Fall Bible Study 2026: Session 1

List the Minor Prophets: Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi The books are called minor, not because they are unimportant, but because of their length. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 - All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Some of the books give us details about their authors, some do not. Some of the books are easy to date, some are not. Take them in chronological order: Obadiah Joel Jonah Amos Micah Hosea Nahum Zephaniah Habakkuk Haggai Zechariah Malachi They lived, spoke and wrote over a period of 400 years. - Pre-Assyrian - Assyrian - Babylonian and exile - Post-exilic The kingdom was divided Northern kingdom - Israel - Reuben - Simeon - Levi - Dan - Naphtali - Gad - Asher - Ephraim - Manasseh - Zebulun Southern kingdom - Judah - Judah - Benjamin "One might be inclined to think that the Hebrew prophets were preoccupied with the distant future, matters regarding the coming of the Messiah or Christ (i.e., the anointed one) and the end times (i.e., the end of the world as we know it!). One analysis reveals the following surprising results: less than 2 percent of OT prophecy is messianic, less than 5 percent specifically describes the New Covenant Age (i.e., the Christian era), and less than 1 percent is concerned with events yet to come." - Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, How To Read The Bible For All Its Worth, page 50 (verify) There are several Messianic prophecies in the Minor Prophets, as well as end-times prophecies. But, most of what the prophets spoke and wrote about was forth-telling. They pointed out the present sins of the people, the need for repentance and the consequences for not repenting. The prophets were concerned with four "I's" 1) Insolence 2) Idolatry 3) Immorality 4) Injustice I call them the four "I's" because they put me front and center. Insolence - (Webster) having or showing a lack of respect for other people - We are going to see how the Israelites lacked a proper a respect and fear of God. This often showed in their lack of respect for the Law and in their lack of remembering God's faithfulness to them. Idolatry - "Anything above God is idolatry." (Richard Sibbes) "Whatsoever our trust is most in, that is our god." (Richard Sibbes) "Idolatry is everywhere represented in Scripture as the greatest insult the creature can offer the Creator." (Charles Hodge) Immorality - particularly sexual immorality. The prophets frequently compare idolatry and the worship of false gods to adultery and prostitution, showing that they understand idolatry to be a moral failing as well as a spiritual one. Injustice - We will see how the Israelites threw God's justice code out. Justice is the way we treat other people. The Bible is especially concerned with the way we treat those we are in a position to take advantage of. It is a concept that is hard for us to understand because of our way of viewing property and things, so I will come back to this several times as we look at the minor prophets. The Israelites fell into acting unjustly when they forgot that they were not the owners, simply the stewards. Property had been assigned by God and was not to be held permanently by anyone else. Three questions we will hope to answer each time: 1) What did it mean to them? 2) What does it mean to me? 3) How do I put it into practice? I want to encourage you to keep your "shoveling" to a minimum. The bulk of what the minor prophets had to say was to the people of God, the Israelites. It is a misapplication of the message to look at the words of the prophets and apply them to a world outside relationship with God. Next week: Obadiah FALL BIBLE STUDY 2026 -THE MINOR PROPHETS SESSION 1: INTRODUCTION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 2 | Page