Page 120 - Advanced OT Survey Revised

The chart on the next page includes only the major prophetic figures of the Old Testament period. The
period following 750 BC, beginning with Hosea and Amos, is often referred to as the classical period of
prophecy and those prophets as writing prophets. Both names are somewhat inaccurate. There is not
nearly as radical a break between prophets before the beginning of the "classical" period and those after
as the name might imply. Also, not all of the prophets were necessarily writers. In some cases the books
are a combination of the prophet's words along with later stories about the prophet as well as much
later application of the prophetic message to new historical contexts. Amos is a good example of such a
composite book. On the other hand, some prophetic books, such as Ezekiel, are relatively coherent
indicating a great deal of unity of composition. Yet in other cases, such as the Book of Jonah, the
prophet whose name appears as the title of a book had little to do with the authorship of the book,
since it is a writing about the prophet, his life, and message.

The dates reflect the active ministry of the prophets as determined from datable portions of the biblical
accounts. Except for the Isaiah traditions, there is no attempt here to sort out the different time periods
that are reflected in the prophetic books themselves. For example, it is clear that the collection of
sermons and stories from Amos underwent editing (redaction) in the Southern Kingdom after the
destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC, some 150 years after the ministry of Amos in the Northern Kingdom
(Amos 9:11-15).

This simply reminds us that there is a difference between the immediate historical context of prophetic
figures of the Old Testament and the historical context of the books that bear their name. The books
are the products of the community of faith sometimes over many centuries as they collected, reflected
upon, and used the messages brought by the prophets themselves. The books often bear clear evidence
of this dynamic use of the prophetic traditions over a period of time, which also speaks of the ongoing
vitality of the writings as God's living word to the people.

Daniel is not included here because the book is not normally considered a prophetic book, but rather
part of The Writings, the reflective and devotional literature of Israel. There is little historical evidence
to date the book of Joel, and it could fall anywhere between 835BC to 800 BC. The historical
setting of Jonah is the Assyrian era of the 8th century BC, but many scholars place the actual writing of
the book in the middle fifth century BC, shortly after Nehemiah's reforms. This suggests that the book
uses much older traditions from the Assyrian era as a means to address a different set of problems in
the post-exilic community.

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