Books of the Old Testament
The Books of The Prophets - Nebeeim
THE MINOR PROPHETS:
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Mephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
from The Names and
Order of the Books of the Old Testament
by E.W. Bullinger
Hosea
Salvation or Deliverance
The name of the prophet accords with the great subject of his prophecy, deliverance. See 1:7;
13:4,9,10,14; 14:3,4.
This "beginning of the word of the Lord by
Hosea" (1:1) is most significant in
connection with the first of
these Lesser Prophets.<--
Joel
Whose God is Jehovah [Yahoveh]
or Jehovah is God
Describes the terrors of "the day of the
Lord," and points out the promises which
flow from the fact that there is deliverance and
blessing for those whose God is Jehovah (2:18,19).<--
Amos
Bearer or Burden
Amos bears onward the burden of what is
threatened and promised in Joel. Compare Amos 1:2
with Joel 3:16; and Amos 9:13 with Joel 3:18. <--
Obadiah
The Servant of Jehovah
In Obadiah we have the expansion of Amos 9:11-12.
<--
Jonah
A Dove or Pigeon
A dove or pigeon fleeing from unpleasantness, and
the harbinger of peace and blessing.
Jonah is God's ambassador sent to preach
repentance to the Gentiles. So was Israel. He
objects to Gentiles being thus blessed, and flees
from the unpleasant task. He is visited by a
divinely-sent storm, and is thrown into the sea.
So Israel now is cast into the sea of the
nations; but, like Jonah, is not lost, for
presently Israel will be cast up on the earth,
and become the ambassadors of Jehovah and the
conveyers of blessing to the Gentiles. <--
Micah
Who is like Jehovah?
Micah declares the word of Jehovah against
Samaria and Jerusalem, i.e. all Israel. He takes
up the attributes of Jehovah as given at the
close of Jonah (4:2), and bases his solemn words
upon them, repeating them in chapter 7:18,
introducing them by the phrase which answers to
the meaning of his name. "Who is a God like
unto Thee?" (Compare 1:2-4; 4:1-7; 7:18-20.)
His prophecy consists of three parts, (1) 1 and 2;
(2) 3-5; (3) 6 and 7; each beginning with the
same word "Hear", being a call to hear
the words of Jehovah. (1:2; 3:1; and 6:1.) He
thus takes up the word of his namesale, 1 Kings
22:28, "Hearken, O people", continuing
in Judah the call which had been first given in
Israel. <--
Nahum
Consolation or Comforter
Nahum opens with a like reference to Jonah 4:2,
and though his “burden” is against the
enemy of Israel, it is a consolation for his own
people (1:7-13), based on the fact that to the
enemy “God is jealous” (1:2), while to
His own “Jehovah is good” (1:7). <--
Habakkuk
An Embraced One
Habakkuk is from the root which means to embrace,
hence one who is embraced, a favourite or a
friend. Two-thirds of the prophecy (chapters 1
and 2) is a conversation between God and the
prophet. Nowhere else do we find such a discourse
carried to such an extent. Habakkuk writes as the
friend of God, and hence we have here the great
statement as to justification on faith-principle
(2:4), which was alike the possession of Abraham
and all his spiritual seed. “The just shall
live by faith” is quoted three times in the
New Testament, Romans 1:17; Galations 3:11; and
Hebrews 10:38. <--
Zephaniah
Jehovah Protects
Zephaniah takes up Habakkuk’s (2:20) call
for silence at the presence of the Lord, and
repeats it (1:7), while he goes on first to
describe the coming judgment of God, and then to
show (3:8-20) how His people should be hidden and
protected and saved. Jehovah is revealed three
times as “in the midst” of His people,
3:5 as just; 3:15 as king; and 3:17 as mighty.
They are hidden in Him and He amidst them . Hence
they will be protected. Thus the subject of the
book corresponds with the name of the prophet.
Zephaniah 3:8 is emphasized by the fact that it
contains every letter of the Hebrew alphabet,
including the five finals. The Massorah
calls attention to the fact. <--
Haggai
My Feast
We now come to the three post-exile prophets.
Between Zephaniah and Haggai there lay the
seventy years’ captivity, and the prophecies
of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
The time had come for the temple to be rebuilt,
and the feasts of Jehovah restored. Hence his
mission and prophecy corresponds with the meaning
of his name. <--
Zechariah
Jehovah Remembers
The study of the prophet Zechariah will show that
the prophecies of coming glory for Israel are all
based on Jehovah’s remembrance of His
covenant. Again and again He promises to return,
and will yet comfort Zion, and will yet choose
Jerusalem (1:3,16,17; 2:5,8,10,11; 6:12,13; 8:3;
9:9,10,16; 12:10; 13:9; 14:3,4,9). <--
Malachi
The Messenger of Jehovah
It is this prophecy which foretells the sending
of the “messenger of Jehovah” (3:1; 4:5,6).
Malachi is the last of the prophets of the Old
Testament, and the New Testament opens with John
the Baptist echoing his voice and crying out,
“I am the voice of one crying in the
wilderness, as it is written in the prophet.
Behold I send My messenger before they face,
which shall prepare they way before Me.”
Thus the two covenants are linked together. <--
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