Author name:
رافد كاظم كريدي
Supervisor name:
احمد مجيد حميد الجبوري
University location:
Wasit
Abstract:
The study of the Biblical predictions and visions is one of the important topics that attracts many researchers in the fields of history , archaeology , anthropology , linguistics and theology .The interest and aim of such studies can be , therefore , clarified in short in knowing some ancient historical events related to them and the features of historiography of the periods during which they were written or belonging to . These studies are , moreover , revealing and reflecting the general and special implications and influences of divination ( foretelling ) in the ancient societies and their beliefs . Prophecies , on the other hand , resulted from the divine predictions and visions represent a special world in the Hebrew Bible as they are connected with the great prophets who either saw visions , predicted ( prophesied ) or received prophecies and messages from the Lord God . The Hebrew Bible contains prophecies which had been generated through dream visions, revelation and inspiration , or had been conveyed directly to foretell the future events and the will of "Yahweh" whose testament is said to be everlasting with the Jewish people ( named " the Sons / children of Israel " ) . The other importance of the topic is that the prophecies , predictions and visions played a major role in many historical events especially in the Jewish history and theology .They were , rather , the " motives of the early man's history ". God's testament and prophecy had led the Israelites from Egypt to Palestine ( the land of Canaan ) to be their own new homeland according to the Biblical tradition . Thus , the fulfillment of every prophecy is associated with the Yahweh's power , blessings and mainly glory . Hence, every true prophecy had to be revealed from the Lord to either of His chosen Israelite Prophets and proclaimed to His People or to the nations of the earth everywhere . The Books of the Prophets are divided into two main parts : the major four Prophets and the minor twelve Prophets . They cover the fourth part of the modern translations of the Hebrew Bible which begins with Isaiah and ends with Malachi . As the Biblical prophecies dealt with the past , present and future , we have , therefore , concentrated on the future predictions because they help to foretell and examine history and theology as well as judge the fulfillments of each book . We've focused , as well , on the devices of literacy and ambiguous symbolism in the religious texts which need special care of interpretation and knowing the " mood " of the age of each , and , moreover , the views , hypotheses and conclusions of the researchers . Therefore, our study has , in fact , concentrated on the major prophets : Isaiah , Jeremiah , Ezekiel , as they include a great variety and a large rate of predictions , prophecies and visions . The historicity of prophecies , predictions and visions , the styles and dictions used or implied , their historical background all these things have been taking into consideration . The plan of the study has been divided into five chapters, with sections and subsections. The first chapter includes two sections and deals with the historical background , the method we followed , the features , implications and influences of divination ( prediction ) and vision in both the Bible and the Ancient Near East heritage .The second chapter has been assigned to study the symbolic religious and linguistic indications as well as the implications of prophecy , divination and vision .The third chapter studies the implications and influences of predictions and visions in the major Prophets : the Book of Isaiah . While the fourth chapter traces the implications of predictions and visions in the Book of Jeremiah, and the last chapter is used to shade light on the implications of predictions and visions in the Book of Ezekiel. The study beings with a preface and ends with the conclusions, a list of bibliography, an abstract in English and an appendix .
