Prophecies As Historical Narratives

Why did prophets write some of their prophecies as historical narratives?

Answer:

Many parts of the Prophets were written as historical narratives, in particular as biographies and autobiographies of the prophets themselves. This is because there can’t be a separation between the ministry and the personal life of the prophet in the Old Testament. The Lord raised up the prophet among the people to be a pattern and type of the people’s lives, and his personal life was a message to the people. As we see, for example, in Hosea, where the Lord commanded the prophet to marry “a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom,” to embody, through the personal life of the prophet, the message the Lord wanted to deliver to his people. So, we can’t split the personal life of the prophet and his circumstances, such as his marriage, from the message the Lord wanted to deliver to the people. The prophet, through his life and words, was the message to the people. In addition, the benevolence the Lord showed to the prophet displayed the type of blessings God offered to his people. So, the way the Lord dealt with the prophet illustrated before the people what the Lord was doing with them. The life of the prophet and the way God worked in his life was a figurative image of the way God was dealing with his people.