One thing we must acknowledge right at the beginning of this post: the Bible is a really large book. I really feel for the person who doesn't have any experience with the Bible who decides to read it one day, and then starts to do so in typical book fashion. That is, start at the beginning and work your way through to the end. Sure, the first part is pretty exciting, as Genesis and even Exodus have some exciting stories. But then, once you get part way through Exodus, things can really start to bog down on you. Lists of "do's" and "don'ts" fill the pages, and even the most devoted reader may start to find excuses not to read.
One thing that the size of the Bible has led to is an overlooked view of the books toward the end of the Old Testament, those books known as the prophets. The things that people find most familiar about them are the little quotations that we come across in the New Testament. We hear of their foreviews of Jesus, but really don't know much more about them than that they spoke those words. As for the time in which they lived, or the reason for the words they spoke, or even the general theme of their messages, these are mostly unknown.
I've asked around a bit over the past few weeks about what people know about the prophets, and have found that most people seem to have what I am calling a "romanticized" view of the prophets. That is, they think that the prophets were wise, well-respected men who spoke as though they had most of their attention on the future in Jesus. In general, people seem to think that they were liked, almost to the point that the people of their day would be waiting breathlessly for their next words.
That is hardly the case for most of the Old Testament prophets. To put it bluntly, the life of a prophet, while blessed in the eyes of God, was not an easy one to live. Most prophets were not liked, and even had attempts on their lives. Tradition has several of them dying in rather harsh ways, such as Isaiah being sawn in half. People like Jeremiah were despised, imprisoned, called traitors to the country, and even seen as blasphemous to the people. They lived on the edge of society, proclaiming God's justice and wrath, as well as God's grace and favor.
For anyone who wants to get an idea of what some of the prophets went through, I would always suggest reading through Jeremiah. If his story doesn't give you a clearer picture about what it means to speak God's Word to people, then I don't know what will.
One thing that the size of the Bible has led to is an overlooked view of the books toward the end of the Old Testament, those books known as the prophets. The things that people find most familiar about them are the little quotations that we come across in the New Testament. We hear of their foreviews of Jesus, but really don't know much more about them than that they spoke those words. As for the time in which they lived, or the reason for the words they spoke, or even the general theme of their messages, these are mostly unknown.
I've asked around a bit over the past few weeks about what people know about the prophets, and have found that most people seem to have what I am calling a "romanticized" view of the prophets. That is, they think that the prophets were wise, well-respected men who spoke as though they had most of their attention on the future in Jesus. In general, people seem to think that they were liked, almost to the point that the people of their day would be waiting breathlessly for their next words.
That is hardly the case for most of the Old Testament prophets. To put it bluntly, the life of a prophet, while blessed in the eyes of God, was not an easy one to live. Most prophets were not liked, and even had attempts on their lives. Tradition has several of them dying in rather harsh ways, such as Isaiah being sawn in half. People like Jeremiah were despised, imprisoned, called traitors to the country, and even seen as blasphemous to the people. They lived on the edge of society, proclaiming God's justice and wrath, as well as God's grace and favor.
For anyone who wants to get an idea of what some of the prophets went through, I would always suggest reading through Jeremiah. If his story doesn't give you a clearer picture about what it means to speak God's Word to people, then I don't know what will.
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