Relationship Between God And Israel

The Exegetical Task: Some parts of the Bible call for time and patient revision to understand. Some people find help in Bible dictionaries, commentaries and Bible handbooks (Fee/Stuart p189). Fee and Stuart feels that everyone needs to understand both the prophets’ era and the context of a single oracle (Fee/Stuart p190). The words spoken by the prophets at a variety of times and places are written down without any indication as to where one oracle ends and another begins (Fee/Stuart p193). The prophets employed an assortment of literary forms. 3 of the most common are: “The lawsuit”, God is portrayed as the plaintiff, prosecuting attorney and judge against the defendant, Israel (Fee/Stuart p194). The Woe, Woe oracles implicitly or explicitly contain an announcement of distress, the reason for distress and a prediction of doom. “The promise”, This contains an allusion to the future, a mention of radical change and blessing (Fee/Stuart p195). Hermeneutical Suggestions: What is God’s word to us through these inspired oracles, spoken in another time to God’s people? Once we understand what God said to them then, we will hear it again in our own surroundings (Fee/Stuart p199). The prophets’ messages were concentrated on the near rather than the distant future (Fee/Stuart p200). Sometimes the New Testament makes reference to Old Testament passages that don’t seem to refer to what the New Testament says they do

This paper will research and seek to determine the prophetic meaning by analyzing the material found within the passage Daniel 9:24-27 point by point, verse by verse. Daniel 9:24-27 holds the title of the utmost important prophecy to be found in scripture. In a nutshell, this passage chronologically foretells the future of the nation of Israel over a seventy-week timeframe. This vision given to Daniel is historically and biblically fulfilled further declaring its importance to the Bible.

Moving on, from what Richter named the barrier (people, time, and space), chapter three contains the outworking of God through the five men discussed before. As she states, “the biblical writers consciously organized their material in a systematic fashion in order to communicate certain central truths.” The author briefly details the aspects of the covenants within the Old Testament surrounding Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David. Taking, in turn, each of them and expositing them in a way that shows the redemptive story that is taking place. “For each of these characters was called to mediate a covenant between God and humanity”. Tying into the culture of the people, God used the fallen and difficult Israelite culture to set up his redemptive plan the would show to be faithful, even to a faithless people.

The book of Isaiah has a lot of unique historical, social, and political factors to it. The prophet Isaiah prophesied during the reign of King Ahaz and Hezekiah (740-681 BC). Isaiah mainly worked during the reign of Hezekiah, However; his first narrative was under King Ahaz in 734-733 BC. In which, King Ahaz was dealing with crisis regarding foreign powers and was struggling on how to protect his people. One of main themes in the book of Isaiah is that not to trust in human power but instead one should trust in God. Isaiah prophesied under a very complicated social setting, Isaiah lived during a time of rapid corruption in the government of Israel. He preached that the government was not following God's covenant. He also preached to the people of Israel who rebelled against God’s covenant. The prophet Isaiah also guided the leaders of Israel during very tough political times.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the main themes of Isaiah and Jeremiah. The main themes of Isaiah are: (1) Son’s Names as Signs. (2) Servant. (3) Holy One of Israel. (4) Redeemer. (5) Eschatology. The main themes of Jeremiah are: (1) God’s Policy with Nations. (2) New Covenant. (3) False Prophets.

From there, Ezekiel’s theme is focused on the condemnation of Israel for their sin. Ezekiel is also a prophecy that the fall of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity are necessary measures for the God of grace to employ if He is to correct his disobedient people and

There are many central themes that are in the Old Testament, and many may say that there is only one theme of the Old Testament, which is Jesus, and even though that is true in a lot of ways due to the fact that a lot of the minor prophets actually talk about the coming of Jesus, His death and His resurrection. However, I have discovered five main themes of the Old Testament that I found quite interesting. And in this paper I will discuss two of them. I believe one of the most important themes of the Old Testament is Covenant.

This paper will address these biblical passages in Isaiah 52 and 53, which describes a “suffering servant” to the Lord God. There has been a debate as to whether these passages where describing the Messiah who would come to restore Israel as God’s chosen people or if the passage was describing the nation of Israel as the “suffering servant”. Christian scholars and clergy view these passages as describing Jesus who they affirm as the Messiah. The text is written in a poetic form and flows from one subject to another, however, many view these passages as being extremely detailed prophecy about the Messiah to come. I will point out key passages and explain how these passages provide clarity about whom the writer was speaking. This paper will point out why Jesus is the “suffering servant”, who is mentioned in Isaiah and explain why the “suffering servant” is not the nation of Israel as others propose.

