SESSION 41: Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

HAGGAI

Contemporaries

His ministry was during the reign of kings Jotham (11), Ahaz (12), and Hezekiah (13) of Judah.

His relationship with a prophet and post-exilic leaders was:

Zechariah, who served alongside him in the ministry of encouraging the rebuilding of the temple.

Zerubbabel (Sheshbazzar), as the governor of Judah under the Persian ruler, Darius.

Darius, as the fourth ruler of the Persian Empire.

Nehemiah, as cupbearer to the king in the Persian palace.

Esther, a Jew raised up to deliver her people, the Jews.

Haggai takes us back to one of the most turbulent periods in Judah's history: their captivity at the hands of a foreign power, followed by their release and resettlement in Jerusalem. They returned to their homeland, beginning in 538 B.C., after Babylon fell to the conquering Persians.

Summary

Haggai gives a collection of brief messages that came from the Lord in 520 B.C. The people had returned from exile and had lived in Jerusalem for some years, but the temple was still in ruins. The messages urge the leaders of the people to rebuild the temple, and the Lord promised prosperity and peace in the future for a renewed and purified people.

Ponder

• What is the significance of Haggai’s use of the name Jehovah 35 times in 38 verses?

Sharing:

• This part of God’s Story takes place after punishment, and is directed to the remnant that returns to Judah from Babylon. Judah had been through sin, punishment, repentance, and a return to their homeland.
• The significance of using the name ‘Jehovah’ 35 times in 38 verses: The messages directs thoughts to God; it is a message from God; Haggai 1:14 indicates that the people’s strength and desire comes from Him; It is said that there are two kinds of people out there: those who are proud, and those who worry they are proud. We should be a third kind, who focus on God, understanding that it’s all about God’s goodness and greatness and forgiveness.
• As soon as the people began to obey God, He blessed them. He didn’t wait for years.
• The central verse is Haggai 2:15-16: consider your ways. We should make God our priority. It takes showing God’s love with our actions, and not just our words. Joshua 24:16-24 records where Israel said they would serve the Lord. They didn’t do too well on their own. They were unable to do it on their own.
• In Haggai 2:22 to the end, God says “I will” five times. Things are actually done by God. Actions don’t connect us to God, but rather His love for us.
• The ‘defiled and unclean’ meant things like eating a pig or touching the dead. In a legal sense, that made them unable to be with others.
• It took 15 years to rebuild the temple. They had distractions.
• The central message is really one of restoration. They were to turn their hearts to God and He will be there waiting for them.

ZECHARIAH

Contemporaries

The contemporaries of Zechariah:

• Zerubbabel was governor of Judah.
• Tattenai was the military governor of Judea (Ezra 6:13).
• Joshua was the high priest in Jerusalem.
• Xerxes I (485 – 465 B.C.) was king of Persia after his father’s death (Darius the Great), during the time of Zechariah 9-14.

Zechariah took his message further than Haggai did regarding the rebuilding of the temple, by emphasizing the need for complete spiritual renewal through faith and hope in God. The second portion of Zechariah was written in the period between the times of the prophets Haggai (520 B.C.) and Malachi (450 B.C.).

Summary

Zechariah delivered two distinct messages: 1) He dealt with the restoration of Jerusalem, the rebuilding of the temple, the purification of God’s people, and the messianic age to come (1-8); 2) messages about the expected Messiah and the final judgment (9-14).

Ponder

• What is the significance of Zechariah’s use of Thus says the Lord at least 89 times?
• What does God prefer more than fasting?
• What was the purpose of God’s command for one fast?

Sharing:

·         Zechariah 4:10 mentions small beginnings: gold lampstand; olive trees (vs.3-4). Things may seem very small, but can be totally be used by God.

MALACHI

Contemporaries

The contemporary of Malachi was Artaxerxes I, as the fifth Persian Ruler.

Malachi’s message is delivered between Nehemiah’s first and second visits to Jerusalem, placing it between 430 and 424 B.C. as God’s final message of the Old Testament. He delivered God’s message of judgment on Israel for their continuing sin and of God’s promise that one day in the future, when the Jews would repent, God’s covenant promises would be fulfilled.

Summary

Malachi’s message was delivered after the temple was built in Jerusalem. His main concern is to call priests and people to renew their faithfulness to their covenant with God. There was laxity and corruption in the life and worship of God’s people. Priests and people were cheating God by not giving Him the offerings that were rightly due Him, and by not living according to His teaching. But the Lord would come to judge and purify His people, sending

ahead of Him His messenger to prepare the way and to proclaim His covenant.

Ponder

·         Consider God’s view of divorce, even though He permits it.

Sharing:

• God reminds Israel that He loves them. He tells them to look at Esau and remember that He has loved Jacob, their father.
• Malachi 1:6-2:9: God calls out the priesthood, the privileged. They are giving Him blind and crippled animals for sacrifice. They are supposed to be giving their very best animal to the Lord, to acknowledge that it was Him who gave them all they have. Instead, instead they treat God with contempt.
• We as humans sometimes need things explained to us. That’s why God allowed the “why” questions after He called them out. They asked, how we treat you with contempt? But God knew the sinfulness of their heart just like He knows ours. They would not give the governor, a mere man, second-rate food. It shows a complete lack of faith or belief. They fear a man much more than they do God. They would never give their second- best to someone in power over them, because they know how unforgiving people are. But they would give their God second-best? Do we give our God our seconds? Our leftovers? That’s a hard thought. We might like to say to ourselves, “Well, I might do that, but that’s not what I mean by it.” What we mean and what is reality do not always meet up. Reality is that we often show contempt for God and an unhealthy respect for man. We often fear man and money much more than we love and trust our God. False spirituality will not endure. It will be exposed and torn down by God. I believe that’s true for all time. God will not allow it to last for a lifetime.
• Malachi 2:10: Marriage is under attack in Judah. Men are forsaking the wife of their youth for the foreign women that surround them. These women worship another god and have no interest in the God of Israel. In Nehemiah we’re told that they don’t even raise their children to speak the language of Israel. God tells these men that their tears are ignored. While they have broken faith with their partner, their flesh, God will not bless them or answer a single prayer.
• Malachi 2:15: Has not God made them one? In the flesh and spirit they are His. And why only one wife? Because He was seeking Godly offspring. So guard yourself in the spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. In loving each other in marriage, we have a guard for our spirit. God is stepping in for the women of Israel who are being cast aside. He shows His view and His love for the relationship of marriage that He created.
• Malachi 2:17: God exposes the evil of saying, “Everyone’s fine, God doesn’t judge. He loves all His children and they are all good in His sight.”
• Malachi 3:1-5: God reveals again that He is coming; the Lord that they seek will come to His temple. But it is also a warning. Who will endure it? These people hear this prophesy and think, “I can’t wait.” But God is shaking His head, because He knows that they won’t be ready. You can’t live a selfish life until the last minute, and then decide to give everything. There are exceptions, but not many, and God constantly reminds us to be prepared and ready, because even the possibility of missing the Messiah is terrifying.
• Malachi 3:6-18: The people have been robbing God. They have been withholding there tithes and offerings because they did not trust that God would take care of them, and they were not giving credit to God for giving them all they had in the first place. God even challenges them to test Him in their offering. He tells them that if they give the glory to Him and trust that He will provide, He will open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that they will not have enough room to keep it. God is calling His children to trust Him, and the results will be for their good. So why didn’t they trust Him? Next, God tells them that they have cursed Him. Because they say, “What did we gain by serving the Lord? What good did it bring us?” My question would be, when was Israel really serving the Lord? There were a few times when a few godly men were raised up, so that the people followed God’s ways. But the more consistent attitude of Israel was this: They wanted God to give them His heart when they kept their hearts guarded from everything that might hurt their pride. They wanted God to bless their outward actions when their hearts had no thoughts of loving God. The result of a false spiritual life is an absence of love. After generations of living falsely, they had no trouble killing their own children in the name of other gods. They easily got rid of the wives of their youth for young women who had no interest for God, because they had no interest in God. They had interest in themselves and what they could get.
• Malachi chapter 3 ends with those who revered the Lord, renewing their covenant with Him and giving Him honor for what He has done. God responds, telling them that He loves them and that they are His children. They will see the difference between the righteous and the wicked.
• Malachi chapter 4 ends with the day of the Lord. In Amos, who also mentions the day of the Lord, the prophet tells the people that there will be a time when God will remove His voice from the land so that the people will hunger for it and search for the Word of God.
• Malachi, Haggai and Zechariah are the final books of prophecy. God’s last words for four hundred years are to remind everyone that His day is coming. The wicked will be punished, and the “Sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.”  This is a beautiful description of what God’s purpose is. There is a warning against evil and a reminder to hold on: wait for Me, I am coming and I will teach you how to love again. I will send Elijah and I will save you from the curse. I am coming; healing is coming. Be ready; wait for me. The Old Testament testifies to the coming one and the healing of the curse. The expectation for the Messiah, the coming one, is breaking through all of creation. The righteous wait, and the wicked ones who understand, tremble. There is 400 years of earth’s history that is the calm before the storm. The world has reached the point of giving in to the curse and there is no man that can free it.
• HE IS COMING!

SESSION 40: Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah

NAHUM

Contemporaries

• His ministry was during the reign of king Manasseh of Judah (14).
• His relationship with prophets was 20 years after Isaiah, and a sequel to the book of Jonah, who prophesied over a century earlier.

His message to Nineveh was delivered a century after the city repented because of God’s message through Jonah. The city returned to idolatry, violence, and arrogance during the height of its power. The city fell under the assault of the Babylonians, after a 300-year rule (612 B.C.).

Summary

The Book of Nahum is a poem celebrating the fall of Nineveh, the capital city of Israel’s ancient and oppressive enemy, the Assyrians. The fall of Nineveh is seen as the judgment of God upon a cruel and arrogant nation.

Ponder

• God presented as jealous and avenging.

Sharing:

• The name ‘Nahum’ means ‘consolation’.
• Jonah and Nahum connect because of the time of repentance followed by sin and destruction.
• The nature of sin is that it is slow, corrosive, and effective.
• Jonah must love this book.
• What are prophets for? To share God’s word; to give a message from God; to give a warning in a merciful way. It is not a pride thing. They didn’t make a bunch of rules, but just communicated God.
• Now we see that God is a God who keeps His word and remains just. The Ninevites of Jonah’s time repented. But that had no bearing on their children and the following generations. The sins of the parents do not condemn, and righteous parents don’t mean righteous children. God has an individual relationship with every person’s heart.
• The Lord is described by Nahum as jealous and avenging and filled with wrath. Nahum 1:6 says: “Who can withstand His indignation? Who can endure His fierce anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; the rocks are shattered before Him.” This is an almighty God being described: a terrifying, humbling, all-powerful Creator, who is ready to punish the sin of a nation.
• The very next verse is almost contradictory (v.7): “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him.” No human can capture those identities in the same moment. Our God is a God who can be a refuge while He’s angry, deliverance in His punishment, and mercy in His justice.
• The references to the water gates (Nahum 2:6) and flooding (Nahum 3:8) is interesting. The city has been excavated and they found gates that held the Tigris River out of the city.
• Is it a good thing to have a jealous and avenging God? This description seems negative to us. However, God has a right to be jealous – He created us. The reason for this description is that He loves us.
• No one can get away with sin. Sooner or later it will catch up to us. The only way to stop sin is death and destruction, or like David, have real repentance.
• Did Judah deserve to be punished by the Assyrians? Did the Assyrians deserve punishment? In chapter 3 we get a reminder of what kind of people the Ninevites were. The city itself is known as the city of blood; full of lies, full of plunder, and never without victims. The last verse of the book clarifies things: “Nothing can heal your wound, your injury is fatal. Everyone who hears the news about you will clap their hands at your fall, for who has not felt your endless cruelty?
• And yet Israel becomes known for its abuse of the poor, its valley of slaughter where they sacrificed their children to the god Molech. Their daughters were given as temple prostitutes. It’s so easy to think to ourselves: “God seems really extreme here. He seems angry and violent.” His children are murdering each other and committing horrible acts, God will not let a people continue into deeper and deeper sin. He will cut it off, and stop the bleeding. In order to stop generation after generation from becoming prostitutes and murderers, He will stop a nation. God does not view death from our point of view, and He does not condemn every man, woman and child to hell when He punishes on earth. We have a God who cares for us more than we care for ourselves. He fashioned each one of us and knows our names and our most intimate self. He will not watch self-abuse and self-ruin forever. God reaches down and brings punishment that leads to justice and repentance. He stops evil, and ultimately, He stepped down to take His own punishment that everyone deserved.

