AN OVERVIEW OF THE MINOR PROPHETS

Transcription

1 AN OVERVIEW OF THE MINOR PROPHETS Hosea The prophet used his marriage to Gomer and her infidelity to describe the way Israel had violated her covenant with God. The theme of the book is God s steadfast love for Israel in spite of her continued unfaithfulness. Nahum The prophet's message was directed to the seat of Assyrian pride, the capital of Nineveh. Nahum predicted the day when God would be the avenger of Assyrian cruelty. Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah This prophet of Judah Concerning Israel, he Obadiah contains a Jonah is identified as a depicted God's judgment attacked the social evils stinging judgment on Jewish prophet who as a plague of of the people as well as Edom (descendants of was reluctant to take locusts which would their paganized worship. Esau) for its insensitivity God's message to the ravish the nation. to their Israelite broth- Assyrian Empire (Nine- ers (Obadiah 1:114). veh was the capital). During the Messianic Age, the prophet predicted an outpouring of God's Spirit (Joel 2:28-29), a reference later quoted by Peter at Pentecost (Acts 2:17-21). He declared that Israel s privileged position should have been an incentive to righteous living and not be used as an excuse for sinning. In a way, Jonah represents the disobedient, selfish Israel, not wanting the gentiles to have a share of God s mercy. Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi The prophet struggles The prophet sends a Haggai challenged the Like Haggai, Zechariah to answer the question warning concerning Governor, Zerubbabel, extends the challenge of why God is silent impending judgment and high priest, Joshua, to rebuild the temple. when the wicked swallow to assume leadership in up the more right- getting the people to eous (Habakkuk 1:13). rebuild the temple. associated with the day of the Lord and offers hope and consolation for those who will serve the Lord with one accord (Zephaniah 3:9). Micah insisted on pure worship rather than ritual (Micah 6:68). Micah 5:2 is quoted in the New Testament as a prediction that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Matt. 2:6). Malachi uses a question and answer method in his writings to rebuke the people of their neglect of their true worship of the Lord and calls them to repentance. Malachi insisted that people were robbing God by withholding tithes (Malachi 3:8-10) and that God hated divorce (Malachi 2:13-16).

2 INTRODUCTION While the southern nation of Judah had at least twelve prophetic books, directed towards it, the northern nation of Israel had but two prophets: Hosea and Amos. Both of them warned Israel that they would experience judgment for abusing their privileged position before God. HOSEA The prophet Hosea was instructed by God to marry a woman of whoredom and have children by her. He married Gomer but she continued to lead an adulterous lifestyle. Out of the three children Gomer bore, Hosea was probably not the father for the latter two. In a similar way, Israel was guilty of committing religious adultery (through idol worship) and political adultery (through trusting in other nations rather than God). The book of Hosea demonstrates the heart of God. Although God would expose the sins of His people and embarrass them in front of other nations, He gave them hope with the promise that Israel will be restored after captivity. Hosea was instructed to illustrate this promise by buying Gomer back from an open market to which she had sold herself. God s loyal love is tough love so He will do what it takes to bring us back to Him. JOEL Joel used the recent attack of locusts as a sign of God s judgment on the people of Judah. Wave upon wave of locusts totally devastated the land. In the same manner, a more dreadful day was coming to the people of Judah in the form of the Babylonian invasion. The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty are those who obey his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? "Even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning." - Joel 2:11-12 The Day of The Lord came in 586 BC when Jerusalem fell and the Jews were sent into exile in Babylon. The Day of the Lord came again in 70 AD when Jerusalem was again destroyed, this time by the Romans. We can be certain that the Day of the Lord will come again soon when God will judge all of us. Do we need God to strip us of everything before we repent? AMOS The Book of Amos begins with seven judgments upon the nations surrounding Israel as well as Israel itself, followed by three sermons against Israel s injustices illustrated through five visions of judgment and concluding with eight verses of hope in restoration. God s purpose of declaring judgment upon Israel for its social injustices was to motivate the nation to repent. As Christians, we too should never close a blind eye to social injustice.

