The Voice of Israel’s Prophets…is a book that every Latter-day Saint should own. Dr. Sperry in this scholarly work indicates that the prophets of Israel spoke not only to their generation but also to every succeeding generation. It took a scholar of the caliber of Dr. Sperry to interpret their messages. Few authors have been better able to capture the vigor of these prophets and transmit their spirit in its grandeur to another generation.
Isaiah, under Dr. Sperry’s facile pen, becomes a “statesman-prophet” of majesty and power. Nine stimulating chapters serve to analyze and evaluate this great figure.
Jeremiah, mighty in his wrath, stalks across the pages of this book, bringing his message of judgment. Dr. Sperry’s treatment of this tragic prophet becomes a poignant reminder of the sorrow that befalls those who fail to obey the God of Israel.
Ezekiel’s prophecies are related in a minor key, pointing to the fall of Israel from her place of respect among nations, even as she had fallen from her eminent place in her worship of the Holy One of Israel.
Other prophets bring their messages to a world in sore need of them: Daniel, statesman as well as prophet; Hosea, the great prophet of love; Amos, the messenger of social justice; and Jonah, who learned through bitter and hard experiences that Israel’s God belongs to the righteous of all nations.
Dr. Sperry has also indicated through this careful study that the world has misnamed the so-called lesser prophets. The messages of Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephania, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, are great messages, worthy of careful analysis and application. Each of these prophets presented a message that has thundered down the ages.
The Voice of Israel’s Prophets belongs in every Latter-day Saint home.
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