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Want to go deeper in your Bible study?

Follow Christopher Smith's dynamic guide Prophets Before the Exile and examine one of Israel's most disturbing periods while learning how God's grace shined in the deepest darkness nonetheless. 

As a Christian living in the contemporary world, you are all too familiar with spiritual darkness and its effects on everyday life. Just as the Israelites were in trouble, so our culture today revels in sin as if there were no consequences! And like them, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We have rejected God's instruction for what is an abundant life; we have-as the narrator in Judges says-"each gone our own way". 

So what can we glean from the pre-exilic prophets that speaks to our context with the message of hope and redemption? 

Into the midst of Israel's self-caused chaos the prophets came, calling for repentance and a return to God's ways. They weren't politically powerful or wealthy: they came from the fringe, from the dismissed and despised, but they were known and deeply loved by God. They weren't ostracized because of their look, their dress, or anything of the like: they were despised because they brought the word of God to the people. It is your calling to do the same today. 

This study will help you understand the pre-exilic prophetic message to Israel in their own time and equip you to live prophetically and creatively as God's people today. The Understanding the Books of the Bible series moves groups away from a typical Bible study format into a new approach that emphasizes experiencing the Bible together. A dynamic approach to the study emphasizes:

• Following the natural flow of entire biblical books, rather than arbitrary chapter/verse constructions
• Critical engagement by offering thought provoking questions
• acknowledging the need to interpret Scripture as the job of the Christian community