Minor Prophets in a Major Key

By Chris Woodall

All Scripture is God-breathed, but not every portion of it is embraced by Christians with equal vigor. Tribal lists, specific sacrificial obligations, seemingly endless genealogical records, and apparently gratuitous acts of warfare are readily scanned over. But could the minor prophets be added to that list? Should they be? They certainly seem more difficult to locate for many of us than, say, the books of Moses or the Psalms. The writer is clear in his assessment from the start, positing that our relative ignorance of these twelve books, tucked away at the end of the Old Testament, impinges negatively on the Christian believer's walk.

Covering a period of around four hundred years, each book is revealed through two contextual settings: the historical and that which was personal to the individual pensmith, before a brief overview reveals the main points of that author's writing. The bulk of each chapter is concerned with the "Major Key" of the title. Taking a verse or two from each of the minor prophets, Chris Woodall develops a theme to bring practical application with a potentially positive impact to life as a Christian in the twenty-first century from lessons over two-and-a-half thousand years old.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Release date: Jan 24, 2018
• ISBN: 9781532642203

Chris Woodall

Chris Woodall is former associate professor of Christian dogmatics at North-West University, South Africa. This is his sixth book for Wipf & Stock. The first five, Covenant: the Basis of God’s Self-Disclosure (2011), Kingdom: The Expression of God’s Rule (2012), Atonement: God’s Means of Effecting Man’s Reconciliation (2015), Minor Prophets in a Major Key (2018), and Their Master’s Voice: The Major Prophets Speak Today (2020) are also available from this publisher and other outlets.

Book preview

9781532642180.kindle.jpg

Minor Prophets in a Major Key

Chris Woodall

23597.png

Acknowledgment

With each passing work, the list of those to whom I owe a debt of gratitude continues to grow. In recent years, my interests have been extended to include English monarchical history, particularly of the Plantagenet/Tudor period. One of the frustrations in preparing the background sections for the Minor Prophets has been the relative dearth of information available to aid me in my quest. I have been both helped and inspired by the following snippet taken from the website of Alison Weir, arguably the foremost female historian in the United Kingdom at the current time, with over twenty books published and almost three million sales worldwide:

Historical biography, especially of people who lived centuries ago, is more often than not the piecing together of fragments of information and trying to make sense of them. We cannot know our subjects as we know those of our own time: we can only infer so much about them from the sources of the period and memorials they left behind.¹

This is as much an acknowledgment of my own inadequacy in this regard as it is an appreciation for Ms. Weir’s insightful words. I would add the following to them, by way of a note of caution to the reader: When considering historical narrative, there is a common tendency to neglect the fact that events now securely in the past were once tentatively and, perhaps, treacherously to come. Remind yourself of this as you read on.

1. www.alisonweir.org.uk

Table of Contents

Title Page

Acknowledgment

Introduction

Chapter 1: Hosea

Chapter 2: Joel

Chapter 3: Amos

Chapter 4: Obadiah

Chapter 5: Jonah

Chapter 6: Micah

Chapter 7: Nahum

Chapter 8: Habakkuk

Chapter 9: Zephaniah

Chapter 10: Haggai

Chapter 11: Zechariah

Chapter 12: Malachi

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

I have now joined the ranks of those who can truly say they have been Christians for over forty years. Even such a statement is sadly not without the need for further clarification: It is now more than four decades since I made a conscious decision to abandon my previous lifestyle of rebellion against my Maker and accept the truth of what the Bible has to say regarding the provision he has made for my salvation in Christ Jesus. During that time, it would be impossible to calculate precisely how many sermons, Christian lectures, and Bible studies I have listened to in one format or another. I would guess there is barely a New Testament passage I have not heard expounded, explained, or distorted.

The same could not be said of the Old Testament. Of course, it might be argued this is to be expected as there is so much more of it. This is true. Nevertheless, some particular preachers’ favorites have cropped up dozens of times, notably from the Psalms, while others remain virgin territory. It is almost as if there is some kind of unacknowledged, but quietly agreed upon, policy of religious exile to which certain portions of the Old Testament have been unwittingly and unwillingly dispatched. We can probably name them: tribal lists, specific sacrificial obligations, acts of warfare that fail to fit in with twenty-first-century sensitivities of how a people committed to a God of love should behave, verses that would probably cause us to seriously reconsider our understanding of some point of doctrine if we allowed ourselves to concede their existence, and the Minor Prophets.

