The Minor Post Exilic Prophets Essay -- essays research papers fc

Before the Babylonian exile, Biblical prophesy reached its highest point. Prophets such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel changed and molded the scope of Israelite religion. Their writings were intelligent, insightful, well developed, and contained a great religious meaning. Following the Babylonian exile, however, prophesy took a depressing downward turn. in that location are many post exilic prophesiers, yet their writings are usually short, mostly irrelevant, repetitive, and, for the most part, anonymous.Though this is the case for many of these prophets, their whole caboodle cannot be overlooked. Haggai and Zechariah were leaders in the cultic reform of the Israelite people. Malachai calmed their fears, and assured them of divinity fudges love. Still separate prophets told of a new, Messianic time when the term of the Lord would be held in its former glory. These were the most important works, as post exilic Israel involve not only protection, but spiritual guidance to sustain th eir society.The prophet Haggai was in integral figure in uniting the Israelite people. Upon return to their homeland, the Israelites frame most of the infrastructure in a state of disrepair, with the people lumpish for their moral and social responsibilities, to say nothing for their religious practices. (OVC) Even the synagogue of the Lord had been destroyed. Haggai emphasized the return to a more cultic society. Through Haggai, theology explained the plight of the Israelite people, as in Haggai 16 "You have lay much, but harvested little you eat, but in that location is not enough to be satisfied you put on clothing, but no one is impassioned enough...Why? Because of My house which lies desolate while each of you runs to his own house." (Haggai 19) The word of Haggai is accepted as the word of God, and the temple is rebuilt in less than quatern years. "I am with you," said the Lord,in Haggai 113 when the temple was in conclusion built. (EIB)The prophesy of Haggai did not end with the building of the Lords temple. He offered a center of hope to the people of Israel. Haggai said that the promises made by God would be kept, now that He had a dwelling place within the city. God inspired the people of the newly reformed city, saying "Who is left among you who proverb this temple in its former glory?...Does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison? The latter glory of this house testament be grea... ...he post-exilic period have lasted in Israel for hundreds of years. I found it ironic, however, that aft(prenominal) the nation healed itself, it immediatly began to discuss plans for war with other nations. Throughout the Bible, there are discussions of prosperity and pease, but does it have to come at the outlay of other nations? It would have been more economical for the Israelites to at least uphold a solid medium for trade, and a constant source of hands and funds before they began to wage war on other cities. In resear ching this paper, I found the OVC to be especially helpful. It contained a verse by verse breakdown of the entire book, as well as historic backgrounds. Scripture quotations are from my New American Standard Bible.Works CitedCarstensen, Roger N. The set aside of Zechariah. From The Interpreters One Volume Commentary on the Bible. Abingdon Press, 1971.Achtemeier, Paul J. harpers Bible Dictionary. Harper and Row, 1985.Carey, Gary. Cliffs Notes on Old Testament. Cliffs Notes, Inc, 1995.Barker, William P. Everyone in the Bible. Fleming H. Revell, 1966.Brownrigg, Ronald and Comay, Joan. Whos Who in the Bible. CrownPublishers, Inc, 1946 and 1952.