Bible Project: How to Read the Prophets

How should we think about the prophets?

• a fortune teller

• Israelites who had a radical encounter with God's presence

  and then were commissioned to go and speak on God's behalf.

• a dream weaver

• a mighty communicator who is strongly connected to their faith

In each of these books, you will read stories about the prophets and their poems and visions, all arranged to show the cosmic meaning of Israel's history. How God will turn their tragic story of failure and exile into a story of ______ for all nations.

• faith and freedom

• love and truth

• freedom and prestige

• hope and restoration

What were the charges that the prophets usually accused Israel of?

• Idolatry, alliances with other nations and their gods, and allowing injustice towards the poor

• Studying the texts of earlier prophets

• Performing symbolic stunts in public

• Predicting the future

What does repent mean?

• To study the texts of earlier prophets

• To turn around and change one's ways

• To perform symbolic stunts in public

• To predict the future

What did the prophets announce as the consequences for breaking the covenant?

• The Day of the Lord

• The apocalypse

• The return of the exiles to Jerusalem

• The downfall of Babylon

What did the cosmic imagery used by the prophets represent?

• The end of the world

• The return of the exiles to Jerusalem

• The downfall of Babylon

• Important events of their day fitting into the bigger story of God's mission

What did the prophets see in their visions of a New Jerusalem?

• The undoing of creation itself

• The disintegration of the cosmos

• The humiliation of exile

• A new Garden of Eden with all humanity living at peace

How were the prophets generally received by the people of Israel?

• They were a minority group mostly shunned by Israel's leaders

• They were ignored by most people

• They were powerful and persuasive speakers

• They were inherited by unnamed prophets who studied their texts

What is the twin message that the prophets cared about?

• Symbolic stunts and the downfall of Babylon

• Prophetic warning and hope for restoration

• The return of the exiles and the humiliation of exile

• Prophetic warning and the end of the world

Select the prophets referred to as "the big 3".

• Isaiah

• Jeremiah

• Amos

• Ezekiel