Prophets and Prophetesses: The Lord's Messengers

Title

Prophets and Prophetesses: The Lord's Messengers

Book Title

The Jesus Christ Focused Old Testament: Making Sense of a Monumental Book

Publication Type

Book Chapter

Year of Publication

2022

Authors

Parry, Donald W. (Primary)

Pagination

72-77

Publisher

Book of Mormon Central

City

Springville, UT

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Joseph Smith taught this important truth: “The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.”[1]

God’s prophets and prophetesses had significant and noteworthy responsibilities in the Old Testament setting. They were teachers of righteousness; denounced sin; warned of impending doom; blessed the lives of individuals, communities, and nations; prophesied, instructed, and preached; and revealed God’s covenants, laws, and ordinances. The prophets displayed literary genius in their presentation of the scriptural books and passages they authored and edited; they employed rhetorical questions, symbolic forms, figures of speech, laments, poetic parallelisms and other forms of poetry, and other literary types.

Prophets set forth various prophecies and often used prophetic speech forms such as “thus saith the Lord.” Prophets taught and prophesied by the power of the Holy Ghost. As Peter wrote, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Pet. 1:21). Prophecy is not limited to males; instances of females with the gift of prophecy include Deborah, Miriam, and Huldah. Both males and females were empowered to prophesy (Num. 11:29; 1 Cor. 14:1–5, 29, 31, 39).

Notwithstanding all of these significant and noteworthy responsibilities, the prophets’ central message was Jesus Christ (Rev. 19:10) and His atoning sacrifice. They prophesied of Jesus’s ministry, atoning sacrifice and Resurrection, Second Coming, and Millennial reign. In most or all of their prophecies, they used symbols and figures of speech.

Prophets did not speak to the covenant people only, but they also uttered God’s words to the known world. Isaiah, for example, warned and prophesied to Syria, Babylonia, Moab, Egypt, Philistia, Ethiopia, Sidon, Assyria, Elam, Edom, and Arabia. Similarly, Jeremiah warned or prophesied against many nations and peoples, including Egypt, Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, Hazor, Elam, and Babylon (Jer. 47–51).

The dates in the chart are approximations and are presented only for the purposes of providing a sense of the time frame.

[1] Smith, Teachings, 121.