HABAKKUK

Contemporaries

• His ministry was during the reign of King Jehoiakim (18) of Judah.
• His relationship with prophets was when Zephaniah’s ministry was concluded, Jeremiah was in the middle of his ministry, and Daniel was deported to Babylon two years after Habakkuk’s warning.
• Habakkuk belongs to the time when the balance of power was shifting from the Assyrians to the Babylonians. Jerusalem was destroyed (586 B.C.) two years after his ministry ended.

Summary

The message of Habakkuk came at a time when the Babylonians were in power. He was deeply disturbed by the violence of these cruel people, and asked the Lord, “So why are you silent while they destroy people who are more righteous than they are?” (1:13, GNT). The Lord’s answer was that He would take action in His own good time, and meanwhile “those who are righteous will live because they are faithful to God” (2:4, GNT). The rest of the message is a prophecy of doom on the unrighteous, with a concluding psalm celebrating the greatness of God and expressing the undying faith of the poet.

Ponder

• What should we do when God seems to lack concern because He is silent?
• When can complaining to God be beneficial?
• What is involved in waiting on God?
• What’s a good description of living by faith?
• How should life be balanced when there is injustice, grief and pain?

Sharing:

• The book of Habakkuk begins with a man complaining to God. Here is a man who knows he is talking to a real God. He’s not trying to mock God, or call Him out. He’s asking, “Why?” What are you doing in heaven? Sometimes all we can do in the middle of a terrible stretch in our lives, is ask why?
• Is it a good thing to go to God with complaints, requests, and conversations? In God’s Story so far, it seems so within limits, like Job. God desires open communication. It shows relationship. We are able to ask questions respectfully of God.
• It appears that this is a conversation that is over time. Habakkuk waits on the Lord, and stands ready for an answer. Habakkuk knew he didn't know everything about God. It’s a good place to be.
• Habakkuk 1:5 shows a God who cares enough to reply. Sometimes we have to wait and watch and listen. He doesn’t ask that we blindly follow. We should be willing to wait. This is a concept of faith in self/now versus faith in God.
• After reading Habakkuk 2:6-7, it is easy to say Israelites are bad, but we must remember we are too. It comes down to our promoting ourselves. Our plans become our gods. And God laughs at them. They were punished due to their self love. But not before again having a chance to repent.
• Habakkuk knows something about our God. He knows that He can be trusted to reveal His will to those who love Him, and wait for Him to answer. God answers in His time, because it is the best time. He makes us wait, to bring us closer to Himself. God answers, and tells Habakkuk that He is raising up the Babylonians to spread across the earth. He acknowledges their cruelty and that they worship themselves. Notice that God only gives a part of the picture. In the prophet’s reply, he seems to understand that God will reveal more to him. He wonders at why God would use such a proud, cruel and godless nation. He shares his heart with God and stands ready to watch and listen for an answer. And we have a God who as all the answers, and has a purpose and reason for everything. He tells His prophet to make it plain, easy to understand, so that it can be told to everyone. God does not want Himself revealed to only a higher society. In fact, many times those in power refuse to hear His voice. God is the God of all men of all walks of life. His word is meant to be easily understood by those who seek after Him and wait for His word.
• This prophecy is towards the end of Israel and Judah as kingdoms, so it is not a prophecy toward innocent people.
• God uses evil for good. For each of us. That's the only use God has for evil.
• God’s last answer lets Habakkuk know that the Babylonians will not be rewarded for their evil. Their evil will eventually destroy them. All evil is self-destructive. Evil is pride of self, and the self was never meant to serve itself. It’s a broken lifestyle and it can only produce evil in the end.
• The last chapter is Habakkuk’s prayer of praise to God. The fog of fear is lifted and God’s promise of salvation for His people is still good. It’s easy to think that if God isn’t letting us know what’s happening, it must be a bad thing. Habakkuk shows us that God waits to reveal things so that we can learn to wait on Him. It’s in the waiting that we grow in faith and trust and love.
• The wait was worth it: “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior” (Habakkuk 3:18).

ZEPHANIAH

Contemporaries

• His ministry was during the reign of King Josiah of Judah (16).
• His relationship with prophets was when Jeremiah was half way through his ministry, and Daniel began his ministry two years after his message.

His message belongs to the dark period in Judah’s history about 100 years after Israel had fallen to the Assyrians. He sensed that the same thing was about to happen to Judah. In 605 B.C. Judah’s first captives were taken to Babylon. Judah fell in 586 B.C.

