The Minor Prophets
Of the Old Testament
St. Mina Coptic Orthodox Church
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Pre-Servant 2012
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The Minor Prophets
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2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Hosea – “Salvation” “God saves” (750-725
BC)
Joel – “Jehovah is God” (830 BC)
Amos – “Burden-bearer” (755 BC)
Obadiah – “Servant /worshiper of Jehovah”
(845 BC)
Jonah – “Dove” (780 BC)
Micah – “Who is like the Lord?” (740-700 BC)
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The Minor Prophets
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Nahum – “Consolation” or “Comforter” (630612 BC)
Habakkuk – “Embrace” (612-606 BC)
Zephaniah – “Jehovah Hides” (625 BC)
Haggai – “Festive or Festival” (520 BC)
Zachariah – “Jehovah Remembers” (520-518
BC)
Malachi – “My Messenger/Angel” (445-432
BC)
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The Minor Prophets
• Put together as one book by the men of the great
synagogue in Ezra’s time
• called minor prophets, not because their writings are
of any less authority or usefulness than those of the
greater prophets, less in God’s account , but only
because they are shorter, and less in bulk than the
other
• Nine of these prophets prophesied before the
captivity
• The last three after the return of the Jews to their own
land
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1. The prophet Hosea
• Hosea means God Saves
• First of all the writing prophets, being raised up
before the time of Isaiah
• Message deepened by the painful experience he
underwent in his married life, Gomer the adulteress
who symbolized faithless Israel. As he couldn’t give
up his wife, so Yahweh could not renounce Israel
who betrothed to him
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The prophet Hosea
• Prophecy of baby Jesus, St. Mary and Joseph leaving
Egypt and returning to Galilee
• Prophecy of the destruction of the kingdom of the ten
tribes when it was at a great distance, and lived
himself to see and lament it, and to improve it when it
was over, for warning to its sister kingdom
• The scope: to discover sin, denounce the judgments
of God against a people that would not be reformed
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The prophet Hosea
• Style above any of the prophets, in some places it
seems to be like the book of Proverbs, without
connection
• Speaks of Israel as earth not heaven to describe the
low state that the people reached spiritually and
morally
• Teach the relation between God and His people, even
if Israel betrayed Him as her pious spouse, He still
ask for her to be chastised
• Last chapter: the fruits of repentance
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2. The Prophet Joel
• Joel means “Jehovah is God”
• Joel from the tribe of Reuben, born in north west of
Jerusalem. (Others see him from the tribe of Judah)
• Appeared about the same time as Amos. Amos was in
Israel and Joel in Judah. God sent a variety of
prophets, that they might strengthen the hands one of
another and that “Out of the mouth of two or three
witnesses every word might be established”
• The Spirit poured out on humanity the day of
Pentecost
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The Prophet Joel
1. Chapter 1,and part of 2 : the desolations made by
hosts of harmful insects
2. The people are called to repentance
3. Promises are made of the return of mercy upon their
repentance, and promises of the pouring out of the
Spirit in the latter days
4. Glorious things are spoken of the gospel – Jerusalem
and the prosperity of it
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3. The prophet Amos
• Amos means a burden, or burden bearer
• Known as having a slow tongue, spoke with
stammering lips
• Appeared a little before Isaiah. Mistaken to be the
father of Isaiah, for Isaiah was a member of the
aristocracy, Amos was a country-farmer
• Was of Judah, but prophesied against Israel
• Was met with opposition in his work, but was a man
of fearless resolution , faithful in reproving sin,
denouncing the judgments of God for it, pressing
tirelessly to repentance and reformation
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The prophecy of Amos
• Begins with threatening against the neighboring
nations that were enemies to Israel
• Calls Israel to account and judges them for their
idolatry, unworthy walking under the favors God had
bestowed upon them
• Calls them to repentance, rejecting their hypocritical
sacrifices unless they did repent
• Foretells the desolations that were coming upon them
• Concludes with a promise of the setting up of the
Messiah’s Kingdom and the happiness of God’s
spiritual Israel
• A Message to wealthy and religious leaders about
their greed, selfishness, immorality, bribery and
injustice
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The prophecy of Amos
• This book shows Amos’s
1. humbleness: didn’t deny his profession as a shepherd
2. courage: didn’t run away from his mission though
the threatens of the King to him
3. wisdom: didn’t only speak to the rich people but
called everyone to repentance
4. faithfulness in offering God’s word without
compromising
5. work as shepherd gave him the life of contemplation
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4. The prophecy of Obadiah
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Obadiah means worshiper of Jehovah
Shortest of all the books of the Old Testament
Was probably contemporary with Hosea and Amos
Others think he lived about the time of the destruction
of Jerusalem, when the children of Edom triumphed
in that destruction
• All the writings concerning Edom, a nation nearly
allied to Israel, and yet an enemy to the seed of Jacob,
inheriting the enmity of their father Esau to Jacob
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The prophecy of Obadiah
Speaks about:
1- Coming Day of the Lord; threatening against Edom,
that their pride should be humbled
2- their wealth should be plundered, and their wisdom
should be taken
4- their spiteful behavior towards God’s Israel should be
avenged
5- Promises to Israel, that they shall be restored and
reformed, victorious over the Edomites, become
masters of their land and the kingdom of the Messiah
shall be set up by the bringing in of the great
salvation.
