Homilies on the Books of Holy Scripture
The Prophetic Books of the Old Testament
By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
(Sunday, July 27, 2025)
The Prophetic Books of the Old Testament
By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
(Sunday, July 27, 2025)
After the historical books that we saw in previous sermons, there are the prophetic books in the Old Testament, which were written by blessed people called Prophets. In addition to the Kings who politically governed the Israelite people and the High Priests who performed religious ceremonies, there were also the Prophets, who performed miraculous works.
In the Hebrew language, Prophets firstly means those who speak in the name of God. Secondly, it characterizes those who spoke with divine inspiration and enthusiasm for the return to God of people who had strayed from Him. Thirdly, it denotes those who see God, but also all the future things that were to happen to Israelites and Gentiles, mainly they saw and predicted the coming of Christ at the appropriate time.
In these three senses the Prophets were the “foreseeers”, the “seeers” of God, they had communion with Him and prayed saying: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” And afterwards, when they received a word from God, they spoke to the people with the phrase: “Thus says the Lord.”
Thus, the Prophets performed a great work, namely, they taught faith in the true God and pure worship of Him, they controlled the corruption of the rulers, speaking of justice. Therefore, their work was theological, social and political. Moreover, they performed their work with boldness, courage, strength, towards the rulers, the people, the priests, and they did it without cowardice and flattery. Most of the Prophets ended their lives with a martyr's death.
Prophets were all the righteous who had a purified nous and saw the glory of God, as we read in Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Samuel and David who was also King. Throughout the history of the Israelite people, the Prophets appear as messengers of God. Those who left us writings extend from 800 BC to 400 BC, because after that the type of prophecies stopped, and everyone awaited the fulfillment of the prophecies with the coming of Christ. That is, from 400 BC until the time when Christ came, there was a lack of Prophets, without a lack of prophecies of the Prophets to study which led to the desire for the coming of Christ.
The prophetic books included in the Old Testament refer to the four Major Prophets and the twelve Minor Prophets. They are called Major and Minor, not from the standpoint of greater or lesser prophecy, but from the standpoint of the length of their books. The four Major Prophets, whose writings are included in the Old Testament, in chronological order are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. A brief reference will be made to when these Major Prophets lived and what is the content of their prophetic books.
The Prophet Isaiah was probably born in 765 BC, he came from an aristocratic family of the Kingdom of Judah, he was married and the father of two sons. He was called to the prophetic work by a divine vision and this was done by God to announce the destruction of the two Kingdoms, namely Judah and Israel, because of their impiety.
His words were revelations, elegies, verses, songs. He is the Prophet with the most prophecies about Christ, for this reason he was called the greatest voice of the Prophets and the “fifth evangelist.” His book is divided into two parts, the first part records God’s justice in threats and the second part records God’s comfort and mercy.
The Prophet Jeremiah was born in all probability in 650 BC in the small town of Anathoth of the tribe of Benjamin. He was raised in a priestly family, his father was a priest and studied the previous Prophets, such as Isaiah and Hosea. At the age of about 23-25 he was called by God to the prophetic work. At first he refused, citing his weak abilities, and then he obeyed with the strengthening of God. He was active for about 40 years.
His book is divided into three large sections. In the first section he speaks continuously and exhorts to repentance and threatens those who will not repent; in the second section he records prophecies against the Gentile nations; and in the third section, because of the sin of the Jews and the capture and destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, he utters threatening words against the political and religious leaders and against the false prophets; he gives prophecies about Christ, the restoration of Israel, the last days of Jerusalem and the events of his life after his capture and captivity in Egypt. Also, there is the book called Lamentations of Jeremiah and the Epistle of Jeremiah.
The Prophet Ezekiel belonged to a priestly family and was a contemporary of the Prophet Jeremiah. He was thirty years old when he was called by God to the prophetic office, which he held for 22 years until about 570 BC. He was married and his wife died on the day Jerusalem was captured by the Babylonians. The Prophet Ezekiel died in Babylon, during the Babylonian captivity, and according to some Jewish tradition he suffered a martyr’s death at the hands of a Jewish ruler, because the Prophet was a defender of the people’s righteousness.
His book is divided into three sections. The first section records threats against Judah and Jerusalem; the second section records prophecies against the neighboring nations; and the third section records prophecies for the restoration of Israel. There are two amazing visions recorded in the book, the first at the beginning of the book and the second at its end.
The Prophet Daniel was born in Palestine to a prominent Jewish family in the early 7th century BC, and while he was young he was taken captive to Babylon during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. Because of his physical and spiritual gifts he was recruited into the royal court, with the three youths, and was educated. He received from God the gift of interpreting two dreams of Nebuchadnezzar and was promoted to a high royal office, and taught the King about the one and only God. He remained in power during the reign of Darius, but because of jealousy a decree was issued to throw him into the lions' den, but God saved him. During the Babylonian captivity, the Prophet Daniel was a protector of the Jews in Babylon, as Joseph was in Egypt.
The book of the Prophet Daniel has as its theme the uniqueness of the God of the Israelites and His superiority over the other gods of the pagans, and is divided into two parts. The first is the historical one, in which some events from his life in the court of Nebuchadnezzar II are recorded, and the second part of the book presents four visions.
In addition to these four Major Prophets, the Old Testament also includes the books of the so-called Minor Prophets, not in terms of quality or completeness of prophecy, but in terms of the length of the books. Their names will simply be mentioned without commenting on the books. They are the following: Hosea, Amos, Micah, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.
The important thing is that all these Prophets prepared the coming of Christ and spoke about it, that is why in the Church, in the Gospels, in the sacred services and in the troparia many of their prophecies are mentioned and for us they are the ancestors of Christ and the Apostles. Thus, their word interests us greatly.
Our Lord Jesus Christ in His teaching many times refers to the Prophets of the Old Testament. In His Sermon on the Mount, and especially in the Beatitudes, as the last Beatitude, He said: “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12). And further on He said: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). And later he said: “For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous people desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it” (Matt. 13:17). And the Apostles of Christ invoke the words of the Prophets.
This is the reason why we honor in the Church the memories of the Prophets of the Old Testament.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
