Background Information
Integrating the books in the latter part of the Hebrew Bible and matching up timelines can be challenging. Instead of stories about God’s people and their relationship to God, we encounter quite a number of prophets speaking to the people – and even to other kingdoms. As you might recall, the distinction between “major” and “minor” prophets merely refers to the length of their writings.
Around 930 B.C., following the death of Solomon and the start of the reign of his son, Rehoboam, the ten northern tribes of Israel revolted and broke free from Judah (and the tribe of Benjamin). The divided kingdom bickered and fought, and its devotion to God ebbed and flowed, until the northern kingdom and its capital in Samaria fell to the brutal Assyrians in 722 B.C. Over 27,000 Jews were led into exile. The southern kingdom, based in Jerusalem, managed to hold on for another 140 years, during which time Assyria had fallen and the equally ruthless Babylonians had taken control of the land of Mesopotamia to the east. In 586 B.C., Judah fell to King Nebuchadnezzar and Jerusalem was destroyed, leading to another wave of exile and the end of the monarchy.
Elijah and Elisha and their many deeds occurred in Israel during the time of the divided kingdom. The books of the prophets centered on words rather than actions. Isaiah began his prophecy prior to the fall of the Israel in the north and offered a message of both judgment and the hope of salvation to the people of Judah …an inspiring message that transcended through the period of exile and carried into the New Testament. Jeremiah prophesized in the period leading up to, and during, the fall of Judah. While Jeremiah focused on judgment against God’s people, Ezekiel’s prophecies of judgment were followed, like Isaiah, with a message of hope. Ezekiel was part of the second exile and lived with the exiled people. The writings of the various minor prophets spanned a full two hundred years from the time of the two kingdoms to the return from exile.