The 12 minor (as in length of book) prophets of Israel (850 to 430 BC) warn of impending judgment with the glimmer of hope for the remnant.
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The Minor Prophetic Books
- Timeline
- Summary
- Some “latter days” prophecies
Minor Prophets – Summary [1]
| Group | Book |
Approx. Dates |
|
Pre-exilic prophets of Israel
|
Jonah Amos Hosea |
780-850 765-750 755-715 |
| Pre-exilic prophets of Judah | Obadiah Joel Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah |
840 835-796 740-690 630-612 606-604 625 |
| Post-exilic prophets | Haggai Zechariah Malachi |
520 515 430 |
Hosea – with the Prostitute
Object lesson to:
- Israel’s “adulterous affairs”
- God’s willingness to forgive
Jonah – The Reluctant Prophet
Jonah:
- attempted running away from God
- praised God in the belly of the fish
- complained when his message was effective at Ninevah
- was furious when personal comfort was removed
AMOS – the Plumbline
- Amos was a simple shepherd
- He preached message to complacent, spiritually lazy, and hypocritical, unjust Israel
- During his tenure, slavery, greed, and mistreatment of the poor were rampant.
Obadiah – Judgment to Edom
Nahum – Judgement to Assyria
Joel
He prophesies:
- The Judgment as an invasion of locusts
- The pouring out of the Holy Spirit
Micah – Right Living
Not false prophets
Not hypocritical religion,
but
obedience
Habakkuk – Live by Faith
Habakkuk 1:3
Habakkuk: “Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.”
God: Habakkuk 1:5 “Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed
Habakkuk 2:4 “The righteous person will live by his faithfulness”
Zephaniah – Judgment and Restoration
He foretells:
- Judgment to both Israel and other nations
- Restoration of Israel
Zephaniah 3:9 “Then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him shoulder to shoulder.”
Haggai
Haggai 2:3-5 “Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? But now be strong, Zerubbabel,” declares the LORD. “Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,” declares the LORD, “and work. For I am with you,” declares the LORD Almighty. “This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.”
Zechariah - End Days
Mourning for the Pierced One
Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
Zechariah - End Days
Idolatry Cut Off
Zechariah 13:1 “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.
The Nations Worship the King
Zechariah 14:14 Judah also will fight at Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the surrounding nations Shall be gathered together: Gold, silver, and apparel in great abundance. 15 Such also shall be the plague. On the horse and the mule, On the camel and the donkey, And on all the cattle that will be in those camps. So shall this plague be.
16 And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
Zechariah - End Days
The Millenial Kingdom
Zechariah 14:9 And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be “The Lord is one,” And His name one.10 All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be raised up and inhabited in her place from Benjamin’s Gate to the place of the First Gate and the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses.11 The people shall dwell in it; And no longer shall there be utter destruction, But Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.12 And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, and their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths.
Feast of Tabernacles 2016- 20 nations
Zechariah - End Days
Holiness
Zechariah 14:20 In that day “HOLINESS TO THE LORD” shall be engraved on the bells of the horses. The pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. 21 Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts.
The Remnant
Zechariah 13:8 And it shall come to pass in all the land,” Says the Lord, “That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one-third shall be left in it: 9 I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”
Malachi
The Prophetic Books - Flashback
- “The overall picture the prophetic books paint is of a people desperately in need of a divine mediator to save them from their sin”.[2]
- The stage is set for the Messiah, though few were prepared for the way he made his appearance in our world.
New Covenant
Jeremiah 31:31-34 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.“ (Also quoted in Hebrew 8:4-13)
Discussion
- What are key lessons we can learn from the minor prophets?
- In what ways can we prepare for Christ’s second coming?
References
- Bible.org
- Biblegateway.com
- Dr. Heinz Lycklama