The Twelve Minor Prophets - Lesson 2
Chris Knepp
The Twelve Minor Prophets - Hosea
The Twelve Minor Prophets - Micah
The Twelve Minor Prophets - Hosea
Hosea: God’s Faithfulness to His
Unfaithful People
Historical Context
Opening verse - ”The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel.”
Jeroboam of Israel’s last year was 753
B.C.; Hezekiah of Judah’s last year was 687 B.C. Hosea’s ministry probably not
all 66 years; 35 years more likely (latter half of 8th century). No mention of fall of
Israel to Assyria in 722 B.C.
“When Hosea began his ministry, Israel was enjoying a temporary period of political and economic prosperity under Jeroboam II. However, the nation began to crumble after Tiglath-pileser III (745-727 B.C.) strengthened Assyria…. Four [of Israel’s last six kings] were murdered and a fifth was carried captive to Assyria. Confusion and decline characterized the last years of the northern kingdom, and her people refused to heed Hosea’s warning of imminent judgment.” Bruce Wilkinson and Kenneth Boa, Talk Thru the Old Testament
Structure:
Chapters 1-3: Hosea’s marriage, Israel’s unfaithfulness
Chapters 4-7: Sins of the people, priests and leaders
Chapters 8-11: Apostate worship
Chapters 12-14: Past failure, future repentance and restoration
Message: “Hosea presents two profound and enduring pictures of God’s love for sinners. One is the deserted husband who continues to love his wife and pays the financial and emotional cost of redeeming her and restoring the relationship (Hos. 1-3). The other is the parent who loves and refuses to give up on a delinquent child (Hos. 11:1-11).” Ernest Lucas, “Prophets,” IVP Introduction to the Bible
Hosea 1-3 (Hosea’s Marriage)
2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and have children of prostitution, for the land commits great prostitution by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 And the Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel, for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the Lord said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them. 7 But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God; I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”
8 When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9 Then the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
Hosea 1-3 (Israel’s Unfaithfulness)
2 ]“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’
2 “Rebuke
your mother, rebuke her,
for
she is not my wife,
and I
am not her husband.
Let her remove the adulterous look from her face
and
the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
3 Otherwise
I will strip her naked
and
make her as bare as on the day she was born;
I will make her like a desert,
turn
her into a parched land,
and
slay her with thirst.
4 I
will not show my love to her children,
because
they are the children of adultery.
5 Their
mother has been unfaithful
and
has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who
give me my food and my water,
my
wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore
I will block her path with thornbushes;
I
will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.
7 She
will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
she
will look for them but not find them.
Then she will say,
‘I
will go back to my husband as at first,
for
then I was better off than now.’
8 She
has not acknowledged that I was the one
who
gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,
who lavished on her the silver and gold—
which
they used for Baal.
9 “Therefore
I will take away my grain when it ripens,
and
my new wine when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and my linen,
intended
to cover her naked body.
10 So
now I will expose her lewdness
before
the eyes of her lovers;
no
one will take her out of my hands.
11 I
will stop all her celebrations:
her
yearly festivals, her New Moons,
her
Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals.
12 I
will ruin her vines and her fig trees,
which
she said were her pay from her lovers;
I will make them a thicket,
and
wild animals will devour them.
13 I
will punish her for the days
she
burned incense to the Baals;
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,
and
went after her lovers,
but
me she forgot,”
declares the Lord.
Hosea 4-7 (Sins of the People, Priests and Leaders)
4 Hear
the word of the Lord,
you Israelites,
because
the Lord has
a charge to bring
against
you who live in the land:
“There is no faithfulness, no love,
no
acknowledgment of God in the land.
2 There
is only cursing, lying and murder,
stealing and
adultery;
they break all bounds,
and
bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Because
of this the land dries up,
and
all who live in it waste away;
the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
and
the fish in the sea are swept away.
4 “But
let no one bring a charge,
let
no one accuse another,
for your people are like those
who
bring charges against a priest.
5 You
stumble day and night,
and
the prophets stumble with you.
So I will destroy your mother—
6 my
people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.
