Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah and welcome back for the 10th part of the series, The Return of the Elijah Prophets. Today is also the first day of Late Chag haMatzah for those of you who missed the Passover Season last month. For the latecomers there was a message for you yesterday.

But back to our study of the nevi'im (prophets) and a startling revelation, especially when you consider the whole timespan the Bible covers, and it's this: the classical prophetic tradition covers a a period of time of no more than 250 years, between 750 and 500 BC! Let that sink in for a moment. That's not a very long period of time when you consider the 1,500 or so years between Abraham and Christ. Moreover, the bulk of this prophetic tradition centres around three key historical events where the messages of the nevi'im (prophets) were vitally important:

• 1. The fall of Samaria (Northern Kingdom of Israel) in 722 BC;
• 2. The fall of Jerusalem (Southern Kingdom of Judah) in 587 BC; and
• 3. The return of some of the exiles to Jerusalem in 538 BC.

These nevi'im (prophets) are commonly called 'major' and 'minor' nevi'im (prophets) not because some were more important than others but because the 'major' ones were either very well-known or wrote lengthier books than the 'minor' ones (though Daniel is actually comparitively quite short and about the same length as Hosea and Zechariah). The 'minor' nevi'im (prophets) are sometimes called 'The Twelve'....because there were 12 of them. That doesn't, of course, mean there weren't other nevi'im (prophets), just that they didn't write any books that we know of or nobody is known to have written down their prophecies which aren't already mentioned by the Major and Minor nevi'im (prophets) themselves, though they are almost never quoted verbatim. We presumably don't need their record because either they said very little, it was never written down or what they said was essentially duplicated by the Major and Minor nevi'im (prophets) whose writings were preserved.

The four 'Major Prophets' (exluding Nehemiah who is from a later time, ca.445 BC onwards) [1] are:

• 1. Isaiah (66 chapters);
• 2. Jeremiah (52 chapters) [2];
• 3. Ezekiel (48 chapters); and
• 4. Daniel (12 chapters).

The twelve 'Minor Prophets' are:

• 1. Hosea (14 chapters);
• 2. Joel (3 chapters);
• 3. Amos (9 chapters);
• 4. Obadiah (1 chapter);
• 5. Jonah (4 chapters);
• 6. Micah (7 chapters);
• 7. Nahum (3 chapters);
• 8. Habakkuk (3 chapters);
• 9. Zephaniah (3 chapters);
• 10. Haggai (2 chapters) ;
• 11. Zechariah (14 chapters); and
• 12. Malachi (4 chapters).

Now, as I said, there were, of course, nevi'i, (prophets) in Israel at least from the time of Saul before 1000 BC (not including Israel's first navi/prophet, Moses) and these we have already talked about at length in the early part of this series. We can only assume that the prophetic movement was in an embryonic state in those days or else people weren't generally that interested in what they said and so they weren't recorded for future generations. Four major nevi'im (prophets) and twelve minor nevi'im (prophets) and the many others we won't make mention of today doesn't sound a lot given the timespan. This doesn't mean that there weren't lots of other nevi'im (prophets) or that they didn't prophesy other things too - both the ones we know of and the ones we don't. We have to consider the possibility that the concentration on the three events I mentioned is due to the compilers of the records themselves - the nevi'im (prophets) could well have had more to say about other things and other events.

It's an intriguing thought but it's something we can only speculate about and the fact that they are not recorded in the Tanakh (Old Testament), it could be argued (and that's pretty much the position of all conservative Christian and Messianic denominations) that these three circumstances - the fall of Samaria, the fall of Jerusalem, and the return of some of the exiles to Jerusalem from Babylon - were just the sort of circumstances in which Yahweh would wish to address His people for which He called nevi'im (prophets) for exactly that purpose. The liberals would argue, quite cynically, that these events were either made-up or crafted by rabbis coming out of the Babylonian Exile for essentially political reasons and to give them the leverage and power they wanted but which didn't concern the overall narrative or would otheriwise have been repetitive. It is an axiom of our faith that the compilation of the Bible was Ruach (Spirit) led, not becausew other prophetic and revelatory texts weren't unimportant but because to have include them would have made the Tanakh (Old Testament) unwieldy (too big) or distracted the reader from the main theme which is consistently messianic. Everything points, and leads, to Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) who is the salvation of Israel and of the whole world.

If we are to properly understand these 16 'major' and 'minor' nevi'im (prophets), which Christians quote a lot, then we have to have a clear picture of the history of Israel and Judah between 750 and 500 BC, because the events leading up to and following from the three major experiences of the divided kingdoms form the background to the messages of the nevi'im (prophets) and are essential to it.

