Book Description

There is nothing particularly new or unique about the subject matter of Prophetic Figures of the Old Testament. In fact, greater authorities have covered it better many times before, and this endeavour is hugely reliant upon and indebted to these great minds for this current work. The hope is that readers can enjoy more of what they have already had, from many different quarters, presented through a different hand. It is also the hope that beginning learners of divinity or biblical studies can find this book greatly enjoyable and inspiring. In the main, the prophetic figures represented in the wording of the book title certainly refer to persons called or identifiable as prophets in the Bible. But this is also extended to include some objects, occurrences, and places that prophets may have encountered and even made use of in the performance of their prophetic duties. The interplay of these and the prophet is generally taken to signify the comprehensiveness or completeness of prophecy, in this book. The reader is invited to interrogate the relationship of the prophet and this environment in order to enjoy more fully the religious, historical, political, intellectual, and inspirational aspects one goes through in respect of the issues selected and commented on. The reader is encouraged to think beyond what one reads. Any statement or comment is not meant to be some kind of definitive prescription but is meant to arouse thought and more thought. More important, readers should always be in constant contact with the origin of the materials spoken about in this book - that is, the Bible. There is obviously no way in which selective consideration of items picked on a rather random, personal, subjective basis can replace the source from which these are originally taken. Reading of Prophetic Figures of the Old Testament should therefore always depend on knowledge of, or familiarity with, the background information provided in the Bible.