The Mighty Minor Prophets
Hosea is the first Minor Prophet as they are listed in the Bible, and he opens up with a bang. God’s people had strayed so far away from Him that God called this faithful prophet to marry a prostitute who did not value a faithful relationship in order to show His people what being God to them was often like. God is brokenhearted in His call in Hosea to us who stray from Him and wander into hurtful places. He raises the question for us all: what’s it like for God to be God to us?
Joel gets right to the point of how harboring sinfulness in our hearts brings on brokenness and wreckage in every arena of life. God Himself steps in and declares to His own people that things could not go on as they had been. He would act if they did not take their rebellion seriously and turn from it. The message is clear: do not play with sin—repent of it and find freedom in God’s great blessing that He wants to pour out in abundance on us all who truly seek Him in faith through Christ today.
Amos is one amazing prophet. as far we can tell he did not come from a family of prophets or from a priestly class. He mentions that he was a farmer and also raised sheep. But he was the man for the job to deliver a blistering message to the very king of Israel who was leading God’s people into rebellion and wickedness through failed and ungodly leadership. As hard as his words can be to hear, one message is repeated over and over by God through this fearless farmer: seek Me and live. God desires to bless and not to curse and calls even the hardest hearts to repentance and forgiveness in His mercy.
The long and contentious family history of Jacob and Esau came to a boiling point in Obadiah’s day. Generation after generation the descendants of those patriarchal brothers refused reconciliation until the day when Esau’s descendants crossed the line in a time of great distress for Jacob’s descendants in Jerusalem. God spoke through Obadiah to lift the eyes of His grieving people from the rubble around them and to the promise that He had not forgotten them and would act on their behalf.
Jonah is a rebel prophet and proof that God’s call to these men is not only to deliver His message but also to shape the one delivering it. After attempting to run from God as far as the sea would take him, Jonah found that God can be even more stubborn in His salvation than man can be in his rebellion. When God calls a person to speak in His name, there is nothing in heaven or on earth that will stop that message from reaching the intended hearers—even if extraordinary measures are required to deliver it.
Micah is one who takes wide emotional swings between great sorrow and lamentation to the heights of joy and expressions of confidence in God. There is no fluff to Micah’s message against the immorality of his day. He looked right past the polished exterior of meaningless religious expression and called out the hypocrisy hidden beneath. Even so, he takes a long look into God’s redemptive purpose for humanity to the birth of a baby in the sleepy little town of Bethlehem who would come to shepherd God’s people in the strength of the Lord.
Nahum’s name means “comfort,” and he brings comfort to the oppressed and downtrodden people of God who had languished under the cruelties of a power-hungry rival kingdom. He brings no comfort at all to those who would crush people underfoot in pride and devastation. God declares in striking language that He is against such cruelty and rises to come to the aid of the weak who suffer at the hands of the boastful who care nothing for God’s name.
This prophet has the guts and the faith to ask God some very direct questions about the immorality and ungodliness that plagued the culture of his day. God gives him the very hard response that judgment was coming but promises that those who truly seek God and His ways will be sustained by walking faithfully with Him. Having an enduring faith in God’s providence can be very difficult during challenging days, but Habakkuk shows us the way with confident words of faithfulness that have encouraged countless numbers of people right up to our own time.
God’s people had completely turned their backs on Him for generations, and in Zephaniah’s words of judgment God makes His final plea to them before the Day of the Lord would come. Those who thought that God was impotent, doing neither good nor ill, were about to get a real shock. Nonetheless, God reveals His tender affection and delight in those who seek peace in His name and walk humbly with Him. Zephaniah looks forward to a bright future when God sets everything right.
After a time of judgment was over and God had returned His people to their land, living out what God had called them to do wasn’t always easy. The people around them opposed the work of God and used threats and political action to subvert it. Haggai was the man God used to encourage His people to stop looking at the world around them and keep going no matter what. What God had set into motion to bless and restore His people would not be stopped by any human effort. His is a message that resonates powerfully today.
Zechariah and Haggai prophesied together to encourage God’s people in a time of restoration and meaningful work. Haggai gets the people up to do the work, but Zechariah shows them why it is important and what God is powerfully doing on their behalf behind the scenes. His book is filled with visions that show God in control and active in bringing about His will in the world. Zechariah also shares some stunning visions of the Savior who was to come, Jesus Christ, who would suffer and die for the sins of mankind.
Malachi is the last prophet to speak before a very long time of silence from God leading up to the arrival of Jesus, the promised Redeemer. Malachi’s call is to get God’s people ready for the coming Messiah, Jesus, and to live out a genuine faith in God. The world was watching and waiting. From the leading priests right down to God’s people and their response to Him in holiness, a strong word is needed in Malachi’s day to shake the people out of a hypocritical faith into a genuine and hopeful one.
