Called the Nebi'im, which is the plural of nabi',
"prophet"
Includes books listed as historical in Protestant and Catholic Bibles
(Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings) and the 15 books most think of as prophetic (excluding
Daniel)
Divisions
Former and Latter
Former - Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings (a total of 4 scrolls)
Latter - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, 12 (a total of 4 scrolls)
Distinctions were not made in the biblical or classical periods
Major and minor (applying only to the Latter Prophets)
Distinction was made even later than that between Former and Latter
Indicates length rather than importance
Should be ignored when interpreting
When was this part of the canon accepted?
First allusions to "Law and Prophets" were in 2nd
century B.C.E. (Prologue to Sirach, 2 Maccabees
15:9)
Jesus ben Sira traced prophets from Moses through Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, and the 12 making no distinctions between historical books and prophecy
Authorship of the Former Prophets
According to b. Baba Batra 14b-15a:
Joshua wrote Joshua
Samuel wrote Judges and Samuel
Jeremiah wrote Kings
Designation of Former Prophets due primarily to these beliefs
concerning authorship
Also the books tell and interpret the history of Israel from the
prophetic standpoint of obeying the law written in Deuteronomy
Why Former Prophets fail to mention Latter Prophets with the
exception of Isaiah (2 Kings 19:5-20:19) and Jonah (2 Kings 14:25)
Perhaps their message was inappropriate to the needs of their
contemporaries
Perhaps were unknown to authors of Former Prophets