Primary Authors & Sources
THEO-202 builds its reading list from required primary and classical sources in major/minor prophets exegesis and messianic hopes. The authors below are read as teachers across the centuries, not as entries in a bibliography. Franz Delitzsch contributes Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah, offering firsthand access to the arguments, methods, and assumptions that shaped this period of study. Carl Friedrich Keil contributes Biblical Commentary on the Book of Jeremiah, offering firsthand access to the arguments, methods, and assumptions that shaped this period of study.
Taken together, these readings form a coherent conversation across centuries — students encounter real arguments, not flattened summaries. Patrick Fairbairn contributes Ezekiel and the Book of His Prophesy, offering firsthand access to the arguments, methods, and assumptions that shaped this period of study. Edward Pusey contributes Daniel the Prophet, offering firsthand access to the arguments, methods, and assumptions that shaped this period of study. Keil and Delitzsch offer classic nineteenth-century exegesis that remains valuable for historical-grammatical reading of the Old Testament, notably in The Twelve Minor Prophets and The Twelve Minor Prophets.
What You Will Study
Students exegete Major and Minor Prophets from Isaiah through Malachi, examining covenant lawsuit, eschatological promise, Messianic prophecy, and calls to repentance in pre-exilic, exilic, and post-exilic contexts. The course uses Hebrew where applicable and Reformed biblical theology connecting prophetic hope to New Testament fulfillment in Christ and the church without dispensational fragmentation or spiritualizing denial of historical address. Readings include representative sections from each prophetic book with commentaries emphasizing grammatical-historical sense and canonical Christology. Students analyze prophetic rhetoric, vision literature, and ethical demands alongside promises of new covenant and restored kingdom. Exegesis papers treat assigned oracles demonstrating ability to preach prophetic texts with urgency and gospel hope.
Course Objectives
Objectives include outlining each prophetic book's historical setting and message, exegeting Messianic and new covenant texts with New Testament validation, explaining prophetic condemnation of idolatry and injustice for contemporary application, and avoiding sensationalist or exclusively futurist misreadings of prophecy. Students will compare conditional and unconditional covenant language in prophetic preaching. The course cultivates prophetic preaching voice marked by repentance and promise centered on Christ. Students will articulate amillennial or Reformed eschatological reading of prophetic kingdom texts. Assessments include exegesis papers, prophetic book summaries, and sermon outlines on assigned oracles.
Ministry & Life Application
Prophetic exegesis enables ministers to speak God's word into cultural idolatry and moral compromise with the same blend of judgment and hope found in Isaiah and Hosea. House church leaders gain confidence preaching difficult prophetic books often ignored in shallow Bible reading plans. Pastoral ministry in the Florida Keys addresses materialism, sexual sin, and nominal faith with Scripture's prophetic edge tempered by gospel promise. This course prepares students for THEO-402 eschatology by establishing prophetic idiom for kingdom and day of the Lord themes. Congregations awaken when elders proclaim prophetic Christology rather than merely predicting contemporary events.