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MESSIANIC PROPHETS IN CAPTIVITY: STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND

The ancient Hebrew prophets spoke of the Messiah often. They told of a future day when He would arrive. It would obviously be the greatest Great Awakening of all time.

PROPHETIC ACCOUNTS

And His name will be called

Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God,

Eternal Father,

Prince of Peace. [Isaiah 9:6]

For historical perspective regarding the prophetic Messianic timeline, the prophet Isaiah, who was quoted by the Lord Jesus several times in the Gospel accounts, dates to the mid-to-late 700s BC. This means the beginning of his ministry was almost eight centuries before the Lord’s.

In his composite work The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict, well-known author and speaker Josh McDowell highlights sixty-one major fulfilled Messianic prophecies. [1] The total number of fulfilled prophecies is actually much higher and an exact number depends on interpretation, comprehensive context, and detailed analysis. Suffice it to say, however, that the total exceeds 300! Specific sources cite 324 [2] and as many as 333. [3] In Isaiah’s written work alone, one source has listed as many as 122 fulfilled prophecies of the coming Messiah, each and every one fulfilled by the Lord Jesus, of course. [4] It is impossible that anyone else could have qualified to fulfill these many prophecies to even a slight degree.

Isaiah is characterized as a major prophet, primarily due to his book and extensive prophetic work. There are other prophets which could also be characterized the same but have no distinct books with their respective names in the title, such as Elijah and Elisha, whose works are recorded in the historical books of 1Kings and 2Kings.

JUDGMENT FOR SIN

The prophets with which we are likely most familiar date to either the time before the Babylonian Captivity, a severe judgment against the wayward Kingdom of Judah, or during it. This judgment began in circa 606/605 BC and lasted a prophesied 70 years. Before that key event, going back centuries, the Word of God had always arrived and in a clear and concise manner. This continued during the Captivity by a select group of Messianic prophets.

It must be noted that at the time of the Babylon judgment, the three-tribe Southern Kingdom of Judah was all that remained of a previously much larger United Kingdom of Israel which was composed of all twelve tribes (actually thirteen) and had existed from the time of the first king, Saul, who began his reign in 1050 BC. Following Saul, King David, through his many wars, excellent leadership, and heart for God, built the kingdom into the expanded state in which it existed for over a century until it was broken up into two separate kingdoms by internal strife in 930 BC after the death of Solomon (the third king). These two realms were the ten-tribe Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah (comprised of the predominant tribe of Judah, plus Benjamin and Levi), each with its own kingly lines of succession.

The same manner of judgment against Judah at the hands of Babylon was also earlier rendered against the larger ten tribe Northern Kingdom over a century before by the Assyrians. The conquest by Assyria began in approximately 740 BC. This eventuated in the removal of the Israelite tribes located east of the Jordan River—Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh—to locations in Assyria. The invasion of Israel proper then commenced centered on the central section of Samaria. The conquest was completed in 722 BC when the rest of the Northern Kingdom of Israel population was also exiled to Assyria—the remaining seven and a half tribes—though many inconsequential stragglers remained. Samaria was later repopulated with other foreign groups who intermarried in part with the remaining native inhabitants and is why the area was later deemed a place of impure Israelite blood.

These two major judgments against the kingdoms of Israel and Judah differed however, in that the native tribes of the North were deported permanently with no allowed return, whereas the Southern Kingdom (Judah) would return after a 70 year hiatus. The tribes of the Northern Kingdom were apparently unredeemable since they had ventured so far into sin, idolatry, abominable practices, and gross degradation. Though Judah also engaged in great sin and likely deserved the same fate, a core of the nation had to be preserved for future purposes, the most obvious and greatest being the forthcoming eventual arrival of the Messiah. This is in part why the times called for Messianic prophets and their major works filled with detailed accounts of both the times and future prophetic events. (After the end of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Judah was later referred to as Israel also since it was all that was left and became the de facto Israelite nation.)

