Exploring the Minor Prophets The Book of the Twelve Exploring the Minor Prophets

The Path Ahead May 21 – Intro to the Book of the Twelve May 28 –  Hosea June 4 -   Joel June 11 – Amos June 18 –Obadiah June 25 –Jonah July 2 –   Micah July 9 –   Nahum July 16 – Habakkuk July 23 – Zephaniah July 30 – Issues in the Minor Prophets ( Dr. Robin McCall, Guest Teacher) Aug 6 –   Biblical Archaeology (Dr. Don Polaski, Guest Teacher) Aug 13 – Haggai Aug 20 – Zechariah Aug 27 – Malachi Sep 3 –   Closing the Scroll

What is the book of the Twelve? Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) divisions: Torah, Nevi’im, Ketuvim (Law, Prophets, Writings) Book = Scroll (סֵ֫פֶר- sepher) תרי עשר = “The Twelve” Emerged as a collection around 190 BC Intended to be read as an episodic unity.

What is the book of the Twelve?

Israelite History Exodus (15th or 13th centuries BC) Settlement & Proto-democratic Tribal Confederation United Monarchy – Saul, David, Solomon, Rehoboam (c. 1000 BC) Divided Monarchy (and decline) Fall of Samaria (N) to Assyria (c. 722 BC) Fall of Jerusalem (S) to Babylon (587 BC) Cyrus the Great invades Babylon (539 BC) Edict of Cyrus Allows Jews to return home and rebuild

This Time in History The first Olympics (according to tradition) in Greece (776 BC) The City of Rome is founded (753 BC) Homer’s Illiad and Odyssey are put to writing (c. 750 BC) Fall of Samaria/Northern Kingdom to Assyria (722 BC) Greeks add vowels to Phoenician language (700 BC) Fall of Jerusalem/Southern Kingdom to Babylon (586 BC) Leonidas reigns in Sparta (530 BC) Socrates born (470 BC) Alexander the Great born (356 BC)

Timeline of the book of the Twelve Christian Bible (Masoretic Text) Ancient Greek OT (Septuagint) Chronology (all BC) Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi ---- Amos (mid-8th) Hosea (mid-8th) Isaiah (late 8th) Micah (late 8th) Nahum (mid-to-late 7th) Zephaniah (mid-to-late 7th) Habakkuk (late 7th or early 6th) Jeremiah (late 7th or early 6th) Lamentations (early 6th) Ezekiel (early 6th) Obadiah (early 6th) Haggai (late 6th) Zechariah (late 6th) Malachi (Late 6th/early 5th) Jonah (5th – 4th) Joel (4th ?) Daniel (2nd)

Majoring on The Minors History – What really happened? Message – What does it say? Reception – How have others interpreted it? Significance – What does it mean for us?

Majoring on The Minors History – What really happened? Message – What does it say? Reception – How have others interpreted it? Significance – What does it mean for us?

The Prophets Then and Now “Indeed, the sort of crimes and even the amount of delinquency that fill the prophets of Israel with dismay do not go beyond that which we regard as normal, as typical ingredients of social dynamics. To us a single act of injustice--cheating in business, exploitation of the poor--is slight; to the prophets, a disaster. To us injustice is injurious to the welfare of the people; to the prophets it is a deathblow to existence: to us, an episode; to them, a catastrophe, a threat to the world.” ― Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Prophets

Minor Details Most books focus on prophetic messages rather then the prophet himself Jonah is an exception What people remembered were the words. A collection of collections – each books show evidence of redaction/editing Jonah probably inserted late; so too Zechariah 9-14. This collection has a complex evolution. Masoretic Text with its thematic ordering likely came first; Septuagint is more chronological. Is the Book of the Twelve a tragic divine comedy? Reading “inside and out.”

In Review Hosea – God’s Faithfulness & Israel’s infidelity Joel – After the locusts and armies, let us seek the Lord. Amos – Against the North’s opulence Obadiah – Oracles against Edom for aiding Babylon Jonah – An allegory about exile and forgiving one’s enemies Micah – Doom and hope... for Judah

In Review Nahum – Prophecies against brutal Assyria Habakkuk – Injustice in Judah and in Babylon Zephaniah – God against the Nations Haggai – Rebuilding the Temple after Exile Zechariah – Visions of Hope (1-8) DotL (9-14) Malachi – Disputations with the People (Epilogue)

Malachi’s history Malachi 4:4-6 - Epilogue Original to Malachi or added as closing to the Book of the Twelve? Remember the teaching/instruction/Torah of my servant Moses (4) “I will send you the prophet Elijah…” (5) Looking backward / looking forward Closing words: “So that I will not come and strike the land with a curse.” (6)

Majoring on The Minors History – What really happened? Message – What does it say? Reception – How have others interpreted it? Significance – What does it mean for us?