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5. The book of Jonah
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(5th century B.C.)
Jonah means pigeon
Thought to be the dead son of the widow whom
Elijah brought to life
Prophet of the land of Israel (the northern Kingdom)
Prophecy against Nineveh, recorded chiefly for the
gospel with its message of redemption for all, both
Jews and Gentile
Prophesying of Christ, of whom Jonah was a type
Contains very remarkable instances of human
infirmity in Jonah, and of God’s mercy both in
pardoning repenting sinners, and in bearing with
complaining saints
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6. The Prophecy of Micah
• Micah, short for Michael, means “like God”
• Scope of the book:
1- to convince sinners of their sins by setting them in
order before them, charging both Israel and Judah
with idolatry, materialism, oppression, contempt of
the word of God, and their rulers especially with the
abuse of their power
2- to comfort God’s people with promises of mercy
and deliverance, especially with the coming of the
Messiah and the grace of the gospel through him
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6. The Prophecy of Micah
• 2 great events in this book:
a. The prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem
(3:12)
b.The prediction of the birth of Christ (5:2)
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7. The Prophecy of Nahum
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•
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Nahum means a comforter
Foretelling the destruction of Nineveh
A comforter to the ten tribes of Israel
Uncertain of time he lived and prophesied, most
probable in the time of Hezekiah, his prophecy was
against Nineveh, after the captivity of Israel by the
king of Assyria
• Shows Yahweh is the avenger and He is also
merciful, a citadel in the day of distress
• Nineveh’s doom was a judgment on the wicked city
• Before many years passed, Jerusalem too was to learn
the meaning of such a judgment
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8. The Prophecy of Habakkuk
• Habakkuk , unusual Hebrew name, means “embrace”
• Lived and prophesies in the reign of king Manasseh,
when the destruction was on by the Chaldeans
• A lively presentation of the communion between a
gracious God and a gracious soul
• The first two chapters: a dialogue between the
prophet and the Lord; calls God to account for His
government of the world
• God has prepared a chastising rod, Babylon, which
will be the avenging instrument in His hand
• The third chapter filled with memories of Israel’s past
and expressing authentic Israelite faith
• Ends with a joyous profession of confidence in the
Savior
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9. The Prophecy of Zephaniah
• Zephaniah means “Yahweh Hides”
• Was hidden from Manasseh’s slaughter
• Places last of all the Minor Prophets before the
captivity, not long before Jeremiah
• Foretells the general destruction of Judah and
Jerusalem by the Chaldeans
• Calls them to repentance, gives encouraging promises
of their joyful return out of captivity in due time
• Jeremiah influenced by it in both language and ideas
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10. The book of Haggai
• Postexilic prophecy begins with Haggai, about
eighteen years after the return, when the building of
the temple was both delayed by its enemies and
neglected by its friends
• Jews who returned from the Exile in Babylonia
encountered terrible obstacles in their efforts to reestablish Jewish life in Judah
• Samaritans succeeded in blocking the rebuilding of
the temple, but after Darius acceded to the throne,
permission was given to resume the work
• Received the word of the Lord in the second year of
Darius (520 B.C.)
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11. The Prophecy of Zechariah
• Zechariah means “Yahweh remembers”
• Colleague with Haggai, worked together in
forwarding the building of the second temple
• Began to prophesy some time after Haggai, but
continued longer, wrote more, prophesied more,
particularly concerning Christ, than Haggai had done
• Recorded eight symbolic visions, to promote the
work of rebuilding the temple and to encourage the
returned exiles, especially their leaders, Joshua and
Zerubbabel
• Chapter 7 & 8 contain instructions concerning
fasting, and encouragement to hope for God’s favor
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The Prophecy of Zechariah
• Chapter 9 & 12 have two sermons that reprove for
sin, threaten God’s judgments against the
hardhearted, encourage those that feared God with
assurances of the mercy God had for His church
• Prophecies about the Christ’s:
a. Entering Jerusalem (9:9)
b. Mourning for Him (12:10)
c. His wounds (13:6)
d. The Shepherd in strife (13:7)
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12. The Prophecy of Malachi
• Malachi means “My Messenger” or “My angel”
• Gives a picture of life in the Jewish community
returned from Babylon, between the period of Haggai
and the reform measures of Ezra and Nehemiah
• Criticized the abuse and religious indifference in the
community , prepared the way for these necessary
reforms
• Haggai and Zechariah sent to reprove the people for
delaying to build the temple
• Malachi sent to reprove people for the neglect of the
temple when it was built, and their deviation of the
temple service
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The Prophecy of Malachi
• Priests dishonored God by their blemished
sacrifices, and the people marriage with pagans
• Many people were asking “where is the God of
justice? ”
• Prophet replies that the day of the Lord is coming;
first the forerunner must come (chapter 3:1) John
the Baptist; when the ground is prepared God will
appear
• Speaks clearly of the Messiah, concludes with a
direction to the people of God to keep/remember the
Law of Moses, while expecting the gospel of Christ
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400 YEARS OF
SILENCE UNTIL
THE BIRTH OF
CHRIST
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THANK YOU

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