Summary

Zephaniah preached in the decade before King Josiah’s religious reforms of 621 B.C. The book contains the familiar prophetic themes: A day of doom and destruction is threatened, when Judah would be punished for her worship of other gods. The Lord would also punish other nations. Although Jerusalem was doomed, in time the city would be restored, with a humble and righteous people living there.

Ponder

• Consider God’s order in delivering judgment.
• How is the ‘joy of the Lord’ expressed?
• What is the significance of Zephaniah’s use of God’s name 37 times in three chapter?

SESSION 39: Obadiah, Jonah, Micah

OBADIAH

Contemporaries

·         The date of his ministry is doubtful. If his ministry was around 848-841 B.C., Jehoram [Joram] was the king of Israel (9).

·         His ministry was during the reign of kings Jehoram (5) and Ahaziah (6) of Judah.

·         His relationship was with the prophets, Elijah, and probably Elisha.

Summary

This short book comes from some undetermined time. Many consider it to be around 848-841 B.C. when Elijah and Elisha ministered. Some think it was after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., with a message against the Edomites, ancestors to Esau, the brother of Jacob, because they rejoiced over the fall of Jerusalem. Obadiah prophesied that Edom would be punished and defeated, along with other nations that were the enemies of Israel.

Ponder

·         God’s view towards taking vengeance.

 

Sharing:

·         God gave this prophecy to Obadiah long before the punishment was carried out. He is a patient God who waits, and will withhold is judgment for generations so that even a few could be saved.

·         He has always been a God of the few, the remnant, and the faithful. But while there have always been believers and followers of God, He does not rest. He seeks the lost and the sinful. He reaches out to even the evil and gives them time to repent. Our God is always calling sinners to repentance.

·         Why is it good that God gives out punishment? Because He is just, and it’s tempered with forgiveness when it is asked for. In this case, it is not just one man’s evil, but the people as a whole who got worse. There were sins of omission (not doing what they knew they should do), and not just commission (the evil they actually did).

·         Obadiah shows that Israel is not God’s only people.

·         ‘Stand and watch’ in verse 11 may refer to the Gulf of Aqaba between Israel and Edom. Edom stood by on the other side and watched Israel’s destruction. Or it may not be a geographical reference, but just a reference to doing nothing while Israel needed help. The prophecy was fulfilled when Edom was wiped out forever is years to come.

·         Verse 18 compares with Ezekiel 35:1. If God is against you, there is no hope.

JONAH

Contemporaries

·         His ministry was during the reign of Kings Jehoash (12) and Jeroboam II (13) of Israel.

·         His ministry was during the reign of King Amaziah of Judah (9).

·         His relationship was with the prophet Amos.

His message to Nineveh was delivered during the rules of two kings of Assyria: (Shalmaneser IV) and Ashur-dan III (760-753), ending his ministry about thirty years before Assyria fell (722 B.C.).

Summary

The Book of Jonah is unlike other prophetic books of the Bible in that it is a narrative, describing the exploits of a prophet who tried to disobey God’s command. God told him to go to Nineveh, the capital of the great empire of Assyria, Israel’s enemy. But Jonah did not want to go there with God’s message, because he was convinced that God would not carry out his threat to destroy the city. After a series of dramatic events, he reluctantly obeyed, and finally sulked when his message of doom did not come true. The book portrays God’s absolute sovereignty over His creation. But above all it portrays God as a God of love and mercy, who would rather forgive and save even the enemies of His people, than punish and destroy them.

Ponder

• What is the purpose in using God’s name 41 times in 48 verses?
• How does God use prayer to deal with our anger toward Him?

Sharing:

• God tells Jonah to give a message of warning and repentance to Nineveh. In Sunday school I always heard the story of Jonah being too scared to go. But I don’t find fear in the story. I believe if there is fear, it’s a fear that God would forgive the Ninevites. The Ninevites were Assyrians, not only a danger to Israel, but an awful brutal people. They put the bones of their enemies outside their city gates, and covered the wall with their skins. They were a violent, proud people.
• Jonah is certain to have heard stories of their evil and could even have known some of their victims. It was a national hate for the Assyrians. They were not God’s chosen people. In fact, they tortured and killed His people.
• God revealed Himself to the sailors by stopping the storm, once Jonah was thrown overboard. The men on the ship offer a sacrifice to the Lord and make vows to Him. He is always revealing Himself. Once Jonah tells them that the way they are living will bring punishment on themselves from God, the Ninevites repent. It’s as simple as that. They hear the words of God, and respond with repentance. After all the belligerent and stubbornness of the Israelites, it’s refreshing to finally see people that repent. And they’re not God’s chosen nation. They’re the dirty, the unfaithful, the sexually immoral, the drunks, and the liars. That’s who God saves. Israel as a nation refused to think of itself needing God as much as every other nation does. They assumed that because of their parents, they must be right with Him. On the high places and in the dark, they sinned as much and more than the “sinful” people around them. But Nineveh repented. So thousands upon thousands of people were saved into the family of God and everyone was happy… that would have been a good ending. In reality, we are much less forgiving than God. Jonah accused God of being a gracious and compassionate God! It sounds like he’s calling God soft. He even says that it would be better to die than to see the city saved.  But God asks Jonah, “What right do you have to be angry?” Jonah stuck around to see if maybe God would punish the city after all. God made a vine to give shade for Jonah from the scorching sun. Jonah was comfortable and happy, until God took away the vine and the desert sun beat down on Jonah’s head until he became faint. Again, Jonah says it would be better to die than live after God took away the vine. The Lord reminds Jonah that he did no work to grow the vine, and it was God’s to do with as He pleased. If Jonah was so distressed about the vine, was he not distressed about an entire city that had never been told the truth of God? God was concerned for them, and it’s good for us He’s nothing like us. The Ninevites were the people in life that are just plain awful. They are the type of people that sicken us. They fill us with righteous anger for the innocent people they hurt and the innocence they take away. They’re the reason hell was made; they don’t deserve forgiveness. But that’s not the truth in the book of Jonah. Here’s a statement that might sound strange: ‘God gives forgiveness only to the undeserving.’ Undeserving Nineveh was saved, and deserving Israel remained unrepentant. God’s word and our consciences prove that no one deserves salvation. We’ve all proven our inability to be righteous. But the God of Israel and Nineveh and Bainbridge, loves to forgive and the only reason He does it, is because He loves us. It is not for anything good that we can give Him; it is just because it pleases Him to offer Himself to all men.
• God’s Story about Jonah shows not only a punishing God, but one who accepts repentance. He is the sole prophet to Gentiles only.
• Why did Jonah run away? He hated the Ninevites as evil people. Are we the same in that we may not want salvation for those we dislike? Jonah knew that God would forgive his enemy, and he didn’t want that to happen. He was prepared to die (be dumped off the ship) before going to the Ninevites. Jonah also ran away because he had allegiance to his own country.
• The sailors were introduced to Jonah’s God in a very strange way. God used Jonah’s disobedience to reveal Himself to others. They encountered a supernatural God.
• The Ninevites witnessed a strange looking man that was white from stomach acid. It is ironic that the result of Jonah’s disobedience was used by God to get the attention of the Ninevites. Their repentance wasn’t for gain, since they didn’t know God would withhold judgment.
• It was easy for Jonah to flee from God: he had the money, and the ship leaving in the opposite direction. His fleeing provides an illustration: fleeing means he went down – down to the port of Joppa, down to the ship’s base, down to the ocean bottom, and down and away from God.
• Jonah accused God of being merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry, and full of unfailing love (Jonah 4:2). It is easy for us to think others don’t deserve God’s forgiveness. Many think the Old Testament only shows a bloody, angry God. This story shows a God of love that Jonah accused Him of being.

Jonah knew that God was a God of mercy and forgiveness, so he ran away from delivering God’s message.

MICAH

Contemporaries

• His ministry was during the reign of kings Pekah (8) Hoshea (9) of Israel.
• His ministry was during the reign of kings Jotham (11), Ahaz (12), and Hezekiah (13) of Judah.
• His relationship with prophets was shortly after Amos, with Hosea Israel, and Isaiah in Jerusalem.

His message to Judah was during the time when the Assyrians launched their drive for supremacy, defeating the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C.

Summary

Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah, was from a country town in Judah, the southern kingdom. He was certain that Judah was about to face the same kind of national catastrophe that Amos had predicted for the northern kingdom, and for the same reason God would punish the hateful injustice of the people. Micah’s message, however, contains more clear and notable signs of hope for the future. His message gives the picture of universal peace under God (4:1-14); the prediction of a great king who would come from the family line of David and bring peace to the nation (5:2-5); and in 6:8 he gives the summary of much that the prophets of Israel had to say: “What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God.”

Ponder

• What does God consider authentic worship to be?
• What is the significance of Micah’s use of God’s name 52 times in seven chapters?

Sharing:

• Every generation was faced with the truth of God and the exposing of their sin. That is a God of constant love. He gives every person of every generation an opportunity to respond to His love, repent and stop doing evil.
• The people of Micah’s time looked for prophets that would tell them they were a great people, that God would lift them up and bless them. This is a constant theme throughout all of Scripture, and all of human history. Is there any difference today?
• We easily hear what we want to hear when the Bible is preached. Sometimes we ignore the message, sometimes we are sleeping, and sometimes we apply it to someone else and don’t take it to heart. We are masters of deflection and self-deception. There are even times when we will go out and seek a place that doesn’t challenge us to pursue hard after God so that we can feel like a good person again. We just want to hear that we have everything together. We want a God who loves us and doesn’t want us to change a thing. Micah is saying that everything is not okay. We are called to change, to admit the sin in our lives, and then live differently. A godly walk that doesn’t need to be changed has only existed once. We are called to honesty, and if we’re honest, there is no way we can be done living a repentant life. There is always something to give up, to leave at the roadside and follow our God. If we’re not changing we’re lying to ourselves. We’re either becoming more obedient to our God, or we’re more a slave to sin.
• Micah displays the results of disobedience, and they are terrible. Living in sin heaps misery on your head. Living after God brings rest and joy. All of the prophets and all of God’s Word scream this at us. There is no middle ground, it’s love God and experience the protection of the God who can lead you to perfect peace, or reject His protection and try it your own way. The prophets are meant to wake people up to the choices that they’re making and the results of those choices. God will not let anyone wander into hell unknowingly. We are all faced with God. In the back of our minds, there is that vague memory of something lost. Something that we are missing that we were meant to have.
• God is waking His people up, and sadly, when they are shown their sin and confronted with God’s opinion of it, they deny that small voice calling them back, by telling themselves, ”This prophet doesn’t really know what he’s talking about. He can’t know what I’ve done in secret.” But I believe, in their hearts they know. It is a choice. And it’s so easy to deflect and avoid. It seems easier to just wait out those guilty feelings and let them pass.
• Micah reveals the punishment of sin, and then the unbelievable forgiveness of God. God calls and calls and never tires. He exposes sin to bring repentance, and not a guilty conscience. The guilt remains because we haven’t given up our sin. Guilt is not meant for God’s children. He has never wanted a worried, guilty people. He desires a free and thankful people who understand the great gift of a God that opens our eyes to the sin that wears on our soul. He gives us a way to let go and be free. We are not meant to be guilty. We are meant to accept that we have fallen short, and then to accept His forgiveness and know that true salvation’s rest is with us.
• What does God require for authentic worship? Micah 6:8 speaks of a heart that expresses itself in life.
• The fact that Micah mentions God’s name 52 times shows that the people wanted to identify with God, but not serve Him.
• The people’s reaction to their sin being exposed was to tell Micah not to tell them about it, but go away. He was to shut up and leave. They denied that they were under conviction. It seemed easier for them to evade the issue most of the time. Why is sin exposed? A change was needed, to the extent that a second chance was given. The sin of Israel and Judah was an example to other nations of the folly of living in sin. Exposure of sin is not intended to make us wallow in guilt, but so that we can enjoy life. It is to our benefit to go the right way, and in order to do this, we cannot brush off sin, but respond to the conviction we have when we do sin.

