Introduction to Minor Prophets
Hosea
Philo states that the name "Hosea" means "what sort of a person is this?" Others say that the name means "salvation." We know very little about Hosea. Some of the early Jewish writers believed that Hosea was the son of a prophet. If so, it is likely that Hosea's father knew Elisha. Hosea began to prophesy against Israel (the northern kingdom) at a time when the country was experiencing unprecedented prosperity but was far from God. By the end of his prophecy, Israel's power and prosperity were greatly diminished and by 722 B.C., Israel was no more.
It appears that Hosea may have moved from Israel to Judah sometime around 735 B.C., as he speaks more from a distance in the later part of the book. He prays that Judah might remain separated from Gilgal (4:15).
Hosea was commanded to marry an adulterer, to signify God's relationship with Israel. The first 3 chapters revolve around this relationship and its significance.
The book demonstrates the grief of God and His continuing love for a rebellious people. The book begins with grief and ends with hope.
Key Passage:
Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves according to righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God); reap according to mercy and loving-kindness. Break up your uncultivated ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, to inquire for and of Him, and to require His favor, till He comes and teaches you righteousness and rains His righteous gift of salvation upon you.
Key Lesson: Our sins distress God
Joel
We know almost nothing about the prophet Joel. His name means "Yahweh is God." The book is dated anywhere from 835 B.C. to 312 B.C. The internal evidence suggests that elders were ruling (Joel 1:2, 14; 2:16) and that the Jews had been sold as slaves to the Greeks (Joel 3:6). Yet, it appears that the Babylonian captivity was still in the future (1:15; 2:1-9) and the temple was still standing (1:9, 13, 14, 16, 2:17). Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, Edom, and Egypt are the present enemies (3:4-9). This seems to fit with 2 Chronicles 21:8-16. Accordingly, the most likely time is that of Joash, the boy king, where it was likely the elders played a more prominent role. This would date the book to the time period of 870-860 B.C
As Hosea develops the relationship of a husband and wife to portray the LORD's interaction with Israel, thus Joel develops an invasion of locusts into a view of God's impending destruction.
Joel also figures large in the New Testament, with some 28 references; including the notable ones in Matthew 24 in the Olivet Discourse, Acts 2 at the day of Pentecost, Romans 10 concerning salvation by faith, and the book of Revelation. Joel is a seminal book for an understanding of the prophetic message.
Key Passage;
Joel 2:28And afterward I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. 29 Even upon the menservants and upon the maidservants in those days will I pour out My Spirit. 30 And I will show signs and wonders in the heavens, and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. 32 And whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered and saved, for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the remnant [of survivors] shall be those whom the Lord calls.
Key Lesson: True repentance brings an overflow of blessings.
Amos
Amos was a herdsman from Tekoa (1:1; 7:14), a city about 5 miles south of Bethlehem, about 10 miles south of Jerusalem, in the hill country of Judah. God took him from being a herdsman to being one of the early prophets sent to Israel. He prophesied approximately 752 B.C., about 50 years after Elisha, just a little after Jonah, about the time Hosea began to prophesy, and about 10 years before Isaiah and Micah. We are told precisely when his prophecy occurred but we do not know with precision what year the great earthquake was. It was a great earthquake, as it was still the standard 240 years later (Zechariah 14:5). One half of a mountain broke off from the rest and rolled one half-mile to the east. Josephus tells us that this occurred during the confrontation between the priests and Uzziah the king. Assuming that this confrontation coincided with the assent of Jotham to the throne (2 Chronicles 26:21), and given that I date Jotham's assent to 750 B.C., then Amos should be dated at 752 B.C., 2 years before the earthquake.
As with Hosea, Amos prophesied against a very prosperous nation. The splendor of Israel was unparalleled. She controlled the Eastern Mediterranean. You will see signs of her prosperity in this book. You will see winter and summer houses, houses of ivory, great houses (3:15), houses of hewn stone and desirable vineyards (5:11), singing and music (5:23), beds of ivory and luxury, inventions of pleasure, fine wine, and the best ointments (6:4-7). It was a prosperous time, her enemies were subdued and they paid tribute to her.
It was a religious time (3:14; 4:4-5; 5:21-23; 7:9) but not a righteous time. God saw rottenness within. He sent a herdsman from Tekoa to Bethel (7:13), a town about 10 miles north of Jerusalem, 20 miles from Tekoa. It was the southern cult center of Israel, and very prosperous.
In ways, he depicted his prophecy. He stated that the LORD roars from Zion; he was a prophet from Judah. This is the lion zeroing on his prey. Damascus, the capital of Syria, is first. The lion roars and the prey is destroyed. The lion next roars against Gaza, the most important city of the Philistines. It is gone. The lion next roars against Tyre and it is destroyed. The lion roars against Edom and it is demolished. The lion roars against Ammon, then against Moab, then against Judah, and finally against Israel. The judgment against a very prosperous Israel is almost unthinkable. But it came to pass within 40 years.
Key Passage:
Amos 10:13 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine and all the hills shall melt [that is, everything heretofore barren and unfruitful shall overflow with spiritual blessing]. 14 And I will bring back the exiles of My people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards and drink the wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat the fruit of them. 15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be torn up out of their land which I gave them, says the Lord your God.
Key Lesson; Relationship requires agreement.
