“The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim with my God; yet a fowler 's snare is on all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God” (Hosea 9:8, English Standard Version) thus a military metaphor as the function of the prophet is advanced (Greenspoon, 1999). In this light, “he is charged to announce what he sees” (Greenspoon, 1999, p. 31). An expanded interpretation of his role places the prophet as a channel for two-way exchanges. In these prophets not only were they to sound the alarm and make warnings but also mediate on the people’s behalf. As examples, Isaiah prayed for King Hezekiah healing (Isaiah 38) and Jeremiah extoled the pleas of both Israel and Judah in his Lamentations. Consequently, the focus of this essay will examine; God’s judgments, against Israel and Judah, his plans for restoration and the applicability to contemporary Christians.
Isaiah
Scholars say that Isaiah’s
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Similarly, King Zedikiah inquired of the Lord through Jeremiah concerning war with Babylon and God told him that his efforts would be fruitless because he, the Lord, would oppose him also, to their utter destruction (Jeremiah 21:1-7). As with all Jeremiah’s pronouncements against Judah, it would to be as Banwell asserts, “the impression that faith and justice are the sure defense, and that for a disobedient and unrighteous people there was no effective defense, even by force of arms” (p. 56).
Contemporary Message Several parallels exist between the Jewish nation and the modern church in as much as, seldom do we truly understand and represent who he is. God’s desire to the nation of Israel from its inception was to have a nation of priest to intercede, mediate and draw all mankind to the one true and living God (Exodus 19:6). In the same manner, he desires that we, who are called by his name, reflected his character in the earth (Matthew 5:13-16). Therefore, he says of us that we are special a royal priesthood, his people to extol who he is to the world (1 Peter 2:9).