Nine Minor Prophets
Today’s reading takes us through the last nine Minor Prophets. Some of these nine share common features with each other. Obadiah, Jonah, and Nahum all focus on a Gentile nation. Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah all date to the seventh century BC. Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are all set in the postexilic period.
Obadiah
Obadiah is a message of coming doom upon Edom, who is condemned because of her mistreatment of her “brother, Jacob” (v. 9). Verse 15 is the theme verse of the book—“as you have done it shall be done to you”—and the repeated words possess and possession (vv. 17, 19-20) speak of Edom’s fate as a reversal of fortunes, as the “house of Jacob” repossesses its possessions and Mount Zion rules over Edom.
Jonah
Jonah refused to preach in Nineveh because he did not want the city to experience the goodness and grace of God (4:2). Throughout the book God “prepares” four things to instruct His erring servant. Can you find all four (1:17; 4:6-8)? (We could add the storm in 1:4 as a fifth.) Jonah 4 unlocks the core message of the book. The unanswered question which closes the book (4:11) is the question all of us must answer: Does God have the right to care about people that mean very little to us but a great deal to Him?
Micah
Micah opens with a message against Samaria and Jerusalem, but his primary target is Jerusalem. Like Amos did Israel, Micah excoriates Jerusalem and its leaders for its mistreatment of others. Rulers, priests, and prophets alike are corrupt (3:11). Micah’s three oracles (chs. 1-2, 3-5, 6-7) each begin with an announcement of judgment but end with a message of hope (2:12-13; 5:3-15; 7:15-20). Judgment precedes hope—Zion must be undone so that it can be remade (see 3:12-4:8). The unnamed city that has not harkened to Yahweh’s voice (6:9) is Jerusalem. His people’s disloyalty angers Him (7:18), but His covenant loyalty means that forgiveness lies on the far end of punishment (7:19-20).
Nahum
Nahum proclaims Nineveh’s downfall as good news for God’s people, Judah (1:15). Thus, he weaves back and forth in his oracles between Nineveh (1:8-12a, 14; 2:1, 3) and Judah (1:12b-13, 15; 2:2). A poetic threefold declaration of who Yahweh is (1:2-3, 7) begins the book, and the fact that that God is against Nineveh is what spells her death knell (2:13; 3:5). Not even Nineveh the Great has a chance against Him.
Habakkuk
Habakkuk, like Jonah, exposes the thought life of one of God’s prophets by recording a conversation Habakkuk had with God shortly before God began using Babylon to punish Judah. Habakkuk opens the conversation by expressing his frustration with the rampant injustice in his country (1:2-4) but his frustration shifts to consternation (1:12-2:1) at God’s answer (1:5-11): punish Judah with Babylon? Use a greater criminal to punish a lesser? Watch as Habakkuk moves “from fear to faith” (as D. Martyn Lloyd Jones puts it in his Habakkuk commentary)—after all, the just live by faith (2:4)—and rises to rejoicing in God even when there is no visible reason to rejoice (3:17-19).
Zephaniah
Zephaniah, like Joel, speaks much of the Day of the Lord. In Zephaniah, that Day of the Lord is a worldwide mop-up operation that will effectively purify the nations (1:2-3, 14-18; 3:9). The scope is so extensive that it is not even certain the righteous will be hidden in the day of God’s anger (2:1-3). Various nations are singled out for punishment in that Day (2:4-15) but the primary target, main culprit, and chief disappointment is Jerusalem (1:4-13; 3:1-7), which sinned against such great light. Jerusalem’s untamed rebellion means that her restoration must wait until after the coming day of judgment (3:8). But the wait will be worth it—her and God’s exuberant jubilation ends the book of Zephaniah (3:14-20).
Haggai and Zechariah
Haggai and Zechariah were contemporaries who encouraged the postexilic community to rebuild the Temple. Haggai shows how the community had placed their priorities before God’s. Zechariah, on the other hand, reveals, through visions (chs. 1-6), timely words from the Lord (chs. 7-8), and oracles (chs. 9-14), that the Temple is His priority. Jerusalem and worship at its Temple is at the center of the future, not just for God’s people but for the world (6:15; 8:20-23; 14:16-21).
Malachi
Malachi gives God’s answers to Israel’s questions in six “disputations” (1:2-5; 1:6-2:9; 2:10-16; 2:17-3:5; 3:6-12; 3:13-4:3). Israel’s questions reveal a deadness or formality in their worship of and thinking about God that does not bode well for the nation if it does not change its outlook. Malachi closes with a backward look (4:4)—to the law given by Moses a thousand years earlier—and a forward look (4:5)—to the coming of “Elijah the prophet” (John the Baptist), whose arrival would be the inaugural incident in a series of events that would usher in the Day of the Lord. The consequences are severe if Israel fails to remember Moses and recognize Elijah. God will strike their land with a curse (4:6). Israel did fail as the New Testament reveals, and the result is history—the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans.
Obadiah
Obadiah is a message of coming doom upon Edom, who is condemned because of her mistreatment of her “brother, Jacob” (v. 9). Verse 15 is the theme verse of the book—“as you have done it shall be done to you”—and the repeated words possess and possession (vv. 17, 19-20) speak of Edom’s fate as a reversal of fortunes, as the “house of Jacob” repossesses its possessions and Mount Zion rules over Edom.