Obadiah
Like Joel, we know almost nothing about the prophet Obadiah. A Jewish tradition links him with Obadiah, the servant of wicked King Ahab. And an early Christian author identified him as an officer of Ahab's son Ahaziah. Such is possible. Scholars debate about whether the situation describes events around 845 B.C. or around 586 B.C. If he prophesied around 845 B.C., then we know that Obadiah, the servant of Ahab, was alive 22 years earlier. Perhaps he was a young man then (1 Kings 18:3-16) and survived past the taking of Elijah in 849 B.C. If so, he may have been both the officer to Ahab and to Ahab's son.
The prophesy is entirely against Edom, the descendants of Esau, the brother to Jacob who was the father of the Israelites. It is a prophesy of destruction. It was carried out. Around 500 B.C., the Nabataea’s from northern Arabia drove the Edomites out of Edom. They settled in southern Judah and became known as the Idumeans. The Maccabees forced them to be circumcised. Herod the Great was an Idumean (an Edomite). They were almost obliterated by Titus because they joined in the rebellion at Jerusalem.
Key Passage:
Ob 13 the pride of your heart has deceived you, you dweller in the refuges of the rock [ Petra, Edom's capital], whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, who can bring me down to the ground?
Key Lesson: As you have done so shall it be done to you.
Jonah
Jonah is the one minor prophet that is also mentioned in the historical books (2 Kings 14:25). According to legend, Jonah was the son of the widow at Zarephath. Such, however, is highly unlikely since Jonah would have been around 100 at the time of this account. We know that Jonah was a prophet used by God to prophesy the prosperity of Israel. The book of Jonah, however, unlike all of the rest of the minor prophets, is not about any particular prophecy, but rather about an episode in the life of the prophet. It is a historical account, not a sermon.
The book is the best account in the Old Testament, perhaps in Scripture, about how the will of God and the will of man interact. At the end God's will was done by an unwilling prophet. Jonah was God's servant (2 Kings 14:25).
This book is fast becoming a favorite of mine for I see the lengths that God went to because He knew that the people of Nineveh would repent, given the opportunity. This gives me great hope for our nation. I know there are many things wrong with my beloved country but I also know that the Lord is raising up intercessors in these last days to cry out for an awakening to God in America. As a matter of fact I participate in an online prayer meeting every Wednesday at noon. It is streamed live and is the result of a direct order from the Lord. People from around the world join in. There is a lot happening in the body of Christ today and the Word the Lord is using is “Awakening”.
If the Lord could cause Nineveh to repent then there is much hope for America.
Key Passage:
Jonah 3:5 So the people of Nineveh believed in God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth [in penitent mourning], from the greatest of them even to the least of them. 6 For word came to the king of Nineveh [of all that had happened to Jonah, and his terrifying message from God], and he arose from his throne and he laid his robe aside, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he made proclamation and published through Nineveh, By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed nor drink water. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hand God may turn and revoke His sentence against us [when we have met His terms], and turn away from His fierce anger so that we perish not. 10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God revoked His [sentence of] evil that He had said that He would do to them and He did not do it [for He was comforted and eased concerning them].
Key Lesson; It is not Gods will that any should perish
Micah
Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea. He came from a town about 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem, on the Philistine border. He prophesied against Israel and Judah, but focused mostly on Judah. We know very little about the man. He was instrumental in saving Jeremiah's life once. In Jeremiah 26, the priest and prophets spoke to the princes and all the people saying that Jeremiah deserved to die. Certain of the elders quoted Micah to support Jeremiah (Jeremiah 26:18-19). Micah was known to be a prophet, having lived some 150 years before Jeremiah.
The book contains three prophecies. The first was prior to 722 B.C., as it speaks of the existence of Samaria and its coming destruction. The second was during the time of King Hezekiah, as Jeremiah 26:18-19 tells us. The third apparently was also before 722 B.C., as it seems to contemplate the coming destruction of Israel, Omri and Ahab's house.
There are 613 commandments in the Pentateuch, they were reduced to 11 in Psalm 15, reduced further to three here (Micah 6:8), then to one in Matthew 22:35-40. God wants our hearts; He desires relationship with us.
Key Passage:
Micah 5 2But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, you are little to be among the clans of Judah; [yet] out of you shall One come forth for Me Who is to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth have been from of old, from ancient days (eternity).
Key Lesson: Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God.
Nahum
Nahum joins Jonah in being concerned primarily with the city of Nineveh. Where Jonah prophesied around 760 B.C. that Nineveh would be destroyed, only to see it marvelously converted, Nahum prophesied 100 years later of its destruction in some detail. The background for Nahum's prophesy probably is based upon the role Assyria played in this area of the world. From Assyrian records, it appears that Judah, during the time of Manasseh, was little more than a vassal state. We know from 2 Chronicles 33:11 that the LORD brought the Assyrians to Jerusalem to capture Manasseh. They put a hook in his nose, bound him with chains, and carried him off to Babylon. Perhaps during this time, or immediately after Manasseh's return, Nahum prophesied against Nineveh. At the time of Nahum's prophecy, Nineveh ruled the world, from Lybia and Ethiopia to Babylon and beyond.
