Minor Prophet Musings

Having completed a semester of teaching the "minor" prophets, otherwise known Book of the Twelve, one aspect that was made clear in the past week is the consistency of some of the themes between the Minor Prophets (otherwise Old Testament) and the teachings of God through more recent prophets (otherwise New Testament).

The first theme, and the topic of this blog, is that of God's sovereignty. Defined by Webster's as "supreme power or authority", it is too common to think of this trait as simply 'power or authority' and forget the 'supreme' element. Webster's describes supreme as "superior to all others" in regard to authority. Thus the idea of God's sovereignty is that this deity, and none other, holds the authority over creation that is second to none, indeed it is not merely better than others, it is superior to all the others. Indeed, the concept of superior is quite difficult to consider in a democratic society where no one is supposedly 'superior'.

However, in both Testaments of the Christian canon, the sovereignty of God is proclaimed. The book of Hebrews espouses the superiority of Jesus to a list of other options, including prophets, angels, Moses, Joshua, Abraham, the priesthood and the temple.  The preliminary question I rather superficially (don't act so surprised) impose on each prophet of the twelve to be asking is "who will follow YHWH?" The answer in terms of God's sovereignty is this: the one who recognizes and submits to that supreme power and authority.  The New Testament writers ask the very same thing: submit to God and to His Son.

Zany Zechariah

I was tremendously encouraged yesterday after class when a student actually thanked me for teaching Minor Prophets.  He indicated that without the class he would never have opened these books and would have remained unenlightened as to their major importance. He also noted that he had unintentionally slipped into the bifurcated thought pattern that there were two different gods, the god of the Old Testament and the Jews and the god of the New Testament and of Christians. He was thankful for the encouragement and evidence presented in the class of the consistent message presented in the prophetic books and later echoed in the gospels.

On another note, today congratulations are due to Michael Barrett who is "tying the knot" with a wonderful young lady, Michelle Brewster, whom he met at Mead's Corner.  There is hope for you all!!!

On to Zechariah.  Yesterday I was struck by Zechariah 2:13 and its plea to "Be Silent."  The directive is repeated in other places as well, notably Hab 2:20 and Zeph 1:7.  Since these three all call the world to be silent in the presence of Yahweh, I raised the question, how does this relate to the reaction in Revelation to the opening of the seventh seal in Revelation 8:1?

Enough to think about today?

Having Fun with Habakkuk

Just finished two days on Habakkuk, which is much better than two day old halibut. What really surprised me this time around was the amazing description of God in 1.12-14 and again in chapter 3.  I wonder how much our perspective on God would change if we only stopped to read and consider what these small books at the end of the Christian Old Testament actually say about God.  Here's the snippets.

 Are You not from  everlasting, 

O LORD, my God, my Holy One? (1.12, NAS95)

Your eyes are too  pure to  approve evil, 

And You can not look on wickedness with favor. (1.13)

LORD, I have  heard  the report about You and  I  fear. 

O LORD,  revive  Your work in the midst of the years, 

In the midst of the years make it known; 

In wrath remember mercy.  (3.2)

His  splendor covers the heavens, 

And the  earth is full of His praise. (3.3)

He stood and surveyed the earth; 

He looked and  startled the nations. 

Yes, the perpetual mountains were shattered, 

The ancient hills  collapsed. 

His ways are  everlasting. (3.6)

You went forth for the  salvation of Your people, 

For the salvation of Your  anointed. (3.13)

God is Everlasting and Pure, Full of Mercy and Majesty. He stands for his people, not against them.  What a concept to consider God Almighty from a prophet's viewpoint.

What is Justice?

Sorry for the delay. Teaching Greek for a year gets me out of the habit of posting relevant comments.  Now we are in the Minor Prophets. What a refreshing change, both for myself and for my students. I think some are adding to their view of God every day.


What is Justice? Great question.  It is NOT social justice, it is NOT economic justice, it is NOT (add your modifier here) justice.  Those are small subsets but are NOT justice. Amos 5-6 is a great place to look for justice. Amos 5:7 starts, "You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth" while Amos 6:12 ends "But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness." If all the parallelism of Hebrew Poetry hasn't made it clear, this inclusion passage should make it clear: Justice IS Righteousness.  


God is righteous, God is just.  Righteousness and Justice are what the righteous and just ones do.  Justice is what God does.  The people of God are to act like God. It really is that simple.


What's the problem? Views of God held by an individual that are contradictory, especially to the biblical text.  More on that later.