Few parts of the OT are more challenging to read than the prophets. Not only are so-called messianic passages relatively rare, but apart from Jonah, these books seem to present a message that is particularly negative, if not xenophobic, when it comes to the ‘nations.’

Daniel Timmer contends that this impression is not only mistaken, but diametrically opposed to the books' message. Following the direction established by God’s foundational promise to Abram in Genesis 12, Timmer examines the presentation of the nations in the Latter Prophets in their original contexts, through the NT and into the church’s contemporary mission. He explains how the prophets’ negative presentations of the nations fit into God’s purpose to redeem people from every tribe and nation, and explores the radical significance of the prophets’ frequent predictions that non-Israelites will become integral members of God’s chosen people.

The volume also deals with practical issues, including the place of ethnicity and nationality in Christian identity and the church’s fraught relationships with secular and political power structures.