Nineveh was a huge place. Sennacherib's southern palace covered five acres, with 71 rooms. There were some 9,880 feet of sculptured reliefs in the rooms, depicting victories, including the capture of Lachish, a Judean city. Eight miles of walls enclosed the city, with 15 gates. A thirty-mile long aqueduct watered the city. Ashurbanipal built a huge northern palace, with a library of more than 20,000 tablets. There were parks, a botanical garden and a zoo. It was well fortified. The inner wall was 100 feet tall and 50 feet thick. The towers on the wall were 200 feet tall. It had a 150 foot wide moat. On its most vulnerable side, an enemy would face first a huge wall strengthened by detached forts, then two deep ditches and two more walls. The distance from the inside of the inner wall to the inside of the outer wall was 2,007 feet. For all purposes, it was impenetrable.
Within 50 years of Nahum's prophecy, it was all fulfilled. The city fell to the Babylonians, Medes, and Scythians in August 612 B.C. This was less than three years after the siege of Nineveh began, an incredibly short time for the siege of such a major city. In the third year, heavy rains brought a flood which broke down part of the walls. This allowed the Babylonians to enter the city and destroy it. According to some reports, the king of Nineveh, in seeing that walls were breached, ordered the city burned.
So total was the destruction that 200 years later, when Xenophon led the 10,000 Greek mercenaries on a 1,500 mile journey home from hostile Persia, he thought that the place was the ruin of a Parthian city. Less than 300 years after its fall, Alexander the Great fought a battle near there and never knew a city had been there. The city was lost to everyone and became something of a fairy tale until it was rediscovered in 1846. It's extensive library has been a treasure to archaeologists.
Key Passage;
Nahum 1:2 The Lord is a jealous God and avenging; the Lord avenges and He is full of wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries and reserves wrath for His enemies. 3 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will by no means clear the guilty. The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. 4 He rebukes and threatens the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan [on the east] and Mount Carmel [on the west] wither, and [in the north] the blossom of Lebanon fades. 5 The mountains tremble and quake before Him and the hills melt away, and the earth is upheaved at His presence--yes, the world and all that dwell in it. 6 Who can stand before His indignation? And who can stand up and endure the fierceness of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by Him.
Key Lesson: God is not willing that any perish but He deals justly, loves mercy, and walks humbly.
Habakkuk
Habakkuk was an early contemporary of Jeremiah, most likely prophesying from 609-606 B.C. He prophesied immediately before Judah went into captivity in 605 B.C. to Babylon We know almost nothing about Habakkuk. According to Jewish tradition, he was a priest of the tribe of Judah, at the time of the prophecy, had only recently lost good king Josiah and was then ruled by Jehoiakim. There is a close parallel between Jeremiah 22:13-23 and Habakkuk 2:5-19. Jehoiakim did evil in the sight of the LORD (2 Kings 23:37; 2 Chronicles 36:8). Habakkuk looked around and saw the violence, the iniquity, the plundering, the strife, the lack of justice, the wicked surrounding the righteous, and it troubled him. The book begins with a question of ongoing wickedness and ends with one of the most admirable works of praise in Scripture.
The prophecy seems to portend the near, but not immediate, coming of Babylon. There was wickedness in the land. Good king Josiah died in 609 B.C. For three months Jehoahaz reigned and then he was deposed by the Egyptians. Thereafter, Jehoiakim became king and he reigned for 11 years. He was evil and the nation followed his evil ways. Babylon came against Jerusalem in 605 B.C. and took Daniel and others into captivity. Thus, we think that Habakkuk prophesied between 609 B.C. and 606 B.C.
Key Passage:
Hab 1:2 And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may [be able to] read [it easily and quickly] as he hastens by. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time and it hastens to the end [fulfillment]; it will not deceive or disappoint. Though it tarry, wait [earnestly] for it, because it will surely come; it will not be behindhand on its appointed day. 4 Look at the proud; his soul is not straight or right within him, but the [rigidly] just and the [uncompromisingly] righteous man shall [a]live by his faith and in his faithfulness.
Key lesson; 3:17 Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, [though] the product of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls,18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the [victorious] God of my salvation! 19 The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds' feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility.
Zephaniah
Zephaniah was the first of the writing prophets to prophesy against Judah since the time of Isaiah and Micah. Isaiah prophesied from around 740 B.C. to 686 B.C., Micah from 735-700 B.C. Thereafter, we have no other writing prophet until we come to Nahum, who prophesied against Nineveh around 654 B.C. Following the death of Isaiah at the hands of wicked king Manasseh in 686 B.C., Manasseh himself was taken captive by the Assyrians and after repenting to God he was returned to Judah as king. After his death in 643 B.C., Amon his son reigned two years, until 641 B.C. From the death of Isaiah, we have no recorded prophesy about Judah. Then, in 641 B.C., young king Josiah (8 years of age) became king and he reigned 31 years. In the 18th year of his reign, they rediscovered the book of the law in the temple. In 623-621 B.C., Josiah began sweeping reforms in Judah, destroying Baal worship.
Interestingly, it was during the reign of this good king that God again raised up a prophet to pronounce doom on Judah. Zephaniah prophesied somewhere between 630 and 621 B.C. We reach these dates from the reference to Baal worship, and the identity of the listed sins with the practices later abolished by Josiah in 621 B.C. (2 Kings 23:4-25)
We know Zephaniah as the Prophet of the Day of the LORD. While hope is contained for the righteous, judgment and wrath are the wellspring of the book.
