The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel.

• Joel 1:1

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.  If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others.  Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.  Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

• Matthew 6:1-4

The first Scripture above is the beginning verse with many of the prophetic books of the Old Testament.  Okay, the name of the prophet changes and the name of the father changes.  And often, that is all we know about that prophet.  In some cases, we know even less.

So, why do we not know these prophets?

The first five words of the Scripture above explains that, “The word of the Lord.”  The important thing is that God was speaking to someone through a prophet.  Do we need the back story of the prophet for the prophecy to be credible?  I do not think so.

Most of the prophets were prior to the exile.  Daniel and Ezekiel were during the exile.  Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi were post exile prophets, Haggai and Zechariah being mentioned by name in Ezra.

There are not that many questions in this quiz, but there are sixteen answers: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

The Questions:

1. Which four of these prophets do we know nothing about, other than their name, and roughly about the time that they wrote their prophecy, although one of the four is mentioned in one of the Old Testament history books?  One of these prophets was the only prophet to address the entire prophecy toward the Edomites.  (Some experts think that we may not even know the name of one of these, but I will explain the theory in the answers section.)
2. Who is thought to be an influential person in that God told him to meet the king where most outsiders would not be allowed, at the end of the conduit to the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer’s field?  We know this prophet’s father, Amoz.
3. Who was a member of the royal court or royal family, chosen to serve Nebuchadnezzar?
4. What two prophets identify themselves as being from a certain location: a Moreshite (Moresheth) and a Elkoshite (Elkosh)?
5. Which prophet identifies himself twice?  In one case he is identified as a sheep breeder.  In the other case, he breeds sheep and tends the sycamore fig trees.  In the second case, he is denying the king’s accusation of being a “professional prophet.”
6. Which two prophets were priests, the sons of priests?
7. Which five prophets are only identified as “son of”?  Bonus if you can identify the prophet who uses two “son of” (thus two generations back) and which one uses four “son of” (thus four generations back.

So, if you do the math, of these sixteen prophets, we only know the name of four of them (25%) and only their name and their father’s name (with two prophets with more generations than just the father) of five more (about 31%).  Two more, we only know where the prophet is from.  Then throw in two that added the identifier of priest, and you have thirteen of the sixteen.  Even then, one of the remaining prophets is inferred to be influential, with entrance to the king’s court.  That leaves one identified as being part of the royal court or royal family through the circumstances of how he was selected for his job, and, the last, a lowly sheep breeder.

The books in the Bible focus on what God wanted the people being addressed to hear.  The person writing it down was insignificant.  That is where the second Scripture above comes into play.  These prophets turned the focus toward God.  They did not seek the praise of others.  God said “Go” and the only thing significant about these men is that they obeyed.  And that, in itself, is special.

Bible References:

This quiz does not afford much help in the Bible Reference section.  If the book was given, it would answer the question.  And in most cases, the prophet identifies himself in chapter 1, verse 1.

1. Prophet “identified” in verse 1:1.
2. The rendezvous was commanded by God in verse 7:3, the father identified in verse 1:1.
3. Verses 1:3-6
4. Verses 1:1 in each case.
5. Verses 1:1 and 7:14
6. Verse 1:1 and Verse 1:3
7. Verse 1:1 in each case.

As for me identifying myself on this blog site, I am saying that the thoughts are my own, opposed to the doctrine of a specific denomination.  I often quote people and I give them the credit, but as for my words, I have done my research, but I do not have a degree in divinity or theology.  I have Jesus in my heart.  Ever since He became part of my life over fifty years ago, I have had the desire to know more about Him, so I do not just read the Bible, I study the Bible.  And I hope that is seen in the writings of this blog site.

   …

   …

   …

The Answers:

1. Obadiah, Habakkuk, Haggai, and Malachi.  Habakkuk is the only one not mentioned in the “hints.”  Obadiah wrote his prophecy to the Edomites.  Haggai is mentioned in Ezra 6:14 (introductory comments).  And Malachi means “my messenger” and thus many biblical scholars think that Malachi might be a pseudonym and the book of Malachi is really written anonymously.  But many Old Testament names matched who that person was or what that person did.
2. Isaiah
3. Daniel
4. Micah, the Moreshite, and Nahum, the Elkoshite.
5. Amos.  He tended sheep near Tekoa, a small town near Bethlehem.  In identifying who he was, he was saying that he was near the bottom of any social scale.
6. Jeremiah and Ezekiel
7. Hosea (son of Beeri), Joel (the chosen Scripture above, son of Pethuel), Jonah (son of Amittai), Zephaniah (son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah), and Zechariah (son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo).  Zechariah, also mentioned in Ezra 6:14, mentioned two generations.  Zephaniah mentioned four generations.

And regardless of how you did, here is a song by Sidewalk Prophets, For Me to Live is Christ.

Another song by Sidewalk Prophets, You Loved Me Anyway.

And prophecy is something that Jesus said would happen as we approach the End Times – the young men seeing visions and old men dreaming dreams.  Here is a video of Melody Noel giving a testimony about the events that led up to a song being written and recorded.  The song is performed by her and Influence Music, Prophesy.

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.