It is hard for new Christians/Messianics in particular to understand why events 2,000 or more miles away and over 2,500 years ago should concern us? Aside from the fact that we are looking at interesting events and inspiring personalities,, what we're actually doing is reading the story of Elohim (God) and His people - an Elohim (God) who bound Himself by a b'rit (covenant) to one people and one nation, and now binds Himself to us with a new covenant. So when the navi (prophet) Nehemiah speaks of "my Elohim (God)" we are at once given a picture of an Elohim (God) who keeps His promises. And He promises His covenant people two things - to bless their obedience and to curse their disobedience. The same Elohim (God) who keeps one set of promises may be relied upon to keep another set of promises, and the fact that He sent Israel and Judah into exile means He was keeping His promise to them when they were disobedient.

If you're a pastor or teacher, or a serious Bible student, you do need to know your Bible history because so many believers read into prophetic books things that aren't there simply because they don't understand the background. Misapplied prophetic texts are often the basis for the formation of cults like the Mormons who rip passages out of their historical context, as they do with the 'two sticks' prophecy of Ezekiel 37 (which are to do with the future reunification of Israel and Judah) and then falsely apply it to the Bible and Book of Mormon (claiming that they are 'one book' in God's hand)!

There are some serious scholarly works listed in the Acknowledgements section of the website version of this sermon (below) where you can find useful books, like John Bright's, A History of Israel, or if you want something basic get yourself a simple commentary like this one, The Lion Concise Bible Handbook or a good study Bible like The ESV Study Bible or The NIV Study Bible. Remember the Messianic Evangelical mantra - context is everything when it comes to ancient texts. So at least become acquainted with an outline history - most Bibles these days have them as introductions to each of the Bible books but watch out for the liberal scholars, ever seeking to undermine the Davar (Word) - so be careful of the leader articles of more modern versions like the NRSV. The NKJV Evidence Bible which we use here in MLT here doesn't have them, unfortunately, as I chose this particular publication by Ray Comfort as an aid in personal evangelism and witnessing rather than as a study Bible as I felt this was a priority but I know others of you have your own alternative versions.

Another really excellent aid, which is also eminently readable and affordable, is David Pawson's, Unlocking the Bible: A Unique Overview of the Whole Bible (2007) - I mentioned him recently - the Guildford, England, evangelical pastor who revived his church by having round-the-clock Bible reading. It's 1,342 pages long but such a useful way of getting an overview. At the very least, get an outline history of all the Bible books! Of course, every author has his theological biases (almost all are anti-Torah) and you need to factor those into or out of any such personal study and mentally filter them.

As ever, I am particularly interested - as I am sure you are - in the applicability of these ancient prophetic writings to our own day. Why should we be giving these books our careful attention right now in particular? Because by 750 BC the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah were both passing through a time of economic prosperity. The long reigns of Jeroboam II in the north and Uzziah in the south had contribuited towards this, but another factor that contributed toward this was that their neighbours to the north and south - Assyria and Egypt, respectively - were not particularly strong and therefore had no territorial aspirations on Palestine or Syria.

And, as has happened in my lifetime, the economic situation helped produce carelessness both in regard to religion and a false sense of security. As I look back to the 1960's, had someone told me the world would become as it is now in 2021, I would have found it hard to believe. That was a time of optimism but rebellion against Yahweh was mounting in the culure, culminating in the defiant hippie 'love-in' (so called) in 1969 which, though it had the admirable purpose of curtailing the ever-growing power of the élites, assumed (wrongly) that Christianity was part of the problem, and so chose to reject it in favour of oriental mysticism. Like most revolutions they tend to go too far. So as early as the 60's prosperous Westerners were already getting careless in regard to religion. Today the middle class has been virtually decimated and we live in a neo-feudalistic society consisting of the super-rich and the super-poor, with fascism for the super-rich and communism for the super-poor; the gap between the two is now so great (and getting wider by the year) that you would think by their lifestyles and mindsets that they were two entirely different species of Homo sapiens. Now there are so many unemployed and homeless people in America and Europe that some parts of the United States, like metropolitcan California and Oregon, are resembling Third World countries.

Luxurious living forms the background of the navi (prophet) Amos who not only condemned Israel's and Judah's decadent living itself but also the facile, superficial faith which accompanied it. Thus Amos warned in these three representative passages:

"'I will destroy the winter house along with the summer house;
The houses of ivory shall perish,
And the great houses shall have an end,' Says Yahweh" (Amos 3:15, NKJV).

"Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria,
Who oppress the poor,
Who crush the needy,
Who say to your husbands, 'Bring wine, let us drink!'" (Amos 4:1, NKJV).

"Woe to you who are at ease in Zion,
And trust in Mount Samaria,
Notable persons in the chief nation,
To whom the house of Israel comes!
Go over to Calneh and see;
And from there go to Hamath the great;
Then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
Are you better than these kingdoms?
Or is their territory greater than your territory?

"Woe to you who put far off (mentally push away) the day of doom,
Who cause the seat of violence to come near;
Who lie on beds of ivory,
Stretch out on your couches,
Eat lambs from the flock
And calves from the midst of the stall;
Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments,
And invent for yourselves musical instruments like David;
Who drink wine from bowls,
And anoint yourselves with the best ointments,
But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
Therefore they shall now go captive as the first of the captives,
And those who recline at banquets shall be removed" (Amos 6:1-7, NKJV).

Now you would need to know some historical and cultural details to get the full impact of what the navi (prophet) was saying. Bashan was a very rich cattle territory east of the Jordan so, in our first extract, he refers to idle women, as "cows of Bashan". He wasn't using the word 'cow' as we might use it as a term of abuse of insult - he was simply describing wealthy ladies who had more money than they knew what to responsibily do with. The rich have multiple homes today as the rich did in ancient Israel. As happens when one group of people get super-rich and start neglecting their religion and moral values, they start oppressing the poor and crushing the needy. Yes, Yahweh is a Social Justice Warrior! But He isn't a lawless, revolutionary Marxist who hates religion. He cares about the poor and the oppressed. He hates the 'partying-for-the-sake-of-partying' mentality, strong drink, idle and raucous singing and music, and other such things that Amos mentions. These are all signs of cultural decadence and spiritual degeneration. Wealth promotes what the apostle John calls the "pride of life" (1 Jn.2:16, NKJV) which leads to arrogance, a sense of superiority over others, a feeling immortality, and a belief that power can be brought and so one need not be accountable, because excessive wealth brings corruption. (Yahweh created wealth not for self-indulgence but for believers to voluntarily bless the others and build the Kingdom). Notice the obsession with body care - the "best ointments" - not unlike the pathological consumerism of our own day and narcissim, with men now imitating the women as far as cosmetics are concerned and in the process becoming slowly emasculated.

Amos could see beneath the surface of all this opulence and recognised that Israel was spiritually bankrupt. He understood only too well that the only result of this kind of lifestyle was punishment from Elohim (God) in the form of Judgment.

As yet, though, he was unable to discern the instrument Yahweh would use to punish the nation, because as I said, the Assyrians were at that time politically and militarily weak. Assyria had not yet begun to regain her strength or to renew her imperalistic ambitions to move westwards, not, that is, until the accession to the throne of a king called Tiglath-Pileser III in 745 AD. About the same time Jeroboam II died after a long reign (long reigns tend to bring stability - look at the positive impact Putin - like him, or hate him - has had on modern Russia) and following Jeroboam, there was a fairly rapid succession of kings on the throne of Israel and one or two revolutions within the next 20 years (which had a weakening influence) that you can read about in 2 Kings 15.

The navi (prophet) Hosea was aware of all this unlike Amos (which is why Yahweh often calls multiple nevi'im/prophets) (Hos.7:3-7; 8:4; 13:7-11) at the same time, with overlapping ministries, or in rapid succession, and so for him the disintegration of Israel is already beginning and the Assyrians are threatening (Hos.5:13) and there is no longer any doubt from which direction the punishment will come: the north!

From this point onwards in the story the politics gets complicated. Across the border in the Southern Kingdom of Judah we find that the long, stabilising reign of King Uzziah came to an end around 742 BC and after a brief reign by his son Jotham, Ahaz came to the throne in 735. By this time the Syrians to the north of Israel and the Israelites were alarmed at the threats of Tiglath-Pileser and became allies to stop his progress westwards across and down the fertile crescent with its terminus in Egypt. When Ahaz of Judah became king, Israel and Syria 'invited' him to join them against Assyria, though really this was more of a threat than an invitation! Well, Ahaz hesitated and so they marched against Jerusalem to try and depose him and put a nominee of their own choice on the Throne of Judah.