This Zephaniah is not otherwise referenced in Scripture. He apparently was of royal birth, being the great-great grandson of Hezekiah, a third cousin of King Josiah.
Interestingly, his prophesy may have corresponded to the time young Jeremiah began to prophesy, in the 13th year of Josiah (627 B.C.). Yet, neither of these prophets may have been the strongest prophetic voice in the land, for Huldah the prophetess is the one who was sought out when Josiah, in 622 B.C., sought a word from the LORD (2 Kings 22:13-20).
Key Passage:
Zeph 2:3 Seek the Lord [inquire for Him, inquire of Him, and require Him as the foremost necessity of your life], all you humble of the land who have acted in compliance with His revealed will and have kept His commandments; seek righteousness, seek humility [inquire for them, require them as vital]. It may be you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger
Key Lesson: Rebellious children bring wrath, but righteousness keeps the obedient in the “Secret Place” on the Day of The Lord.
Haggai
Haggai was the first of the three postexilic prophets. He was the first prophet after the death of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Daniel lived until approximately within 15-20 years of Haggai's prophecy, but Daniel's prophecies were in Babylon and Daniel was not listed among the prophets of Israel in the Hebrew Scriptures. God raised up Haggai to motivate His people back to His work.
He was a contemporary of Zechariah and is mentioned in Ezra. He had a simple message: "It's time to build the temple." There are four messages from God in this book. The response of the prophesy of Haggai and Zechariah is that the people finished the temple that had been begun back some 20 years later, but stopped (see Ezra 3; 4:23-24; 6:13-18).
Key Passage:
Haggai 2:23 In that day, says the Lord of hosts, will I take you, O Zerubbabel, My servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the Lord, and will make you [through the Messiah, your descendant] My signet ring; for I have chosen you [as the one with whom to renew My covenant to David's line], says the Lord of hosts.
Key Lesson: We are Gods Signet Ring to build our own temple and the temple of His body on the earth.
Zechariah
Zechariah was a contemporary of Haggai and began to prophesy before the last two prophecies of Haggai. He is known as an apocalyptic prophet in that he gives us a series of eight visions. This book could be called "The Prophecy of the Two Advents." Both the first and second return of Christ are disclosed in this book. He strongly hints at a plurality in God, with the Angel of the LORD addressing the LORD in 1:12; with the interplay between the first and third person in 2:8-11; with the apparent reference to the Angel of the LORD as the "LORD" who in turn speaks, referencing the LORD in the third person, and removes sins in 3:1-4; with the reference to the Spirit in 4:6; and with the classic interplay of 12:10.
The book is frequently quoted and alluded to in the New Testament, up to 41 times (Nestle and Aland). He (Zechariah) refers to Christ as God's Servant (3:8); the Branch (3:8; 6:12); the Stone (3:9); the King (9:9); the Shepherd (13:7). His prophecies include that He (the Messiah) will come on a colt (9:9) and in battle power (14:3-4); He will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver which are then thrown in the temple for the potter (11:12-13); that there will be a fountain for cleansing (13:1); that His hands and feet would be pierced (12:10) and that His feet would split the Mount of Olives in two, making a great valley (14:4). He tells us that Jerusalem will be restored and inhabited as a city without walls (2:4), with God being a wall of fire all around her. He tells us that Israel's enemies will dissolve away in one of the most graphic depictions of total horror found in Scripture (14:12-15).
Key Passage:
Zech 12:10 And I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace or unmerited favor and supplication. And they shall look [earnestly] upon Me Whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one who is in bitterness for his firstborn.
Key Lesson: The Messiah truly is coming and it is time to prepare ourselves and others.
Malachi
Malachi appears to be a contemporary of Nehemiah, prophesying approximately 70 years after the end of Zechariah's prophecy, and the last prophet in Old Testament Scripture. Malachi apparently prophesied while Nehemiah was in Babylon (Nehemiah 13:6), and addresses some similar sins. The problem with Israel was no longer idolatry, but spiritual indifference. Nothing mattered. Everyone was accepted by God and it was considered vain to be overly religious. God was distant and not immediately involved in the lives of people. This was the prevailing philosophy.
Into this mess marched Malachi with a message. In fact, the name "Malachi" means "my messenger." Malachi may be known as the rhetorical prophet. There is a standard motif: God makes a statement, the hearers contest the truth of the statement, and God demonstrates its truthfulness. This assertion, objection, and defense argument is readily apparent in the book, occurring seven times:
The book begins with the statement of God's love and ends with a curse. In response to the people's view of a distant God, God became personally involved in the book. 47 of the 55 verses involved God speaking in the first person to His people. 26 times the phrase "says the LORD of hosts" or a similar phrase appears.
The book is the last prophesy given. The book centers on laxity among the priests. For Christians, the next pronouncement of God after Malachi was to a priest, some 430 years later, by the name of Zechariah. The Old Testament ends and the New Testament picks up with God speaking to a priest(s). For Jews, this is the last Scriptural pronouncement of God for the last 2,400 years.
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Key Passage;
Mal 2:17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, In what way have we wearied Him? [You do it when by your actions] you say, Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord and He delights in them. Or [by asking], Where is the God of justice?
