12 Minor Prophets of the Old Testament

The Term “Minor Prophets” refers to their size of the book and not to their significance.

In the case of Micah 5:2, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. In one verse we are told where the Messiah would be born, that He is eternal and would rule.

Hosea wrote to the Northern Kingdom during the reign of Jeroboam the Second. Hosea married a harlot and his children were given pretty dismal prophetic names. Should Israel (the Northern Kingdom) repent the prophetic names would become positive names as would the land.

Joel prophesied to Judah (the Southern Kingdom) during the time of Amaziah and stressed “The day of the Lord.”

Amos was not a priest or a Levite, rather a layman who had a number of visions. Amos had a vision of Gog who seems to be a demon king rather than a human king as is often assumed when reading Ezekiel 38.

Obadiah was in the late part of the Southern Kingdom, Judah. Obadiah’s prophecies were against Edom, the enemy of Israel who always had an active alliance with whoever was against Israel.

Jonah didn’t want to do as God directed and was swallowed by a fish. He finally preached to the people of Nineveh in a less than PC way. The king and the people repented and the judgment of God was stayed for another hundred years.

Nahum preached to Nineveh about a hundred years after Jonah. Although the people repented after Jonah they didn’t in the time of Nahum and so were absorbed by Babylon as Babylon rose to power.

Habakkuk is perhaps best known for the verse that motivated the Reformation when Martin Luther read it, “The just shall live by his faith.” Paul wrote extensively about this in his letters.

Haggai predicts the rebuilding of the Temple. He was after the Babylonian captivity and one of the three post-exile prophets along with Zechariah, and Malachi, who close out the Old Testament.

Zechariah made the famous prophecy “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced.” He also talks to the Temple being rebuilt, and the Second Coming.

Zephaniah preached about the wrath coming upon Judah and the later wrath coming upon all nations. One of his most unusual prophecies was that when Israel would be re-gathered in the land, they would return to pure Hebrew as a language.

Malachi asks us to test God by tithing.