A Prophet-able Study
Who were the prophets, and what was their message?
History is everything is this regard. If you don't know that the prophetic books fit in right smack dab in the middle of the books of Kings, you're going to be lost.
This always confused me as a youngster. The Bible is not a chronological book in the sense that the book of Psalms historically takes place after the book of Esther - it doesn't; nor does Isaiah take place after 2 Kings, even if it does come after 2 Kings in the actual order of books in our Bible.
So, knowing the history of what was happening in Judah and Israel (they are two different kingdoms, you know) at the time that Isaiah prophesied will really help you to understand what he was talking about and why.
And once you understand the literal and historical message of Isaiah to the kings of his day, then you can start to apply that literal/historical message in an allegorical way to the future.
This is the problem most people have, the mistake most people make: they think that Isaiah (and all of the prophets) were primarily predicting stuff that would happen thousands of years from now - stuff that still hasn't happened. Not so. They were predicting the future, certainly, but the immediate future.
For example, when Isaiah says "behold, a virgin [HEBREW: 'young woman'] will conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel," he was not - on a primary and literal level - speaking of Jesus Christ. That prophecy came true within Isaiah's lifetime, and within the lifetime of the king to whom that prophecy was given.
That literal and historical fulfillment, however, is itself only a partial fulfillment - because it only fulfills the prophecy on a literal level. The greater meaning of the prophecy is the birth of Christ - and so, even though that is the allegorical meaning of the prophecy, it is the ultimate meaning of the prophecy. The literal conception and historical birth of a child in Isaiah's time, then, becomes a concrete and historical sign, a living prophecy in itself, that points forward to a greater fulfillment.
It bends the mind, doesn't it?
This is why I'm convinced that God does not write history like this: --------------------->
That's linear. I think God writes history like a spiral. It winds its way outward, definitely heading towards a termination point - but as it winds outward, it keeps passing familiar territory. Think of a vertical line that passes through the spiral ... if I start in the center of the spiral, and trace the spiral outwards, I will cross that vertical line several times - but always a little further out on the spiral. I will never cross the vertical line at the exact same point on the spiral - thus, history does not repeat itself; but as I get further out on the spiral, I hear echoes of history, and I see parallel images.
Where was I going with that?
Oh, right. So you can't just read the prophets and go running off, willy-nilly, into futuristic predictions of what will happen in the End Times. You have to know how those prophecies were already fulfilled in their historical context - because then the historical fulfillment will itself become your living prophecy, your basis from which to understand the future-future fulfillment.
Sometimes a prophecy can be fulfilled more than twice. Isaiah prophesied serious chastisement for Jerusalem, and it happened. It happened the first time in 586 BC, when Babylon took them out; but that historical event was only a prophecy itself, pointing to 70 AD, when the Romans took Jerusalem out for good. So that's already two levels of historical fulfillment. But allegorically, I think Jerusalem is a picture of Rome - the Vatican - and some of our Catholic prophecies do indeed say that the Vatican itself will undergo a material destruction (see St. Malachy's prophecy of the "last pope").
Ok, really, I do have a point here ... something useful, maybe.
Start with Isaiah.
He prophesied from about 739-681 BC - that is, he started prophesying about 15 years before the Northern Kingdom was decimated, and he stopped prophesying about 100 years before the Southern Kingdom was destroyed.
That'll give you some historical context.
The kings who ruled during Isaiah's career were: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
You can read about Uzziah in 2 Chr. 26, and in 2 Kgs. 15:1-7, where he is called "Azariah." His reign is covered in Isaiah 1-6.
2 Kgs. 15:5-38 and 2 Chr. 27:1-9 give the story of Jotham, son of Uzziah. His reign does not appear to involve Isaiah at all.
The story of Ahaz is told in 2 Chr. 28, and 2 Kings 16 - he is given a lot of coverage, so that should tell you something of his importance in the history of things. He is mentioned in Isaiah 7.
Finally, Hezekiah's story is told in 2 Chr. 29 - 32 (yes, four whole chapters) and in 2 Kgs. 18 - 20. His name appears in Isaiah by chapter 36.
A few other things to keep in mind:
* "Judah" is the Southern Kingdom.
* "Israel" is the Northern Kingdom.
* "The House of Jacob" is just another way of saying "the Northern Kingdom."
* Samaria was made the capital city of the Northern Kingdom during King Omri's reign, c. 876-869 AD - so when Isaiah speaks of Samaria, he is speaking of the capital city of the Northern Kingdom
* Ephraim was the larger surrounding tribal territory that encompassed Samaria and Beth-el, which is where the first Northern King (Jeroboam) set up a place of worship for his kingdom - so when Isaiah says "Ephraim," again, he is speaking of the representative tribe of the Northern Kingdom
I would also recommend using a map of the Israelite/Judah territories. That way, when Isaiah mentions some city or land, you can see where it is in relation to Judah and Israel.
