Minor Prophets Study Guide - Introduction

Minor Prophets
Study Guide
Introduction

What is a Prophet based on Hebrew and Christian Understanding?

.God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son,..Heb. 1:1-2a

But the LORD said to me: "Do not say, 'I [am] a youth,' For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, For I [am] with you to deliver you," says the LORD. Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me: "Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. Jer 1:7-9

A Prophet is basically a spokesman for God. They will deliver the word of God to us by means of direct revelation. The reason I used the word they is because a Prophet can be either a man or a woman as seen in the bible. Luke in Acts has the following verses to verify this which are:

Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied (Acts 21:9) Now Judas and Silas, themselves being prophets also exhorted the brethren with many words and strengthened (Acts 15:32)
There are more places to verify this throughout the BIBLE but we need only look at these two since I believe that if God said it than it has to be True.

A Prophet will deal with either individuals, the church or even larger such as a nation, also it should be noted that not all Prophetic messages deal with the future. Prophetic messages will also deal with the past and current as we will see in some of the prophets.


Therefore, we conclude the following about the gift of prophecy:
· A prophet is a spokesman for God.
o So the LORD said to Moses: "See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. EX 7:1
· The gift of prophecy consists of delivering sage from God which may involve a direct revelation.
· The gift of prophecy may deal with predicting the future.
· The office of prophet is the foundation upon which the church has been built.
· Both men and women may exercise the gift of prophecy.



Who are the Minor Prophets and is their Prophecy any less important that the Major Prophets?

The Minor Prophets are:
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi

They were originally named “The Twelve” in the Hebrew bible and in the late 4th century (Augustine’s time) the title was changed to the Minor Prophets and they each had their own book. Prior in the Hebrew bible they were combined.

In no way are these prophets any less important than the Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel)! These are true men of God willing to stand up and do what God required and gave the message that God commanded of them. The only reason why they are called Minor Prophets is the length of their books as in comparison to the Major Prophets. We should note at this time that Hosea’s book is larger than Daniels, just wanted to bring up a little though item here. As we go through each one of the books we will see the importance of each message and will visit the application of the word both during their time and how it can be used for our time.

Why Study the Minor Prophets?

For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Rom 15:4





Going through the BIBLE and looking at the world around us, things really haven’t changed that much. Sure we get to see wars on TV in real time but there are still wars. We see the whole moral fiber of this world rapidly declining. The political fronts (governments) also are corrupt. Reading the warning of the prophets is like reading a current events newspaper. We need to heed the advice of the prophets for today’s world, we need to turn from the sins that plague us and turn ourselves over to Jesus. As we go through the prophets please try to look at the world around you and see if you don’t see the same thing happening and unfortunately even in the christian world.

Lord grant us the wisdom to fully understand your words and may we use these words to change our hearts and pray for the nations to change their hearts.