SESSION 38: HOSEA, JOEL, AMOS

INTRODUCTION

Prophetic Communication

The prophet spoke in place of God. A true prophet could say, “Thus says the Lord.” The ‘pro’ in prophet does not mean that the prophet is a ‘predictor’ of coming events. His primary purpose was to warn the people of impending judgments, and encourage the people with coming blessings. The prophet was not inspired. His message from God was inspired. The prophet served God alongside the Priests, Levites, Judges, and Kings. The prophet appeared when the people fell into ritually obeying the Law, or when they turned away from it.

In several of the messages God gave the Minor Prophets, the prophets directed the Israelites to the coming “Anointed One”, who Himself would not destroy the Law, but would fulfill it.

MINOR PROPHETS

When viewing all sixteen Major and Minor prophets according to their messages, they fit together as follows:

Two to Israel:	Amos, Hosea
One to Israel and Judah:	Micah
Two to Nineveh:	Jonah, Nahum
One to Exiled Jews:	Ezekiel
One to Babylon:	Daniel
One to Edom:	Obadiah
Eight to Judah:	Joel, Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

Pre-exilic, Post-exilic

Nine of the twelve Minor Prophets are ‘pre-exilic’. They lived and wrote before King Nebuchadnezzar exiled the people of Judah to Babylon. The other three prophets lived and wrote after a remnant of Jews returned to Judah. They are called ‘post-exilic’. We’ve already learned that Ezekiel and Daniel are known as ‘exilic’ prophets, because they lived and wrote during the exile.

HOSEA

Contemporaries

His ministry was during the reign of seven kings of Israel:

• Jeroboam II (13)
• Zechariah (14)
• Shallum (15)
• Menahem (16)
• Pekahiah (17)
• Pekah (18)
• Hoshea (19)

His ministry was during the reign of four kings of Judah:

• Uzziah (10)
• Jotham (11)
• Ahaz (12)
• Hezekiah (13)

Sharing:

• Hosea’s time covered seven kings of Israel, and five kings of Judah. They were short reigns, showing that evil literally sucked the life out of them.
• His relationship to other prophets:
  A few years before Amos concluded his ministry in Israel.Fifteen years before Isaiah’s ministry to Judah.Concluded his ministry by overlapping with Micah’s ministry to Judah.

His ministry was to Israel during the time of oppression under the Assyrian Empire (753-715 B.C.).

Summary

Hosea preached in the northern kingdom of Israel, after the prophet Amos, during the troubled times before the fall of Samaria in 721 B.C. He was concerned about the idolatry of the people and their faithlessness toward God. Hosea boldly pictured this faithlessness in terms of his own disastrous marriage to an unfaithful woman. Just as his wife Gomer turned out to be unfaithful to him, so God’s people had deserted the Lord. Judgment was the result on Israel. Yet, in the end God’s constant love for His people would prevail, and he would win the nation back to Himself and restore their relationship. This love is expressed in the words: “How can I give you up, Israel? How can I abandon you?... My heart will not let me do it! My love for you is too strong” (Hosea 11:8, GNT).

Ponder

·         The extent to which God will go in dealing with unfaithfulness among His people.

Sharing:

• Hosea was a prophet to Israel, after Amos, but before Israel was kicked out of its own country. They ended up not being exiled, but scattered, never to return.
• It is a good reminder that prophesying has more to do with ‘forth-telling’ than ‘fore-telling’. It never came to say that people were good, but rather to tell them to leave their sin.
• Hosea’s story is the same as that of Ezekiel all over again. It is about God’s totally unconditional love.
• Was Hosea’s wife a prostitute when they married? Probably not, because he wouldn’t have married one. Her behavior impacted the children, as it always does.
• Israel is an unfaithful wife to the Lord. God commanded Hosea to take an unfaithful wife, and in doing so, enter into a love relationship that He will be cheated on again and again.
• What kind of husband is God? Remember this question, because it will let us know our God as we listen to the story of Hosea.
• Hosea 2:5-8: God will take away His gifts, and His wife, Israel, will go to her lovers because she will never acknowledge that it was God who gave her food and water and gifts to make her beautiful, and love to make her strong. She runs to her lovers and they have nothing to give her. They only take. God even blocks her way so that she can’t find them. He takes everything from her that He gave so that she could no longer give His gifts to her lovers. It was God who gave her everything, so He takes everything away and leaves her broken and starving in punishment. What an awful, cruel God! He sounds so mean if you stop there. He appears so jealous and petty. But as the story continues, the very next verse (v.8) shows the reason God was so harsh.
• Hosea 2:14-17: God has a scary depth of love for us. He gives because He loves and He takes away because He loves.
• Hosea chapter 3: God tells Hosea to buy back his unfaithful wife. She has run off with so many men she’s become ugly and broken. One of her so-called lovers has sold her into slavery. God tells Hosea to love his unfaithful wife like He unfaithful Israel.
• The idols we face are ‘things’, but God always leaves a way back from idols.
• God’s loyalty is shown throughout the book. “The pursuing love of God is the greatest wonder of the universe” (Donald Barnhouse).
• Hosea’s children’s names reflect how the people felt – not loved and not God’s people.
• Hosea chapters 4-10 lays it out that the people had no one else to blame, and no excuse for not knowing the truth.
• It seems Israel chose to be ignorant and reject what they knew was right, thinking this would make them feel that they were not sinning.
• God doesn’t leave sin unaddressed with those He loves. Israel has been told their sin over and over. Our God will painfully and unmistakably show us our sin and leave us facing a choice: repent and change to live in freedom from sin; or ignore and rationalize your sin.
• We can see the results again and again in God’s story of choosing to overlook our sin. Or even not choosing, and trying to be lovers of God and lovers of self. It will destroy the soul and drain the peace and joy from your life.
• Hosea 4:12-13: What’s wrong with loving nature and appreciation the land under the shade of a tall tree? Underneath all of the peace that the relativity philosophy appears to bring, no comfort is found. There is only pain and hurt and loss of goodness and hope. God blames the parents, and especially the priests, for much of this. Parents, how do our children see God in us? No matter what we would like to think, our behavior and involvement mean more spiritually than we could ever know.
• Does the way we live and love our spouse show God’s love to people around us, especially our children?
• God continues to expose the priests, parents and children, and all the countries around them, for their evil. He keeps telling them how awful they have made themselves and how terrible their punishment will be.
• Just when we want to close our Bibles in disgust and hopelessness, or maybe even with guilt for recognizing a part of us in all this sin and evil, God reveals to us what kind of Husband and Father He is!
• Hosea chapter 11 shows that we don’t have a choice whether God will love us or not!
• God’s story with Hosea ends with a challenge: listen and get your knowledge puffed up, or know God more and love others more. We can respond and take God’s Word and become different, or we can ignore His Word and stumble through life, because we refuse to look inwardly and apply the truth we hear to our hearts.

JOEL

Contemporaries

• His exact date of ministry is uncertain. If his ministry was around 835 B.C., then Jehu was the king of Israel (10).
• His ministry was during the reign of queen Athaliah of Judah (7 in succession of kings), and Joash of Judah (8).
• His relationship was with the prophet Elisha.

Summary

Little is known about the prophet Joel, and it is not clear just when he lived. It is generally accepted that it was around 835 B.C., although some suggest it was during the fifth or fourth century B.C., at the time of the Persian Empire. Joel describes a terrible invasion of locusts and a devastating drought in Palestine. In these events he sees a sign of the coming day of the Lord, a time when the Lord will punish those who oppose his righteous will. The prophet conveys the Lord’s call to the people to repent, and His promise of restoration and blessing for His people.

Ponder

·         The extent to which God will go to motivate the sensitive ear to listen to His words.

Sharing:

• The same theme of consequences, punishment and hope is continues throughout the prophets.
• Joel is a short, honest, convicting book. Once again, he is a prophet of warning. God will not take it easy on those He loves. In fact, He will hold those who know Him to a higher standard. He will allow them to go through punishment and consequences that will open their eyes to their sin.
• Note the difference of times: then and now; things happened then, versus now.
• The day of the Lord is mentioned several times in Joel as a frightening time of justice (Joel  2:11). Who can endure the day of the Lord?
• Throughout the Bible we are faced with the truth that there is no way to serve God without His help. This is the theme of the Bible. Joshua told the Israelites: “You cannot serve a Holy and Righteous God.” When the Israelites heard the unrestrained voice of God, they knew that if they heard it again they would die. When Moses was faced with the one true God, his first response was to fall on his face in fear.
• What is our response to our Holy, Righteous God? I’m afraid I resemble the Israelites Joel is talking to more than I want to believe. When faced with the truth about myself, my basic, natural reaction is to avoid it. I want to rationalize it. If I could somehow deflect the proof of my selfishness with an excuse or appease it with a good deed, I won’t have to change. But Joel says, the Bible says, God says, we are a dirtied creation unable to stand in the presence of Holiness. It is absolutely hopeless for us. But not for God. The only way we can receive the gift of drawing near to God is the next two verses in Joel - verses 12-13. Rend your heart, not your clothes. Change your life, not your appearance. Act love, don’t just talk love and God will forgive and accept you. This is because He is a terrifying, holy, just God, and at the same time He is also a loving, gracious, and compassionate God. He loves to forgive. Like any relationship, your words and appearance mean nothing at all, if they’re not accompanied by a desire to love. God knows our hearts; there is no deceiving Him with our words, actions or appearance. He desires a real, genuine, heartfelt relationship, and nothing else will do. He will not be an acquaintance. He will not have half your heart. This is because He will not reside with the sin we naturally have in our hearts.
• Israel in Joel’s time enjoyed incredible prosperity, and while they appeared to worship God, He sent Joel to tell them He knew the lies in their worship. They could very well have been doing everything right, and yet that is not good enough. It’s all about their hearts. They did many things right, like their temple worship, but it was not about what they did. Samuel said to Saul long before this, “God desires obedience more than sacrifice.” Remember David, when he did not sacrifice, but repented. This is what make him a man of God. Israel wanted all the benefits of God’s blessing, while still being able to live selfishly. They wanted everything God could get them, and everything they could get for themselves. Prophet after prophet is sent to them, telling them to forget all the sacrifices and rituals and traditions. They are worthless if you haven’t given your heart to God. That’s what God desires. It is the only thing, and yet everything. They had to trust that He knew how to take care of their hearts.
• The Lord gave hope to His people in Joel 2:28, which continues to the end of chapter 2. God will be with you. You will call and He will answer. His Spirit will be poured out on all His children – young and old, man and woman. He is the same God now as He was then. We cannot get away with living for ourselves while confessing to be one of His children. He still wants only our hearts. We still have to trust that our God knows more than we do. He knows how to take care of us. And He will.Joel 3:14 shows that God can use us as a tool to try and help others know of eternity and make a choice.
• Joel 3:17 says that the people will know (all Israelites and Egyptians). The whole world will know that there is one true God. Israel sinned more than the foreigners in that they knew more.
• Joel ends with an undeserved pardon. We’re all born with guilt, and all we can do is make more guilt, until we give it up. What we need is freedom from that bloodguilt. And God will pardon, and has pardoned a guilty people, and made them a saved, redeemed people. God requires a heart that is open to Him and voluntarily vulnerable. If we give our hearts to God and are willing to face the punishment and conviction we deserve, we will receive forgiveness and mercy instead.