It is perhaps a little unfair of me to speak of them collectively at this stage, as there are some parts that will be more familiar than others. The book of Jonah is an obvious example, as would be certain passages from Joel for those of a pentecostal/charismatic persuasion. There are also a couple of verses from Haggai that are often plucked from the brink of relative obscurity whenever church finances are in need of being catapulted to the top of the members’ meeting agenda. But these are exceptions that go a considerable distance toward proving the rule.

Joking—and sarcasm—aside, why is it that in general terms the books of the Minor Prophets have fallen into such relative disuse? Perhaps their designated status is partly to blame. However, it should be noted they are only referred to as Minor by way of comparison with the Major Prophets on account of their length, Hosea and Zechariah being the most comprehensive at fourteen chapters each. An associated difficulty is that of identifying their correct location. Who has not dreaded being asked to find Obadiah verse fifteen, only to be made an object of ridicule for daring to ask, Which chapter? The preacher’s advice that it is on page eight hundred and something in the church Bible is only helpful if you have not gone to the trouble of bringing your own copy, with vastly different pagination, to accommodate the maps, cross-references, and footnotes that no one ever uses. (Okay, so I fibbed about laying aside the sarcasm.)

What we have before us, then, are twelve books of the Bible, the ignorance of which I believe is detrimental to the Christian believer’s walk. Although they are often further divisible into pre-exilic and post-exilic times, as a group the period of history they cover stretches to less than four hundred years (approximately 810–433 BC). As such, it may be said that the circumstances each is most concerned with are those to do with the prelude, fact, and aftermath of the exile of God’s old covenant people. This being the case, one might be forgiven for asking what lessons we could possibly glean that are relevant for us today.

Without giving too much away from what follows, let us take a brief look at a couple examples. Chronologically, Joel probably belongs to the earlier of the prophets under consideration. Even those who dispute this are forced to concede the dating of the book makes no material difference to how we must interpret its content. The land upon which Israel had laid claim to its inheritance had been devastated by an invasion of pests, the immediate consequences of which were drought and famine. This was not to be regarded as a natural phenomenon, but a withdrawing of the divine hand of provision for failure on the part of its inhabitants to maintain their covenant obligations. A return to them, preceded by repentance, would see God’s favor restored. If not, worse would follow.

At the other end of the spectrum, Malachi finds its place as the last book of the Old Testament. It was also the last to be written. As such, it might reasonably be regarded as God’s final word before the so-called four-hundred-year silence of the intertestamental period. Allowing for the earlier dating of Joel, a similar time frame elapsed between their respective writings. And what novel twist had Israel’s history taken in the meantime? Well, much had happened, but there was demonstrably more that had remained the same. The people who looked to Yahweh as their God were still rebelling against his ordinances, he was still calling them to repentance and promising restoration for doing so, and the prophets were still his appointed agents in communicating God’s will.

Of course, this is a very sweeping generalization that takes little account of the specific ways in which Israel’s sin became manifest. We must also acknowledge—as we will—the very different literary and oratory styles of each prophet. Their individual sensitivities to the social, political, and cultic compromises with which they were faced must similarly be recognized. We have seen that common themes to the writings of the prophets (Major and Minor) include rebellion, the call to repentance, and promises of restoration. At the heart of them all we might add God’s desire for justice, mercy, and righteousness. It is my conviction these make the most significant contribution to their enduring quality. They speak the same message today into different situations because God is still concerned that his people bear a true reflection of his image.

Minor Prophets in a Major Key

Copyright © 2018 Chris Woodall. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Wipf & Stock

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

199

W.

8

th Ave., Suite

3

Eugene, OR

97401

www.wipfandstock.com

paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-4218-0

hardcover isbn: 978-1-5326-4219-7

ebook isbn: 978-1-5326-4220-3

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV, copyright ©

1973

,

1978

,

1984

by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked Amplified are taken from the Amplified Bible, copyright ©

1954

,

1958

,

1962

,

1964

,

1965

,

1987

by the Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA

90631

. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked ASV are taken from the American Standard Version, copyright expired.

Scripture quotations marked CEV are taken from the Contemporary English Version, copyright ©

1995

. Used by permission of the American Bible Society, Philadelphia, PA

19106

–

2155

. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked Darby are taken from The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation from the Original Languages by John Nelson Darby, copyright expired.

Scripture quotations marked ERV are taken from the English Revised Version, copyright expired.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from the English Standard Version, copyright ©

2001

. Used by permission of Crossway, Carol Stream, IL

60188

. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked GNB are taken from the Good News Bible, copyright ©

1966

,

1971

,

1976

,

1992

. Used by permission of the American Bible Society, Philadelphia, PA

19106

–

2155

. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, copyright ©

1999

,

2000

,

2002

,

2003

,

2009

by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James (Authorized) Version (crown copyright).

