Why were the prophets important to israelites?

Answer 1

The prophets wanted the Israelite to be obedient to God, and they were the middle men who brought them the message from God to repent and destroy their idols.

Answer 2

Answer

They encouraged ancient Israel to be obedient to God and that God is merciful.

Answer

One of the purposes God had for ancient Israel was for the nation to be a witness to the world as to who the true God really is. The prophets were chosen to make statements about the future because only God could see into the future and tell 100% what would happen there (or then!). Israel, through its Bible, preserved the "Oracles of God" as the Apostle Paul said in the New Testament. Most prophecies are in the Old Testament. Quite a lot are in the New Testament. All are recorded by Israelites. However, in the Book of Revelation, the visions of the Apostle John help us to sequence the Old and New Testament prophecies or put them into the correct chronology.

Israel is central to most prophecy, not the United States of America or anywhere else. Other countries are certainly mentioned. The United States, for example, comes under the category of nations named "Tarshish and her young lions" (or colonies). Other nations like Egypt, the Chaldeans (Kurds), Iran and many others, are also mentioned.

Many prophecies are already fulfilled (come to fruition or have happened). Many prophecies are yet to be fulfilled. The trick is to recognise what has been fulfilled and what hasn't. Christians believe the Spirit of God leads them to understand which are which.

However, one technical issue has arisen. The record of the world's ancient history has been severely distorted by the historians, archaeologists and Egyptologists in The Academy (Universities). They have messed up the ancient chronology, principally by mis-dating the Egyptian kings by five or six centuries. That led to mis-dating the kings of other nations too. Furthermore events in the past have been mis-dated, confused and even duplicated. Obviously, from this chaos theologians have not been able to understand some prophecies caught up by this. Prophecies about the First Coming of Jesus have not been affected so much as the Wise Men from the East were able to find Jesus when He was born. Unfortunately, prophecies about the Second (or "Last") Coming have been confused by this disorder in the historical accounts. Fortunately, we are beginning to unravel the mess in Egyptian history and the histories of other nations caught up in the general mishmash of dates and events. For example, we have been able to identify the ancient Chaldeans as today's Kurds. And that helps to explain a lot of the current turmoil in Iraq and eslewhere.

Although Israel is central to the concerns of the Prophets, the ancient nation often ignored them, apart from a minority who revered them and, fortunately for us, kept their writings and preserved them until today. Even today most people ignore God and believe in things like evolution etc. Just as many Israelis still ignore their prophets today, most non-Israelis also ignore them. Religious Jews and Christians believe Israel's ancient prophets although they disagree on various interpretations.

Answer 3

The prophets were God's spokesmen. They uttered words from God. Prophets warned the nation of Israel when they were going astray and reminded Israel about their covenant position as God's people.