Dr. Schniffenhousen shares his timeline of the prophets – where all 16 major and minor prophets fit in the history of Israel. From Buck Denver Asks What’s in the Bible? Volume 9: God Speaks! [Isaiah, Jeremiah & The Prophets].
DR. SCHNIFFENHOUSEN
There were THREE emergencies that brought lots of prophets with warnings from God. The first was the rise of the Assyrian Empire! The first prophet to show up wasAmos in about 760 BC, followed by Hosea in 755. Then comes Micah in 742, and Isaiah in 740. 100 years later things are kind of calm again, when suddenly, BOOM! Here come the Babylonians! And BOOM! New prophets! Nahum in 660, Zephaniah and Habakkuk in 640, and Jeremiah around 627 BC! Twenty years later Daniel shows up, then Ezekiel, then Obadiah. Then things are quiet again until the 3rd crisis – the rise of the Persian Empire!
CHUCK WAGGIN
Wait – why is that a crisis? The Persians are the ones who let the Jews go home!
SUNDAY SCHOOL LADY
Ah, yes – but this was a DIFFERENT kind of crisis! It was an IDENTITY crisis! The Jews back in Judah weren’t sure who they were anymore! Were they STILL God’s covenant people? Since the Babylonians destroyed God’s temple, did that mean the Babylonian god was stronger than Israel’s God?
BROTHER LOUIE
And some of them started marrying women from other lands and worshipping THEIR gods.
CHUCK WAGGIN
Right. I remember that from the book of Ezra!
DR. SCHNIFFENHOUSEN
So a new crisis needs new prophets! And God sends Haggai and Zechariah in 520, right about the time the temple was being rebuilt, and then finally, the very last prophet, Malachi in 460 BC. Three hundred years of prophets!
