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Major Questions Minor Prophets Habakkuk - God & Evil Hosea - God’s Pain Obadiah - God & Pride Haggai - God & Blessing John - God’s arrival The minor prophets - an intro At the end of the Old Testament there are a whole bunch of books that don’t often get a look in. They’re called the minor prophets, and they include Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. They’re called the Minor Prophets not because they’re unimportant, but because they’re much shorter than the Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah & Ezekiel). But while they’re lightyears away from our culture, the questions they’re struggling over are exactly the same as the ones people are asking today. What’s God doing about evil? Does He even care about our suffering? Can’t we just ignore Him? What does it look like to be blessed by God? How would we respond if He visited? So in this series we’re going to be hearing from 4 of the minor prophets in the old testament - Haggai, Hosea, Obadiah & Habakkuk - and one right at the start of the New Testament - John the Baptist. We’re going to be seeing their struggles (despair, hopelessness, frustration, confusion) and their hopes (it’ll get better, there’s got to be more, God can do something, God will do something). So the minor prophets might not be the place you’d first stop in the bible. But the hope is that over the next 5 weeks you’re going to see that the questions you’re asking, and the struggles you’re having, are the same struggles people have been asking for centuries. And they’re the same questions that God has been answering since then as well.1 Key Travelling through the Old Testament Chronicles (narrated account) Post Exile Books (narrated accounts) Samuel/Kings (narrated account) Genesis-Ruth (Incl. Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy & Numbers) Psalms and other wisdom literature The Prophets (approximate order - many books are not dated) 1 C 2 C Neh hronicles hronicles emiah Ezr a d th Lan 2 S Sou 1 S 1 K Gen Jos Jud 2 K ria amuelamu hua gesRut ing ing esis h el s th & s ised abylon Assy o B to to usalem rom th th t Jer Zep Habbu Jer Zec Nor Oba the P d and Solomon Mal to to hani Nah Sou Eze Dan Haggaihar AmoHos Mic Isa Jon emiah kuk dia Joe achi to to um kia iah avi ah iah iel ea ah ah rn vides into Nor vides into h s the l l g D Retu le of le of the Kin Son Lamen Eccl Exi Exi g of Songs gdom Di Pro esias tati ver Kin dus & entry tes ons bs Exo © Osborne/Harricks 1 If you’re looking for a great book that gives a brief outline on the Old Testament books, grab William Dumbrell’s book ‘The Faith of Israel’. It’s gold. Gold I tell you. Key Travelling through the Old Testament Chronicles (narrated account) Post Exile Books (narrated accounts) Samuel/Kings (narrated account) Genesis-Ruth (Incl. Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy & Numbers) Psalms and other wisdom literature The Prophets (approximate order - many books are not dated) 1 C 2 C Neh hroni hroni emiah cle cle Ezr s s a d Lan 2 S 1 S 1 K Gen Jos Jud 2 K ria amuelamu hua Rut ing ing esis ges h el s s ised abylon omon Assy o B to to Sol rom th th t Zep Habbu Zec Jer o Jerusalem Nor Oba the P d and Mal Nah Sou Haggai Hos Mic Jon hani Eze emiah Dan har Amo Isa dia achi kuk n t Joe to to um kia iah avi ea ah iah ah ah h iel s the ivides into Northivides into & South l l the g D Retur le of le of Kin Son Lame Eccl Exi Exi g of Songs gdom D Pro esias nta ver Kin tio dus & entry tes bs ns Exo © Osborne/Harricks Habakkuk - god & evil Here’s the background...Habakkuk is speaking to Judah (the southern kingdom) just before it’s destruction in 586/7 bc, when, morally speaking, Israel was at rock-bottom. It’s called an oracle, or prophecy, but more literally it’s Habakkuk’s ‘burden’. And the burden is this - what is God going to do about the evil in Israel? Habakkuk has 2 questions for God (1:2-4, 1:12-2:1), he hears God’s 2 answers (1:5-11, 2:2-20) and finishes with a prayer (3). To start, spend some time talking about the evil & injustices you see in the world that rile you up. Before you read Habakkuk, spend some time looking at the diagrams (page 2/3) and understanding the situation in the time Habakkuk lived. Read Habakkuk 1 - What’s causing Habakkuk such pain as he looks out at Israel? (1:2-4) 2 - Is this something that you struggle with? Where do you see it? 3 - What does God tell Habakkuk he’s going to do about it? (1:5-11) 4 - Babylon were the hated enemy of Israel. And were seen to be much more corrupt & evil than even Israel. What, in 1:12-2:1 does Habakkuk find so disturbing in God’s answer? 