1. The Minor Prophets Part 2
Old Testament
The Minor Prophets
Part 2
© John Stevenson, 2012

2. Obadiah
Oracle against Edom

3. Obadiah 1:1 The vision of Obadiah.
Thus says the Lord GOD concerning Edom–
We have heard a report from the LORD,
And an envoy has been sent among the nations saying,
“Arise and let us go against her for battle”

4. Kings of Judah 640 630 620 610 600 590 580 Josiah Zephaniah Obadiah?
Jehoahaz
Jehoiachin
Kings of Judah
Josiah
Jehoiakim
Zedekiah
Jerusalem & Temple Destroyed
Zephaniah
Obadiah?
Jeremiah
Nahum
Daniel
Ezekiel
Fall of
Nineveh

5. Judah
Edom

7. Vision against Edom Warning against Edom Israel’s Victory 1:1 1:12
1:15
Vision against Edom
Warning against Edom
Israel’s Victory
Edom will be defeated despite her present strength & security, 1-4

8. Obadiah 1:3 “The arrogance of your heart has deceived you,
You who live in the clefts of the rock,
In the loftiness of your dwelling place,
Who say in your heart,
‘Who will bring me down to earth?’

9. Obadiah 1:4 “Though you build high like the eagle,
Though you set your nest among the stars,
From there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.

13. Vision against Edom Warning against Edom Israel’s Victory 1:1 1:12
1:15
Vision against Edom
Warning against Edom
Israel’s Victory
Defeated despite strength & security, 1-4
Edom to be thoroughly plundered, 5-7

14. Vision against Edom Warning against Edom Israel’s Victory 1:1 1:12
1:15
Vision against Edom
Warning against Edom
Israel’s Victory
Defeated despite strength & security, 1-4
Thoroughly plundered, 5-7
Cut off forever, 8-10

15. Obadiah 1:10 Because of violence to your brother Jacob,
You will be covered with shame,
And you will be cut off forever.

16. Vision against Edom Warning against Edom Israel’s Victory 1:1 1:12
1:15
Vision against Edom
Warning against Edom
Israel’s Victory
Defeated despite strength & security, 1-4
Thoroughly plundered, 5-7
Cut off forever, 8-10
Do not…
Gloat
Rejoice over sons of Judah
Enter gate of Judah
Loot Judah
Hurt survivors
Imprison survivors

17. Vision against Edom Warning against Edom Israel’s Victory 1:1 1:12
1:15
Vision against Edom
Warning against Edom
Israel’s Victory
Defeated despite strength & security, 1-4
Thoroughly plundered, 5-7
Cut off forever, 8-10
Do not…
Gloat
Rejoice over sons of Judah
Enter gate of Judah
Loot Judah
Hurt survivors
Imprison survivors
Day of the Lord coming, 15-16

18. Lessons from Obadiah God cares for his people when they suffer.
God warns but will eventually judge those who persecute his people.
God will give victory to his people.
God’s faithful people will inherit the kingdom of God in its fullness.

19. Jonah

20. What comes to mind when you first think of Jonah?

21. Jonah 1:1-2
The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

22. Assyria
Israel
Judah

23. Jonah 1:3
But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

24. Tarshish
Assyria
Israel

25. The Book of Jonah

26. Jonah 2:10
Then the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.

27. Jonah 3:1-2
Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.”

28. ~yhil{ale hl'AdG>-ry[i
Jonah 3:3
So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk.
~yhil{ale hl'AdG>-ry[i
Literally, “a great city to god”

29. Jonah 3:3
So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk.
NIV: Now Nineveh was a very important city -- a visit required three days.

30. Jonah 3:10
When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.

31. But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry.

32. Jonah 4:2
He prayed to the LORD and said, “Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and com-passionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.”

33. Jonah 4:3
“Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.”

34. Jonah 4:8
When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, “Death is better to me than life.”

35. Jonah 4:10-11
Then the LORD said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. 11 Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”

36. Why does the book of Jonah end this way?

37. Lessons from Jonah God wants repentance
In Nineveh
In Jonah
God is a God of compassion; His compassion extends both to pagan cities as well as to stubborn prophets.

38. Micah

39. Micah 1:1
The word of the LORD which came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

40. Israel Judah Jehoash Amaziah Jeroboam II Azariah Jotham Pekah Hoshea
4th Dynasty
Jehoash
( B.C.)
Amaziah
( B.C.)
Israel
Judah
Jeroboam II
( B.C.)
Jonah
Azariah
(Uzziah)
( B.C.)
Amos
Hosea
Zechariah
Shallum
Menahem
Pekhaiah
Jotham
( B.C.)
Isaiah
Pekah
( B.C.)
Micah
Ahaz
( B.C.)
Hoshea
( B.C.)
Hezekiah

41. First Oracle Second Oracle Third Oracle Micah 1-2 Micah 3-5 Micah 6-7
Judgment of idolatry
Promise of eventual regathering
Judgment against rulers
Promise of future glory
Judgment against disloyalty
Promise of future restoration

42. Micah 1:6 For I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the open country,
Planting places for a vineyard.
I will pour her stones down into the valley,
And will lay bare her foundations.