PROPHETS IN CAPTIVITY

The three primary prophets chosen for this difficult time were Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Prior to and after the start of the Babylonian Captivity in 606/605 BC the clear prophetic Word continued primarily through these men whose lives began before the great exile and continued throughout the first twenty year period thereof. This was the initial destruction phase which lasted until the fateful summer of 586 BC. It was on the infamous date of Av 9 of that year that Jerusalem and the 380 year-old Temple of Solomon were destroyed by the forces of Nebuchadnezzar. Afterwards, much of the remaining population was taken captive in the third and final deportation to Babylon.

Even though a sizable number of the population living in Judah was exiled per the nation’s judgment and was composed in the main of the nation’s best and brightest, Jeremiah only records a relatively small number of 4,600 deportees (See Jeremiah 52:28-30) though some authorities have estimated it to be as large as 20,000. There is also some apparent discrepancies regarding the deportation dates. Whatever the case, though these numbers of the exiled appear small relative to the overall population, there remained an existent segment of Israelites in the land left to survive on their own, primarily in the southern tribal areas of Judah and Benjamin (though a few migrated north). Yet it was likely the case that those who remained had the least chance for survival (or possibly no chance). This was due to God’s determination to inflict the strongest of judgments:

“Thus you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “As I live, surely those who are in the waste places will fall by the sword, and whoever is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves will die of pestilence. I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and the pride of her power will cease; and the mountains of Israel will be desolate so that no one will pass through. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I make the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations which they have committed.”’ [Ezekiel 33:27-29] [5]

Of these three major prophets associated with the Exile, only Jeremiah remained in the land for the initial twenty years until the great destruction of 586 BC. Though history does not record his exact birth year, it can be deduced to have occurred in circa 650-648 BC or possibly a little later. Jeremiah then began his prophetic ministry as a young man during the reign of the righteous King Josiah. He remained in his native land until sometime after 586 BC when the prophet was taken by force by his own people to Egypt, a place where many Israelites had been relocating in prior years. The time of his death is also lost to history though some sources estimate it took place in Egypt in about 570 BC.

The prophet Ezekiel was born in 623/622 BC and was part of the second deportation to Babylon in 597 BC. He began his ministry at 30 years of age like the Lord Jesus. Ezekiel’s year of death is unknown as well but is also estimated at the year 570 somewhere in Mesopotamia. The prophet Daniel lived from 620-536 BC though his date of death is an estimate based on the year of his last prophetic account. His life likely extended beyond that date, possibly to as late as 530 BC when he would have reached 90 years old. After being deported to Babylon as a young man in 605 BC he lived out the remainder of his life there, eventually seeing the same judgment inflicted upon Babylon when it was conquered by Persia. All three of these prophets never returned to their homeland and each were also victimized by the sad events of the Babylonian Exile.

With regard to other prophets of that time, Habakkuk, of which little is known, lived and preached in the range of approximately 612-598 BC according to some sources. If so he would have witnessed at least the first deportation and likely the second. Reportedly a contemporary of Jeremiah, he refers to the Chaldeans (Babylonians) in his short book of three chapters with strong sentiments and heartfelt complaints.

Thus we see that the Lord had good men stationed in the right place at the right time to give a clear and precise accounting of the events of that significant historical period. The Lord always kept His people informed though the majority either never listened or rejected His Word as well as the men who delivered it. Sound familiar? Nevertheless, the Messianic prophets were raised up and anointed to speak the Word of God to His people, to teach, guide, and direct them, and to apply ongoing necessary correctives and even severe rebukes.

There was always much need for the latter since the nation of Israel was constantly going astray.

[2] See: https://firmisrael.org/learn/how-many-messianic-prophecies-did-jesus-fulfill/

[3] See: www.preceptaustin.org/messianic_prophecies

[4] See: www.preceptaustin.org/messianic-prophecies-in-isaiah

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