Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

Minor in name only, I remain absolutely fascinated by their poetry, sermons, oracles, and story.

From the blog

Minor Prophets: Malachi, Refiner’s Fire

God would begin with the spiritual leaders of the people, first purifying them, then refining them. Their public sanctification would necessarily involve intense suffering, for the heat of the refiner’s fire would bring all the impurities to the surface, where they would be seen and removed.

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Minor Prophets: Zechariah, The Final Oracle

These last three chapters are Second Zechariah’s second oracle, describing the completion of God’s plan from the beginning, from before the creation of the world. When God gave God’s people the seven feasts described in Exodus, they were each prophetic of God’s plan of salvation. So far, four of those feasts have been fulfilled in…

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Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Vision Six

So far, you and I have read through five of those visions together, giving messages of reassurance and revealing God’s nature of mercy. The last three visions have a darker side, for they display God’s judgement against all that is wrong, corrupted, and evil—God’s disposition against the seriousness of sin.

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Minor Prophets: Haggai, Sukkot

A month into the work, but the people’s spirits were flagging, and they needed a word from the Lord to lift them up.

Thankfully, soon it would be Sukkot, the Festival of Booths, and Haggai knew God had something to give them that would bring them great joy.

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Minor Prophets: Haggai, Build the House!

. Thirty long years dragged on, a generation of people grew old and died, and a new generation grew up with a half-built temple. It felt normal to go about their lives and make do with a priesthood, an altar, musicians, and no more. They invested in their own lives instead, building their homes, improving…

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Minor Prophets: Haggai, the Backstory

Though now an old man, Haggai was among those first 50,000 faithful men, women, and children who rose to God’s call to return home. He went as one of two spiritual advisors for Governor Zerubbabel and the priest Jeshua, for these two young men, no older than their thirties, and perhaps still in their twenties,…

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Minor Prophets: Micah Delivers

Micah has been likened to a horse, thinking of the warhorses of Assyria pounding towards Judah. However, I see Micah more associated with the cow, because this prophet talked about banging swords into plows. Horses and mules were pretty scarce in Judah, but there were plenty of bulls and cows, so the farmer usually had…

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Minor Prophets: Jonah, Megaphone of Pain

I have been in the desert when the temperature is 115 degrees and climbing, with a fierce hot wind. It takes about half an hour for these convection oven-like conditions to literally bake the skin and lungs so that a person can hardly breathe, eyes ache and a person can get dangerously dizzy and dehydrated.

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Minor Prophets: Jonah is Disappointed

Without being mindful, it is easy to think about spiritual things through the lens of our culture’s mindset and worldview. In Jonah’s day, it was culturally and societally supported to hate certain people groups, such as the Assyrians, and to assume God hated them too.

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Minor Prophets: Amos, Three Breaches

What happens when God’s people lose touch with God’s values and God’s character? They do not stop being God’s people. But. They do experience a profound disconnection from God. Instead of experiencing and living out the exuberant joy of shalom, they create and participate in systems that harm.

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Minor Prophets: Amos, Sound the Trumpet!

By chapter 3, the book of Amos begins the recording of three sermons preached to Israel (Chapters 3-5), calling all of God’s people to repentance. Each of the sermons begins with the words “Hear this word…” Woven throughout Amos’ words were the theologies of the ancient Hebrew faith.

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Minor Prophets: Joel's Fearsome Vision

It’s not too late to restore relationships, to repair bridges, to pray for and say yes to new opportunities. God can make up for all you didn’t do right before, He can more than make up for it! Knowing that God will restore what was lost, what was wasted, frees you and me to move…

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The Minor Prophets: An Overview

After we’ve had a chance to settle in with Hosea (who is listed first, and who also came first), it would be great to see who were contemporaries, who were probably having conversations with each other, and which prophets wrote about the same theme but ended their books very differently.

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About Me

My passion for the Bible began when I was eight or nine years old, somewhere in there, when on occasion my dad would take me to synagogue, where he sang. I remember watching the men in synagogue pray the words of scripture, murmuring and weeping, lovingly touching and kissing the Torah, and I wished I could read what they were reading.