43. Micah 1:7 All of her idols will be smashed,
All of her earnings will be burned with fire,
And all of her images I will make desolate,
For she collected them from a harlot's earnings,
And to the earnings of a harlot they will return.

44. Samaria

45. “Tell it not in Gath” Tell it not in Gath,
Weep not at all (Micah 1:10a).
19 Your beauty, O Israel, is slain on your high places!
How have the mighty fallen!
20 Tell it not in Gath,
Proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon;
Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,
Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.
(2 Samuel 1:19-20).

46. Micah 1:10 Tell it not in Gath, Weep not at all.
At Beth-le-aphrah roll yourself in the dust.
“House of Dust”

47. Tell it not in Tellington!
Wail not in Wailing!
Dust Manor will eat dirt,
Dressy Town will flee naked.
Safefold will not save,
Allchester's walls are down,
A bitter dose drinks Bitterton.
Toward Jerusalem, City of Peace,
The Lord sends war.
Harness the war-steeds,
O men of Barstead!
Zion's beginning of sinning,
Equal to Israel's crimes.
To Welfare a last farewell!
For Trapping trapped Israel's kings

48. Micah 4:1 And it will come about in the last days
That the mountain of the house of the LORD
Will be established as the chief of the mountains.
It will be raised above the hills,
And the peoples will stream to it.

49. The Mountain Theme “The Mountain of God” (Exodus 3:1).
The Song of Moses.
You wilt bring them and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance,
The place, O Lord, which You have made for Your dwelling,
The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established. (Exodus 15:17).

50. The Mountain Theme “The Mountain of God” (Exodus 3:1).
The Song of Moses.
The Mountain of God and the Covering Cherub (Ezekiel 28:14-16).

51. Micah 4:2 And many nations will come and say,
“Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD
And to the house of the God of Jacob,
That He may teach us about His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For from Zion will go forth the law,
Even the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

52. Micah 5:2 But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah,
From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.
His goings forth are from long ago,
From the days of eternity.

53. Micah 6:6 With what shall I come to the LORD
And bow myself before the God on high?
Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings,
With yearling calves?

54. Micah 6:7 Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams,
In ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I present my first-born for my rebellious acts,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

55. Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?

56. The Prophet of Nineveh’s Destruction
Nahum
The Prophet of Nineveh’s Destruction

58. Nahum and Jonah
Both Nahum and Jonah focus upon Assyria and their capital city of Nineveh.
Both Nahum and Jonah contain prophecies of Nineveh's destruction.
Both Nahum and Jonah close their books with a question.

59. ~x;n" Nahum means “comfort”  Nacham
And it will come about that all who see you
Will shrink from you and say,
“Nineveh is devastated!
Who will grieve for her?
Where will I seek comforters for you?” (Nahum 3:7).
~x;n"
 Nacham

60. Habakkuk
Prayer and Praise

61. Habakkuk's God's Question Answer
Why does God allow the Wicked to go unpunished?
I am going to bring Judgment

62. Habakkuk 1:6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
That fierce and impetuous people
Who march throughout the earth
To seize dwelling places which are not theirs.

63. Habakkuk 1:6 Nineveh Medes Babylon Judah
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
That fierce and impetuous people
Who march throughout the earth
To seize dwelling places which are not theirs.
Nineveh 
Medes 
Babylon
Judah

64. Habakkuk 1:7 They are dreaded and feared;
Their justice and authority originate with themselves.

65. Habakkuk 1:8 Their horses are swifter than leopards
And keener than wolves in the evening.
Their horsemen come galloping,
Their horsemen come from afar;
They fly like an eagle swooping down to devour.

66. Habakkuk’s Problem 1:1 1:12 Problem #1: Why does God allow the wicked?
Problem #2: How can God use wicked to punish?
Answer #1: God will bring judgment
Answer #2: God will also judge them

67. Habakkuk 2:14 For the earth will be filled
With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
As the waters cover the sea.

68. Habakkuk’s Praise Habakkuk’s Problem 1:1 1:12 3:1
Problem #1: Why does God allow the wicked?
Problem #2: How can God use wicked to punish?
Praise for the…
Person of God
Power of God
Purpose of God
Because of faith in God
Answer #1: God will bring judgment
Answer #2: God will also judge them

69. Habakkuk 3:17 Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be no cattle in the stalls,

70. Habakkuk 3:18 Yet I will exult in the LORD,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

71. Habakkuk 3:19 The Lord God is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.
For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.

