Lamentations--a lamentation of Jeremiah expressing his profoundly deep
sorrow concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah.
Ezekiel--a prophet during the exile.
Daniel--a prophet of Enormous integrity and administrative ability who lived
in Babylon during the exile.
ISAIAH
Isaiah’s name means “God is Salvation”. The book of Isaiah involves the ministry of
one of God’s great prophets who lived in the latter half of the eight century before
Christ. He prophesied for a period lasting forty to sixty years during the reign of
four rulers of the southern kingdom of Judah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah.
The Kingdom of Judah was in a state of spiritual decline. Religious superficiality
and rampant immorality saturated the country side. The nation has ceased to trust in
God and was inclined to form protective alliances with certain pagan
powers(Assyria in the east and Egypt in the south). Isaiah’s task was to proclaim to
them the Lord’s word, affirming that security is grounded in the one true God, not in
powers of heathenism.
The book of Isaiah is divided into two major sections:
First, the prophet foretells a coming judgment upon the Hebrew people if they do
not return to the Lord(Chapter 1-39). That judgment finds its immediate fulfillment
in the impending Babylon captivity.
Second, in spite of that temporal judgment, deliverance ultimately can be theirs(Is
40-66). There will be a return from the captivity, and, finally ultimately salvation
will be provided by the coming Messiah. There are numerous prophetic glimpses of
Christ in Isaiah, so much so that he is called “The Messianic Prophet”.(cf. 7:14;
8:13; 9:6-7; 11:1-10; 28:16; 40:3-5; 42:1-4; 44::6; 50:6; 53:1-12).
JEREMIAH
Jeremiah is known as “the weeping prophet”, was the most persecuted character of
the Old Testament era. His own Jewish kinsmen cursed him, beat him threw him in
prison, etc(see 15:10; 20:1; ff; 32: 2-3; 37:15).
Jeremiah labored on behalf of God’s people during the administrative of five
Judah’s Kings: Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah. His total
preaching career could have spanned more than sixty years. Obviously he was a
young man when called of God to assume his sober responsibility.
The good king Josiah had attempted to reform the idol-prone Hebrews but his
efforts were a matter of too little, to late. The southern kingdom was in a down
ward spiral. Jeremiah commenced his ministry in the thirteen year of Josiah’s
administration. The thrust of the prophet’s message was two-fold.
1. He initially sought to bring his people to a state of genuine repentance(cf. 7:2-7).
No less than thirteen times the prophet characterizes the Israelites as a “backsliding”
People. If Judah would only turn back she could avoid the danger that lurked like a
dark cloud on her horizon,.....the Babylonian invasion.
2. It became apparent ultimately that the Jews had no intentions of reforming their lives. Jeremiah’s sad chore then was to warn his people of the punishment that
mighty Babylon God’s instrument of wrath, would inflict(cf. 21:1-10). Jeremiah
spoke for God himself in uttering this doom. More than 150 times Jeremiah
buttressed his warning with “the word of the Lord came.....” Further, he urged the
Hebrews to surrender to God’s avenging force and “Take their medicine”, so to
speak. This message provoked the people, and their wrath was vented with full
force against Jeremiah.
In addition to his warning relative to the kingdom of Judah, Jeremiah foretold the
doom of some ten neighboring, heathen powers(cf chapter 46-51). His prophecies
Concerning the ultimate fall of Babylon are some of the most astounding in the
entire Bible(cf 50-51).
The saddest day in Old Testament history was when Jerusalem was taken by the
Babylonian army and the Hebrew temple was burned to the ground(586 BC).
Jeremiah had foretold these gruesome days and in his follow-up document,
Lamentation, he further pursued the matter.
EZEKIEL
The book of Ezekiel represent the message of the prophet by that name who was
taken captive in the second deportation of the Jews to Babylon; this occurred
around the year 598-597 BC (2 Kings 24:14-15). Ezekiel began his ministry in the
fifth year of his captivity(7-8 years before the final destruction of the temple). Ezekiel continued his work for some twenty-two years( cf. Ezekiel 1:2; 29:17).
Just as there had been false prophets among the Hebrew people in Palestine( cf
Jeremiah 28:3) so also evil deceivers were among the Jews in Babylon. These
corrupt prophets were suggesting that the captivity would not last a full seventy
years, as Jeremiah had declared(25:12; 29:10); rather within a couple of years or
so(28:3), this Babylonian unpleasantness would be over, and Israel would be
restored to its homeland.