Prophet	Possible Meaning of Name	Place of Origin	Date of Ministry (circa BC)	Miscellaneous Notes
Abraham	Father of a multitude	Ur of the Chaldees		Abrahamic Covenant
Adam	Mankind	Eden		Blessed his posterity
Ahijah	My brother is Jah	A Shilonite	930	Prophesied to Jeroboam of the rending of the two kingdoms
Amos	Burden	Tekoa	760	Prophesied concerning Israel, Judah, Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab
Balaam	Glutton?	Pethor by the Euphrates		Blessed Israel near Moab; prophesied of “the Star” and “Scepter” from Judah
Daniel	God is my Judge	Judah in exile	605–530	Prophesied concerning Judah, Israel, other empires; spoke of the “Ancient of Days”
David	Beloved	Bethlehem		Ruled over undivided Israel; psalms prophesy of Jesus Christ
Deborah (Judg. 4:4)	Bee	Mount Ephraim?		Prophetess, judge, prophesied of Israel’s defeat of Sisera
Eliezer	God is help	Mareshah	850	Prophesied against Jehoshaphat’s league with Israel
Elijah (1 Kgs. 17:1–2 Kgs. 2:18)	My God is Jehovah	Tishbe	870	Israel, Judah
Elisha 1 Kgs. 19:15–21; 2 Kgs. 2–9, 13	God shall save	Abel-meholah	850	Israel, Judah
Enoch	?			Preached mightily; established the city of Zion
Ezekiel	God will Strengthen	Judah—In Exile	592–570	Prophesied concerning Judah, Israel, Ammonites, Moab, Edom, Philistines, Tyre, Sidon, Egypt
Ezias	?	?	Before 600	Prophesied of the Messiah
Ezra	Helper	Babylon, exiled Judah	458	Returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple
Gad	Fortune	?		Seer and friend of David
Habakkuk	Embrace	Judah	625	Judah, Chaldeans
Haggai	Festive	Judah—Post Exilic	520	Judah
Hanani (2 Chron. 16:7)	My grace/ Jehovah has been gracious	Judah	930?	Prophesied against Asa, king of Judah
Hosea	Salvation	Israel	760–736	Israel, Judah, Egypt, Assyria
Huldah (2 Kgs. 22; 2 Chr. 34)	?	Jerusalem	640	Hilkiah and Josiah
Iddo	Beloved/ Witness?	?	953–932	Judah, Israel
Isaac	He will laugh	Hebron/Beer-sheva		Canaan
Isaiah	Jehovah is Salvation	Judah (Jerusalem)	740–701	Judah, Israel, Babylon, Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Damascus, Ethiopia, Egypt, Edom, Arabia, Tyre, Sidon
Isaiah’s Wife	(unnamed)	Judah?	740–701?	Called a “prophetess”
Jacob/Israel	Supplanter/May God show His strength	Beer-sheva		Beer-sheva, Haran, Shechem, Beth-el, Egypt
Jahaziel	God sees	Judah	853	Prophesied the victory over the Ammonites
Jehu	He is Jehovah	Israel	925	Prophesied against Baasha
Jeremiah	Jehovah will Raise Up	Anathoth	626–586	Judah, Israel, Egypt, Philistines, Moab, Ammonites, Edom, Damascus, Kadar, Hazor, Elam, Babylon, Tyre, Sidon, Arabia, Medes
Jethro	Abundance	Midian		Midian, Israel, counseled Moses
Job	He whom they treat as an enemy/He who turns to God	Uz	?	Prophesied of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection
Joel	Jehovah is God	Judah–post Exilic	520–518? 835–796?	Judah, Tyre, Sidon, Egypt, Edom
Jonah (book of Jonah)	Dove	Gath-hepher (Land of Zebulun)	770 784–722?	Nineveh
Joseph	He will do again; he will repeat	Haran		Shechem, Egypt
Joshua	Jehovah is salvation	Egypt?		The conquest of Canaan
Malachi	My Messenger	Judah–post Exilic	430	Judah, Israel
Melchizedek	My King is Righteous-ness	Salem		King of Salem; blessed Abraham
Micah Micah 1:1	Who is like [Jehovah]	Moresheth Gath (Plains of Judah)	737–690	Judah, Israel, Assyria
Micaiah 1 Kings 22:6–28; 2 Chr. 18:1–34	Who is like Jehovah?	Samaria	856
Miriam	Bitterness	Egypt		“The prophetess” (Ex. 15:20); song of Miriam (Ex. 15:21)
Moses	Son/To draw out	Egypt		Led Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness
Nahum	Consoler	Elkosh	610	Nineveh, Judah
Nathan	He has given	?		Contemporary with David; revealed the instructions to build the temple
Nehemiah	Jehovah comforts	Persia	530	Rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem
Neum	?	?	Before 600	Prophesied of the Crucifixion
Noadiah Prophetess Neh. 6:14
Noah	Rest	?	?	Warned of the Flood
Obadiah	My servant is Jehovah	Judah	586	Edom, Israel
Oded? 2 Chron. 15:8; 28:9–11		Samaria	733
Samuel	His name is God	Ramathaim-zophim, Shiloh		Judged Israel; counseled Saul and David
Shemaiah	Jehovah has heard	Judah	950?	Counseled Rehoboam
Urijah Jer. 26:20–23	Jehovah is light
Zechariah	Jehovah remembers	Judah, Post exilic	520–518	Judah, Israel
Zephaniah	Jehovah Hides	Judah	626	Judah, Israel, Philistines, Moab, Ammon, Ethiopians, Assyria

Table of Contents

Book

The Jesus Christ Focused Old Testament: Making Sense of a Monumental Book

Parry, Donald W.