“Because
you have rejected knowledge,
I
also reject you as my priests;
because you have ignored the law of your God,
I
also will ignore your children.
7 The
more priests there were,
the
more they sinned against me;
they
exchanged their glorious God for something disgraceful.
8 They
feed on the sins of my people
and
relish their wickedness.
9 And
it will be: Like people, like priests.
I
will punish both of them
for their ways
and
repay them for their deeds.
Hosea 8-11 (Apostate Worship)
8 “Put
the trumpet to your lips!
An
eagle is over the house of the Lord
because the people have broken my covenant
and
rebelled against my law.
2 Israel
cries out to me,
‘Our
God, we acknowledge you!’
3 But
Israel has rejected what is good;
an
enemy will pursue him.
4 They
set up kings without my consent;
they
choose princes without my approval.
With their silver and gold
they
make idols for themselves
to
their own destruction.
5 Samaria,
throw out your calf-idol!
My
anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of purity?
6 They
are from Israel!
This calf—a metalworker has made it;
it is
not God.
It will be broken in pieces,
that
calf of Samaria.
Hosea 12-14 (Past Failure, Future Repentance and Restoration)
14 Return, Israel,
to the Lord your
God.
Your
sins have been your downfall!
2 Take
words with you
and
return to the Lord.
Say to him:
“Forgive all
our sins
and receive us graciously,
that
we may offer the fruit of our lips.[g]
3 Assyria
cannot save us;
we
will not mount warhorses.
We will never again say ‘Our gods’
to
what our own hands have made,
for
in you the fatherless find compassion.”
4 “I
will heal their waywardness
and
love them freely,
for
my anger has turned away from them.
Christ in Hosea
11 “When
Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of
Egypt I called my son.
2 But
the more they were called,
the more
they went away from me.
Matthew 2:13-15, The Escape to Egypt
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Christ and Hosea
4 “What
can I do with you, Ephraim?
What can I
do with you, Judah?
Your love is like the morning mist,
like the
early dew that disappears.
5 Therefore
I cut you in pieces with my prophets,
I killed
you with the words of my mouth—
then my
judgments go forth like the sun.
6 For
I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
and
acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
Matthew 9:10-13
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 On
hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but
the sick. 13 But
go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have
not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
The Twelve Minor Prophets - Micah
Micah: God’s “Lawsuit” Against His People
Historical Context
Opening verse – “The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.”
Micah came from Moresheth, a town about 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem.
The reigns of the Judean kings during which he prophesied spanned from 750 B.C. to 687 B.C.
“It is difficult to assess the length of Micah’s public activity with any precision. At a minimum, the 16-year reign of Ahaz … in combination with the presumed transitions at the end of the reign of Jotham and the start of the reign of Hezekiah, provides a ministry length of 20 to 25 years.” ESV Study Bible.
A century later, Micah’s preaching was remembered as a cause of Hezekiah’s reform (Jeremiah 26:18-19)
18 “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. He told all the people of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“‘Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.’
19 “Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did not Hezekiah fear the Lord and seek his favor? And did not the Lord relent, so that he did not bring the disaster he pronounced against them? We are about to bring a terrible disaster on ourselves!”
Structure:
Chapters 1-2: Samaria and Jerusalem judged – but deliverance promised
Chapters 3-5: Jerusalem condemned – but redeemed
Chapters 6-7: Israel proven guilty – but pardoned
Message: “Micah’s message is essentially about ‘kingdom-of-God-living.’ Both Israel and Judah are condemned for violating the covenant standards of God’s kingdom – for showing how God’s people should not live. They were supposed to be a holy nation, a light to the Gentiles; instead, they chose to blend in with the surrounding darkness. Micah contrasts this upside-down picture with the right-side-up portrait of God’s true kingdom, the ultimate Messianic kingdom, from which justice, truth, peace, safety, dignity, and mercy inherently flow.” Charles Swindoll, God’s Masterwork: A Concerto in Sixty-Six Movements, Vol. 3.
