Text: O
Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the
years make known; in wrath remember mercy. Hab.3:1
When we speak of The Minor Prophets, we refer to Hosea, Joel,
Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and
Malachi. Though the message was shorter
than the major prophets, they were no less powerful nor no less needed. They should not be shunned just because they
are labeled minor and not significant. Many have forsaken the truths revealed
within these great books and have never taken the time to study them. Such people have deprived themselves of great
spiritual lessons that can be applied to Christians today.
In many of the scriptures, the warning given to Israel and
Judah can also be applied to America.
The major prophets
tend to get all the attention due to the universal tendency to assume that
bigger is better, other equally relevant but more concise representatives for
God also have something to say. Over time they come to be known as the Minor
Prophets, a term that refers to the shorter length of their books.
The mission of the
Minor Prophets was threefold:
(1) to encourage disobedient people to repent from sin;
(2) to encourage wayward people to return to God, and
(3) to encourage the people to remember that God will
ultimately triumph and God’s people will eventually be vindicated.
To fulfill this broad mission, the Minor Prophets used two
primary methods:
(1) the prophets preached or proclaimed the Word of God.
(2) the prophets prophesied.
Sometimes these two methods are popularly called foretelling
and forth-telling.
The Content of the
Prophecies:
Although there is some
variety in the content of the prophecies of the Minor Prophets, most of the
prophecies follow a basic fivefold pattern.
1) There is a warning of impending judgment because of
sinfulness. These sins are often understood against a covenantal backdrop.
(2) The prophetic warning is often followed by an
identification and description of the sin(s).
(3) Having identified the sin(s), the prophet then announces
and describes coming judgment.
(4) Impending judgment is often followed by a call for
repentance.
(5) The prophet then proclaims a promise of future
deliverance and/or restoration.
Despite being separated from each other by over five hundred
years, these prophets shared several messages which are relevant to this very
day. In each message of the prophet we
will see how Christ is portrayed.
Hosea- The Bridegroom
In his prophecies, Hosea denounces the corruption of the
rich and powerful, whose indifference to injustice is leading the people
towards inevitable destruction. While still outwardly powerful, the country’s
foundations have been weakened and undermined during years of lawlessness and violence.
Though his message is stark and dire, his belief in the people’s ability to
repent and return is even more significant, and Hosea tries to convince them
of the possibility of salvation, even when all seems lost. In its barest form,
we have seen Christ in a relationship with the people that is founded on love,
the love of a parent for an infant that He taught to walk (11:3), and we see
Christ as the Bridegroom showing His love for His betrothed (2:16).
Joel- The Baptizer
Messiah will offer salvation to all mankind (Joel 2:32, Rom
10:12-13)
Messiah would baptize people with the Holy Spirit (Joel
2:28-32)
Through repentance, disaster can be averted, and judgment can
be transformed to mercy. Joel is one of
the few prophets who successfully effects a transformation among the people.
In the third chapter, the outpouring of rain becomes a
metaphor for an outpouring of the LORD’s Holy Spirit among the people, as the
judgment day, approaches.
Amos- The Burden Bearer
God would darken the day at noon during Messiah's death (Amos
8:9, Matt 27:45-46)
Amos prophesied in the
middle of the eighth century BCE, in the generation preceding the destruction
of the northern kingdom of Israel at the hands of Assyria in 722 BCE.
Amos describes himself as both a shepherd (1:1) and as a
“tender of sycamore figs” (7:14).
The book contains three main sections.
1. The first two
chapters state that just as other nations experienced disaster through their
failure to behave morally, Israel will not escape a similar fate.
2. The next four
chapters wrestle with the people’s claim that their prosperity is evidence of
God’s favor.
3. The final three
chapters describe in explicit detail the prophet’s visions of the disasters
that await the people should they refuse to heed his warning and repent.
Obadiah- The Mighty Savior
The fourth book is the
shortest book in the Tanakh. It contains one stark message consisting of
criticism against Edom. Throughout history, Edom remained Israel’s merciless
enemy, and hatred made even more unforgivable due to their close blood
relationship: The Edomites were descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother. The
loathing for Edom became engraved in the Jewish mind, and in rabbinic thought,
all of Israel’s enemies are Edom’s spiritual descendants.