Hosea
Philo states that the name "Hosea" means "what sort of a person is this?" Others say that the name means "salvation." We know very little about Hosea. Some of the early Jewish writers believed that Hosea was the son of a prophet. If so, it is likely that Hosea's father knew Elisha. Hosea began to prophesy against Israel (the northern kingdom) at a time when the country was experiencing unprecedented prosperity but was far from God. By the end of his prophecy, Israel's power and prosperity were greatly diminished and by 722 B.C., Israel was no more.
It appears that Hosea may have moved from Israel to Judah sometime around 735 B.C., as he speaks more from a distance in the later part of the book. He prays that Judah might remain separated from Gilgal (4:15).
Hosea was commanded to marry an adulterer, to signify God's relationship with Israel. The first 3 chapters revolve around this relationship and its significance.
The book demonstrates the grief of God and His continuing love for a rebellious people. The book begins with grief and ends with hope.
Key Passage:
Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves according to righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God); reap according to mercy and loving-kindness. Break up your uncultivated ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, to inquire for and of Him, and to require His favor, till He comes and teaches you righteousness and rains His righteous gift of salvation upon you.
Key Lesson: Our sins distress God
Joel
We know almost nothing about the prophet Joel. His name means "Yahweh is God." The book is dated anywhere from 835 B.C. to 312 B.C. The internal evidence suggests that elders were ruling (Joel 1:2, 14; 2:16) and that the Jews had been sold as slaves to the Greeks (Joel 3:6). Yet, it appears that the Babylonian captivity was still in the future (1:15; 2:1-9) and the temple was still standing (1:9, 13, 14, 16, 2:17). Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, Edom, and Egypt are the present enemies (3:4-9). This seems to fit with 2 Chronicles 21:8-16. Accordingly, the most likely time is that of Joash, the boy king, where it was likely the elders played a more prominent role. This would date the book to the time period of 870-860 B.C
As Hosea develops the relationship of a husband and wife to portray the LORD's interaction with Israel, thus Joel develops an invasion of locusts into a view of God's impending destruction.
Joel also figures large in the New Testament, with some 28 references; including the notable ones in Matthew 24 in the Olivet Discourse, Acts 2 at the day of Pentecost, Romans 10 concerning salvation by faith, and the book of Revelation. Joel is a seminal book for an understanding of the prophetic message.
Key Passage;
Joel 2:28And afterward I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. 29 Even upon the menservants and upon the maidservants in those days will I pour out My Spirit. 30 And I will show signs and wonders in the heavens, and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. 32 And whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered and saved, for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the remnant [of survivors] shall be those whom the Lord calls.
Key Lesson: True repentance brings an overflow of blessings.
Amos
Amos was a herdsman from Tekoa (1:1; 7:14), a city about 5 miles south of Bethlehem, about 10 miles south of Jerusalem, in the hill country of Judah. God took him from being a herdsman to being one of the early prophets sent to Israel. He prophesied approximately 752 B.C., about 50 years after Elisha, just a little after Jonah, about the time Hosea began to prophesy, and about 10 years before Isaiah and Micah. We are told precisely when his prophecy occurred but we do not know with precision what year the great earthquake was. It was a great earthquake, as it was still the standard 240 years later (Zechariah 14:5). One half of a mountain broke off from the rest and rolled one half-mile to the east. Josephus tells us that this occurred during the confrontation between the priests and Uzziah the king. Assuming that this confrontation coincided with the assent of Jotham to the throne (2 Chronicles 26:21), and given that I date Jotham's assent to 750 B.C., then Amos should be dated at 752 B.C., 2 years before the earthquake.
As with Hosea, Amos prophesied against a very prosperous nation. The splendor of Israel was unparalleled. She controlled the Eastern Mediterranean. You will see signs of her prosperity in this book. You will see winter and summer houses, houses of ivory, great houses (3:15), houses of hewn stone and desirable vineyards (5:11), singing and music (5:23), beds of ivory and luxury, inventions of pleasure, fine wine, and the best ointments (6:4-7). It was a prosperous time, her enemies were subdued and they paid tribute to her.
It was a religious time (3:14; 4:4-5; 5:21-23; 7:9) but not a righteous time. God saw rottenness within. He sent a herdsman from Tekoa to Bethel (7:13), a town about 10 miles north of Jerusalem, 20 miles from Tekoa. It was the southern cult center of Israel, and very prosperous.
In ways, he depicted his prophecy. He stated that the LORD roars from Zion; he was a prophet from Judah. This is the lion zeroing on his prey. Damascus, the capital of Syria, is first. The lion roars and the prey is destroyed. The lion next roars against Gaza, the most important city of the Philistines. It is gone. The lion next roars against Tyre and it is destroyed. The lion roars against Edom and it is demolished. The lion roars against Ammon, then against Moab, then against Judah, and finally against Israel. The judgment against a very prosperous Israel is almost unthinkable. But it came to pass within 40 years.
Key Passage:
Amos 10:13 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine and all the hills shall melt [that is, everything heretofore barren and unfruitful shall overflow with spiritual blessing]. 14 And I will bring back the exiles of My people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards and drink the wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat the fruit of them. 15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be torn up out of their land which I gave them, says the Lord your God.
Key Lesson; Relationship requires agreement.
