The prophecy of Jeremiah, including Lamentations, ranks, in order of number of verses, next after Genesis, which contains 1,533 verses.
This analysis of the books of the major prophets shows not only their comparative importance, as to size, among the sixteen prophetical books, but also among all the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament; for Genesis, in point of number of verses, is second only to the book of Psalms, and Jeremiah’s writings are the third in this order.
7. In point of time, there seems to have been an entirely uninterrupted line of such prophets as we have described from the age of Samuel to the return from the captivity, an era of nearly 750 years (from B. C. 1141 to B. C. 397).
Some of even the greatest of the prophets, as Elijah and Elisha, never committed their prophecies to writing. In a very large degree, however, their words and acts are recorded in various histories, asthe historian had need to make reference to them in explaining certain events he was narrating in the history of the kingdoms of Judah and of Israel.
Of those prophets whose prophecies are given in distinct books, Jonah was the first mentioned in point of time, and Malachi was the last, probably B. C. 397.
After the death of Malachi the prophetic institution, as an order, seems to have closed, and it was so understood by some of the ancient Jewish writers,as appears in the apocryphal books.[96]
PERIOD VI.
THE CAPTIVITY OF JUDAH TO THE CLOSE OF THE CANONICAL PERIOD.
B. C. 588–397(?).