Biblical Prophesy Essay, Research Paper

Subj: Biblical prophesy following the expatriate of the Hebrews from Babylon

Before the Babylonian expatriate, Biblical prophesy reached its highest

point. Nebiims such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel changed and molded the

range of Israelite faith. Their Hagiographas were intelligent,

insightful, good developed, and contained a great religious significance.

Following the Babylonian expatriate, nevertheless, prophesy took a depressing

downward bend. There are many station exilic Prophetss, yet their Hagiographas

are normally short, largely irrelevant, insistent, and, for the most

portion, anon. .

Though this is the instance for many of these Prophetss, their plants

can non be overlooked. Haggai and Zechariah were leaders in the cultic

reform of the Israelite people. Malachai calmed their frights, and

assured them of God & # 8217 ; s love. Still other Prophetss told of a new,

Messianic clip when the word of the Lord would be held in its former

glorification. These were the most of import plants, as station exilic Israel

needed non merely protection, but religious counsel to prolong their

society.

The prophesier Haggai was in built-in figure in unifying the Israelite

people. Upon return to their fatherland, the Israelites found most of the

substructure in a province of disrepair, with the people uncaring for

their moral and societal duties, to state nil for their

spiritual patterns. ( OVC ) Even the temple of the Lord had been

destroyed. Haggai emphasized the return to a more cultic society.

Through Haggai, God explained the predicament of the Israelite people, as in

Haggai 1:6: & # 8220 ; You have sown much, but harvested little ; you eat, but

there is non adequate to be satisfied ; you put on vesture, but no 1 is

warm plenty & # 8230 ; Why? Because of My house which lies desolate while each

of you runs to his ain house. & # 8221 ; ( Haggai 1:9 ) The word of Haggai is

accepted as the word of God, and the temple is rebuilt in less than four

old ages. & # 8220 ; I am with you, & # 8221 ; said the Lord, in Haggai 1:13 when the temple

was eventually built. ( EIB )

The prophesy of Haggai did non stop with the edifice of the Lord & # 8217 ; s

temple. He offered a message of hope to the people of Israel. Haggai

said that the promises made by God would be kept, now that He had a

brooding topographic point within the metropolis. God inspired the people of the freshly

reformed metropolis, stating: & # 8220 ; Who is left among you who saw this temple in its

former glorification? & # 8230 ; Does it non look to you like nil in comparing? The

latter glorification of this house will be greater than the former, and in this

topographic point I shall give peace. & # 8221 ; ( Haggai 2:3,9 ) He besides talks of a clip of

political turbulence and reform, when he promises to & # 8220 ; subvert the

thrones of lands and destruct the power of the lands and states ;

and I will subvert the chariots and their riders, and the Equus caballuss and

their riders will travel down, every one by the blade of another. & # 8221 ; ( Haggai

2:22 )

The & # 8220 ; latter glorification & # 8221 ; foretold in Haggai & # 8217 ; s prophesy is emphasized in

the book of Zechariah. Zechariah prophesied in the shadow of Haggai,

but gave his words a somewhat different spin. He emphasizes, like the

pre-exilic Prophetss, the importance of a moral reform among the

Hebrewss. Zechariah & # 8217 ; s manner of recieving the word of God is really alone

among the Prophetss. The word comes to him in the signifier of eight visions.

These & # 8220 ; colourful and unusual & # 8221 ; visions make up most of his book. ( OVC )

The visions are so eccentric that the Lord sends an angel as in

translator, so that Zeccariah can deduce significance from them. ( I have

taken descriptions of these visions, from the OVC and other texts, and

combined them with existent poetries from the Bible in order to make these

descriptions. )

The first of thsese eight visions is that of four angels, whose

astonishing velocity is symbolized by Equus caballuss. These four angels study that

all is at peace with the state, because the oppositions to the state

have been silenced. This is called & # 8220 ; a clip of cosmopolitan peace & # 8221 ;

( Carstensen, OVC ) . Even though the land is peaceable, the Lord is non,

and he expresses his hatred toward those who have been allied against

the Israelites.

The 2nd vision is of four horns and four Smiths. This vision

fortells the complete devastation of the enemies of God. The horns may

be the four most powerful ground forcess allied against the state, and the

Smiths could be the angels send by got to protect the dwellers of the

state.

The 3rd vision begins with a adult male taging off the metropolis boundaries

with a plumb line. Again, and angel translator Tells Zechariah to

inform the adult male that there need be no boundary lines, because the metropolis

shall hold no walls. It goes on to state that if there is true religion and

belief in the Lord, a metropolis without any defences will be safer than the

most to a great extent armoured metropolis. The 2nd portion of this vision is an

invitation to the Israelite ground forcess to portion in the devastation of their

enemies. This vision is important because it describes the Lord

brooding with his people, an event which creates felicity in and of

itself, non merely because people are pleased that the Lord is with them,

but because the Lord does non take to environ Himself with down

people.

The 4th vision is really important, in that the character of

Satan is reintroduced as the antagonist. Joshua, the high priest, is

brought on test, with an angel as justice. Satan brings these charges to

the tribunal, and accuses Joshua. The angel of the Lord removes Joshua & # 8217 ; s

apparels, and replaces them with a white robe, typifying the absolution

of wickedness from the Israelite population. Joshua is given the responsiblity

of being a moral and religious leader in society

.