Obadiah
Like Joel, we know almost nothing about the prophet Obadiah. A Jewish tradition links him with Obadiah, the servant of wicked King Ahab. And an early Christian author identified him as an officer of Ahab's son Ahaziah. Such is possible. Scholars debate about whether the situation describes events around 845 B.C. or around 586 B.C. If he prophesied around 845 B.C., then we know that Obadiah, the servant of Ahab, was alive 22 years earlier. Perhaps he was a young man then (1 Kings 18:3-16) and survived past the taking of Elijah in 849 B.C. If so, he may have been both the officer to Ahab and to Ahab's son.
The prophesy is entirely against Edom, the descendants of Esau, the brother to Jacob who was the father of the Israelites. It is a prophesy of destruction. It was carried out. Around 500 B.C., the Nabataea’s from northern Arabia drove the Edomites out of Edom. They settled in southern Judah and became known as the Idumeans. The Maccabees forced them to be circumcised. Herod the Great was an Idumean (an Edomite). They were almost obliterated by Titus because they joined in the rebellion at Jerusalem.
Key Passage:
Ob 13 the pride of your heart has deceived you, you dweller in the refuges of the rock [ Petra, Edom's capital], whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, who can bring me down to the ground?
Key Lesson: As you have done so shall it be done to you.
Jonah
Jonah is the one minor prophet that is also mentioned in the historical books (2 Kings 14:25). According to legend, Jonah was the son of the widow at Zarephath. Such, however, is highly unlikely since Jonah would have been around 100 at the time of this account. We know that Jonah was a prophet used by God to prophesy the prosperity of Israel. The book of Jonah, however, unlike all of the rest of the minor prophets, is not about any particular prophecy, but rather about an episode in the life of the prophet. It is a historical account, not a sermon.
The book is the best account in the Old Testament, perhaps in Scripture, about how the will of God and the will of man interact. At the end God's will was done by an unwilling prophet. Jonah was God's servant (2 Kings 14:25).
This book is fast becoming a favorite of mine for I see the lengths that God went to because He knew that the people of Nineveh would repent, given the opportunity. This gives me great hope for our nation. I know there are many things wrong with my beloved country but I also know that the Lord is raising up intercessors in these last days to cry out for an awakening to God in America. As a matter of fact I participate in an online prayer meeting every Wednesday at noon. It is streamed live and is the result of a direct order from the Lord. People from around the world join in. There is a lot happening in the body of Christ today and the Word the Lord is using is “Awakening”.
If the Lord could cause Nineveh to repent then there is much hope for America.
Key Passage:
Jonah 3:5 So the people of Nineveh believed in God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth [in penitent mourning], from the greatest of them even to the least of them. 6 For word came to the king of Nineveh [of all that had happened to Jonah, and his terrifying message from God], and he arose from his throne and he laid his robe aside, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he made proclamation and published through Nineveh, By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed nor drink water. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hand God may turn and revoke His sentence against us [when we have met His terms], and turn away from His fierce anger so that we perish not. 10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God revoked His [sentence of] evil that He had said that He would do to them and He did not do it [for He was comforted and eased concerning them].
Key Lesson; It is not Gods will that any should perish
Micah
Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea. He came from a town about 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem, on the Philistine border. He prophesied against Israel and Judah, but focused mostly on Judah. We know very little about the man. He was instrumental in saving Jeremiah's life once. In Jeremiah 26, the priest and prophets spoke to the princes and all the people saying that Jeremiah deserved to die. Certain of the elders quoted Micah to support Jeremiah (Jeremiah 26:18-19). Micah was known to be a prophet, having lived some 150 years before Jeremiah.
The book contains three prophecies. The first was prior to 722 B.C., as it speaks of the existence of Samaria and its coming destruction. The second was during the time of King Hezekiah, as Jeremiah 26:18-19 tells us. The third apparently was also before 722 B.C., as it seems to contemplate the coming destruction of Israel, Omri and Ahab's house.
There are 613 commandments in the Pentateuch, they were reduced to 11 in Psalm 15, reduced further to three here (Micah 6:8), then to one in Matthew 22:35-40. God wants our hearts; He desires relationship with us.
Key Passage:
Micah 5 2But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, you are little to be among the clans of Judah; [yet] out of you shall One come forth for Me Who is to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth have been from of old, from ancient days (eternity).
Key Lesson: Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God.
Nahum
Nahum joins Jonah in being concerned primarily with the city of Nineveh. Where Jonah prophesied around 760 B.C. that Nineveh would be destroyed, only to see it marvelously converted, Nahum prophesied 100 years later of its destruction in some detail. The background for Nahum's prophesy probably is based upon the role Assyria played in this area of the world. From Assyrian records, it appears that Judah, during the time of Manasseh, was little more than a vassal state. We know from 2 Chronicles 33:11 that the LORD brought the Assyrians to Jerusalem to capture Manasseh. They put a hook in his nose, bound him with chains, and carried him off to Babylon. Perhaps during this time, or immediately after Manasseh's return, Nahum prophesied against Nineveh. At the time of Nahum's prophecy, Nineveh ruled the world, from Lybia and Ethiopia to Babylon and beyond.
