This series is one of the series we are doing, but because we had technical problems with the other series we will alternate the two series we are doing every other day during the week, but Sunday will be a sermon of this. Stay tuned for the difference.

  • God’s will was known as.
  • Discerning God’s Will
  • • In ancient Israel it was assumed that God’s will was knowable and
  • indisputable.
  • • But God’s will was not always self-evident. God communicated through
  • cryptic signs that needed to be properly interpreted. A prophet was an inspired individual who received divine visions and
  • communicated the will of God to the people.
  • • A prophet was God’s instrument for communicating this will.
  • • A prophet was an intermediary between God and Israel.
  • What did Biblical Prophets do?
  • • Biblical prophets were not psychics or fortunetellers.
  • • They dealt primarily with the present, not the future.
  • • They were messengers who received God’s word through visions and
  • transmitted these messages to the people.
  • • They were preachers who delivered public sermons.
  • • They were political observers who critiqued the ruling powers.
  • • They were healers who performed supernatural actions.
  • How did the words of the prophets become Scripture?
  • • The prophets proclaimed oracles in public.
  • • Although they sometimes wrote, the majority of the prophetic words were
  • initially oral.
  • • Disciples of the prophets wrote down their words.
  • • Later, scribes copied these words down and assembled oracle
  • collections. To these they added narrative information about the prophet.
  • • Eventually these prophetic anthologies came to be accepted as sacred
  • scripture and were canonized as part of the Tanakh as we know it today.
  • What was the Prophet’s message?
  • • The Prophets were moral guides, urging people to transform their
  • behavior vis-à-vis God as well as fellow human beings.
  • • The Prophets were “gadflies” who challenged the people, going against
  • mainstream opinion.
  • • In times of tranquility, message of warning about coming disasters as
  • punishment for evil.
  • • In times of turmoil, message of comfort about future restoration as
  • vindication of covenant.
  • Speaking in the Name of God
  • Often prophets began and ended their speeches with phrases to indicate that
  • what they proclaimed is God’s word, not their own:
  • “The word of the LORD
  • “The word of the LORD came to me, saying…”
  • “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel”
  • • How does God communicate his will through a human messenger in each
  • prophetic book?
  • • What does each prophetic book tell us about the relationship between God
  • and Israel?
  • • How does reading the prophets in the original Hebrew enhance our
  • understanding of their message?
  • • How do each of the Hebrew prophets relate to messianism and how do their
  • words point the way to Jesus?