In the 5th vision, there is a aureate lampstand, adorned by seven

lamps. These lamps smbolize the visible radiation of the Lord, and His vision,

which non merely gives visible radiation to the people, but oversees the actions of

the people, both on and off of sanctum land. On either side of the

lampstand are two olive trees, representative of Joshua and Zerubbabel.

In the 6th vision, God uses a big, winging coil to typify a

expletive on sinners, largely stealers and prevaricators. The expletive gives an

baleful vision of decease to those who disobey the word of God. Though

larceny and bearing false witness are the lone two wickednesss mentioned here, they are

likely merely symbols of a longer list of greater wickednesss which would fall

under this expletive.

The 7th vision speaks of a adult female trapped in a vino cask. The

angel lifts the lead screen to demo Zechariah the adult female, who is called

Wickedness. The angel negotiations of constructing a temple in the land of Shinar,

where she will be sent so that the Israelite land will be absolved of

wickedness.

The eighth is a wrap-up, in the tradition of the first vision.

Four equestrians bring intelligence that the land is unagitated, and now that His people

are reformed, God is besides unagitated. Subsequently in this chapter, there is besides

talk of the enthronement of Joshua, the boy of the high priest. It is

told that subsequently, Joshua would construct the temple of the Lord, unifying the

people and states of the Middle East.

Zechariah and Haggai both told of the rebuilding of the temple and

the return to the cultic society by the Israelites. Haggai focused more

on the cultic activities than Zechariah. This is non to state that Haggai

ignored the moral facets of society. He believed, through the edifice

of the temple, the Lord would shack in the metropolis, and the community

would come together. Zechariah prophesied to the same terminals, in that by

uniting the people, the Lord would be with them, and farther, by

reconstructing His temple, the people would return to their former spiritual

ways. God would see this, and want to shack with His people. Through

both of these books, there are undertones of a future society, where the

power of God would be realized.

The future society is the focal point of the books of Malachai and

Obadiah. The prophesier known as Malachai could hold been anyone. The

word Malachai, in Hebrew, means & # 8220 ; messenger & # 8221 ; . The writer of the book of

Malachai told of another prophesier who would be born to the Earth to

fix the people for the return of their God. The ulterior editors

assumed that the prophesier was mentioning to himself, which was non

needfully the instance. He brought a word of warning to the Hebrewss,

warning them that their half hearted efforts at forfeit would non be

sufficient. He said, & # 8220 ; A boy honors his male parent, and a servant his

maestro. Then if I am a male parent, where is My award? And if I am a

maestro, where is My regard? & # 8221 ; ( Malachi 1:6 ) He goes on to state the

priests how they have upset him so: & # 8220 ; You are showing defiled nutrient

upon My communion table. But you say, & # 8216 ; how have we defiled Thee? & # 8217 ; & # 8230 ; But when you

present the blind for forfeit, is it non evil? & # 8221 ; ( Malachai 1:7,8 ) The

Lord so goes on to ask for the Hebrewss to offer such inferior

animate beings to their governor, and see if their community leader is as

forgiving.

Much of the post-exilic prophesy is warning, with undertones of a

glorious hereafter. Through these Prophetss, we see a sence of rebuilding,

of picking up the state where it left off. Much of the ceremony

history of the Israelites is shaped in this clip period, largely by

Haggai, who believed that a strong sense of ceremonial must attach to a

strong moral belief to fulfill the Lord. Furthermore, to have the

Lord & # 8217 ; s abode with the people every bit good as his approval, there must be

a suited house in which he can brood.

Palaces, beliefs, and the restructuring and rebuilding of society

all played a major function in the healing of the Israelite population

following the Babylonian expatriate. These Prophetss played an of import portion

in taking the people to societal stableness. Their words are a minor

part of the bible, but the deductions of their words drastically

shaped the israelite society.

Notes:

It amazed me that such a minor topographic point in such a immense book could hold

such great deductions on a society. Had these Prophetss non interceded

in the personal businesss of the Israelites, the full Judaic faith would hold

been on the brink of prostration. Many of the patterns and beliefs set

during the post-exilic period have lasted in Israel for 100s of

old ages. I found it dry, nevertheless, that after the state healed itself,

it immediatly began to discourse programs for war with other states.

Throughout the Bible, there are treatments of prosperity and pease, but

does it hold to come at the disbursal of other states? It would hold

been more economical for the Israelites to at least set up a solid

medium for trade, and a changeless beginning of work force and financess before

they began to pay war on other metropoliss. In researching this paper, I

found the OVC to be particularly helpful. It contained a poetry by poetry

dislocation of the full book, every bit good as historical backgrounds.

Bible citations are from my New American Standard Bible.

Carstensen, Roger N. The Book of Zechariah. From The Interpreter & # 8217 ; s

One Volume Commentary on the Bible. Abingdon Press, 1971.

Achtemeier, Paul J. Harper & # 8217 ; s Bible Dictionary. Harper and Row, 1985.

Carey, Gary. Cliff & # 8217 ; s Notes on Old Testament. Cliffs Notes, Inc, 1995.

Barker, William P. Everyone in the Bible. Fleming H. Revell, 1966.

Brownrigg, Ronald and Comay, Joan. Who & # 8217 ; s Who in the Bible. Crown

Publishers, Inc, 1946 and 1952.