The close-knit bond between prophecy and history, according to O. Palmer Robertson, becomes particularly clear in Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah. As the historical setting of their messages is explored, it grows ever more apparent that biblical history, in addition to providing the context for prophecy, actually embodies and functions as prophecy.

The events that befell Judah and its neighbors spoke in anticipation of world-shaking circumstances still to come, which is why these books repay the historical work they demand. Robertson combines the insights of biblical theology with a keen awareness of the age in which each prophet wrote, and the result serves the preacher as well as the student.