Marvelling at Prophecy

Prophecy today seems to hold a source of amusement and intrigue for many outside the church. Nostradamus was popularised by television and the Mayan prophecy of an apocalypse in Dec last year was mocked relentlessly on Facebook. Yet, the Bible is filled with Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in the New Testament in the person of Jesus. See http://carm.org/prophecy-bible-and-jesus (Disclaimer: I have only read this page of this site) In addition, in some church traditions, notably Charismatic and Pentecostal churches,  prophets, prophetic gifts and prophetic messages are encouraged, nurtured and taught.

With in this mind, let's look into the Old Testament and look at the 17 books attributed to prophets. Join us for a month as we explore and marvel at biblical prophecies, dreams and visions which are notorious hard to pin down.

Gordon Fee in "How to Read the Bible for All its Worth", says " to see the prophets as primarily predictors of future events is to miss their primary function, which was to speak for God to their own contemporaries". "In the prophetic books, we hear from God via the prophets and very little about the prophets themselves." Prophets enforced the covenant made between God and His people; their message was unoriginal; and they are God's representative.

For more details on reading the prophets
https://bible.org/seriespage/appendix-two-introduction-old-testament-prophecy

It is hard to read the prophets without understanding the historical context in which they lived so the reading plan will try to follow a rough timeline of when the prophets preached. Prophets were closely linked to times of intense distress in the History of Israel.  Therefore, prophets can be placed in four major times of upheaval:
1) The Fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel (and the time immediately preceding it) sometime around 722 BCE,
2) The Fall of the Southern Kingdom of Judah (and the time immediately preceding it) sometime around 587 BCE,
3) The Babylonian Exile from about 587 BCE to 539 BCE, and
4) The Post-Exilic period and from about 539 BCE until the end of the Old Testament period perhaps in the second century with Daniel (though this book is not classed among the prophets in Jewish divisions of the Hebrew Bible). Taken from http://ezinearticles.com/?Old-Testament-Timeline---Prophets&id=2019046

This is the clearest timeline I could find online (note: Biblical scholars are still in discussion over some dates)

* In some books Lamentations is grouped with the prophets, between 586-539 BC