ABSTRACT
The Prophets’ belief in a universal God enforced on them, as His spokesmen, a concern about the condition and fate of all mankind. The Prophets knew specifically only the nations of the limited world which included little more than the lands covered now by the term Middle East; though they realised that the world was larger. History has on more than one occasion given support to the Prophets’ belief that God uses an unrighteous nation to enforce on other nations the consequences of their unrighteousness. The Prophets’ apocalyptic treatment of history explains why they added prophecies of hope to their prognostications of doom; the combination belongs to eschatology. The Prophets’ view of history is rejected by the religious philosophy which conceives God as too sublime to be involved in human affairs, and opposed by the materialistic philosophy which places history under the control of economic factors.