Micah 1-2 (Samaria and Jerusalem Judged – But Deliverance Promised)
2 Hear, you
peoples, all of you,
listen,
earth and all who live in it,
that the Sovereign Lord may
bear witness against you,
the
Lord from his holy temple.
3 Look!
The Lord is
coming from his dwelling place;
he
comes down and treads on the heights of the earth.
4 The
mountains melt beneath him
and
the valleys split apart,
like wax before the fire,
like
water rushing down a slope.
5 All
this is because of Jacob’s transgression,
because
of the sins of the people of Israel.
What is Jacob’s transgression?
Is it
not Samaria?
What is Judah’s high place?
Is it
not Jerusalem?
6 “Therefore
I will make Samaria a heap of rubble,
a
place for planting vineyards.
I will pour her stones into the valley
and
lay bare her foundations.
7 All
her idols will be broken to pieces;
all
her temple gifts will be burned with fire;
I
will destroy all her images.
Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes,
as
the wages of prostitutes
they will again be used.”
8 Because
of this I will weep and wail;
I
will go about barefoot and naked.
I will howl like a jackal
and
moan like an owl.
9 For
Samaria’s plague is incurable;
it
has spread to Judah.
It has reached the very gate of my people,
even
to Jerusalem itself.
Micah 3-5 (Jerusalem Condemned – But Redeemed)
3:9 Hear
this, you leaders of Jacob,
you
rulers of Israel,
who despise justice
and
distort all that is right;
10 who
build Zion with bloodshed,
and
Jerusalem with wickedness.
11 Her
leaders judge for a bribe,
her
priests teach for a price,
and
her prophets tell fortunes for money.
Yet they look for the Lord’s support and say,
“Is
not the Lord among
us?
No
disaster will come upon us.”
12 Therefore
because of you,
Zion
will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,
the
temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.
4:1 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it.
2 Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 He will judge between many peoples
and will settle disputes for strong
nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning
hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for
war anymore.
4 Everyone will sit under their own
vine
and under their own fig tree, and
no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty
has spoken.
5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor bears a son, and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites.
4 He will stand and shepherd his
flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his
God. And they will live securely, for then his
greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.
Micah 6-7 (Israel Proven Guilty – But Pardoned)
6:1 Listen to what the Lord says:
“Stand up, plead my case before the
mountains;
let the hills hear what you have to say.
2 “Hear, you mountains, the Lord’s
accusation;
listen, you everlasting foundations of the
earth.
For the Lord has a case against his
people;
he is lodging a charge against Israel.
3 “My people, what have I done to
you?
How have I burdened you? Answer me.
4 I brought you up out of
Egypt
and redeemed you from the land of slavery.
I sent Moses to lead you,
also Aaron and Miriam.
5 My people,
remember
what Balak king
of Moab plotted
and what Balaam son of Beor answered.
Remember your journey from Shittim to
Gilgal,
that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.”
6 With what shall I come
before the Lord
and
bow down before the exalted God?
Shall
I come before him with burnt offerings,
with
calves a year old?
7 Will
the Lord be
pleased with thousands of rams,
with
ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall
I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the
fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He
has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And
what does the Lord require
of you?
To
act justly and to love mercy
and
to walk humbly with your God.
7:18 Who
is a God like you,
who
pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of
the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but
delight to show mercy.
19 You
will again have compassion on us;
you
will tread our sins underfoot
and
hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
20 You
will be faithful to Jacob,
and
show love to Abraham,
as you pledged on oath to our ancestors
in
days long ago.
Christ in Micah: The Shepherd-King
2:12 “I
will surely gather all of you, Jacob;
I
will surely bring together the remnant of Israel.
I will bring them together like sheep in a pen,
like
a flock in its pasture;
the
place will throng with people.
13 The
One who breaks open the way will go up before them;
they
will break through the gate and go out.
Their King will pass through before them,
the Lord at
their head.”
Christ in Micah: The Messiah’s Birthplace
5:2 “But
you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though
you are small among the clans[b] of
Judah,
out of you will come for me
one
who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from
ancient times.”
Christ in Micah: The Messiah’s Rule
5:4 He
will stand and shepherd his flock
in
the strength of the Lord,
in
the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will
reach to the ends of the earth.
