Minor Doesn't Mean Less Than...

An Introduction to the Minor Prophets

Many might ask why do we need to Study the Old Testament? What value is there to be found in these ancient antiquated writings of men before the first advent of Christ?

I would counter with the argument that while we today are no longer under the Old Testament as a system of justification that the Old Testament is of great value for us today for several reasons. First, the Old Testament was written for our learning, it is a source of comfort and hope for us today. Paul in Romans 15:4 states “For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures.” (HCSB, 2010)

The Old Testament was also written for our admonition so that we might learn from other’s mistakes and avoid them. (1 Corinthians 10:11) “Now these things happened to them as examples, and they were written as a warning to us, on whom the ends of the ages have come.”(HCSB, 2010)

Finally, as with all scripture inspired by God, the Old Testament is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:14-17 HCSB, 2010)

This holds especially true with regard to the writings referred to as the Minor Prophets.

My hope and prayer are that this post will serve a two-fold goal, first that it wets your appetite for studying these minor prophets and second that it will serve as your reference guide as we journey through the next months studying the proclaimed coming of Christ and his Gospel in these Old Testament books.

So, what are the Minor Prophets? Well, the short answer is that they are a collection of twelve books that make up the final part of the Old Testament. From Hosea to Malachi we have an eclectic collection of men from different walks of life, many of them overlapping, but each with a critical message from God.

If you are willing to take the time to study these books you will find your life enriched as you expand your knowledge and understanding of God’s holiness, righteousness, justice, and mercy. You will also grow in your understanding of God’s dealings with men.

As we prepare for our exploration of these writings, let’s spend some time answering some critical questions which will allow us to digest God’s word each week as we study.

So, we’ve looked briefly at WHAT the Minor Prophets are, but a slightly more pressing question is WHO were the prophets?

The Old Covenant had different voices in which it was recorded, five different types of instructors. You have Moses, the Lawgiver (Nehemiah 8:1,14; 9:13-14; John 1:17; 7:19). You also have the priests, these were those who administrated the law (Leviticus 10:8-11; Hosea 4:6; Ezekiel 22:26; Malachi 2:7) (Ellis, 1991). There were the wise men, who gave counsel (2 Samuel 14:1-24; 20:16-22). The psalmists, poets who were known as the "sweet singers" of Israel (Ellis, 1991) (2 Samuel 23:1; 1 Chronicles 6:33). And finally, there were the prophets, these were the communicators of the Word of God.

Literally, a prophet is a spokesman for someone else. The word prophet according to the Hebrew dictionary literally means “to boil up like a fountain.” Thus, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, a prophet being a spokesman for God (2 Peter 1:21) was given a message to be relayed, and they had no other option but to proclaim it! (Jeremiah 20:7-9). The prophets were primarily "forth-tellers," though sometimes they were "fore-tellers" in that God's word often pertained to future events. By the way, the fulfillment of these prophecies is a strong proof of inspiration!

There are a few other designations which define the role of a prophet. In 1 Samuel 9:9 they were called “seers.” 1 Kings 17:18 and 1 Samuel 9:6 they were referred to a “man of God.” They were known as a “servant of God” in 1 Kings 18:36 and 1 Chronicles 6:49. The prophet served as God’s “messenger” in Isaiah 42:19 and in Ezekiel 3:17; 33:7 they were assigned the role of “watchman.”

The prophets of the Old Testament were men, but they were also servants of God, men who were divinely appointed and inspired to proclaim the message they were given. There were times which the message applied to the then present day, as they served as watchmen of the people of God. There were still other times, God’s message pertained to the future, and as such, they were “seers” of things to come.

It is important to note that there are different classifications of prophets in that you have “oral” and “literary” prophets.

The oral prophets were those such as Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 17; 2 Kings 2), Nathan (2 Samuel 12), Gad (2 Samuel 24:11), and Ahijah (1 Kings 11:29) who left no writings bearing their names.

Which leaves the “literary” prophets. These were those who left books bearing their names. The literary prophets are subdivided into Major and Minor Prophets. This traces back to Augustine (Ellis, 1991). The distinction between the major and minor pertains only to the length of the books.

The "major prophets" include the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel. The "minor prophets" consist of twelve books in all, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

Another important thing to note is that in considering the “literary” prophets is that when you look at the table of contents in your Bible the order of the books is not chronological. For the sake of establishing a sound basis in our Biblical understanding, we are going to move through them chronologically rather than as they are found in the Biblical Canon.

Now, any time you begin to assign dates to things in scripture you open yourself to controversy. Thus, for the purposes of this guide and the purpose of our preaching series, we will stay within the estimates agreed upon by most conservative scholars.

The dates for breakdown are extracted from The Bible Exposition Commentary (Wiersbe, 2002):

NINTH CENTURY (EARLY ASSYRIAN PERIOD)

      1. Obadiah (ca. 845 B.C)

      2. Joel (ca 830 B.C.)

      3. Jonah (790-750 B.C.)

      -- These three prophets were active during the period known as "The Divided Kingdom" in Israel's history. The empire of Assyria was just beginning to make its presence known in Israel.