Into this dangerous situation, Yahweh sends the navi (prophet) Isaiah, no less. Isaiah had already followed Amos' example of denouncing the luxury and the lack of true emunah (faith) in Yahweh, so he met with Ahaz and presented him with the Davar Elohim - the Word of God - which was not to take any action, not to join with Israel and Syria, but wait for the storm to blow over (chapters 7-8). Yahweh knew what was best for Judah but would Ahaz listen? No. He ignored Isaiah completely and instead asked Assyria for help against the Israelite-Syrian coalition...against his own kin! In doing that, he effectively made Judah a vassal of Assyria. What happened? Tiglath-Pileser came alright and punished the Syrians and Israelites, which he almost certainly would have done even without the invitation of Ahaz, essentially leaving Judah alone to fend for itself.

Here is a perfect example of where the nevi'im (prophets) become essential in politics for the survival of Yahweh's people. Damascus of Syria fell in 732 and Samaria of Israel fell in 722. And though Isaiah makes no mention of this event, he must have witnessed it from across the border. There may even be a hint of this in Isaiah 28 on one level even though there is clearly a messianic prophecy on another (the main) level:

"In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
We have a strong city;
Elohim (God) will appoint salvation (yeshua) for walls and bulwarks.
Open the gates,
That the righteous nation which keeps the emet (truth) may enter in.
You will keep him in perfect shalom (peace),
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.
Trust in Yahweh forever,
For in YAH-Yahweh (the Heavenly Father), is everlasting strength.
For He brings down those who dwell on high,
The lofty city;
He lays it low,
He lays it low to the ground,
He brings it down to the dust.
The foot shall tread it down --
The feet of the poor
And the steps of the needy" (Isa.26:1-6, NKJV).

In this passage, Isaiah uses the Israelites as a model for the sin and punishment of Judah. Ahaz died around 715 BC and was succeeded by Hezekiah during whose reign many of the western states like Philistia and Edom tried to throw off the Assyrian yoke with the help of Egypt. On more than one occasion, Hezekiah was tempted to join in with them, and indeed almost certainly did so, though again it was contrary to the prophetic advice of Isaiah who saw Egyptian help to be useless and pressed Hezekiah to accept the situation as it was, until Yahweh should change it (Is.28-31). In other words, the very same advice given to Ahaz - WAIT PATIENTLY TRUSTING IN YAHWEH! Don't make any hasty decisions that might later be bitterly regretted.

Well, because of Hezekiah's rebellion against the Davar-Elohim (Word of God), the Assyrians (understandably) attacked Judah and beseiged Jerusalem in 701 BC. We see this attack hinted at in Isaiah 1 and what might have been but for repentance and the grace of Elohim (God):

"Your country is desolate,
Your cities are burned with fire;
Strangers devour your land in your presence;
And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth (hut) in a vineyard,
As a hut in a garden of cucumbers,
As a besieged city" (Isa.1:7-8, NKJV).

As you know, Isaiah went on to proclaim the Davar (Word) of Yahweh that Jerusalem would not, at this time, fall, and indeed the siege was lifted and Jerusalem was spared (Is.37:30-35; 2 Ki.19:1-7,32-37). Listen carefully for the reasons Yahweh spares Judah's capital and notice the prophetic mention of a future "remnant" connected with exile and return (nothing to do with today's 'Remnant'):

"This shall be a sign to you (Hezekiah):
You shall eat this year such as grows of itself,
And the second year what springs from the same;
Also in the third year sow and reap,
Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah
Shall again take root downward,
And bear fruit upward.
For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant,
And those who escape from Mount Zion.
The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.

"Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria:

'He shall not come into this city (Jerusalem),
Nor shoot an arrow there,
Nor come before it with shield,
Nor build a siege mound against it.
By the way that he came,
By the same shall he return;
And he shall not come into this city,'
Says Yahweh.
For I will defend this city, to save it
For My own sake and for My servant David's sake'" [3]
(Isa.37:30-35, NKJV).

One of the most difficult things of all is to do nothing when your whole being is screaming to do something. Twice Yahweh told first Israel, then Judah, through His navi (prophet) to do nothing, and simply to wait. In both cases the king panicked and instead of trusting in the "arm of Yahweh" (Is.51:9; 53:1) decided instead to trust in the "arm of flesh" (2 Chr.32:8) - in his own strength or in dangerous political alliances - Israel wanted to trust in pagan Assyria, and Judah in pagan Egypt. Only very recently Christian Americans wanted to trust in the 'arm of flesh' - in Donald Trump - and made that fatal combination which is religion and nationalism - in being wealthy and 'great' - the very thing that started the chain reaction that led to carelessness which caused Israel's fall. And not just ordinary believers but the false nevi'im (prophets) too who unanimously predicted, like Ahab's nevi'im (prophets) of old, that Trump would be returned to the White House in January of this year (2021). He wasn't.

