PROPHETS II

In the Prophets I Course Description, we already discussed how “the prophets” that Our Lord refers to in Luke 24:44 include both the former and the latter prophets. The Latter prophets are the three major prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah (which includes Lamentations and Baruch), Ezekiel and twelve minor prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi).

One of the most difficult aspects of this section of Scripture is that it takes place during a complicated part of Israel’s history—the divided kingdom and the Exiles. After the death of Solomon (931 BC) the united kingdom of Israel divided into the Northern kingdom of Israel and southern kingdom of Judah. In 722 BC many of the inhabitants of the northern kingdom were carried off into exile to Assyria (north of Israel). In 587 the southern kingdom of Judah fell to the Babylonians (east of Israel), who were later conquered by the Persians.

Based on this history this course divides the prophets according to three major eras: the Assyrian, the Babylonian, and the Persian.  Tobit, which takes place during the Assyrian era, is included in that section. The Babylonian era includes Daniel, and the Persian period Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah for the same reason. Finally, the two books of Maccabees, which are important for the transition to the New Testament, are included at the end. 

Since the prophets themselves often assume this history, we need to know it if we are to understand what they are saying. However, the history is not their final point, nor will it be ours. As for them, so for us, the history points to theology.

The two major theological concerns of the prophets are exile and restoration. Exile, or the threat of it, is God’s just response to the sin of unfaithfulness. Restoration, or the hope of it, is God’s merciful response to repentance for sin. The death of the nation that occurred with the exiles gave rise not only to a call to repentance, but also to the hope of a restoration: the prophets proclaimed that this death of the nation was not the final word, but that God would mercifully and miraculously restore His people who had been scattered to the four winds, and He would restore it through the death of his “suffering servant.” The experience of exile (the death of the nation) and the hope of restoration (the resurrection of the nation) found in the prophets is to the Old Testament what the death and resurrection of Jesus is to the New Testament. This course will enable the student to see that just as Jesus’ birth, suffering, and death were foretold by the prophets, so Christ’s resurrection and the Church that continues his life in the world IS the restoration promised by the prophets!

YOUR INSTRUCTOR

Nathan Schmiedicke, Ph.D.

Dr. Nathan Schmiedicke is the director of the CLAA Biblical Studies program.   Dr. Schmiedicke was born the fifth of eleven children and raised on a small family farm in Michigan. He attended Catholic school through eighth grade and was home-schooled through High school. After graduating with honors from Thomas Aquinas College (CA) he married his college sweetheart, and began graduate school at Marquette University (Milwaukee). He completed his PhD in Biblical Theology in 2007 and began teaching Theology, Scripture, and languages at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, PA and classics at nearby Villanova University. Dr. Schmiedicke is a Senior Fellow with the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.  Nathan and Wendy have five boys.