5 - Consider the list of injustice & evil that you made at the start of tonight. Would you say you’re a contributing in any way, or just an observer? What we see here is God dealing with evil through an even greater evil. And we’ll see in a moment that that’s not God’s last word. But before we hear God’s greater solution 6 - If God were to deal comprehensively with evil & justice, how would that play out for you? Are there different grades of evil? Do we overlook / justify it in ourselves? God’s words to Habakkuk turn out to be true - Babylon is used to deal with the evil in Israel (Judah). In around 586 b.c. Babylon sweep down on Jerusalem, kill thousands and ship the elite off to Babylon as captives. But God gives Habakkuk hope. And through Habakkuk us. He tells Habakkuk to record his response for all (2:2), and says that while it might not seem like it, he is going to deal with injustice & evil comprehensively one day - and not just in Israel & Babylon (2:3). 7 - In 2:4-20, Habakkuk lists a series of “woes” - that is, things that God is going to bring people to account for. Go through them. What would they have meant in that context, and do we see them today? Hidden amongst the woes is a glimmer of hope - that the righteous will live by faith (or faithfulness). Habakkuk was in distress because he was surrounded by injustice he couldn’t change, heard an answer he didn’t like from God, and felt like a solution was a long way off - perhaps not even in his lifetime. But in chapter 3, we see Habakkuk respond as one of the faithful in Habakkuk 2:4. 8 - What does ‘living by faith’ look like for Habakkuk in chapter 3? 9 - How does what he knows about God shape the way he responds to the evil & injustice he sees around him? 10 - This verse is quoted three times in the New Testament - Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:37-38. Look up these verses and discuss what it means to live by faith this side of the pinnacle of God’s plan, Jesus. As we think about the ideas of evil, injustice & what God is doing about it, there are two things for Christians to stop, consider and apply. Let’s look at 2 passages / ideas. 11 - First, we’re part of the problem. Read Romans 3:9-20 and discuss it’s implications for evil & injustice in the world and how we view it (and ourselves). 12 - Second, we’re recipients of the true faithful one. Read Romans 3:21-26 and discuss how living by faith is shaped / informed by what God has done in Jesus. hosea - god’s pain Here’s the background...Hosea 1:1 puts us in the years before the destruction of the Northern Kingdom in 722 bc (See diagram on Page 3), probably somewhere in the area of 750bc to 725bc. It’s the longest of the minor prophets that we’re looking at, so we’re just going to be looking at a select through parts. But we’re going to see God, through Hosea, give an incredibly vivid picture of the pain that Israel has caused God and why. To start, what is the relationship between love & anger? (Or love & wrath?) Can someone be full of both at the same time? How? Before you read Hosea, spend some time looking at the diagrams (page 2/3) and understanding the situation in the time Habakkuk lived. Read Hosea 1:1-2:1 1 - If you’re looking for names for kids, this probably isn’t the place to look. What message / story is Hosea’s marriage and names of the kid supposed to communicate? 2 - God is obviously deeply hurt by Israel, but from these verses, what’s his desire? While Hosea 1 focused on the children, Hosea 2-3 are going to expand on Hosea’s marriage to Gomer to highlight God’s pain. Read Hosea 2:2-3:5 First up, we’re going to consider why God is so hurt by Israel.
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