Posted on July 7, 2015

There are major truths in the minor prophets: Idea #29

Posted on July 7, 2015 by .BIBLE Registry Categories: Examples

Heard a preacher recently say, “There are major truths in the minor prophets.” Turns out there’s also a book by the title of Major Truths from the Minor Prophets.

What are the minor prophets? The Minor Prophets are not called minor because they are unimportant but because of the size of their books. Prophets like Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel have large books and so these prophets are called the Major Prophets only because their books are larger, not because they are more important. The order of these Minor Prophets’ books of the Bible (in the Protestant and Catholic Bibles) are: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

Here are 3 good websites with a summary of each of the Minor Prophets’ major truths:

Hampton Keathley IV has posted more detailed notes of the Minor Prophets at bible.org/series/minor-prophets adapted from class notes on the minor prophets taught by Dr. Charlie Dyer and Dr. Mark Bailey of Dallas Theological Seminary.

Could a whole website be dedicated for studying the Minor Prophets in depth, with links and references, and interactive elements that would be contextualized for the digital world? Sure, why not?

As an aside, the order of these 12 books of the Bible was arranged differently in an older translation, explains Biblica’s overview of the Twelve:

In the traditional Jewish canon these works are arranged in what was thought to be their chronological order: (1) the books that came from the period of Assyrian power (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah), (2) those written about the time of the decline of Assyria (Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah) and (3) those dating from the postexilic era (Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi).

On the other hand, their order in the Septuagint (the pre-Christian Greek translation of the OT) is: Hosea, Amos, Micah, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi (the order of the first six was probably determined by length, except for Jonah, which is placed last among them because of its different character).

(image credits: adapted from an infographic of Major and Minor Prophets by Jordan Ladikos)

This article is part of the blog series, 66 Ideas for .BIBLE Domain Names, with practical ideas for using .BIBLE domain names. Individuals and organizations can now register .BIBLE domain names that are more shareable, memorable, and meaningful at any accredited registrar.