BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
15 THE MINOR PROPHETS
THE MINOR PROPHETS
•This title refers to the shortness of their works; not their importance.
•There are twelve minor prophets.
•The Hebrew Bible calls them “The Book of the Twelve” since they have been arranged
into one collection and put on one scroll.
•These prophets span over three centuries (c. 770 – 430 BC)
•Divided into three sections
•Northern Kingdom: Jonah, Amos and Hosea
•Southern Kingdom: Obadiah, Joel, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah and Habakkuk
•Post-Exile: Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi
•Focus of the Minor Prophets
•Confronting sin of the day
•Instructing people how to live in faithful obedience to the Lord
•Contemporary issues more than future events
•Their Topics:
•Proper use of wealth
•Treatment of poor
•Legal justice
•War
•Violence
•Responsibility of leadership
•Their Message:
BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
•To call the people to repentance to avert divine judgment
•Warn of judgment - of exile (if no repentance)
•Offer a future hope following exile
•Unifying Themes
•Israel’s failure to repent
•The Day of the Lord (both near and far)
•A day of both darkness and light
•Sometimes it represents the judgment of the nation
•At other times it is the final judgment of God at the end of time
•The broken and restored covenant
•A promise of a new David
JONAH
•Prophet of the North, 784-770 B.C.
•God tells him to go to Ninevah (Assyria’s capital) to preach judgment and repentance
•Jonah flees via boat to Tarshish
•God sends a storm and Jonah is thrown overboard
•He is swallowed by a big fish
•After praying a prayer of repentance for his rebellion, God has the fish vomit him up on
the beach
•Jonah then goes to Nineveh to preach
•When the people respond, Jonah is annoyed
•The book ends with God declaring that He loves the Ninevites just like He loves the Jews
BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
AMOS
•Shepherd that became a prophet to the North
•1-2 Judgment against the nations
•3-5 Judgment against Israel
•Judgment is coming if they do not to repent
•They don’t listen because they experiencing economic prosperity
•They are like a basket of summer fruit– they look good but are ripe for judgment
HOSEA
•Prophet (755-720 B.C.) called by God to preach repentance to the Northern Kingdom
•God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute, Gomer, as a symbol to reflect Israel’s relationship
with God
•They have three children with symbolic names
•Yet, God always leaves hope for the future
•Hosea 3:4-5
•God renames Hosea’s children
•Hosea illustrates God’s love for Israel
OBADIAH
•Prophet in the South, but message is to Edom
•The Edomites think they are invincible, but judgment is coming for their evil + their
helping Babylon destroy Jerusalem
BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
•God judges world and the nations
JOEL
•Prophet to the South
•Theme of the Book: Coming Day of the Lord
•However, he also has a note of hope for the future
•Joel 2:28-31!!
MICAH
•Prophet to the South (735-700 B.C.) + contemporary of Isaiah
•Key Prophecies:
•Fall of both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms
•Return from exile 4:10
•Birth of Messiah at Bethlehem 5:2
•Salvation of Gentiles 4:1-2 (Same as Isaiah 2:2-4)
•Message: judgment hopeand
•Micah 6:8!
NAHUM
•Prophet to the South from 650-620 B.C.
•A companion book with Jonah
•Jonah preaches repentance to Nineveh; Nahum preaches their destruction because they
people had turned back to their wicked ways
BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
•Babylon destroys Nineveh in 612 B.C.
•Key promise: Nahum 1:7
ZEPHANIAH
•Prophet to the South from 635-625 B.C.
•Relative of King Josiah & helps lead reforms/revival
•He focuses on the coming judgment of both Judah and the nations, but also has a strong
focus on God’s restoration of Judah in the future
•Key promise: Zephaniah 2:3
HABAKKUK
•Prophet to the South in 620-610 B.C
•Asks why God is allowing the Babylonians, who are worse than the Judeans, to conquer
Jerusalem?
•God answers that He will use Babylon to judge Judah, but then will judge Babylon for
their sins as well.
•Key promise: Habakkuk 2:4
•“the righteous shall live by his faith”
•Hopeful and powerful ending: Habakkuk 3:17-19
•“yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take take joy in the God of my salvation”
HAGGAI
•Post-exile prophet around 520 B.C.
BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
•Encourages the rebuilding the Second Temple even amidst setbacks
•Key Promise: Haggai 2:9
ZECHARIAH
•Post exilic prophet from 520-500 B.C.
•Leader of the priests
•The minor prophet with the most Messianic prophecies in order to prepare for the coming
Messiah
•Branch 3:8, 6:12
•King-Priest 6:13
•Betrayal 11:12-13
•Crucifixion 12:10
•Smitten Shepherd 13:7-9
•Lowly king 9:9 (cf. Mt 21:5; Jn 12:15)
•Second Coming 14:4
MALACHI
•Post-exilic prophet from 435-430 B.C.,
•The last of the prophets
•He gives both a warning against backsliding and a promise of the promise messenger that
will come to lead into the Messiah
•2 Key Promises
•Malachi 3:1
BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
•Malachi 4:5
MINOR PROPHETS WRAP UP
•God judges the sin of nations, including the sin of His own people
•Even though God judges, He also always provides hope and redemption.
•The Messiah is coming
The Old Testament never really ends but looks toward a fulfillment when the Messiah will come,
die, resurrect, bring salvation to both Jew and Gentile, and ultimate rule the world in a Messianic
Kingdom.