Jonah- The Resurrected Christ
The fifth book is one of the most famous books of the Bible
and one of the least understood it contains. The excitement of the giant fish
that swallows the runaway prophet. The suspense about whether the people of
Nineveh will repent, and the question if God will carry out his threat to
overturn the city. All tend to
overshadow the loud moral message contained in the book: the LORD is merciful,
patient, and forgiving, even to the worst scoundrels and enemies that humanity
knows, if they take steps towards justice, righteousness, and repentance.
Among the twelve minor prophets, Jonah himself is a type of
Christ. He was willing to die for his
people. He was in the “grave” the belly
of the whale for three days. He came
back from the dead after three days to bring salvation to a wicked nation.
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's
belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of
the earth. Matt. 12:40
Nineveh was the
capital of Assyria, and one can only imagine the feelings of the prophet when
asked to prophesy to save the city of Nineveh, Israel’s most bitter enemy who
would become the instrument of its annihilation. In Jonah’s mind, saving the
city of Nineveh would make him complicit in the destruction of his people. Is
this something he can do?
The book can be
divided into two sections of two chapters each. Each section contains a request
by God that Jonah prophesies to the people of Nineveh, the Assyrian capital,
and Jonah’s response. The first time, Jonah refuses to deliver the message and
attempts to flee, only to be stopped by the LORD. The second time the LORD
calls him, Jonah agrees, and tells the people of Nineveh that their end is
near. They repent, and God chooses to forgive them. When the prophet complains,
God demonstrates to him that His mercy extends to all the world’s inhabitants
and creatures.
Micah- King of the Jews
Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Mic 5:2, Matt 2:1-2)
Messiah would be from everlasting (Mic 5:2, Rev:1-8)
The northern Kingdom of Israel is conquered and exiled by the
Assyrian king Sargon II in 722 BCE, and just over twenty years later in 701
BCE, his son embarks on his own campaign of conquest, capturing all of Judah’s
fortified cities and laying siege to Jerusalem. Only through God’s miraculous
intervention by bringing a plague that strikes the Assyrian army at night,
killing hundreds of thousands and causing their retreat, is the country saved.
The brilliance of the
Hebrew prophets is expressed in their understanding that these events were not
accidental but were directly linked to the level of righteousness and justice
among the nation. Judah, unlike the idolatrous Israel, Judah continued to
worship the LORD. Like their northern brethren, however, unscrupulous officials
in the cities profited from the labor of the hard-working farmers in the
countryside. The prophet Micha was a strong opponent of these wealthy and powerful
men, denouncing them at every opportunity. It is not surprising that scholars
have referred to him as the “Amos of the southern Kingdom”. However, unlike
Amos, Micha was somewhat successful in effecting a change among his people.
When, a century later, Jeremiah is tried for sedition, the elders protested,
reminding them: Micah the Morasthite
prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people
of Judah, saying, Thus, saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a
field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the
high places of a forest.
19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to
death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented
him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus, might we procure
great evil against our souls. (Jeremiah 26:18-19).
The structure of the
book is straightforward. It contains three sections beginning in chapters 1, 3,
and 6. In each section, Micha outlines God’s complaint before the people,
clarifies what the LORD wants from them, and concludes with a message of hope
and salvation.
Nahum- The Avenger of God's Elect
The seventh book
begins, “A pronouncement on Nineveh. We
know nothing about the person behind the prophecy, nor can we identify the
location of Elkosh.
What this small book
does, however, is concentrate upon the imminent downfall of the Assyrian
empire, which had brutally dominated the Middle East for over five centuries.
The book provides a general outline of the period in which it was written; it
mentions the Assyrian conquest of Thebes (No-Ammon) in 663 BCE and prophesies
about the future ransacking of the Assyrian capital Nineveh, which fell in the
combined assault of Babylonia and Media in 612 BCE. These references position
Nahum in the middle of the seventh century BCE, a time when the helpless
Kingdom of Judah barely enjoyed vassal status in the vast Assyrian empire.
The empty fields of
the exiled kingdom of Israel to the north of Yehuda served as a grim reminder
of what awaited them should they similarly choose disobedience.