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, copyright ©

1960

,

1962

,

1963

,

1968

,

1971

,

1972

by the Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA

90631

. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the New Living Translation, copyright ©

1996

,

2004

,

2007

. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, IL

60188

. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked RSV are taken from the Revised Standard Version, copyright ©

1946

,

1952

,

1971

,

1973

by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked Tyndale are taken from the Modern Spelling Tyndale/Coverdale Bible®, copyright ©

2008

by Shawn McDonnell. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked Webster are taken from Noah Webster’s

1833

revision of the KJV, copyright expired.

Scripture quotations marked Wycliffe are taken from A Modern Spelling Version of the

14

th Century Middle English Translation of the Bible by John Wycliffe, copyright ©

2001

by Terence P. Noble. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked YLT are taken from Young’s Literal Translation, copyright expired.

Manufactured in the U.S.A.

1

Hosea

Historical Background

For anyone remotely familiar with church history (even very recent church history), the following scenario probably requires little imagination: A people of God remain diligent in their execution of religious ritual, with little or no evidence of true devotion to the one who calls them to such observance. Where this is true of individuals, we might expect to see an attendant propensity toward compromise, a distinct lack of integrity in their dealings with others, and an overriding sense of egotistical motivation. When these characterize a society, fraudulence and duplicity are so commonplace it is those who are not so tainted that are perceived to be strange, unhinged, and at odds with the norm. Escalate this further so it is true of a whole nation, and that nation has been chosen to demonstrate God’s righteousness and justice to others, and it becomes difficult to comprehend anything but divine judgment as the most likely outcome.

Much of the historical background to Hosea is provided for us in the second book of Kings (2 Kgs 14:23–17:41). After the death of Jeroboam II (circa 792–752 BC), the economic, moral, political, and religious state of the northern kingdom of Israel went into rapid decline. The length of this Jeroboam’s reign was testament to his relative success, both administratively and militaristically. It was he who oversaw the restoration of many of Israel’s northern territories that had been lost since the division of the kingdom. The relative freedom from enemy assault provided the perfect conditions in which to prosper economically. However, he was a good king only if we allow the definition of goodness to be confined to that which evokes material well-being. Such goodness was certainly not of the kind to merit divine favor.

If Jeroboam thought he could double bluff Yahweh by naming his son and successor Zechariah, he was very much mistaken (Zechariah means the Lord will remember). The Lord did, indeed, remember; the tumult that followed Jeroboam’s death provides ample evidence of his capacity to do so. Six kings followed Jeroboam in the space of little more than twenty years, four of whom were assassinated by those who succeeded to the throne in their stead. This vying for political power was symptomatic of a more widespread culture of friction and fractiousness. It is a tragic observation of the human experience that the phrase dog eats dog is arguably more commonplace during times of affluence than it is in austerity.

The spiritual decadence of each successive king corresponded almost commensurately with the nation’s growing subservience to the emerging power of Assyria. It was not the first time—nor would it be the last—God chose a heathen people through which to enact the fruit of his displeasure against those to whom he was covenantally bound. Paul Johnson makes this telling contribution:

Throughout the ninth century the power of Assyria had been growing. The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser shows that, even in Jehu’s day, Israel had been forced to pay tribute. For a time, Israel bought the Assyrians off, or formed coalitions of other small states to halt their advance. But in

745

BC the cruel Tiglath-Pileser III ascended the Assyrian throne and turned his warlike race into a nation of imperialists. He inaugurated a policy of mass deportation in conquered territories.¹

It was during this time of upheaval that Tiglath-Pileser (also known by his native name Pul; see 2 Kgs 15:19) drew closer to Israel’s border. An unwise alliance was engaged between Pekah of Israel and Rezin of Aram (that is, Syria) against their mutual oppressor, though Ahaz of Judah steadfastly—and, as it turned out, sagaciously—refused to join the coalition (16:1–9). In 732 BC, Damascus fell to Tiglath-Pileser, after a sequence of hostile campaigns to that end, and the decline of Israel also gathered momentum, precipitated in no small measure by the destruction of Hazor in Galilee (15:29).

