The second section of the Hebrew Bible is called "The Prophets," Nabiim. The title indicates its general character, for it relates to that period of Jewish life which came more directly under the influence of the prophets who were the great teachers of the people.

This section is divided into Former Prophets and Latter Prophets. The books composing the Former Prophets are historical in character; those composing the Latter Prophets are hortatory.

I. The Former Prophets

The books known as the Former Prophets are Joshua, Judges, I and 2 Samuel, and I and 2 Kings.

Various reasons have been given for calling these books prophetical. Some say it is because they were written by or under the direction of the prophets, or because they relate largely to the lives of the older prophets, like Samuel, Elijah, and others whose teachings have not been fully recorded. But a more suitable reason may be found in the underlying purpose for which these books were written. While largely occupied with historical matters, the purpose in recording them is to set forth the development of the kingdom of God. Whatever of Jewish history is needful to explain that development is recorded in these books, sometimes with a prominence and prolixity which seem out of all proportion to the importance of the fact itself, and whatever is not necessary to that result is either ignored or passed over in the briefest manner, although it would be considered an important fact by the ordinary historian.

This conception of these books is necessary to any proper understanding of them, or to explain the great prominence assigned them in the Hebrew Canon. They do not profess to be a general history of the old world, not even a history of the Jewish race, but a record of God's revelation of His plan of salvation, and only so much history is given as will enable us to trace the unfolding of that divine plan. This will help us to understand why some periods are so fully treated while others are passed over almost without notice. This will also explain to some extent why the author of these books is not mentioned. Throughout it is God who is brought into prominence, the human agency is seldom recognized.

II. The Latter Prophets

The books composing this division differ from those of the Former Prophets in that they give the author's name and are hortatory rather than historical in their contents.

They are divided into Major and Minor Prophets. Of the Major we have three, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel; of the Minor we have twelve, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The terms Major and Minor refer simply to the size of the books.

The peculiar feature of these books is that they record the teachings of the men whose names they bear. From them we learn but little of Jewish history, and that in a very fragmentary and incidental way. The Latter Prophets were preeminently the teachers of the divine will to their generation, giving God's message relating to their own time and revealing also God's purpose in regard to the future development of His kingdom. When they refer to history it is to furnish a background to their teaching, or so to locate the truth they utter that the people may recognize the presence and the power of God in its fulfillment.

Many attempts have been made to fix the dates of the Minor Prophets. The older critics considered the order in which they now appear in the Bible as the true chronological order, but later scholarship has shown that this is incorrect. Some have thought the length of the book decided the location of it. Some have seen an effort to secure a continuity of thought in the arrangement.

In a very broad way we may classify them under the three periods of Jewish history:

I. Assyrian: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah.

II. Chaldean: Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah.

III. Post-Exilic: Zechariah, Haggai, and Malachi.

Those who would fix the order by the internal evidence arrange as follows:

I. Assyrian: Amos, Hosea, Joel, Micah, and Jonah.

II. Chaldean: Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, and Obadiah.

III. Post-Exilic; Zechariah, Haggai, and Malachi.

Fortunately it is not the time element so much as the contents that is interesting and important. When we reflect that the period embraced in these books covers almost all of Jewish history after the separation of the two kingdoms, that these writers were among the most broad-minded and spiritual of the nation, that they discuss fundamental questions of statesmanship, morals, and religion, that their one purpose was to hold in check the bad elements of society and give broader opportunity to secure the choicest results of living both here and hereafter, we see that these books are minor only in size, and we do not wonder that those who have carefully filled in the outlines here presented have found them intensely interesting and valuable.

The prophet usually delivered his message orally, and this oral message was afterward written out by him or his amanuensis. (Jer. 36:4.) These written reports, prepared by the prophets themselves, constitute our present prophetical books. The Minor Prophets have been preserved in a very condensed form, while in the Major Prophets we approach much more nearly to the form of the oral address.

Kautzsch well says (Lit. of the O. T., p. 49), "The inspiration of the prophets is the heart of the Old Testament Revelation: their whole appearance is the strongest guarantee of the choice and training of Israel as a special arrangement of God's, as the beginning of his saving ways towards mankind."

The following Table will show the dates assigned to the different Prophets by different authorities. Many of them are largely conjectural. Those marked "Ussher" are those generally found in our English Bible.