Nineveh was a huge place. Sennacherib's southern palace covered five acres, with 71 rooms. There were some 9,880 feet of sculptured reliefs in the rooms, depicting victories, including the capture of Lachish, a Judean city. Eight miles of walls enclosed the city, with 15 gates. A thirty-mile long aqueduct watered the city. Ashurbanipal built a huge northern palace, with a library of more than 20,000 tablets. There were parks, a botanical garden and a zoo. It was well fortified. The inner wall was 100 feet tall and 50 feet thick. The towers on the wall were 200 feet tall. It had a 150 foot wide moat. On its most vulnerable side, an enemy would face first a huge wall strengthened by detached forts, then two deep ditches and two more walls. The distance from the inside of the inner wall to the inside of the outer wall was 2,007 feet. For all purposes, it was impenetrable.
Within 50 years of Nahum's prophecy, it was all fulfilled. The city fell to the Babylonians, Medes, and Scythians in August 612 B.C. This was less than three years after the siege of Nineveh began, an incredibly short time for the siege of such a major city. In the third year, heavy rains brought a flood which broke down part of the walls. This allowed the Babylonians to enter the city and destroy it. According to some reports, the king of Nineveh, in seeing that walls were breached, ordered the city burned.
So total was the destruction that 200 years later, when Xenophon led the 10,000 Greek mercenaries on a 1,500 mile journey home from hostile Persia, he thought that the place was the ruin of a Parthian city. Less than 300 years after its fall, Alexander the Great fought a battle near there and never knew a city had been there. The city was lost to everyone and became something of a fairy tale until it was rediscovered in 1846. It's extensive library has been a treasure to archaeologists.
Key Passage;
Nahum 1:2 The Lord is a jealous God and avenging; the Lord avenges and He is full of wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries and reserves wrath for His enemies. 3 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will by no means clear the guilty. The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. 4 He rebukes and threatens the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan [on the east] and Mount Carmel [on the west] wither, and [in the north] the blossom of Lebanon fades. 5 The mountains tremble and quake before Him and the hills melt away, and the earth is upheaved at His presence--yes, the world and all that dwell in it. 6 Who can stand before His indignation? And who can stand up and endure the fierceness of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by Him.
Key Lesson: God is not willing that any perish but He deals justly, loves mercy, and walks humbly.
Habakkuk
Habakkuk was an early contemporary of Jeremiah, most likely prophesying from 609-606 B.C. He prophesied immediately before Judah went into captivity in 605 B.C. to Babylon We know almost nothing about Habakkuk. According to Jewish tradition, he was a priest of the tribe of Judah, at the time of the prophecy, had only recently lost good king Josiah and was then ruled by Jehoiakim. There is a close parallel between Jeremiah 22:13-23 and Habakkuk 2:5-19. Jehoiakim did evil in the sight of the LORD (2 Kings 23:37; 2 Chronicles 36:8). Habakkuk looked around and saw the violence, the iniquity, the plundering, the strife, the lack of justice, the wicked surrounding the righteous, and it troubled him. The book begins with a question of ongoing wickedness and ends with one of the most admirable works of praise in Scripture.
The prophecy seems to portend the near, but not immediate, coming of Babylon. There was wickedness in the land. Good king Josiah died in 609 B.C. For three months Jehoahaz reigned and then he was deposed by the Egyptians. Thereafter, Jehoiakim became king and he reigned for 11 years. He was evil and the nation followed his evil ways. Babylon came against Jerusalem in 605 B.C. and took Daniel and others into captivity. Thus, we think that Habakkuk prophesied between 609 B.C. and 606 B.C.
Key Passage:
Hab 1:2 And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may [be able to] read [it easily and quickly] as he hastens by. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time and it hastens to the end [fulfillment]; it will not deceive or disappoint. Though it tarry, wait [earnestly] for it, because it will surely come; it will not be behindhand on its appointed day. 4 Look at the proud; his soul is not straight or right within him, but the [rigidly] just and the [uncompromisingly] righteous man shall [a]live by his faith and in his faithfulness.
Key lesson; 3:17 Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, [though] the product of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls,18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the [victorious] God of my salvation! 19 The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds' feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility.
Zephaniah
Zephaniah was the first of the writing prophets to prophesy against Judah since the time of Isaiah and Micah. Isaiah prophesied from around 740 B.C. to 686 B.C., Micah from 735-700 B.C. Thereafter, we have no other writing prophet until we come to Nahum, who prophesied against Nineveh around 654 B.C. Following the death of Isaiah at the hands of wicked king Manasseh in 686 B.C., Manasseh himself was taken captive by the Assyrians and after repenting to God he was returned to Judah as king. After his death in 643 B.C., Amon his son reigned two years, until 641 B.C. From the death of Isaiah, we have no recorded prophesy about Judah. Then, in 641 B.C., young king Josiah (8 years of age) became king and he reigned 31 years. In the 18th year of his reign, they rediscovered the book of the law in the temple. In 623-621 B.C., Josiah began sweeping reforms in Judah, destroying Baal worship.
Interestingly, it was during the reign of this good king that God again raised up a prophet to pronounce doom on Judah. Zephaniah prophesied somewhere between 630 and 621 B.C. We reach these dates from the reference to Baal worship, and the identity of the listed sins with the practices later abolished by Josiah in 621 B.C. (2 Kings 23:4-25)
We know Zephaniah as the Prophet of the Day of the LORD. While hope is contained for the righteous, judgment and wrath are the wellspring of the book.