Hoshea (by then a mere vassal king, forced to pay annual tribute to Assyria) foolishly looked to King So of Egypt for salvation (2 Kgs 17:4), but was himself taken captive to Assyria, before Samaria fell to Shalmaneser V in 722 BC after a prolonged siege of the city. Its leading citizens (allegedly 27,290 of them) were deported the following year to the region of the Upper Euphrates and Media by Sargon II (v. 6); they were replaced with previously conquered Babylonian tribespeople (vv. 23–24). Subsequent Assyrian rulers continued the policy of populating vacant towns that had belonged to the northern kingdom with captive non-Israelites (see Ezra 4:2–10).

Unlike the later exile of the southern kingdom of Judah, the dispersion of the ten tribes that comprised the northern kingdom was to become irreversible. They were thereafter consigned to something resembling mythological status. In many ways, their end was but a just reflection of the heart condition that led to it: they had rejected the call to be holy and so had been treated as that which is unholy; they had refused to conduct themselves in a manner befitting those who had been set apart and so were assimilated by those from whom they should have distanced themselves. In Hosea’s day, pagan idolatry, intermarriage with those of alien descent, and moral laxity in every direction imaginable had brought Israel (that is, the northern kingdom) to their own eve of destruction; ultimately, for them, these choices would lead to the dawn of oblivion.

Traditionally, the role of the prophet has been perceived as God’s mouthpiece to the people. That of the priest has similarly been regarded as fulfilling a mediatorial function before God on behalf of the people. The difficulty of the task facing Hosea was compounded by the fact that many of Israel’s problems stemmed from a corrupt priesthood in league with a syndicate of false prophets. As for the people, they had become so accustomed to having their ears tickled and their egos massaged that they were more than a little reluctant to relinquish such plaudits. Their rejection of Hosea’s message—or, perhaps more accurately, of God’s message through Hosea—truly did usher in their zero hour.

Personal Background

Hosea was an eighth-century BC contemporary of Isaiah, Amos, and Micah (probably also of Jonah). It is generally assumed he was a native of the northern kingdom of Israel (see below) and his message was for his own people, whom he often addressed as Ephraim after its largest tribe (see Isa 7:17; Hos 5). At other times, Hosea refers to the target of his utterance by its capital city, Samaria (e.g., 7:1; 10:5; 13:16). Herein lay Hosea’s uniqueness amongst the Minor Prophets: he was the only one born of Israel (that is, the northern kingdom) to address Israel. Although some of his messages were also directed toward Judah in the south, this may have been due to Hosea’s relocation after the Assyrian overthrow.

Hosea’s name is a derivative of Hoshea, which means salvation or deliverance. (NB: Moses changed the name of the son of Nun from Hoshea to Joshua, that is, from salvation to Yahweh saves; see Num 13:8, 16.)

All we may know of Hosea is to be garnered from the book that bears his name. Therefore, we are left utterly ignorant of his early upbringing other than what may reasonably be presumed from the apparently firsthand knowledge of his environment. Homer Hailey has this to say:

[Hosea] speaks as a native and not as an outsider. His keen insight into the religious, social, and political conditions of his day indicates that he knew in an intimate way the things of which he spoke. His tender love for Israel argues for his being a citizen of the nation whom he addressed.²

The name of Hosea’s father was Beeri (Hos 1:1), who may or may not have been a merchant or farmer, either of crops or cattle—possibly both. Hosea prophesied during the latter years of the reign of Jeroboam II, of the northern kingdom, and in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, a period in excess of thirty years. It was a time marked in similar measure by political peace, financial prosperity, and moral depravity.

We owe our remaining knowledge of him to the fact that his marriage effectively became the subject of his prophetic call. Despite the relative mystery surrounding him, we are able to glean that Hosea was a sensitive man, who came to a more fully developed understanding of his God through personal tragedy. Is that not the most common way? It certainly seems to have been so when we look at other Old Testament saints, and there has been no evidence since to suggest otherwise.

God revealed his heart for Israel to Hosea through the prophet’s own marital difficulties. What we are to make of the divine instruction that Hosea should take to [himself] an adulteress wife (Hos 1:2) continues to divide opinion. It is by no means improbable that we are here faced with an example of literary prolepsis, by which the author looks back to an incident with eyes that have seen its later development. It would be like me saying that I was at Bible college with a well-known evangelist. Of course, he was not quite so renowned at the time—at least, not outside the college campus, and certainly not for his evangelistic endeavors—but he has become that in subsequent years. (His identity is not material to our studies here.) Moreover, the argument that Gomer must have been a prostitute when Hosea married her, because that is the least complex understanding of the text, only becomes so when we completely ignore typical Hebrew idiom from the period. The fact remains, however, we cannot know for sure and it hardly alters the essence of Hosea’s overall message.