Imagine, then, my wonder when I was given a Bible of my own! Read more

Let’s hang out


The 12 Minor Prophets

The Minor Prophets: An Overview


HOSEA

Minor Prophets: Hosea Marries Gomer

Minor Prophets: Hosea, Gomer Leaves

Minor Prophets: Hosea, Gomer Redeemed

Minor Prophets: Hosea, True Repentance

Minor Prophets: Hosea, Nature of Repentance

Minor Prophets: Hosea, A Love Story


JOEL

Minor Prophets: The Book of Joel

Minor Prophets: Joel and the Locusts

Minor Prophets: Joel’s Fearsome Vision

Minor Prophets: Joel and the Holy Spirit

Minor Prophets: Joel’s Vision of Restoration


AMOS

Minor Prophets: The Book of Amos

Minor Prophets: Amos Condemns the Nations

Minor Prophets: Amos Blisters Israel

Minor Prophets: Amos and Social Justice

Minor Prophets: Amos, Sound the Trumpet!

Minor Prophets: Amos Lowers the Boom

Minor Prophets: Amos “Let Justice Roll Down”

Minor Prophets: Amos, Three Breaches

Minor Prophets: Amos, Locusts and Fire

Minor Prophets: Amos, Royal Smackdown

Minor Prophets: Amos, Basket of Summer Fruit

Minor Prophets: Amos, God Upon the Altar


JONAH

Minor Prophets: The Book of Jonah

Minor Prophets: Jonah and the Storm

Minor Prophets: Jonah’s Psalm

Minor Prophets: Jonah or Dagon?

Minor Prophets: Jonah, נָחַם nâcham

Minor Prophets: Jonah is Disappointed

Minor Prophets: Jonah, Megaphone of Pain

Minor Prophets: Jonah 4, A Scholarly Approach

Minor Prophets: The Last Word on Jonah


MICAH

Minor Prophets: The Book of Micah

Minor Prophets: Micah Delivers

Minor Prophets: Micah, Messiah’s Reign

Minor Prophets: Micah, Bethlehem’s Promise

Minor Prophets: Micah Speaks of the Shepherd

Minor Prophets: Micah, Court Reporter

Minor Prophets: Micah, God is Supreme


OBADIAH

Minor Prophets: The Book of Obadiah

Minor Prophets: Obadiah, Edom’s Pride

Minor Prophets: Obadiah’s Apocalypse

Minor Prophets: Obadiah, A Scholarly Approach

Minor Prophets: Obadiah, Companion to Psalm 137


HABAKKUK

Minor Prophets: The Book of Habakkuk

Minor Prophets: Habakkuk’s Questions

Minor Prophets: Habakkuk’s Meditation

Minor Prophets: Habakkuk as Watchman

Minor Prophets: Habakkuk’s Faith

Minor Prophets: Habakkuk, It Will Surely Come

Minor Prophets: Habakkuk’s Commitment


ZEPHANIAH

Minor Prophets: Book of Zephaniah

Minor Prophets: Zephaniah, Look Within

Minor Prophets: Zephaniah, Look Above

Minor Prophets: Zephaniah, Look Around

Minor Prophets: Zephaniah, Look Beyond


NAHUM

Minor Prophets: The Book of Nahum

Minor Prophets: Nahum, Comfort of Judah

Minor Prophets: Nahum, God’s Wrath

Minor Prophets: Nahum, Nineveh’s Annihilation

Minor Prophets: Evil Will Be Judged


HAGGAI

Minor Prophets: The Book of Haggai

Minor Prophets: Haggai, the Backstory

Minor Prophets: Haggai, Build the House!

Minor Prophets: Haggai, Sukkot

Minor Prophets: Haggai, Curses and Blessings

Minor Prophets: Haggai, Zerubbabel, and the Signet Ring


ZECHARIAH

Minor Prophets: The Book of Zechariah

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Vision One

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Vision Two

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Vision Three

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Vision Four, PART 1

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Vision Four, PART 2

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Vision Four, PART 3

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Vision Five, PART 1

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Vision Five, PART 2

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Vision Six

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Vision Seven

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Vision Eight

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, A Big Question

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, An Unexpected Answer

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Pentecost

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Alexander the Great

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Riding on a Donkey

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, The Maccabees

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Ingathering

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, The Staff of Favor

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, The Staff of Union

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, The Final Oracle

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Armageddon

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Fountain of Grace

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, A Mighty Earthquake

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, “Millennium”

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Portents of Apocalypse

Minor Prophets: Zechariah, Finish With A Flourish!

MALACHI

Minor Prophets: The Book of Malachi

Minor Prophets: Malachi, Jacob not Esau

Minor Prophets: Malachi, Today is not Tomorrow

Minor Prophets: Malachi, Bad Attitude

Minor Prophets: Malachi, Covenant of Levi

Minor Prophets: Malachi, Faithless Marriage

Minor Prophets: Malachi, Where is the God of Justice?

Minor Prophets: Malachi, Refiner’s Fire

Minor Prophets: Malachi, Book of Remembrance