72. Judgment Against Judah
Zephaniah
Judgment Against Judah

73. Zephaniah 
hyn;p.c"
(Tsephanyah)
!p;c"
From (tsaphan)
“to hide.”

74. Seek the LORD, All you humble of the earth Who have carried out His ordinances; Seek righteousness, seek humility. Perhaps you will be hidden In the day of the LORD’S anger. (Zephaniah 2:3).

75. Zephaniah 1:1
The word of the LORD which came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah:

76. Josiah's Reform
Huldah

77. Date of Writing
In the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah (Zephaniah 1:1).
A Call for National Repentance.
Slightly prior to Jeremiah.
Foretells the Destruction of Nineveh (2:13).

78. Kings of Judah 640 630 620 610 600 590 580 Josiah Zephaniah Jeremiah
Jehoahaz
Jehoiachin
Kings of Judah
Josiah
Jehoiakim
Zedekiah
Jerusalem & Temple Destroyed
Zephaniah
Jeremiah
Nahum
Daniel
Ezekiel
Fall of
Nineveh

79. Coming judgment on Jerusalem (1:1-6)
Zephaniah
Coming judgment on Jerusalem (1:1-6)
Coming judgment of leaders & wealthy (1:7-13)
God’s judgment against the nation (1:14-18)
Call to repentance (2:1-3)
God’s judgment against the nations (2:4-15)
Coming judgment of leaders (3:1-7)
Coming restoration of Jerusalem (3:8-20)

80. Zephaniah 2:1-2 Gather yourselves together, yes, gather,
O nation without shame,
2 Before the decree takes effect–
The day passes like the chaff–
Before the burning anger of the LORD comes upon you,
Before the day of the LORD’S anger comes upon you.

81. The language of Repentance
Zephaniah 2:3
Seek the LORD,
All you humble of the earth
Who have carried out His ordinances;
Seek righteousness, seek humility.
Perhaps you will be hidden
In the day of the LORD’S anger.
The language of Repentance

82. Zephaniah 3:8 “Therefore wait for Me,” declares the LORD,
“For the day when I rise up as a witness.
Indeed, My decision is to gather nations,
To assemble kingdoms,
To pour out on them My indignation,
All My burning anger;
For all the earth will be devoured
By the fire of My zeal.”

83. Zephaniah 3:8 “Therefore wait for Me,” declares the LORD,
“For the day when I rise up as a witness.
Indeed, My decision is to gather nations,
To assemble kingdoms,
To pour out on them My indignation,
All My burning anger;
For all the earth will be devoured
By the fire of My zeal.”

84. Where else does the Bible
Zephaniah 3:9
“For then I will give to the peoples purified lips,
That all of them may call on the name of the LORD,
To serve Him shoulder to shoulder.”
Where else does the Bible
speak of purified lips?

85. Zephaniah 3:10 “From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers,
My dispersed ones,
Will bring My offerings.”

86. Zephaniah 3:11 “In that day you will feel no shame
Because of all your deeds
By which you have rebelled against Me;
For then I will remove from your midst
Your proud, exulting ones,
And you will never again be haughty
On My holy mountain.

87. Zephaniah 3:12 “But I will leave among you A humble and lowly people,
And they will take refuge in the name of the LORD.”

88. Zephaniah 3:13 “The remnant of Israel will do no wrong
And tell no lies,
Nor will a deceitful tongue
Be found in their mouths;
For they will feed and lie down
With no one to make them tremble.”

89. Zephaniah 3:14 Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion!
Shout in triumph, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!

90. Zephaniah 3:15 The LORD has taken away His judgments against you,
He has cleared away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst;
You will fear disaster no more.

91. Zephaniah 3:16-17 In that day it will be said to Jerusalem:
“Do not be afraid, O Zion;
Do not let your hands fall limp.
17 “The LORD your God is in your midst,
A victorious warrior.
He will exult over you with joy,
He will be quiet in His love,
He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.

92. Zephaniah 3:18
I will gather those who grieve about the appointed feasts–
They came from you, O Zion;
The reproach of exile is a burden on them.

93. Zephaniah 3:19 How does the New Testament
Behold, I am going to deal at that time
With all your oppressors,
I will save the lame
And gather the outcast,
And I will turn their shame into praise and renown in all the earth.
How does the New Testament
continue this theme of shame?

94. …fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2).

95. Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming (1 John 2:28).

96. Zephaniah 3:20 “At that time I will bring you in,
Even at the time when I gather you together;
Indeed, I will give you renown and praise
Among all the peoples of the earth,
When I restore your fortunes before your eyes,”
Says the LORD.