3 OBADIAH The Edomites, descendents of Jacob s brother, Esau, rejoiced over the major foreign invasion which had recently occurred in Judah. They even took advantage of the situation by standing without helping, looking down on Judah in arrogance, taking some spoils for themselves, and ambushing survivors to give to the enemy. Obadiah prophesies a message of judgment upon Edom as a comfort to the people of Judah. The first part of the prophecy describes Edom s downfall for committing injustices towards Judah. The second part of the prophecy concerns judgement on end time nations who opposed Judah but blessings on Judah. The day of the Lord is near for all nations, as you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head. - Obadiah v. 15 (NIV) God does unto you as you have done unto others. JONAH Jonah was a prophet of the 8 th century who was a contemporary of the prophets Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah, Jonah and probably Joel. Jonah, an ordinary man in the ordinary course of his life, was called to proclaim God s message to the nation of Assyria and thus became a spokesman of God. His prophecy regarding the future warned of the consequences of failing to heed the prophet s message. The threat of the Assyrians who were merciless and savage people changed Israel s victory and expansion over the surrounding nations. Jonah was called to pronounce God s judgement upon them for their evil deeds. The word of the Lord came to Jonah ordering him to go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because the wickedness has come up before Him (Jonah: 1:2). Nineveh was a heathen city, without the knowledge and worship of the true God. Jonah must go and carry the message himself to this wicked city. Jonah dishonoured God by fleeing to Tarshish, the reason being he foresaw that the Ninevites would repent and God would forgive them. He went down to Joppa where he found a ship bound for that port (Jonah: 1:3). After paying the fare, he set sailed. Jonah was summoned to go eastward, but he fled in the opposite direction, from the Lord s presence announcing his unwillingness to serve God. After the ship s departure from Joppa, God sent a great wind on the sea. The storm is no coincidence. This wind was sent after Jonah to fetch him back again to God and to his duty. It is a great mercy to be reclaimed and called home when we go astray. All the sailors were afraid and each cried to his own god. Their efforts in throwing the cargo into the sea to ride the storm were futile. When life is threatened, material things are worthless. They can go. The parable of The Rich Fool teaches that a man s life does not consist in the abundance of his possession (Luke: 12:15). The futility of gaining the whole world and loosing one s soul is emphasised. (Mark: 8:36-37.) Jonah was in a deep sleep below deck, oblivious to the storm and the frantic activities of the sailors. Jonah s slumber was suddenly disturbed by the captain who asked him to call on his God. The sailors cast lots to determine who to blame for the storm and the lot fell on Jonah. The lot is cast into the lap, but we know that every decision is from the Lord (Proverbs16:33). Jonah was found out to be the cause of the storm.

