Prophetic
Authors I, II and III concentrate on what are normally called the
Latter Prophets. Many of the pre-exile prophets concentrated on
verbal prophecies, and were only recorded for posterity due to the
faithfulness of the Scribes, who tried to record as much information
as possible. But few of them, except for Moses, felt any leading
to write down their prophecies for posterity. Their prophetic ministries
were largely situational, and once the prophecy had been given,
the prophet was on his way, moving to the next situation or location
God required of them. As the Prophetic Office began to mature, it
became obvious that these messages needed to go beyond merely verbal
delivery, and so prophets began to either write down their revelations
or have others associated with their ministries, such as Baruch,
write them down for them. Fortunately for us, once Israel and Judah
were threatened with destruction and deportation, it suddenly became
very important to write prophetic messages down, so that the exiles
could read them even in another land, and so that God's faithfulness
to bring both judgment and restoration could be measured and established
as accurate and true. |