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

2. 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.

3. Israelite History Exodus (15th or 13th centuries BC)
Settlement & Proto-democratic Tribal Confederation
United Monarchy – Saul, David, Solomon, Rehoboam (c 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

4. 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?

5. The Path Ahead
July 23 – Zephaniah July 30 – Issues in the Minor Prophets ( Dr. Robin McCall, Guest Teacher) Aug 6 –   Issues in the Minor Prophets (Dr. Don Polaski, Guest Teacher) Aug 13 – Haggai Aug 20 – Zechariah Aug 27 – Malachi Sep 3 –   Closing the Scroll
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

6. 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 (late 7th)
Habakkuk (late 7th)
Zephaniah (late 7th)
Jeremiah (late 7th or early 6th)
Lamentations (early 6th)
Ezekiel (early 6th)
Obadiah (early 6th)
Haggai (late 6th)
Zechariah (late 6th)
Malachi (late 5th)
Jonah (5th – 4th)
Joel (4th ?)
Daniel (2nd)

7. 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)
Micah’s prophetic ministry (c. 750 – 687 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)
Socrates born (470 BC)
Alexander the Great born (356 BC)

8. Micah’s history Micah means “Who is like Yah(weh)?” (7:18)
8th c. Southern Prophet
Contemporary of Isaiah?
Prophesied against both N & S Kingdoms
2 Kings 16-20
Quoted by name in Jeremiah 26:18
From Moresheth
About 20 mi. SW from Jerusalem
Rural Judah
A refugee?
Assyrians besiege nearby Lachish in 701 BC
Micah vs. Jerusalem’s elites

9. Micah’s history Judah under threat Refugee situation
Syro-Ephraimite War (735 BC) (Hosea)
Samaria falls (722 BC)
Jerusalem within 10 miles of Assyrian occupation
Sennacherib (701 BC)
Jerusalem somehow is saved
Refugee situation
Northerners flee toward the south
Rural dwellers flee for more urban settings

10. Micah’s history Micah means “who is like Yah(weh)” (7:18)
8th c. Southern Prophet
Contemporary of Isaiah?
Prophesied against both N & S Kingdoms
2 Kings 16-20
Quoted by name in Jeremiah 26:18
From Moresheth
About 20 mi. SW from Jerusalem
Rural Judah
A refugee?
Assyrians besiege nearby Lachish in 701 BC
Micah vs. Jerusalem’s elites

11. Micah’s Message Outline
I – Threats Against Samaria & Jerusalem (chs. 1-3)
II – Proclaiming Israel’s Restoration and Glorious Future (4-5)
III – Renewed Oracles of Doom, Denunciations, and Laments over Israel (6:1-7:7)
IV – God’s Favor for Israel and Contempt for Her Enemies (7:8-20)

12. Micah’s Message Prostitute theme in 1:7 (Hosea) Act I (chs 1-3)
Samaria & Jerusalem – High Places
Prostitute theme in 1:7 (Hosea)
Mourning Micah (naked, barefoot, shaven)
Series of Puns in 1:10-15
Social Injustices
“But you rise up against my people as an enemy.” (2:8)
They covet fields and seize them (2:2)
Repossess Houses and rob inheritances
Strip robe from the peaceful
Build Zion with blood
Jer. 26:18-19 quotes Micah 3:9-12

13. Micah’s Message Micah 4:1-5 & Isaiah 2:2-5 Act II (chs 4-5)
By another writer
Micah 4:1-5 & Isaiah 2:2-5
Mentions Babylon in 4:10
Prophecy of a shepherd king (5:2-6)
Quoted in Matthew 2:6 (wise men use it)
Alluded to in John 7:40-43 (Jesus from Galilee)

14. Micah’s Message Act III (6:1 - 7:7) Covenant Lawsuit Micah 6:6-8
6 "With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? 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 thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" 8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

15. Micah’s Message Act III (6:1 - 7:7) - continued
Dishonest weights / Wealthy are violent / liars (6:11-12)
Political bribes (7:2-3)
Act IV (7:8 - 20)
Prophecies of repentance and hope
Probably from a later redactor

16. Jonah’s Reception Ancient Reception Verbal link with Nahum
Catchword
18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of your possession? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in showing clemency. 19 He will again have compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. 20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob and unswerving loyalty to Abraham, as you have sworn to our ancestors from the days of old. (Micah 7:18-21)
NRS Nahum 1:1 An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.2 A jealous and avenging God is the LORD, the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and rages against his enemies. 3 The LORD is slow to anger but great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. (Nahum 1:1:3)
Bringing Hosea and Amos’s message to Judah

17. Micah’s Reception Late Ancient (New Testament) Early Church / Medieval
The Bethlehem prophecy in Matthew & John
Early Church / Medieval
Messianic Prophecy
False Prophets
Ecclesiocentric Interpretation
Injustice and love of God & Neighbor

18. Micah’s Significance Social (In)Justice Refugee activism
Wealthy Urban Elite Preying on the Rural Poor
The Extinction of Armed Conflict
A Promised Son of David
God’s Ultimate Deliverance