Jonah
Jonah refused to preach in Nineveh because he did not want the city to experience the goodness and grace of God (4:2). Throughout the book God “prepares” four things to instruct His erring servant. Can you find all four (1:17; 4:6-8)? (We could add the storm in 1:4 as a fifth.) Jonah 4 unlocks the core message of the book. The unanswered question which closes the book (4:11) is the question all of us must answer: Does God have the right to care about people that mean very little to us but a great deal to Him?
Micah
Micah opens with a message against Samaria and Jerusalem, but his primary target is Jerusalem. Like Amos did Israel, Micah excoriates Jerusalem and its leaders for its mistreatment of others. Rulers, priests, and prophets alike are corrupt (3:11). Micah’s three oracles (chs. 1-2, 3-5, 6-7) each begin with an announcement of judgment but end with a message of hope (2:12-13; 5:3-15; 7:15-20). Judgment precedes hope—Zion must be undone so that it can be remade (see 3:12-4:8). The unnamed city that has not harkened to Yahweh’s voice (6:9) is Jerusalem. His people’s disloyalty angers Him (7:18), but His covenant loyalty means that forgiveness lies on the far end of punishment (7:19-20).
Nahum
Nahum proclaims Nineveh’s downfall as good news for God’s people, Judah (1:15). Thus, he weaves back and forth in his oracles between Nineveh (1:8-12a, 14; 2:1, 3) and Judah (1:12b-13, 15; 2:2). A poetic threefold declaration of who Yahweh is (1:2-3, 7) begins the book, and the fact that that God is against Nineveh is what spells her death knell (2:13; 3:5). Not even Nineveh the Great has a chance against Him.
Habakkuk
Habakkuk, like Jonah, exposes the thought life of one of God’s prophets by recording a conversation Habakkuk had with God shortly before God began using Babylon to punish Judah. Habakkuk opens the conversation by expressing his frustration with the rampant injustice in his country (1:2-4) but his frustration shifts to consternation (1:12-2:1) at God’s answer (1:5-11): punish Judah with Babylon? Use a greater criminal to punish a lesser? Watch as Habakkuk moves “from fear to faith” (as D. Martyn Lloyd Jones puts it in his Habakkuk commentary)—after all, the just live by faith (2:4)—and rises to rejoicing in God even when there is no visible reason to rejoice (3:17-19).
Zephaniah
Zephaniah, like Joel, speaks much of the Day of the Lord. In Zephaniah, that Day of the Lord is a worldwide mop-up operation that will effectively purify the nations (1:2-3, 14-18; 3:9). The scope is so extensive that it is not even certain the righteous will be hidden in the day of God’s anger (2:1-3). Various nations are singled out for punishment in that Day (2:4-15) but the primary target, main culprit, and chief disappointment is Jerusalem (1:4-13; 3:1-7), which sinned against such great light. Jerusalem’s untamed rebellion means that her restoration must wait until after the coming day of judgment (3:8). But the wait will be worth it—her and God’s exuberant jubilation ends the book of Zephaniah (3:14-20).
Haggai and Zechariah
Haggai and Zechariah were contemporaries who encouraged the postexilic community to rebuild the Temple. Haggai shows how the community had placed their priorities before God’s. Zechariah, on the other hand, reveals, through visions (chs. 1-6), timely words from the Lord (chs. 7-8), and oracles (chs. 9-14), that the Temple is His priority. Jerusalem and worship at its Temple is at the center of the future, not just for God’s people but for the world (6:15; 8:20-23; 14:16-21).
Malachi
Malachi gives God’s answers to Israel’s questions in six “disputations” (1:2-5; 1:6-2:9; 2:10-16; 2:17-3:5; 3:6-12; 3:13-4:3). Israel’s questions reveal a deadness or formality in their worship of and thinking about God that does not bode well for the nation if it does not change its outlook. Malachi closes with a backward look (4:4)—to the law given by Moses a thousand years earlier—and a forward look (4:5)—to the coming of “Elijah the prophet” (John the Baptist), whose arrival would be the inaugural incident in a series of events that would usher in the Day of the Lord. The consequences are severe if Israel fails to remember Moses and recognize Elijah. God will strike their land with a curse (4:6). Israel did fail as the New Testament reveals, and the result is history—the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans.
Review & Application:
- In what way(s) does Obadiah develop Edom’s reversal of fortunes?
- What question (that we all must answer) ends the book of Jonah?
- The Book of Micah consists of how many oracles? (Look at the repeated introductory formula in 1:2; 3:1; 6:1.)
- What good news for Judah does Nahum’s book proclaim?
- Habakkuk, through conversations with God, moves from fear to what? (Have you ever tried conversing with God about your fears?)
- According to Zephaniah, what will the Day of the Lord be like?
- What important rebuilding project is the focus of both Haggai and Zechariah?
- With what “backward look” and “forward look” does Malachi close?
- What does God promise will happen if Israel fails in those two looks (4:6)?
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