Isaiah came during a pivotal time in history. The world was changing rapidly and life was on the edge of prosperity and ruin, as it is today. In this uncertain time Isaiah was called by God to deliver a message of warning, comfort, and deliverance. Christians view the prophecies of Isaiah as a projection of the coming of Jesus Christ. Isaiah spoke of divine judgment and the promises of God through the Prince of Peace. Isaiah’s message of the future King was very meticulous. He describes how Christ will come, Christ’s character and Christ’s purpose. In this paper I will dissect Isaiah’s prophecies in the Old Testament and reference them to the events of Christ in the New Testament.

There are several challenges with the historical background and political setting of Isaiah 40-66 concerning author, date, time and situation of life for the Jews. LaSor notes that traditional views that Isaiah authored the entire book are held by very few scholars. More and more critics are accepting a two book theory with chapters 1-39 as book one and chapters 40-66 as book two. Moreover, there are further refinements resulting in three books, dividing chapters 40-66 into 40-55 (Deutero-Isaiah) and 56-66 (Trito-Isaiah). (LaSor, William 1996., 281)

God develops many special relationships with His people throughout the Old Testament. Another word to describe the relationship between God and his people is covenant. The word covenant goes into the details of the relationship. Within the five books of the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), Historical books, Poetical books, and the Prophet books, one may pick up on the relationships being developed between God and humanity. God has an unconditional love for His people; He is always faithful to them. On the other hand, humanity has more of a conditional relationship with God. Humanity continuously falls short, making the love seem “conditional,” but are given a choice to either follow God into a relationship and receive love and benefits of the covenant or not. “No child of the covenant who presents to Him a faithless and insincere heart shall be included in its blessings.” Going off the idea of love being unconditional and conditional, this paper focuses on how the Old Testament is about God, humanity and their relationship.

The reason behind this is the very nature of the content in it and the purpose the authors invoked when placing in it the stories they did. As noted before, within this section is what are called the ‘foundational myths’ of Israel, that is, the stories of how the people and nation came to be and the explanation of its purpose and uniqueness among the nations of the world. The existence of these stories, and so the purpose of this section, works as a uniting force for this new people and new nation, reminding them of their common past and of the God who rescued them and made a covenant with them. This remembrance also has the effect of reinforcing the importance of keeping the covenant as a response to the saving acts of their God and as the true way to ensure the rewards of the covenant rather than the curses.

The Old Testament ends with the Minor Prophets. These prophets provided insight on many issues the Jews were facing. All of the prophets had the same ideas of a warning of impending judgment because of the nations’ sinfulness, the coming judgment, a call for repentance, and a promise of future deliverance of God’s grace. Idolatry, social injustice and religious ritualism are three issues that the prophets emphasized on in their teachings and can be inspired in the minds and hearts of believers today. The prophets’ teachings are just as important today as they were in the past. The teachings about God, the way man lived, social issues, and religious rituals are all relevant in the today’s society.

Amos utilises the imagery of Israel ‘as though a man fled from a lion’ to portray the character of God as a mighty and ferocious power in the symbolism of a lion. Furthermore, the lion simile embellishes God’s authority in the text and demands a strong presence in the dynamics of the text. Similarly, in verse 6, Amos expresses that God shall ‘break out like a fire’, again using a symbol of the ferocity of nature to express God’s fury. Amos uses strong emotive language in verse 21, as God speaks to Israel saying that He ‘hates’, ‘despises’ and ‘rejects’ their supposedly religious actions; Amos is highlighting to the audience the rich emotion and the extent of anger that God is projecting unto Israel, as God rarely expresses what He loathes unless administering judgment. The repeated themes of despair, destruction and darkness in the text foreshadow the downfall Israel would surely meet as a result of their actions. The author’s use of prophetic woe emphasise the purpose of the text – a warning of judgement and an emotive lamentation for the people of Israel.

This is one of the longer minor prophets, having 14 chapters, most of which are dealing strictly with the ungodliness of Israel as a nation, but the final chapter seems to me that Israel did change their ways and repent to some extent. We do see that God will forgive them, but that does not mean that the consequences for their