Introduction to the Minor Prophets (Part I)

This month we embark on our journey through the book of Hosea. Minor prophets are brief, but their words are highly contextualised, for they speak in a tumultuous and disorienting period in Israel’s history.

To equip us to read Hosea with confidence and understanding, we’ll be going through an overview of the book today. But Hosea cannot be fully understood on its own, for it’s part of a larger anthology, known as “The Twelve.”

So, our next two editorials¹ will serve to provide us with better handles for reading the minor prophets in general. May God graciously grant us understanding and faith as we read!

Ps Luwin Wong

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The so-called “Minor Prophets” are anything but minor—as a collection, they speak with a unified voice the message of God to a wayward people during the most tumultuous times in Israel’s history. To know these prophets and their associated books, one must understand the context into which they speak, their place within the history of Israel and Judah, and their place within the revelation of God’s Word. Their message, while cast within an ancient context, is relevant for today so much as it informs the people of God with a knowledge of the character and ways of God, challenges the church with a call to a higher social ethic, and comforts the people of God with a message of hope and restoration.

Historical Context

The Minor Prophets, also referred to as “The Twelve,” preached during a period spanning more than three centuries, from approximately 780 to 420 BC. Their ministries can generally be divided between the pre-exilic and post-exilic periods, and range between the eras of Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian dominance. Two major judgments occur within that timeframe that provide a backdrop for many of the Minor Prophets: the Assyrian conquest of Samaria and the subsequent deportation of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC, and the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and exile of the people of Judah to Babylon in 586 BC. Following judgment, the post-exilic prophets also speak to issues concerning the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem and restoration in the land while under the rule of the Persian Empire. Within the scope of these events, the mission of the Twelve was to warn the people of impending divine judgment as a consequence of covenant disloyalty, to call the people to repentance as a means to avert judgment, and to provide a message of hope for restoration after judgment and exile.

Arrangement of the Prophecies

The arrangement of the “Book of the Twelve,” or the Minor Prophets as we know them, follows a loosely chronological arrangement, beginning with the pre-exilic books and closing with post-exilic books. Among the twelve books, six (Hosea, Amos, Micah, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah) provide historical references in their introductions that aid in determining a historical setting for the prophet and his oracles. Additional historical references and allusions with the books provide adequate clues for chronological setting, with only the books of Joel and Obadiah remaining obscure in historical context. The prophets Hosea (750–715 BC), Amos (760–750 BC), Micah (735–690 BC), and Jonah (785–775 BC) are set within the Assyrian Period while Nahum (650–630 BC) bridges the gap between Assyrian and Babylonian dominance. The prophets Zephaniah (630–620 BC) and Habakkuk (620 BC) proclaim the impending Babylonian exile, while Haggai (520 BC) and Zechariah (520–518 BC) speak to the first generation of returnees out of exile from Babylon. Malachi (450–430 BC) closes the corpus with exhortations to a later generation already established back into the land, with Joel and Obadiah remaining ambiguous in the timeline of the Twelve.

Distinctive Traits and Unity

One of the distinctive traits that characterize the twelve Minor Prophets is their literary and theological unity. The use of catchwords and recurring themes act as threads lacing one book to the next in their respective order. Hosea’s vision of agricultural blessing as a reflection of future restoration (Hosea 2:18–23; 14:4–9) is linked to Joel’s observation of present agricultural destruction in a disastrous locust plague (Joel 1:2–12). Joel’s anticipation of the Lord one day “roaring from Zion” against the nations and in defense of his people (Joel 3:16) ironically shifts in the opening of Amos to the Lord “roaring from Zion” in judgment against his people (over guilt more treacherous than that of the nations; Amos 1:2). The concluding vision of Amos has God’s restored people “possessing the remnant of Edom,” inferring God’s adoption of Gentiles into his own (Amos 9:12). Obadiah follows with God’s judgment against historical Edom, culminating in the house of Jacob possessing the possessions of Edom (Obadiah 17).

Obadiah and Jonah are linked by similar attention given to Gentile nations. Whereas the messenger sent in Obadiah proclaims judgment, Jonah is instead sent to preach repentance. Jonah concludes with the affirmation that God is “a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster” (Jonah 4:2)—applied even to the Gentiles. Micah echoes this same affirmation but applied once again to God’s own people (Micah 7:18–20). Turning from mercy back to judgment and echoing the same language of Jonah 4:2, Nahum opens with the statement that the Lord is “slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will never leave the guilty unpunished” (Nahum 1:3).

As the book of Nahum concludes with long awaited justice against the violence of the Assyrian Empire, the book of Habakkuk begins with the prophet’s plea for present justice over the violence observed among God’s own people in Judah (Habbakuk 1:2–4). God responds to his prophet’s plea for justice by raising up the Babylonians as his instrument of judgment against Judah and the city of Jerusalem, the destruction of which is subsequently laid out in descriptive warnings by the book of Zephaniah.

As Zephaniah concludes with the promise of restoration and the return of Judah’s captives (Zephaniah 3:20), Haggai and Zechariah follow with the first stage of returnees reoccupying the land, yet still in need of further exhortation and repentance. The call to “return to me” echoes throughout the last of the Minor Prophets, drawing the cord that links Malachi to Zechariah (Zechariah 1:3; Malachi 3:7), and thematically, all the way back to Hosea (Hosea 6:1; 14:1).

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¹ Fuhr, Richard A. Introduction to the Minor Prophets. TheGospelCoalitionhttps://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/minor-prophets/