EIGHTH CENTURY (ASSYRIAN PERIOD)

      1. Amos (755 B.C.)

      2. Hosea (750-725 B.C.)

      3. Isaiah (740-700 B.C.)

      4. Micah (735-700 B.C.)

      -- In 722 B.C., we know the northern kingdom of Israel was taken into Assyrian captivity. These four prophets were tasked with proclaiming God's message as the nation was being threatened from the north.

SEVENTH CENTURY (CHALDEAN PERIOD)

      1. Jeremiah (626-586 B.C.)

      2. Zephaniah (630-625 B.C.)

      3. Nahum (625-612 B.C.)

      4. Habakkuk (625-605 B.C.)

      -- The Assyrians were eventually defeated by the Babylonians; these four prophets served as God's messengers during the period the Babylonian empire threatened the kingdom of Judah.

SIXTH CENTURY (THE EXILE)

      1. Ezekiel (593-570 B.C.)

      2. Daniel (605-536 B.C.)

      -- Like many of their countrymen, these prophets were taken into Babylonian captivity; from Babylon, they served as God's messengers to both captives and kings

SIXTH AND FIFTH CENTURIES (POST-EXILIC PERIOD)

      1. Haggai (520 B.C.)

      2. Zechariah (520-518 B.C.)

      3. Malachi (ca. 440 B.C.)

      -- Following the return from Babylonian captivity, God used Haggai and Zechariah to encourage the people to rebuild the temple.  Sixty to eighty years later, Malachi was used as an instrument to bring about reform in the priesthood during the period of Ezra and Nehemiah which we studied last year in more depth. 

So, we’ve seen the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, let’s take a few moments in closing and examine our basis for understanding the message of the prophets.

In studying the prophets, there are three things in which you need to keep in mind.

     1. You must always seek to understand the political, social and religious conditions of the times. Any interpretation must consider how the message was relevant for the people to whom the prophet spoke. We often see the secondary fulfillment of prophecy in the New Testament, but this must be understood in context and should only be understood as applied by inspired writers of the New Testament. We must guard against making interpretations that are purely speculative. Also, any application to recent events must be carefully harmonized in light of the New Testament.

      2. You must also consider God's relationship to the nations of the day other than Israel and Judah. The writings of the prophets often revealed how God would direct their destiny and also how he judged them. Considering this can also provide insight as to how Christ rules the nations today (Matthew 28:18; Revelation 1:5; 2:26;27).

      3. The final thing you must look for is any teaching regarding the Messiah and His coming kingdom (Acts 26:6-7; 28:20). While the primary mission of most of the prophets was to facilitate the repentance of  God’s people from idolatry and wickedness many left a message of hope for the future, pointing to the advent of the Messiah who would ultimately arrive and establish a kingdom which stands for eternity.

The final thing I want to address with this post is six of the major themes that are developed by the Minor Prophets in their writings. We see them consistently throughout scripture and further elaborated by the New Testament writers, but the Prophets provide a unique perspective which benefits our study.  

      1. The holiness of God - God is absolutely pure, absolutely righteous, and absolutely just; he is unnecessarily merciful, amazingly tender, perfectly loving, and forever patient.

      2. The sovereignty of God – Simply, He rules the universe and is above all.

      3. The immutability of God's Word (I heard a great sermon by Dr. Al Mohler on the immutability (or unchanging nature) of God at the Jax Pastor’s Conference, so when we look at this theme in a few weeks I will share it with you!

      4. The wretchedness of sin, we tend in today’s culture to whitewash sin, but the truth is God abhors sin, and will not tolerate, overlook, nor excuse it. Graciously he is willing to forgive those who humbly repent.

      5. Repentance and righteousness are the clarion call of the prophets. God’s punishment for the wicked is severe, but his mercy is great in loving-kindness upon the righteous who approach the throne with a broken spirit and contrite heart of true repentance.

      6. The worship due to God -  We don’t worship for ourselves we worship. The prophets outline for us and remind us that the proper reverence, awe, and respect for God will inevitably cause one to praise Him and give thanks for His wonderful grace and mercy!

So, why do we study the minor prophets? Because in them we learn about the nature of God, His holiness, justice, righteousness, and mercy. We learn of the workings of God, as He deals with the nations, bringing judgment upon the guilty. Ultimately this can help us in our relationship with God today, giving us a comfort and hope to face the future, recognizing that God is in ultimate control.

I hope that you are as excited about this series as I am!

See you Sunday as we start with Obediah – be sure to read it and be ready!

References

(2015). Retrieved from Bible History Online: http://www.bible-history.com

BibleGateway. (n.d.). Retrieved 09 24, 2015, from http://biblegateway.com

Ellis, E. E. (1991). The Old Testament in Early Christianity. Germany.

HCSB. (2010). Holman Christian Standard Bible. Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.

Keathley, H. (2004, May 19). Bible.org. Retrieved 09 2015, from https://bible.org/article/jacob

Wiersbe, W. (2002). The Bible Exposition Commentary. David C Cook.