Session 243 - Start with Session 1

Show REVERANCE to God! Give your best!

God hates divorce! (2:16)

Don’t rob God...bring God your time, talent, and treasure (tithe).

Distinctive Features:

Prophecy: 9:9 “King shall come....meek, riding on an ass....”  (See Mt. 21:4)

Prophecy: 11:12-13  Shepherd bought for “30 pieces of silver.”  (See Mt.27:3-10.)

Prophecy: 12:10 “They shall look on Him whom they have pierced.....”  (See John 19:37, Revelation 1:7.)

Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are Postexilic prophets....they speak AFTER the people have been allowed to return from their Babylonian Exile.

Haggai: c.520BC - Though the people have returned, they have NOT rebuilt the Temple, partly due to outside influences, but also lack of proper priorities.  See
Ezra 1-6 for background.  Does God have priority in your life?

Zechariah: c.520BC (Same as Haggai above.) Chs1-4.... Return to God, there will be a New Jerusalem, we are the apple of God’s eye! We can have Hope!

Nahum: 612BC, just before Ninevah, the Capitol of Assyria, was destroyed by Babylon that year.

-God is just, but also merciful
-Destruction predicted for Assyria, HOPE for Judah. 

Habakkuk:  605-597BC. Worry about Babylon. Is basically a gripe session to God, yet see 3:17-19 “I will rejoice in the Lord, my strength!”

Zephaniah-640-609BC (Just before Jeremiah and Habakkuk.)  (See 2 Kings 22 for background.)

“The Day of the Lord”= Doom, judgment. But, HOPE (for Judah, and US!) 3:16-20.

Timeline: 750-710BC, contemporary of Isaiah (Isaiah 1-39), but Chapters 4-7 probably added after the return from exile, which began in 538BC.

Distinctive Feature: The ruler, the shepherd of his people, will come from BETHLEHEM. (5:1-4) (See Mt. 2:1-5)

7:7 “But as for me, I will look to the Lord.”  (See Joshua 24:15)

Again, as with most of the Prophets, it offers hope for the future.

Timeless truths in Jonah:

1) You can’t hide from God
2) We all have a job to do for the Kingdom-evangelize!
3) God wants ALL to convert...even Israel’s worst enemy!
4) WE should pray for the conversion of our enemies.

Amos 4-9   4:1 , 5:11 and 12, 8:4-6, Don’t “oppress the weak and abuse the needy.”

Amos Distinctive Feature:  “Plumb line” (7:7-8) to determine “straight” vs. “crooked” behavior and worship.

Amos-Salvation promised to the faithful in 9:11-15.  (9:11 quoted by James in Acts 15:16-17 at the Council of Jerusalem.)

Obadiah- only 21 verses long!  Against Edom, 5th Century BC.

Jonah- Were the events real, or was this a “fish story?”  See CCC 107 (“truth...for the sake of our SALVATION...”) CCC 110.