4 The sailors fired several brief questions about his occupation, race and country. The initial question was Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? Jonah identified himself as a Hebrew and that his God is the LORD, the God of heaven He admitted that he fled from the presence of the Lord, neglecting his duty. This terrified the sailors. The sea was getting rougher and rougher. The poor sailors were reluctant to cast Jonah overboard as requested by him but they did what they could to save throwing Jonah into the sea, but all was in vain. Being convinced that the Lord is God alone they prayed to Jonah s God instead of their gods, not to let them drown or hold them accountable for Jonah s death before throwing him overboard. Calm followed and the sailors were more confirmed in their belief that Jonah s God was the only true God. Jonah s life was saved by a miracle. In judgement God remembers mercy. God prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. It was of the Lord s mercies that Jonah was not consumed. Jonah remained in the fish three days and three nights. Jonah prayed to the Lord his God inside the fish s belly. He began his psalm of thanksgiving by quoting Psalm 130:1, Out of the depths I cry to You, O LORD. Jonah cried for help and God heard him. Jonah recognised God offers forgiveness regardless of what a person has done, provided the person has a repentant heart. He expressed his confident expectation of God s deliverance. God answered Jonah by causing the fish to vomit him onto dry land. Jonah had a fresh opportunity when God called him a second time to go to Nineveh to proclaim God s message. Jonah willingly complied. God had reconciled with Jonah, showing that when God forgives He forgets. When God makes use of us, this is the best evidence of Him being at peace with us. It also portrays the graciousness of God in not giving up on us after our first failure. By God s grace the people of Nineveh, including the king believed and repented. The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit and contrite heart. Jonah expressed discontentment at God s mercy to Nineveh. Jonah wanted God to take away his life. He then built a shelter, sat down and waited to see what would happen to the city. God made a plant grow suddenly to provide shade for Jonah s refreshment from the raging heat. The next day God prepared a worm to kill the plant. Jonah wanted God to kill him too. God questioned Jonah s right to be angry. Jonah pitied the plant but God pitied the one hundred and twenty thousand children in Nineveh whose souls are immortal. Surely one soul is of more value than many gourds. No matter what our sins, God is ready to forgive. Our part is to repent and turn from evil to seek God s mercy and forgiveness. Also, Jesus commanded us to preach the gospel to all man. Therefore we, the people of God, are to share God s message to unbelievers. Micah Micah remains the only Old Testament book to specify the exact city in which the Messiah was to be born. (See Micah 5:2) In many ways, Micah is similar to Isaiah; both prophets addressed the same sins of the same people. However, most of Micah s prophecy concerned moral issues. Micah spoke more of Israel s future than any other prophet in proportion to his writing. Some of his predictions included the following: - The fall of Samaria - The invasion of Judah by Sennacherib - The fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple in 586 BC - The exile in Babylon

5 - The return from captivity and the future peace and supremacy of Israel - The birth of the Messiah King in Bethlehem Nahum Nahum is the only entire prophetic book against Assyria in the Old Testament. While Jonah is also concerned with this nation, it is a narrative account rather than a prophetic pronouncement. [Note: Habakkuk prophesised against Babylon and Obadiah against Edom. All these three nations (Assyria, Babylon and Edom) were the major empires that afflicted the Jewish people in the ninth to sixth centuries.] Unlike most prophets, the preaching of Nahum was not a call to repentance but rather an announcement of irreversible judgement. Habakkuk Habakkuk is the only pre-exilic prophet who is specifically designated a prophet by profession in the title of his book. [Note: Haggai and Zechariah were also designated prophets but preached after the exile.] Habakkuk questions God why Judah s sin had gone unpunished and God answered that Babylon wiil be His means of judgment, but that this nation will also be punished to encourage Judah to trust His sovereignty. Habakkuk responds by praising His sovereign, faithful working in the past so as to encourage Judah to trust God in the future despite the circumstances. Zephaniah Zephaniah is unique in that it is the only prophecy by a man of royal blood. Zephaniah s predominant theme is the same as that of Joel the day of the Lord. Zephaniah prophecies the day of the Lord judgment upon Judah, the surrounding nations, and the entire earth, and exhorts Judah to repent because of God s righteous character. Haggai Haggai was the first prophetic voice to be heard after the Babylonian exile. When the Jews returned from exile in Babylon, they adopted a similar lifestyle of comfort as their brethren who remained in Babylon. They lived in paneled houses while God s own house laid in ruins (Haggai 1:4). Therefore God raised Haggai and Zechariah, who addressed the people to encourage them to rebuild the temple (Haggai 1: 15). Haggai also explained that the reason the returnees experienced crop failure from a drought sent by God was to cause them to return to correct their priorities (Haggai 1:11). Zechariah Zechariah is another post-exilic prophet. Zechariah s prophecy aims to prepare the people of God for the coming Messiah by encouraging the nation to respond to its privileged covenant position among the nations by rebuilding the temple in light of future blessings when the Messiah rules in the kingdom. Zechariah is the longest of the Minor Prophets and is the most positive OT book with little about judgment and much about blessings. Malachi Over a century has passed since the people returned from exile. In Malachi, God rebukes the backslidden Jews for their sin by answering their defensive questions in order to encourage them to leave their sinful lifestyle and return to Him in preparation for the coming Day of Judgment and blessing.

6 Malachi marks the end of OT prophecy, closing up the divine utterances until the time of John the Baptist four hundred years later.