Alright ... happy exploring.
History is everything is this regard. If you don't know that the prophetic books fit in right smack dab in the middle of the books of Kings, you're going to be lost.
This always confused me as a youngster. The Bible is not a chronological book in the sense that the book of Psalms historically takes place after the book of Esther - it doesn't; nor does Isaiah take place after 2 Kings, even if it does come after 2 Kings in the actual order of books in our Bible.
So, knowing the history of what was happening in Judah and Israel (they are two different kingdoms, you know) at the time that Isaiah prophesied will really help you to understand what he was talking about and why.
And once you understand the literal and historical message of Isaiah to the kings of his day, then you can start to apply that literal/historical message in an allegorical way to the future.
This is the problem most people have, the mistake most people make: they think that Isaiah (and all of the prophets) were primarily predicting stuff that would happen thousands of years from now - stuff that still hasn't happened. Not so. They were predicting the future, certainly, but the immediate future.
For example, when Isaiah says "behold, a virgin [HEBREW: 'young woman'] will conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel," he was not - on a primary and literal level - speaking of Jesus Christ. That prophecy came true within Isaiah's lifetime, and within the lifetime of the king to whom that prophecy was given.
That literal and historical fulfillment, however, is itself only a partial fulfillment - because it only fulfills the prophecy on a literal level. The greater meaning of the prophecy is the birth of Christ - and so, even though that is the allegorical meaning of the prophecy, it is the ultimate meaning of the prophecy. The literal conception and historical birth of a child in Isaiah's time, then, becomes a concrete and historical sign, a living prophecy in itself, that points forward to a greater fulfillment.
It bends the mind, doesn't it?
This is why I'm convinced that God does not write history like this: --------------------->
That's linear. I think God writes history like a spiral. It winds its way outward, definitely heading towards a termination point - but as it winds outward, it keeps passing familiar territory. Think of a vertical line that passes through the spiral ... if I start in the center of the spiral, and trace the spiral outwards, I will cross that vertical line several times - but always a little further out on the spiral. I will never cross the vertical line at the exact same point on the spiral - thus, history does not repeat itself; but as I get further out on the spiral, I hear echoes of history, and I see parallel images.
Where was I going with that?
Oh, right. So you can't just read the prophets and go running off, willy-nilly, into futuristic predictions of what will happen in the End Times. You have to know how those prophecies were already fulfilled in their historical context - because then the historical fulfillment will itself become your living prophecy, your basis from which to understand the future-future fulfillment.
Sometimes a prophecy can be fulfilled more than twice. Isaiah prophesied serious chastisement for Jerusalem, and it happened. It happened the first time in 586 BC, when Babylon took them out; but that historical event was only a prophecy itself, pointing to 70 AD, when the Romans took Jerusalem out for good. So that's already two levels of historical fulfillment. But allegorically, I think Jerusalem is a picture of Rome - the Vatican - and some of our Catholic prophecies do indeed say that the Vatican itself will undergo a material destruction (see St. Malachy's prophecy of the "last pope").
Ok, really, I do have a point here ... something useful, maybe.
Start with Isaiah.
He prophesied from about 739-681 BC - that is, he started prophesying about 15 years before the Northern Kingdom was decimated, and he stopped prophesying about 100 years before the Southern Kingdom was destroyed.
That'll give you some historical context.
The kings who ruled during Isaiah's career were: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
You can read about Uzziah in 2 Chr. 26, and in 2 Kgs. 15:1-7, where he is called "Azariah." His reign is covered in Isaiah 1-6.
2 Kgs. 15:5-38 and 2 Chr. 27:1-9 give the story of Jotham, son of Uzziah. His reign does not appear to involve Isaiah at all.
The story of Ahaz is told in 2 Chr. 28, and 2 Kings 16 - he is given a lot of coverage, so that should tell you something of his importance in the history of things. He is mentioned in Isaiah 7.
Finally, Hezekiah's story is told in 2 Chr. 29 - 32 (yes, four whole chapters) and in 2 Kgs. 18 - 20. His name appears in Isaiah by chapter 36.
A few other things to keep in mind:
* "Judah" is the Southern Kingdom.
* "Israel" is the Northern Kingdom.
* "The House of Jacob" is just another way of saying "the Northern Kingdom."
* Samaria was made the capital city of the Northern Kingdom during King Omri's reign, c. 876-869 AD - so when Isaiah speaks of Samaria, he is speaking of the capital city of the Northern Kingdom
* Ephraim was the larger surrounding tribal territory that encompassed Samaria and Beth-el, which is where the first Northern King (Jeroboam) set up a place of worship for his kingdom - so when Isaiah says "Ephraim," again, he is speaking of the representative tribe of the Northern Kingdom
I would also recommend using a map of the Israelite/Judah territories. That way, when Isaiah mentions some city or land, you can see where it is in relation to Judah and Israel.
Alright ... happy exploring.
<< Home