56 Chapters

Introduction

Parry, Donald W. | pp. i-viii

Prophecies of Jesus Christ’s Mortal Ministry and Atonement

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 1-5

Symbols That Testify of Jesus Christ

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 6-9

The Lord Jesus Christ: Conquering Hero

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 10-12

Jesus Christ Is the Lord of History: Nine Major Historical Eras

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 13-16

The Lord Jesus Christ: Potter, Captain, Shepherd, and More

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 17-21

The Lord Jesus Christ Controls the Nations: Book of Judges Case Study

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 22-23

Old Testament Passages Cited by Jesus Christ

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 24-28

Messianic Prophecies in the Psalms

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 29-31

Psalm 22 and Its Fulfillment in Jesus Christ

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 32-33

Isaiah's Prophecies of the Mortal Messiah

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 34–36

The Messiah in Isaiah 53: Four Recurring Themes

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 37-38

Names, Titles, and Metaphors of the Lord Jesus Christ

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 39-43

Lord (Jehovah): The Most Frequently Used [Content] Word in the Hebrew Bible

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 44-47

Equivalent Designations of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old and New Testaments

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 48-50

God: Compound Names

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 51-53

Lord: Compound Names

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 54-56

The Lord Is Our Savior

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 57-59

The Lord (Jehovah) Is Our Redeemer

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 60-61

The Lord Is Our Atoner

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 62-63

Jesus Christ Is the Messiah

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 64

Jesus Christ Is the Lord

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 65-66

One, Three, and Seven: Sacred and Symbolic Numbers

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 67-69

Seven and Sacred Time

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 70-71

Eve: Life and Help: A Type of Christ

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 78-79

Adam: "The Figure of Him that Was to Come"

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 80-81

Prophets and Prophetesses: The Lord's Messengers

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 72-77

Melchizedek: Type of Christ

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 82-83

Isaac: Type and Shadow of Christ

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 84-85

Joseph of Egypt: Foreshadow of Christ

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 86-87

Moses: Type and Shadow of Jesus Christ

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 88-89

Elijah: Symbol of Jesus Christ

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 90-91

Job: Suffering Servant, A Type of Jesus Christ

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 92-93

Hosea’s Family: Symbols of the Lord for Ancient Israel

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 94-95

The Sign of Jonah: Pointing to Christ’s Death

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 96-97

Priests and High Priests: Foreshadowing Jesus Christ

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 98-99

The Lord Reveals Cycles of Sacred Time

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 100-101

Striking Blood on the Doorposts: The Passover Anticipates Jesus Christ

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 1102-103

The Day of Atonement: Messianic Foreshadowing

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 104-105

"A Feast to the Lord": Sacred and Secular Meals

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 106-107

Parallelisms: Teaching About the Lord Jesus Christ Through Poetry

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 108-110

Chiasmus: Unique Presentations of the Lord’s Word

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 111-113

The Psalms: Praises to the Lord Jesus Christ

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 114-115

Lord: Focused Prophetic Speech Forms

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 116-117

Prayers: Mortals Seeking the Lord's Divine Favor

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 118-119

Worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ through Music and Song

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 121-123

Law of Moses: Anticipated Jesus Christ and His Atonement

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 124-125

Manna: Symbol of Jesus Christ

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 126-127

Symbols of Christ in the Tabernacle of Moses

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 128-129

Sacrifices Under the Law of Moses: Six Acts

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 130-131

Sacrifices: Symbols of Jesus's Atoning Sacrifice

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 132-133

Diet Code: Unclean and Clean Animals

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 134-135

God Is a Holy Temple: Temples and Sacred Space

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 136-137

The Atonement-Focused Earthly and Heavenly Temples

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 138-140

Jesus's Royal Ancestry: Rulers of the Kingdom of Judah

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 141-142

Bibliography

Parry, Donald W. | pp. 144-145

Bibliographic Citation

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