What we do know is that, though not entirely unaffected by his circumstances, Hosea remained sufficiently aware of God’s hand in them to see beyond the immediate to the eternal. As an unfaithful bride, Israel had become wayward in her lust and infidelity; it was Hosea’s task to seek to turn her away from the sinful influence of the false gods of Canaan to once more worship the true God of Israel. However, we must not infer from the fact that Israel refused to heed the prophet’s warning that Hosea thus failed in his prophetic ministry. As a messenger, his sole responsibility was to discharge the message with which he had been entrusted. In this, he was obedient and that was all that was required of him. This is true of all who find themselves similarly assigned.

Because of his personal state of affairs, some have referred to Hosea as the prophet of the broken heart. That notwithstanding, and given his prime focus is the need to rise above such circumstances in the quest to retain intimacy of fellowship with God, perhaps a more fitting label might be the Apostle John of the Old Testament. Had he lived eight hundred years later, it is difficult to imagine him looking out of place reclining at the bosom of John’s beloved friend. Hosea’s sense of righteous indignation at the prevalence of sin amongst his peers was not motivated by an apathetic demand for justice and righteousness, but one to be seen in the context of them having abused the love that should have attracted a more faithful response.

It may be of some interest to the reader to learn this prophet’s mortal remains are believed to be housed in the tomb of Hosea at the cemetery in Safed (Tzfat), in the Northern District of Israel. Along with Jerusalem, Hebron, and Tiberias, Safed has long been regarded as one of the principal holy cities of Judaism. Although this town is not so named in Scripture, its location is some ten miles northwest of the Sea of Galilee (Yam Kinneret), a region allocated by Joshua to the tribe of Naphtali (see Josh 19:32–39; Judg 1:32–33). At that time, it was possibly a sparsely populated village in the vicinity of Hazor.

Overview

It is perhaps significant that, though Hosea’s ministry was essentially to the northern kingdom and extended beyond the reign of Jeroboam II, it is thereafter marked by the successive reigns of the kings of Judah. Although owing much to conjecture, it does seem the prophet considered Jeroboam’s successors as wholly unworthy of reference. It is also notable that a substantial portion of Hosea’s comments regarding Israel’s sins are concerned with their expressions of idolatry, especially in view of their association with the Canaanite fertility religion(s).

Israel’s harlotry was physical as well as spiritual: they actually engaged in cult prostitution and fertility rites as part of their worship of baalim, which included sacred prostitution, ritual drunkenness, carnal immorality, idolatry, and human sacrifice. Far from being ambassadors for the pure religion of Yahwism, Israel had embraced the more heinous forms of paganism into a syncretism of impurity. Hailey correctly distinguishes between Israel’s previous history of intermittent spiritual adultery and her current state of whoredom. Whereas in the past she had gone after other lovers, now as a harlot she . . . prostituted herself before the baalim of the land for hire.³

Hosea was bewildered that these people of the covenant could truly believe that gods of wood and stone were responsible for their well-being (Hos 2:2), when in reality it was the God of the covenant (v. 8). Such was his frustration that there are many parallels to be found between the experience of Hosea concerning the northern kingdom of Israel prior to its fall to the Assyrian threat, and that of Jeremiah more than a hundred years later in Judah just before being carried away to Babylonian exile.

Like many of the prophets, however, Hosea’s message is at the same time one of antithesis and synthesis, despair and hope. All appears so final and desolate in the opening verses (Hos 1:1–9), but there is at least a glimmer of optimism punctuating the darkness thereafter. This is typical of the prophetic output at this time, as revealed to us through the Hebrew Scriptures. It seems no matter how far Israel strayed from Yahweh, there is almost a sense that the hand of God is being extended toward her in a conciliatory manner.

Hosea proclaimed the heart of God in dramatic fashion. With firsthand—and fresh—experience of the pain another’s unfaithfulness can evoke, he lived out the forgiveness that God offered to Israel. Initially, the book that bears his name focuses on Hosea’s extraordinary marriage, at the same time pointing to lessons that may be learned from it. It then builds on this relationship using social and political themes not touched upon in the first part. In a most startling way, it speaks of God’s dealings with Israel as a husband/wife relationship, with all this implies in terms of both personal delight and the potential for disappointment. The overriding theme, however, is of God’s abiding faithfulness despite the abject unworthiness of those toward whom it is directed. This is perfectly symbolized in the naming of Hosea’s three children (see above). A grim picture, indeed, until God promises a coming day in which:

I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth; and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and the oil, and they will respond to Jezreel. I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’ I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’⁴

The prophet couches his