This Zephaniah is not otherwise referenced in Scripture. He apparently was of royal birth, being the great-great grandson of Hezekiah, a third cousin of King Josiah.
Interestingly, his prophesy may have corresponded to the time young Jeremiah began to prophesy, in the 13th year of Josiah (627 B.C.). Yet, neither of these prophets may have been the strongest prophetic voice in the land, for Huldah the prophetess is the one who was sought out when Josiah, in 622 B.C., sought a word from the LORD (2 Kings 22:13-20).
Key Passage:
Zeph 2:3 Seek the Lord [inquire for Him, inquire of Him, and require Him as the foremost necessity of your life], all you humble of the land who have acted in compliance with His revealed will and have kept His commandments; seek righteousness, seek humility [inquire for them, require them as vital]. It may be you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger
Key Lesson: Rebellious children bring wrath, but righteousness keeps the obedient in the “Secret Place” on the Day of The Lord.
Haggai
Haggai was the first of the three postexilic prophets. He was the first prophet after the death of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Daniel lived until approximately within 15-20 years of Haggai's prophecy, but Daniel's prophecies were in Babylon and Daniel was not listed among the prophets of Israel in the Hebrew Scriptures. God raised up Haggai to motivate His people back to His work.
He was a contemporary of Zechariah and is mentioned in Ezra. He had a simple message: "It's time to build the temple." There are four messages from God in this book. The response of the prophesy of Haggai and Zechariah is that the people finished the temple that had been begun back some 20 years later, but stopped (see Ezra 3; 4:23-24; 6:13-18).
Key Passage:
Haggai 2:23 In that day, says the Lord of hosts, will I take you, O Zerubbabel, My servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the Lord, and will make you [through the Messiah, your descendant] My signet ring; for I have chosen you [as the one with whom to renew My covenant to David's line], says the Lord of hosts.
Key Lesson: We are Gods Signet Ring to build our own temple and the temple of His body on the earth.
Zechariah
Zechariah was a contemporary of Haggai and began to prophesy before the last two prophecies of Haggai. He is known as an apocalyptic prophet in that he gives us a series of eight visions. This book could be called "The Prophecy of the Two Advents." Both the first and second return of Christ are disclosed in this book. He strongly hints at a plurality in God, with the Angel of the LORD addressing the LORD in 1:12; with the interplay between the first and third person in 2:8-11; with the apparent reference to the Angel of the LORD as the "LORD" who in turn speaks, referencing the LORD in the third person, and removes sins in 3:1-4; with the reference to the Spirit in 4:6; and with the classic interplay of 12:10.
The book is frequently quoted and alluded to in the New Testament, up to 41 times (Nestle and Aland). He (Zechariah) refers to Christ as God's Servant (3:8); the Branch (3:8; 6:12); the Stone (3:9); the King (9:9); the Shepherd (13:7). His prophecies include that He (the Messiah) will come on a colt (9:9) and in battle power (14:3-4); He will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver which are then thrown in the temple for the potter (11:12-13); that there will be a fountain for cleansing (13:1); that His hands and feet would be pierced (12:10) and that His feet would split the Mount of Olives in two, making a great valley (14:4). He tells us that Jerusalem will be restored and inhabited as a city without walls (2:4), with God being a wall of fire all around her. He tells us that Israel's enemies will dissolve away in one of the most graphic depictions of total horror found in Scripture (14:12-15).
Key Passage:
Zech 12:10 And I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace or unmerited favor and supplication. And they shall look [earnestly] upon Me Whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one who is in bitterness for his firstborn.
Key Lesson: The Messiah truly is coming and it is time to prepare ourselves and others.
Malachi
Malachi appears to be a contemporary of Nehemiah, prophesying approximately 70 years after the end of Zechariah's prophecy, and the last prophet in Old Testament Scripture. Malachi apparently prophesied while Nehemiah was in Babylon (Nehemiah 13:6), and addresses some similar sins. The problem with Israel was no longer idolatry, but spiritual indifference. Nothing mattered. Everyone was accepted by God and it was considered vain to be overly religious. God was distant and not immediately involved in the lives of people. This was the prevailing philosophy.
Into this mess marched Malachi with a message. In fact, the name "Malachi" means "my messenger." Malachi may be known as the rhetorical prophet. There is a standard motif: God makes a statement, the hearers contest the truth of the statement, and God demonstrates its truthfulness. This assertion, objection, and defense argument is readily apparent in the book, occurring seven times:
The book begins with the statement of God's love and ends with a curse. In response to the people's view of a distant God, God became personally involved in the book. 47 of the 55 verses involved God speaking in the first person to His people. 26 times the phrase "says the LORD of hosts" or a similar phrase appears.
The book is the last prophesy given. The book centers on laxity among the priests. For Christians, the next pronouncement of God after Malachi was to a priest, some 430 years later, by the name of Zechariah. The Old Testament ends and the New Testament picks up with God speaking to a priest(s). For Jews, this is the last Scriptural pronouncement of God for the last 2,400 years.
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Key Passage;
Mal 2:17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, In what way have we wearied Him? [You do it when by your actions] you say, Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord and He delights in them. Or [by asking], Where is the God of justice?
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