5 And
he will be our peace
when
the Assyrians invade our land
and
march through our fortresses.
The Twelve Minor Prophets - Zephaniah
Zephaniah: The Day of the Lord
Historical Context
Zephania=Yahweh has hidden/protected
•Opening verse - ”The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, during the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah:”
Genealogy in 1:1 may indicate that Zephaniah was a descendant of Hezekiah, pious ruler of Judah before two wicked kings followed him (Manasseh and his son Amon).
Zephaniah prophesied during the reign of Josiah, king of Judah from 640-609 B.C. Josiah was a reforming king who sought to reestablish acceptable worship practices that had fallen out of use since the time of his great-grandfather Hezekiah. Zephaniah’s prophecy may precede Josiah’s reforms (621 B.C., when Hilkiah the high priest “found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord,” 2 Kings 22:8), as it condemns practices that were common before it.
Structure:
Chapter 1:1-6: Warning of judgment
Chapters 1:7-3:8: The Day of the Lord - judgment
Chapters 1:7-2:3: A day of wrath
Chapter 2:4-15: Oracles against the nations
Chapter 3:1-8: Condemnation of Jerusalem
Chapter 3:9-20: The Day of the Lord - salvation
Message: The two-sidedness of the Day of the Lord, as both judgment and salvation for “the remnant.”
Zephaniah 1:1-6 (Warning of Judgment)
2 “I
will sweep away everything
from
the face of the earth,”
declares the Lord.
3 “I
will sweep away both man and beast;
I
will sweep away the birds in the sky
and
the fish in the sea—
and
the idols that cause the wicked to stumble.”
“When
I destroy all mankind
on
the face of the earth,”
declares the Lord,
4 “I
will stretch out my hand against Judah
and
against all who live in Jerusalem.
I will destroy every remnant of Baal worship in this place,
the
very names of the idolatrous priests—
5 those
who bow down on the roofs
to
worship the starry host,
those who bow down and swear by the Lord
and
who also swear by Molek,
6 those
who turn back from following the Lord
and
neither seek the Lord nor
inquire of him.”
Zephaniah 1:7-2:3 (A Day of Wrath)
14 The
great day of the Lord is
near—
near
and coming quickly.
The cry on the day of the Lord is bitter;
the
Mighty Warrior shouts his battle cry.
15 That
day will be a day of wrath—
a day
of distress and anguish,
a day of trouble and
ruin,
a day
of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and
blackness—
16 a
day of trumpet and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and
against the corner towers.
17 “I
will bring such distress on all people
that
they will grope about like those who are blind,
because
they have sinned against the Lord.
Their blood will be poured out like dust
and
their entrails like dung.
18 Neither
their silver nor their gold
will
be able to save them
on
the day of the Lord’s
wrath.”
In
the fire of his jealousy
the
whole earth will be consumed,
for he will make a sudden end
of
all who live on the earth.
Zephaniah 2:4-15 (Oracles Against the Nations)
“Like the four points on a compass, Zephaniah’s prophecies extend from Judah in four directions: Philistia to the west …, Moab and Ammon to the east …, Ethiopia [Cush] to the south …., and mighty Assyria to the north…. For their arrogance, idolatry, and hostility toward His people, God would rain down on them desolation and destruction.” Charles Swindoll, God’s Masterwork: A Concerto in Sixty-Six Movements, Vol. 3.
Zephaniah 3:1-8 (Condemnation of Jerusalem)
3 Woe
to the city of oppressors,
rebellious and
defiled!
2 She
obeys no one,
she
accepts no correction.
She does not trust in the Lord,
she
does not draw near to her God.
3 Her
officials within her
are
roaring lions;
her rulers are evening wolves,
who
leave nothing for the morning.
4 Her
prophets are unprincipled;
they
are treacherous people.
Her priests profane the sanctuary
and
do violence to the law.
5 The Lord within
her is righteous;
he
does no wrong.
Morning by morning he dispenses his justice,
and
every new day he does not fail,
yet
the unrighteous know no shame.