the mysterious prophetic books

why are the books of the prophets intimidating to a majority of Christians?

the normal response to this question is the books seem far distant from the Christian experience located in Jesus Christ. the prophetic books seem to include random references to judgments on nations that mostly no longer exist. they also show the prophets taking part in odd symbolic actions. lastly, the words against social injustice potentially strike too close to home and are ignored.

i stayed away from the books of the prophets most of my life due to these reasons. i attempted to read through the entire book of Isaiah on an InterVarsity retreat but i stopped 1/3 of the way through because i was too frustrated. the references to Manasseh and Ephraim over and over were enough to put me to sleep. i actually fell asleep on my Bible (and probably drooled on the pages).

my appreciation for the prophets only came after i realized that 1 and 2 Kings provides the storyline behind the writings of the prophets. this observation is similar to Acts providing a story behind the founding of the churches to which Paul wrote his epistles. the stories found in 1 and 2 Kings, however, provide more details and reasons for the life and calling of the prophets. i now believe that each person needs to read 1 and 2 Kings before even beginning to wade through the prophets. in particular, the major prophets will remain particularly enigmatic without the background of the practices of Israel and Judah. In addition, the rise and fall of Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, and other nation states needs to be included in order to gain a full picture of the context of the prophets.

the largest obstacle to this understanding is laziness. a strong dedication is needed to gain the high-level and then a lower level view of the history of Israel and the prophets within the history. the first step is to read through 1 and 2 Kings with a map. the next is to locate the prophets prophets on a timeline with their locations (specific king such as Hezekiah, specific location such as northern kingdom of Israel). the third step is to read the prophetic books. finally, the final step is to pull together all the information gained above.

the result (probably after multiple iterations of this) is a better understanding of the story of Israel in which the prophets are set. the message of the prophets at a specific time to a specific audience will make sense. the alternative is to continue to randomly open up prophetic books and hope for the best as you read about the seemingly random judgments and references to Ephraim...