Old Testament Survey

The Minor Prophets

The last twelve books of the Old Testament are referred to as the Minor Prophets. This caption apparently arose in the late fourth century A.D., during the time of Augustine, although there is no indication that he coined this title.

The Minor Prophets are minor only in the sense that their writings are shorter than the major prophets of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. As with all of the prophets of God, the common themes of the minor prophets are judgment and restoration. Some hit one theme more than another. While these writings vary a great deal in size, they follow a general pattern:

Warning of judgment due to sin
A description of the sin
The coming judgment
A call for repentance
The promise of future restoration

The minor prophets may be classified two different ways. One is by time period based upon the exile. The other is by their audience. This latter category actual has three groups – the Northern Kingdom, the Southern Kingdom, and those who return to Israel after the exile.

Although we have looked at the list before, here are the minor prophets:

The Minor Prophets
Group	Book	Date	Message
Pre-exilic to Israel	Jonah Amos Hosea	780-750 765-750 755-715	Judgment on Nineveh Social Righteousness, Abused Privilege God’s love
Pre-Exilic to Judah	Obadiah Joel Micah Nahum Zephaniah Habakkuk	840 835-796 740-690 630-612 625 606-604	Judgment on Edom Judgment & salvation, Day of the Lord Justice, mercy, & love Fall of Nineveh The Day of the Lord & Blessings God’s slackness in judgment
Post-Exilic	Haggai Zechariah Malachi	520 515 430	Exhortation to rebuild the Temple Exhortation to rebuild the Temple True worship & sanctity of marriage

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