him when he told them not to go. Israel was not a unified nation, its kingdom to the north was destroyed God gave over the people of Israel to its enemies because they failed to acknowledge and believe the message of the prophet and repent their sins. The Jews did not like the fact of anyone telling them that their religious workings did not please God. Twenty years Jeremiah went throughout the land warning the people to repent and turn away from their sinful ways and obey Gods Divine word or God would let the Babylonian nation to enter into Jerusalem to burn and destroy the city and its temple to rubble. And they will also risk being removed from the land to some faraway location. The Jews refused to listen to Jeremiah, because they chose to listen to others that were false prophet, putting claim that Jeremiah predictions would not happen, Jerusalem cannot be destroy by Babylon, and laying claim that no one can destroy the temple of God, they will see no destruction or disaster. Jeremiah warned them again advising that the false prophets were filling the people with false hopes, he warned them again to beware of the wrath of God. The people failed to heed Jeremiahs warning everything that he proclaimed came to pass. Jerusalem was destroyed.

Gods principle of judgment endures in modern day. The words of Isaiah lives with the modern day Jewish people and is cherished and is as relevant as when Isaiah first prophesized. God continues to bring judgment and will curse a nation with incompetent ungodly rulers. It appears to be the simplest method of judgment by giving people what their wicked sinful hearts desires. Even in the stage of sequentially good or prosperous times the crisis of leadership can be challenged and consequent. Judea was cursed in its time as in current times the twentieth century the United States is cursed as well as other nations. The decisions that God makes are at times harsh and man needs rebuking at times to bring him back to God and put him back on the right path, as well as when God gives man comfort. Isaiah and Jeremiah warned the people and they chose to ignore the warnings. God fulfilled what was prophesized. In our day of judgment, every heir descendant of Adam will come to know the truth and what is not true. God wants us to use our intellect, apprehend and use our sight to what is true and what is false today now because on the day of Judgment the truth will be useless which man disdained throughout his life and living on earth

References

Enduring Word Media." Enduring Word Media. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Aug. 2013.

NIV Women's Devotional Bible 2: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Pub. House, 1995. Print.

Pittenger, W. (1950). Prophet Isaiah. Anglican Theological Review, 32(3), 199-203.

Reiss, M. (2004). JEREMIAH, THE SUFFERING PROPHET, AND EZEKIEL, THE VISIONARY. Jewish Bible Quarterly, 32(4), 233-238.

Torah.org - The Judaism Site." Torah.org - The Judaism Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Aug. 2013.