The thing is, these false nevi'im (prophets) seemed, for the most part, to have genuinely believed that their Torah-rejecting god wanted Trump back in office. They were dumbfounded when Yahweh permitted a corrupt fool, controlled by the élites, to take the helm of the nation in the first place. It was an act of devilish genius, focusing attention on the clown and away from the ring-masters. (By the way, Biden has at least done one good thing in acknowledging that Turkey committed genocide against the Armenians in World War I). Now I don't keep saying all this this to humiliate the false nevi'im (prophets) nor to toot my own horn by saying, 'I told you so', when Yahweh told me again and again to step back and just tell the people to be prepared for Judgment. The reason I'm saying this again and again is because if we (collectively as believers) don't learn our lesson we will be doomed to make the same mistake again and the next time it will start costing lives. Instead of doing damage control by inventing excuses as the false nevi'im (prophets) and their promoters have done, and repeating the same mistakes again and again, Christians and Messianics have got to stop - now - and ask themselves some hard questions: 'Why didn't we get it right?' 'Was I really led to prophesy by the Holy Spirit?' 'If not, where have I gone wrong, and how did I get a false spirit?' Part of the problem was, as I have already pointed out, that nearly all the believers in the Trump camp were lawless - they rejected the Torah (Law) and have traditionally always villified those who have been true. And if there is one thing I hope I have got across today and in the previous nine parts of this series - and which I reiterated at the beginning of this talk - is that there are serious consequences for outright disobedience to the mitzvot (commandments). You can no longer ignore the causes.

Bible illiteracy is one thing but when a nation has as its motto, 'In God we Trust', which is a proclamation made on their bank notes, some state flags, government stationary, and elsewhere, then that nation is declaring an allegiance to Elohim (God). And though you can quibble over 'which god', as so many messianics do, the understood implication is that it is the Elohim (God) of the Bible. The fact that this proclamation is allied to money or to a particular political system - to free market wealth-creation and democracy - is part of the problem because a gunshot marriage between the two spells trouble. Non-monopoly capitalism and liberal democracy may well be the safest forms of economics and politics around (and I am not going to dispute that because the alternatives are a lot worse) but that doesn't mean Elohim (God) is a capitalist or a democrat in the classical sense.

Yes, freedom is very important to Bible-believing Christians and Messianics but not any old kind of freedom (not the Bohemian kind, at any rate), or indeed any old kind of capitalism. Personally I think monopoly capitalism is wicked. In fact, Yahweh's ideal has always been a kind of benevolent dictatorship where the monarch or ruler exercises wisdom and compassion, keenly listening to and obeying the authentic nevi'im (prophets) as Yahweh's mouthpiece, whilst closely listening to the people's needs by alieviating poverty and crushing oppression, and by exercising a responsible form of free market capitalism with a dose of 'socialism' every 7 and 50 years at the Sabbatical Year (Shmita) and Jubilee (Yovel) - a 'Reset' of sorts, where debts are cancelled, indentured servants are set free, and lost family inheritances may be repurchsed, but not the kind of totalitarian Marxist 'Reset' which the corporate élites want to carry out this year. Yahweh is neither a Marxist nor a secular democrat - His ways are His own and most believers and their so-called 'prophets' are ingorant of both of them. Too many Christians believe in various secular 'banana republics' where 'bananas' can't even grow.

And here's another problem. Those denominations who believe in Christian 'prophets' and those who call themselves 'prophets' within those denominations, largely have no idea what a biblical navi (prophet) even is! And we need them more than ever now. Part of the problem is they believe such nevi'im (prophets) have been 'done away with' along with the divine character-producing Torah they so despise. That is why, in part, I have been strongly led to give you this series of sermons. That is why we have to learn who the nevi'im (prophets) were, what they were, what they did, how they behaved, how they thought, how Yahweh vindicated them, and to then learn from them because they were more than mere foretellers (forecasters of the future) and forthtellers (preachers) - they were also, in many cases (like Daniel), seasoned men of wisdom, were the instruments for the exercise of spectacular supernatural powers, and one or two of them held positions of rank in society, like Obadiah, who was Israelite King Ahab's Prime Minister.

