Adapted from “The Holy Scriptures: God’s Word, Written in Human Words,” an updated version of Herman Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, trans. Henry Zylstra (Eerdmans, 1956), chapter 7.
When you hear the word “prophet,” who comes to mind? Isaiah? Jeremiah? Perhaps Daniel? The prophetic books take up a big part of the Old Testament. But the story of prophecy in Israel is much bigger than the books that bear the prophets’ names, and the way their words came to be written down tells us a great deal about how God gave us his Word.
Three Streams of Holy Writing
It all builds on a foundation. Through Moses God gave his law, grounded in the covenant he made with the patriarchs, confirmed for Israel at Sinai and set out in the law of Moses. On that foundation, later in Israel’s history, the Holy Spirit led to the rise of a threefold holy literature: psalmody, prophecy and the “wisdom” literature.
These special gifts of the Holy Spirit were joined to natural gifts that belonged to the Semitic peoples, and especially to Israel. But they went beyond those natural gifts. They were given a calling to serve the Kingdom of God and to benefit all mankind.
Prophets Before the Prophetic Books
Prophecy begins with Abraham,1Gen. 18:17; 20:7; see also Amos 3:7 and Ps. 105:15. and continues through Jacob,2Gen. 49. Moses3Num. 11:25; Deut. 18:18; 34:10; and Hosea 12:13. and Miriam.4Ex. 15:20 and Num. 12:2. But it really comes into its own with Samuel and after him, and it accompanies Israel’s history until well after the exile.
In the Hebrew Old Testament the books of the prophets fall into two big groups: the “earlier” and the “later” prophets. The earlier prophets include Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings. They’re called that because they were written by prophets and because they tell of prophets who came before the later prophets of Scripture.
That points to something easily missed. There were many more prophets in Israel than the four “major” and twelve “minor” prophets whose books are in our Bibles. The historical books are full of prophets’ names, sometimes with long accounts of what they did. They tell of Deborah, Samuel, Gad, Nathan, Ahijah, Shemiah, Azariah, Hanani, Jehu the son of Hanani, Elijah, Elisha, Hulda, and Zechariah, the first martyr among the prophets in Judah, along with many others, some of them unnamed (2 Chron. 25, for example). Not a word from their own hand has come down to us in writing.
We even read of schools of the prophets,51 Sam. 10:5-12; 19:19ff.; 2 Kings 2:3, 5; 4:38, 43; and 6:1. where many sons or disciples of the prophets, gathered together and gave themselves to spiritual exercises and to their duties in the service of God’s rule. Very probably the prophetic writing of history, in books like Joshua and Judges, grew out of these schools. And Chronicles in particular refers several times to historical writings by prophets.61 Chron. 29:29; 2 Chron. 9:29; 20:34, and the like.
All of the prophets, the earlier as well as the later, were prophets of the word. All spoke and all witnessed.
Speaking to the Present
People today often call the prophets in the historical books “prophets in deed,” in contrast with the later “prophets in word.” That’s a fair distinction, as long as we remember that every prophet was a prophet of the word. The original Hebrew very probably points to this (Ex. 4:16 and 7:1), and the core features of prophetic teaching are already there in the oldest prophets.
Still, the earlier prophets differed from the later ones in two ways. First, they focused on the internal needs of Israel and didn’t yet bring other nations into view. Second, they paid more attention to the present than to the future. Their words of warning and rebuke had a mostly immediate, practical purpose. This was the period, during and for some time after the reigns of David and Solomon, when there was still hope that Israel would keep God’s covenant and walk in his ways.
Looking Toward the Messiah
Then things changed. In the ninth century before Christ, Israel gradually became entangled in the politics of the nations around it, in defiance of its own calling and destiny. And so the prophets widened their view to take in the surrounding nations too. They no longer expected God’s promises to be perfectly fulfilled in the faithless present. They looked instead to the Messianic future, a future God himself would have to bring about.
Standing on their watchtowers, these later prophets looked out over the whole earth. They read the signs of the times not by their own lights but by the light of the Holy Spirit.71 Peter 1:4 and 2 Peter 2:20-21. They measured everything in Israel, whether religious, ethical, political or social, and Israel’s dealings with nations like Edom, Moab, Asshur, Chaldea and Egypt, against one touchstone: the covenant in which the Lord stands over against his people.
And each in his own way, in his own time and according to his own nature, they all preached essentially the same Word of God. They exposed Israel’s sins and announced God’s punishment. They comforted God’s people with the unchangeableness of his covenant, the promise of his faithfulness and the forgiveness of their wrongdoing. And they pointed every eye to the joyful future, when God, under the rule of a king from David’s house, would extend his reign over Israel and over all peoples.
Words Meant to Outlast Their Moment
That’s why their message came to matter far beyond the day it was spoken. It was no longer limited to the Israel of that time. Its reach extended to the ends of the earth, and it could only be fulfilled in mankind as a whole.
And so the prophetic word was committed to writing. From the ninth century B.C., from the days of Joel and Obadiah, the prophets began to write down the content of their prophecy, sometimes at God’s express command.8Isa. 8:1; Hab. 2:2; and Isa. 36:3. They did it with a clear purpose: that their word would remain until the last day, for all eternity (Isa. 30:8), and that later generations would recognise it as authentic (Isa. 34:16).
The prophets spoke into their own moment. But by God’s design, their words were written down for ours as well.
—
- 1Gen. 18:17; 20:7; see also Amos 3:7 and Ps. 105:15. ↩︎
- 2Gen. 49. ↩︎
- 3Num. 11:25; Deut. 18:18; 34:10; and Hosea 12:13. ↩︎
- 4Ex. 15:20 and Num. 12:2. ↩︎
- 51 Sam. 10:5-12; 19:19ff.; 2 Kings 2:3, 5; 4:38, 43; and 6:1. ↩︎
- 61 Chron. 29:29; 2 Chron. 9:29; 20:34, and the like. ↩︎
- 71 Peter 1:4 and 2 Peter 2:20-21. ↩︎
- 8Isa. 8:1; Hab. 2:2; and Isa. 36:3. ↩︎