Its single-mindedness
empowers the message of Nahum's prophecy:
those who trust in God will find shelter while the rest of the world
trembles. The second chapter provides glimpses and flashes of Nineveh’s
imminent destruction. The final chapter explains the reason for Nineveh’s
sudden fall.
Habakkuk- The Great Evangelist, Crying for
Revival
Messiah would come from Teman at His return, full of glory
(Hab 3:3) Teman was east of Israel.
For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even
unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Matt.24:27
Typified in the life of Habakkuk (his intercession and prayer
for his people)
The eighth book is unique among the prophetic works of the
Bible. In most works, the prophets convey God’s message to the people. He saw that evil remained unpunished and
unbowed and challenged Heaven for a response. God does respond, and challenges
Habakkuk to wait and see how the Divine plan plays out through history. Until
then, “the righteous man is rewarded with life for his fidelity” (2:4).
We know little about
the prophet’s personal life. His name, from the Hebrew word to ‘embrace,’
appears only here. Most scholars place him near the end of Assyria’s reign.
That superpower, which brutally enslaved the Middle East for centuries, was
about to collapse. Unlike his predecessor Nahum, who rejoiced in Assyria’s
imminent downfall, Habakkuk saw that an even crueler and more vicious foe,
Babylon, would arise and take its place.
Ancient traditions
identify Habakkuk as the son of the Shunammite woman who Elisha revived, and as
one who was called by angels to feed Daniel when Daniel was in the lion’s den.
What this teaches is that his message was understood to span generations. Each
era faces its challenges to their beliefs, but we are called upon to trust in
God and His righteousness.
This short book
contains three sections; a two-part dialogue with the LORD, a series of taunts
towards Israel’s former oppressors, and a final request of God to overthrow all
evil and injustice in the world.
Zephaniah- The Restorer of the Remnant
The ninth book describes the last of the twelve prophets to
speak before Judah’s final disintegration and dissolution by Babylonia at the
end of the seventh century BCE. In the
country, wealthy courtiers profited from the toil of the oppressed citizenry.
Zephaniah speaks about how the people of God must live in
righteousness, which involves respecting the needs of the poor and engaging in
genuine worship. Otherwise, he warns, the LORD is preparing a day of judgment,
a “Day of the LORD.” It is up to the people to decide whether that judgment
will befall them, or their enemies.
The book contains five
sections in its three chapters.
1. Chapter 1 warns
about the approach of Divine judgment on the world, including Judah.
2. Chapter 2 repeats
the warning for specific other countries, excluding Judah.
3. Chapter 3 then
begins with Judah’s call to judgment, continues with God’s punishment and
concludes with the prophet urging Zion and Israel to rejoice, for, after the
judgment, God’s love and care for them will become evident to all.
Haggai- The Cleansing Fountain
Messiah would visit the 2nd temple (Hag 2:6-9, Luke 2:27-32)
The tenth book is the
first book written after the first wave of exiles returns to Jerusalem in 536
BCE.
After the Persian
empire defeated the Babylonians, Cyrus the Great allowed the Jewish exiles to
return home. Those Jews who returned to their ancestral land did so filled with
idealism and hope, but soon the harsh reality of rebuilding their destroyed
homes and repairing their scorched fields overtook them. The land was parched,
the rains did not fall, and the returnees were barely capable of sustaining
themselves. At the same time, the Persian empire was shaken by a series of
revolts (522-520 BCE), and the people who had moved into the land of Israel in
their absence began making trouble for the returnees.
Into this picture
stepped Haggai. He carried a brief, direct message. The people who lived in
Israel were not sinners, but they were so concerned with their individual
lives, needs and wants that they forgot the primary purpose of the return. The
reason the people of Israel were to dwell in the land of Israel was to proclaim
the name of the God of Israel. Instead of concerning themselves with their
personal needs, the people must dedicate their efforts to building a second
Temple, where God’s Presence can rest and from there, emanate all over the
world.
If the people of
Israel would recognize the greater significance of their actions and efforts,
not only would they receive rains of blessing, but they would also affect
change the world over. As described in Ezra (chapter 6), Haggai’s efforts were
not in vain; through his encouragement, the people completed building the
Temple and dedicated it in 516 BCE.
