Topic(s): Old Testament

Links to this entire series:

• Making Sense of the Old Testament: Part 1
• Making Sense of the Old Testament: Part 2
• Making Sense of the Old Testament: Part 3
• Making Sense of the Old Testament: Part 4
• Making Sense of the Old Testament: Part 5

“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning…” —Romans 15:4

Books of Prophecy (Minor)

The concluding twelve books of the Old Testament are called the “Minor Prophets.” Some of them address conditions in the northern kingdom of Israel; others are directed principally to Judah. Some are more generic in direction. The book of Hosea is a document of great pathos. Jehovah with deep love for His people, pleads with northern Israel to return to Him from the nation’s gross wickedness. Hosea’s unfaithful wife is used as the background for the narrative.

Joel, in a general vein, speaks of the coming “day of the Lord”—under the figure of a locust plague. A happier time will come when the Spirit of God is poured in the Messianic age.

Amos addresses the kingdom of Israel with stern rebuke. The nation is morally flawed and religiously corrupt. Punishment is coming—upon Israel and other nations but so is redemption—in the days of the Messiah.

The little book of Obadiah warns the complacent descendants of Esau (Edom), so unbrotherly to Judah, that Jehovah will bring these arrogant rebels down from their lofty hideouts.

Jonah was the Lord’s missionary to the people of Nineveh. The book reveals Heaven’s interest in the Gentiles, as well as the Hebrews. Jonah’s stubborn resistance was typical of the Israelite people.

Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah, prophesied against corruption and injustice in Judah. Nahum is a sequel to Jonah. The latter prophet had warned of Nineveh’s impending doom. But the Assyrians had repented, hence had been spared—temporarily.

Nahum, a century and a half later, announces the nation’s overthrow.

The book of Habakkuk explores a problem: how can a just God use an evil nation (like Babylon) to punish His people? The answer is to be found in the mysterious ways of providence. Babylon will be used as a divine rod of punishment, but the day of Chaldean destruction is coming as well. Zephaniah’s ministry was just before king Josiah’s great reformation in Judah. The prophet warned of punishment to come—upon the people of the Lord and their heathen neighbors. Only in the coming Messiah would true deliverance be effected.

Haggai preached in the post-captivity period, encouraging the Jews to rebuild their temple.

Zechariah accompanied Haggai, only his message urged Judah to rebuild their shattered lives by adhering to God’s law.

Malachi, in the final year of Old Testament. history, attempted to stir the Jews from a state of spiritual laziness.

—Wayne Jackson, Stockton, CA