AMOS

Contemporaries

• His ministry was during the reign of Jeroboam II of Israel (13).
• His ministry was during the reign of Uzziah of Judah (10).
• His relationship to other prophets:
• Jonah would have been in Nineveh at the beginning of the time of Amos.
• Hosea began his ministry to Israel toward the end of the time of Amos.
• His ministry was to Israel and Judah, with strong words of judgment against six surrounding nations (760-753 B.C.): Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab.

Summary

Although he came from a town in Judah, Amos preached to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel. It was a time of great prosperity, notable religious piety, and apparent security. But Amos saw that prosperity was limited to the wealthy, and that it thrived on injustice and oppression of the poor. Religious observance was insincere, and security more apparent than real. With passion and courage he preached that God would punish the nation. He called for justice to “flow like a stream,” and said, “Perhaps the Lord will be merciful to the people of the nation who are still left alive” (Amos 5:15, GNT).

Ponder

• God will use evil nations to judge His own people, and yet He will not excuse them of their evil.
• The extent to which God will go to call His people to justice and righteousness.

Sharing:

• Amos was a poor, uneducated man (a shepherd and ‘apple-picker’) before he was a prophet.
• It is similar to the times of Jonah and Hosea. There are lots of prophets because Israel was not doing well and need to hear the prophets’ messages of repentance. Confession is easy; repentance is hard.
• The prophet Amos was given the judgments of the surrounding nations. We’re finally seeing the results of the nations sinning for so long. They will receive judgment and punishment for their sin. These warnings should be an example to Israel of the results of following other gods. But they seem to have the mentality of: “As long as it’s not me.”
• God is showing that all nations are accountable to Him. Everyone will experience the consequences of sin. Israel and Judah knew so much more about God than other people, and yet they tried to use Him, instead of trying to love Him.
• Israel and Judah are not left out of the punishment. But it seems to be human nature to ignore what you’re doing wrong until you’re punished, and then act guilty until the consequences go away.
• Amos 7:10-15: Amos goes to Bethel and prophesies the punishment of Israel. He is confronted by Amaziah, the priest of Bethel. He tells the King of Amos’s negative prophecies. Then He tells Amos to go back to Judah and get his money for prophesying there. True prophets were not paid because no one wanted to hear their messages. The mindset at that time was to keep paying until you get what you want. Amos 7:14 shows that true prophets do not prophesy for pay; they prophesy because God told them to. So here was Amos, trying to tell Israel about the coming punishment so that they would turn from their evil and be saved. He’s told by a priest in Bethel to do his tricks somewhere else. False prophets were so numerous in Israel that all prophets were assumed to be out for money. They had stopped testing the prophets for truth, and the result was they trusted none of them. Let’s not be like that with our teachers. They are meant to be checked and held accountable for their words. Otherwise we are letting ourselves be led astray.
• ‘Beth’ itself means ‘House of’, or ‘town’, and ‘El’ means ‘God’. So here in the City of God, His own prophet is not welcome.
• By the time Israel falls, the prophets of God are calling it Beth-aven. ‘Aven’ means ‘evil’ or ‘wickedness’. So men had turned the City of God into the City of Wickedness. We so easily turn what God made good, into something self-serving and eventually wicked. By the actions of Adam and Eve, a good, perfect world of God, was turned into a world where sin reigns in the hearts of men. We can do that with prayer, or public worship, or teaching. It so easy to get up in front of people for the good feelings it gives us, or to look spiritual or sound spiritual, and in doing so, changing the good thing God has given us into something evil. God desires authenticity; He desires the heart to match the words. Israel went through so much to look repentant, when all they had to do was repent, and their sins would be forgiven. The way back to God is simple. Pretending obedience is complex, and guilty, and impossible.
• Amos 8:9-12: God tells Israel He will remove His voice from the nation. They will search for His voice but they won’t find it. What did they do when they did have His voice?
• Amos 9:9-10: There are God’s people and there are sinners among them, especially during prosperous times. But the God that we worship tells us here that He will bring hard times to His people to separate the good from the bad, to purify and protect His loved ones. This is very different from how we as humans view hard times.
• Amos 9:11-15: God promises to restore His broken people. He calls David’s house a house of ruins. But from the ruins, God promises to bring His people back and give them the land again. God never blesses a proud people, or a mighty people. He blesses the low, the ruined, the humbled, and He loves to do it. We turn beauty into ruin, and He takes our ruin and makes it beautiful. It is the low and humbled spirit that admits self-ruin. It has always been the only way to come to God. He will not accept a prideful heart because pride doesn’t belong with salvation. We should beg for the pride in our lives to be continually broken and ruined. Then we can be happy no matter the circumstances. We have a God to be proud of, and His Son who loves us as we are. The table is meant for us to praise God as we are, for who He is and for what He’s done. He is the God of Salvation and He loves to save.