Zechariah- The Pierced Son
Messiah would be Priest and King (Zech. 6:12-13, Heb 8:1)
Messiah would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zech. 9:9,
Matt 21:6-9)
Messiah would be God (Zech. 11:12-13, John 12:45)
Messiah would be pierced (Zech. 12:10, John 19:34-37)
The eleventh book is one of the most mysterious books of the
Bible. It is the second of the three books written during the period of return
to the land of Israel after the Persians defeated the Babylonians in 538 BCE.
Several of Zechariah’s prophecies are dated to the second and fourth years of
the reign of Darius (520 and 518 BCE), at the time when the construction of the
second Temple had begun in earnest under the Persian-appointed governor
Zerubbabel. As such, it is not surprising that many of the visions in the book
describe the significance of the Temple and its reconstruction, and how it could
potentially allow Divine sovereignty to spread throughout the world.
We know more about
Zechariah than we do most other prophets. Like Ezekiel, he was a priest, and
his grandfather, Ido, is mentioned among the kohanim in Ezra chapter 5. His contemporaries include the prophet
Haggai, who began prophesying two months before him, and the high priest
Joshua. However, his message differs from that of Haggai, whose single-minded
focus was the encouragement of the Jewish people to build the Temple, so that God’s
rule could spread over the world. To this message, Zechariah adds a religious
and moral dimension. He encourages the people to repent, emphasizes that God’s
rule stands in contrast to military might – “Not by might, nor by power, but by
My spirit” (4:6) – and stresses that ritual fast day have no value unless
accompanied by the spiritual improvement.
The book has three
clear parts. The first six chapters describe a series of visions he has
regarding the building of the Temple and its significance. In the next two
chapters, he answers questions from the Jews who remained in Babylonia, about
how to adapt religiously to the new reality of a rebuilt Israel. The final six
chapters deal with visions of the distant future: Chapters 9-11 describe the
restoration of Judah and Ephraim and the imminent destruction of those nations
that stand against Israel, and the final three chapters describe the
tribulations that Jerusalem will face in the period preceding the end of days.
Malachi-
The Son of Righteousness
The last book of the
Twelve, not only concludes the twelve prophets in this book but also represents
the end of the era of prophecy in Israel. As such, this book must be understood
as a transition. The people are adjusting to life in the resettled land of Israel,
and to a world without prophecy. The book’s theme is outlined at the outset –
God’s love for His people Israel has never waned. The prophet is motivated to
rebuke the children of Israel so that they again become worthy of receiving His
love.
It is difficult to
pinpoint precisely when Malachi lived, or even if this was his name or a title
of some sort, as it means “my messenger.” The Talmud also suggests that he was
Ezra.
The enthusiasm that
had accompanied the original pilgrims and returnees had dissipated, and the
people’s moral standards had slipped. Offerings were given at the Temple, but
only perfunctorily, without emotion or passion. Gifts and tithes were only
occasionally brought to Jerusalem. There was a problem of intermarriage between
Jewish men and local Canaanite women and other foreigners, like the
difficulties faced by Ezra when he arrived in Israel in 458 BCE. The underlying
malaise that gripped the people was that they did not consider themselves
unique or worthy of God’s attention or affection. This sense permeated their
lives, and the commandments were performed by rote, if at all.
In chapter 1, Malachi
reiterates God’s love for Israel and then outlines the general problem that
their lives were devoid of spiritual passion and enthusiasm. When they asked
“how have we scorned Your name” and “how have we defiled You” (verses 6 and 7),
Malachi is prepared to answer, pointing to the meager offerings they brought to
Jerusalem. Much of the rebuke occurs in question and answer form; he wishes for
his listeners to understand and internalize his message. He then scolds them
that the Gentiles would never bring such pitiful offerings, a remarkable
statement that recognizes that all sincere worship is ultimately directed
towards the LORD, Jewish and non-Jewish.
In chapter 2, Malachi
addresses the priests and places upon them a new charge – beyond their ritual
responsibilities, and they are to become teachers of the Law to the people. He
then rebukes the people for profaning their holiness through intermarriage,
often at the expense of the wives of their youth. In the final chapter, Malachi
describes how God will send His messenger to purify the people of their sins
before judging them so that their offerings and their lives will once again be
pleasant before the Lord.
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