Who Were the Minor Prophets?

A few weeks ago, Drew Maggi, a Pittsburgh Pirates infielder, won the hearts of baseball fans everywhere. Maggi is a 33-year-old rookie. If you aren’t familiar with baseball, you need to know that it’s incredibly rare for a player to get his first big league in his 30’s.

Maggi has played 1,155 games during his 13 minor league seasons. When he finally got the call up to the major leagues, he became an immediate fan favorite. When he stepped to the plate, everyone was cheering. A staple in the minor leagues finally made it to the big time. Drew Maggi was now a major league baseball player.

I share this story because I think we sometimes think of the Minor Prophets and the Major Prophets a little like we think of Maggi’s journey through minor league baseball. One is the “big show” the other league serves as a proving ground for the real thing.

Is Jonah as much of a prophet as Ezekiel? Is Hosea as important as Isaiah? What makes someone a minor prophet or a major prophet?

Who Were the Minor Prophets?

The minor prophets are also known as “the Twelve.” (This is not to be confused with the twelve disciples or the twelve tribes of Israel.) In our version of the Old Testament, each of these prophets is given his own book. But in the Hebrew Bible they are consolidated into a single book, Shneim Asar (the Twelve). It is the last book of the Nevi’im (the Prophets).

Who are the twelve?

1. Hosea

2. Joel

3. Amos

4. Obadiah 

5. Jonah

6. Micah

7. Nahum

8. Habakkuk

9. Zephaniah

10. Haggai

11. Zechariah

12. Malachi

What Makes This Group Minor, as Opposed to the Major Prophets?

If you look up the word “minor” in the dictionary, the first definition is “inferior in importance, size, or degree: comparatively unimportant.” If we carry this definition, we might think that they are less important than the Major Prophets. But that’s not what the word minor means here. 

“Minor” has more to do with their size and scope than it has to do with the respect which was held for the prophet whose name it bears. As near as I can tell the phrase “Minor prophets” comes from Augustine, who distinguished “The Book of the Twelve” from what he termed the Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel).

Think of how the Hebrew Bible is ordered. It has three main sections: law, prophets, writings. The second section, the prophets, is divided into the Former Prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings) and the Latter Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, The Twelve). Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel stand alone. But if you are a prophet belonging to “the twelve,” your work isn’t large enough to stand on its own — it is compiled alongside other prophets. It seems that Augustine picked up this distinction and it stuck.

Others have noted that it has to do with the scope of their writings, being more local and situational than the far-reaching prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. But I think this might be reading our words back into their history. It’s better, in my opinion, to consider these twelve books as one whole unit — the Twelve. It’s fine, then, to consider the prophets therein as Minor Prophets if we need to, but it might be best to think of them as co-authors.

What Was the Role of a Prophet in the Old Testament?

A full answer to this question would likely require a lengthy article to stand on its own (a major point instead of a minor one, you might say). Simply put, a prophet is a spokesperson for God. The prophets are unique in their calling, their background, and the manner in which they deliver God’s message to the people. The only unifying factor is that they have been set apart as those who deliver God’s message.

A common misconception is that prophets are those who foretell the future. While many of the prophets of the Old Testament do tell of coming disasters or blessings, that is not fundamentally what a prophet does. Remember, a prophet is a spokesperson for God. Often that message is about foretelling of events. But many times, it could also be described as forthtelling. The prophetic role, at times, was to tell the king of God’s displeasure at their present actions. As the Lexham Theological Workbook notes,

“Prophets occasionally spoke of future events, but more often their messages consisted of warnings of judgment for violations of the Mosaic law accompanied by calls to repentance.”

But there were also court prophets, or perhaps better termed as false prophets. While some legitimate prophets had the ear of the king as well as the people, and were generally respected (or at least had to be reckoned with), these prophets were explicitly commissioned by the kings. They were often used as a shield against the real prophets. It created a division among the people. 

We can see some of this division in the time of Jeremiah. The court prophets were prophesying peace and Jeremiah was warning the people of impending doom:

“For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is greedy for unjust gain; 

and from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely. 

They have healed the wound of my people lightly, 
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ 
when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:13-14).

The true prophets were truthful messengers who spoke only what God told them. But the false prophets often spoke what either the king or the people wanted them to hear, and they often did it for unjust gain. They are still called “prophets” because they were serving in that office — but they were not actually prophets in the true sense of the word.

What Did the Minor Prophets Prophesy?

The Minor Prophets each had their own unique message to their particular audience. The span in which they prophesied was from the 800s to the 400s. Their prophetic ministries covered both the Assyrian invasion, the destruction of the Northern Kingdom, the Babylonian exile, as well as the years after the return from exile.

It should also be noted that The Twelve are not in chronological order. And there seems to be some variance in the order which the prophets appeared throughout the years. As an example, the Masoretic text (MT) is in a bit different order then the Septuagint (LXX). Some scholars believe the book originated as a compilation of Hosea and Amos, and then Micah was added to become “The Book of Three,” then Zephaniah was added to make “The Book of Four.” After some time, other prophets began to be compiled together and eventually all were merged into The Book of Twelve.

It does seem that the books center around three major periods in Old Testament history; namely, the fall of Israel to the Assyrians (722 BC), the fall of Judah to Babylon (586 BC), and the period of restoration (538-430 BC). Below is a brief summary of the message of each individual prophet that makes up the Book of the Twelve.

Hosea was told by God to marry a prostitute as a picture of God’s relationship to His people.

Joel uses a locust plague to point to the Assyrian invasion and the day of the Lord.

Amos is a book about God’s justice. As the prophet looks at the sins of Israel’s enemies and then closes the net to analyze their own rebellion.

Obadiah is only 21 verses about the day of the Lord (there is some debate about when it was written)

Jonah is different than the other books and is a story about a reluctant prophet who has yet to learn the lesson that “salvation belongs to the Lord.”

Micah is a message of God’s love for justice, mercy, and covenant relationship. 

Nahum is a short book concerning the destruction of Nineveh (I wonder if this was Jonah’s favorite book)

Habakkuk chronicles the prophet’s beef with God for not judging the wickedness of his people. The prophet is shocked when God lets him know that He will be judging them, but is doing it through the wicked Babylonians. 

Zephaniah shows not only God’s judgment but also future glory when God rejoices over His people with singing

Haggai is a rebuke to the returned exiles, stirring them up to consider their priorities and continue building the temple

Zechariah is in two distinct parts. The first part centers around eight visions which point to a time of revival for the people. Zechariah 9-14 points to the coming Messiah. 

Malachi reads like a courtroom trial. The people have once again broken covenant. And Malachi is calling them to repentance.

The Book of the Twelve begins with the unfaithfulness of the people and ends with the unfaithfulness of the people. But woven throughout each story is our need for a coming deliverer. And within these books we have little bread crumbs that will be picked up by New Testament authors.

Conclusion

Reading through the Minor Prophets can be difficult. It can also be confusing to follow because of how they are compiled in our Bible. We like to read things chronologically, but there are massive skips in time in the way that we have them ordered. Yet, it is rewarding to study the message of these prophets. Their words are timely even today. And as with all of Scripture, they too point to Jesus Christ — our only hope.

Source

Aaron C. Fenlason, “Prophets,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/francescoch