So, yes, they loved their countries as we've already seen but they were not flag-waving, fanatical 'nationalists' in the sense that we sometimes mean by that term today [4]. They spoke the truth against their countries when Yahweh told them to. They believed in 'freedom (agency, free-will)' but not in the free-for-all sense we mean by that term today, one that has become shaped by secular, anti-religious philosophers. In fact, I will go so far as to say that in Christendom they don't have much of a clue what the Government of the Millennial Reign of Messiah will look like - it won't be be an American-style constitutional republic or a British-style constitutional monarchy! But for so many believers and their so-called 'prophets' the Millennial Kingdom it's either an improved, corrupt-free version of Christian America, Anglican Imperial Britain, Frederick the Great's Prussia, Napoleon's France, Peter the Great's Russia, Solomon's Israel, Mohammed's successors' Islamic Caliphate, or whatever their country's ideal is of their Christian, Hebrew or Moslem past (if they had one). They're all different, sometimes radically so...and obviously they can't all be right. Believe you me, the re-education required in the Body of Christ has to be radical to get all this jumbled-up thinking sorted out because the Millennial Israel is a theocracy. And that's why Elijah Prophets are essential for the end-time and it's why there has to be a Final Gathering to teach the Remnant the principles of a true, righteous theocracy.

Truth doesn't just gradually distill out of the historical pot - yes, we can, and usually do, get it that way to be sure, but that method takes a very long time indeed. More often than not it has to be flung out of heaven by revelation into the midst of believers whose minds and hearts are open by genuine Ruach (Spirit)-filled, Messiah-trusting nevi'im (prophets) like Moses, and accompanied (when necessary) by power to silence the carnal critics and opponents. But what such nevi'im (prophets) say is so unfamiliar to the lawless believers and their teachers because of apostacy and unbelief, that they are usually rejected out-of-hand. Carnal people only want the familiar because they're too scared to consider they might have been so off-the-mark. And yet worldviews do collapse in the light of plain emet (truth) and traumatic though that can be, it has to be faced and dealt with. As by now should be obvious, the nevi'im (prophets) don't wear kids' gloves any more than the true Elohim (God), full of love and compassion, does. He tells things straight.

Occasionally Yahweh crosses my path with people who have the right attitude and faith, prepared to take risks and to radically re-evaluate their beliefs. But they are few and far between, and few of them are raised by Him who have not first gone through tribulation of soul, a reason Christendom needs the hard times ahead that will come from Penultimate Judgment. The dreamers and those who think they're a cut above the rest of their fellow believers who are waiting for fairy-tale 'raptures' to spare them from trouble are in for a rude awakening. One such honest seeker, from a Baptist and then a Messianic background, wrote to me the other day and said this:

"... your articles are very well structured, very comprehensibly written, and bring great understanding and joy when reading! I am just not used to these kinds of sermons and also this kind of belief or faith. Somehow faith as I learned it was something 'separate' from world events. Or believers are just 'strange people' and believe only for personal gain, to find meaning in life, etc. But your webpage is different. Very shocking at the beginning and then very relieving. I just want to understand Yahweh more!"

I say 'Amen' to that! We should all want to know Yahweh more every day and hungrily dive into His Davar (Word) in search of our Father's true mind and heart. The historical nevi'im (prophets) knew Him intimately which is one reason they're so valuable to us in getting to know what our Heavenly Father is like. We've looked at three of the classical nevi'im (prophets) today. Next week, Yah willing, we'll look at the others, so we'll leave it at that today. Yahweh bless you and may you seek wise instruction and not be carried away by whatever the ever-changing current passion of the moment or postmodernist fad may be. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] The Tanakh (Old Testament) is unfortunately not always arranged chronologically, and this sometimes lends to the idea that Nehemiah is somehow 'older' than the Major and Minor nevi'im (prophets), when the reverse is true.
[2] Including Jeremiah's other important writing, Qinot or Lamentations, written somehwere somewhere around 586 BC or earlier
[3] cp. Isaiah 43:25 - Yahweh blots out transgressions just as he saves cities "for His own sake", in other words for a purpose not discernable by finite human beings. One of those important purposes would undoubtedly have been to secure the messianic line and some other Judahite kings needed to be born before the Exile to accomplish that; "for the sake of David", because He had promised David an enduring throne in Jerusalem (see Isaiah 9:7; 55:3; 2 Samuel 7:16).
[4] Neither I, nor the Scriptures, advocate for globalist internationalism run by Marxist, Sabbatean-Frankist, satanic cabals such as we are seeing today. Humanity was designed for family, clan, tribe and nation with the nations independently co-existening in peace and friendship

Acknowledgments