Exams Back[with a significant point adjustment]
• Check grading as always
• Two exams without names – please see me if you do not receive yours back in your mailbox!
• Keys on Blackboard
• Exam Statistics• Distribution of Grades
– A 30– B 26– C 23– D 20– F 19
• Range of scores– 42-100
Important Announcement• Make-up exams – Friday, 12 December
– 3:00-5:30 in Jenks 406– If you have missed an exam, this will be the day to
retake it. It will be in essay format.– If you wish to re-take any exam on which you
have not earned the grade you would like, you may do so on reading day. You must let me know via e-mail by the end of this week (5 December) if you wish to take advantage of this option.
– In order to study for these exams, please use the study questions posted on Blackboard.
O Come, O Come Immanuel,
• And ransom captive Israel,• That mourns in lonely exile here• Until the Son of God appear.• Rejoice, rejoice; • Immanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
O Come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
• Thine own from Satan’s tyranny• From depths of hell Thy people save,• And give them victory o’er the grave.• Rejoice, rejoice• Immanuel shall come to Thee, O Israel.
O Come, Thou Key of David, come
• And open wide our heavenly home;• Make safe the way that leads on high,• And close the path to misery.• Rejoice, rejoice; • Immanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
Prophets of the South:
The Destruction of Jerusalem
Review Questions
• What “super-power” was the major threat during the prophetic ministries of Isaiah and Micah?
• For which good king did Isaiah serve as “advisor”?
• Which king initiated a reform during which the Torah was found?
• Approximately how many years passed between that event and the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians?
Jeremiah“Let the one who has my word
speak it faithfully” (23:28)
The Political Circumstances(Jer 1:2-3)
• From the 13th year of Josiah (627) to the 11th year of Zedekiah (586) – oracles not in chronological order– Jehoahaz– Jehoiakim– Jehoiachin
• Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar were in control of Judah – Jer 34:6-7 – only Lachish and Azekah left
• Israelites were deported to Babylon in 605 and 597 prior to Temple’s destruction (586) – this is why Jeremiah wrote to people already in Babylon
• Egypt was a tempting alternative for some – Jer 42-44 on the flight of the remaining people to Egypt
Exile to Babylon
Jeremiah’s Difficult Calling• The initial calling as son of Hilkiah (1:1)• Called before he was born (1:5)• Called to stand in opposition to the Religious
Establishment (1:17-19)• Continued opposition:
– From kings (32:3 – Zedekiah; 36:1-32 – Jehoiakim)– From false prophets and priests (20:1-6 – Pashur;
23:9-40; 28:1-17 - Hananiah)– From the people (11:18-22 – plot to kill him)– Jeremiah’s feelings about his ministry: grief and
dismay (4:18-22); despair (20:7-18); apparently ineffective ministry for 23 years (25:3)
The Imagery in Jeremiah’s Messages
• Linen belt (ch 13) – symbolizing binding the people of Israel to God
• Potter’s house (ch 18)• Breaking a jar in Hinnom Valley (ch 19)• Basket of figs (ch 24) – the good figs were those
who had gone to Babylon with Jehoiachin; the bad ones were the ones remaining under Zedekiah
• Wearing a yoke (ch 27) – symbolizing subservience to Nebuchadnezzar of Judah and all the surrounding peoples
The Content of Jeremiah’s Messages
• The disobedience of generation after generation would bring the curses of the covenant (Lev 26)
• Exile and judgment– Captivity in Babylon for 70 years (25:11)– The cup of God’s wrath (25:15-17; see also Jer 13:13;
49:12; 51:7; Isaiah 52:17-23; Ezekiel 23:32-34; Psalm 60:3; and the seven bowls of God’s wrath – Revelation 16-17)
• Promises– Return from exile and restoration (29:10-14)– New covenant (ch 31 quoted in Hebrews 8)
Additional Information about Jeremiah
• Baruch was Jeremiah’s scribe• Jeremiah’s words contain prophecies for
other nations (chs 46-51)• Lamentations was ascribed to Jeremiah
– Chapters 1-4 are acrostics– Chapter 5 is not – representing complete
absence of order– Note 3:21-26
Habakkuk
• Literary forms in the book– Questions (complaint) of the prophet and answers
from God• “How can evil go on unchecked?”• God will raise up the Babylonians!• “How can God use a nation so vile?”• The wicked will not last. Evil is self-destructive but the
righteous must live in faithfulness (note Galatians 3:11)
– Psalm of God’s appearing in judgment (3:1-16) and the prophet’s faith (3:17-19)
• Lessons
Obadiah
• Background and date– probably around the time of the fall of
Jerusalem – Parallels with Jeremiah 49:9
• Messages– Doom on Edom– Day of the Lord for all nations– Restoration for Israel
“Clefts of the rock” (Sela)
Zephaniah
• Background – descendant of Hezekiah; during time of Josiah
• Messages– Comprehensive destruction on the Day of the
Lord in conjunction with specific condemnation of Judah and Jerusalem
– Condemnation of surrounding nations– Restoration