Which minor prophet's message has blessed you most?

[ByTheSpirit]

I think Hosea is mine. I love his word on knowing God and how deep God's love is for His people.

 

[The Liturgist]

I think Hosea is mine. I love his word on knowing God and how deep God's love is for His people.

Mine might be Jonah, in that despite his ridiculous failures of faith and lapses into sin, God saved him repeatedly through grace and even exalted him, having used him as a Christological type, in that the three days he spent in the whale anticipated the three days our Lord would spend in the tomb before being spit out by death in the same way Jonah was spit out by the whale. Also, in Syriac and Oriental Orthodox Christianity the Rogation of the Ninevites is observed as a major fast, for the Nineveh Plains is a major center of Assyrian Christianity and Syriac Orthodox Christianity, and the fast of Nineveh is also observed by those churches in communion with the Syriac Orthodox, including the Armenians, the Coptic Orthodox of Egypt and as far as I am aware, the Ethiopian Orthodox. And it is also observed by the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Chaldean and Maronite Catholics, since they share the Syriac ethnicity, and by the closely related churches of India, such as the Indian Orthodox and the Syro Malabar Catholics.

So the beauty is in this very flawed man Jonah God called Nineveh to repentance, and through His grace glorified this sinner, and made him a Holy Prophet and even a type of Christ, and through him the Ninevites were saved from destruction and their fast is still observed by many Eastern Christians even to this day, including those descended from the ancient Ninevites in Iraq, the Syriac Orthodox and Assyrian Christians who live in Mosul (which Nineveh is now known of) and the surrounding plains and mountains and who endured such fierce persecution by ISIS in 2014-2016, in an attempted genocide, but survived, and in the process of this Jonah was even glorified to being made a typological prophecy of the death and resurrection of Christ our God.

Thus if God will do that for Jonah, that means perhaps there is hope even for such a great sinner as myself. Indeed I cannot think of a more pathetic sinner than myself, so the story of Jonah really gives me hope in the possibility of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

[The Liturgist]

I think Hosea is mine. I love his word on knowing God and how deep God's love is for His people.

By the way this is quite a lovely thread you posted. I don’t like naming favorites, but perhaps people who don’t wish to declare a favorite can still use it to name a minor prophet they think is overlooked or not emphasized enough.

I have to confess I don’t know enough about Micah or Amos, among others.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

Mine might be Jonah, in that despite his ridiculous failures of faith and lapses into sin, God saved him repeatedly through grace and even exalted him, having used him as a Christological type, in that the three days he spent in the whale anticipated the three days our Lord would spend in the tomb before being spit out by death in the same way Jonah was spit out by the whale. Also, in Syriac and Oriental Orthodox Christianity the Rogation of the Ninevites is observed as a major fast, for the Nineveh Plains is a major center of Assyrian Christianity and Syriac Orthodox Christianity, and the fast of Nineveh is also observed by those churches in communion with the Syriac Orthodox, including the Armenians, the Coptic Orthodox of Egypt and as far as I am aware, the Ethiopian Orthodox. And it is also observed by the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Chaldean and Maronite Catholics, since they share the Syriac ethnicity, and by the closely related churches of India, such as the Indian Orthodox and the Syro Malabar Catholics.

So the beauty is in this very flawed man Jonah God called Nineveh to repentance, and through His grace glorified this sinner, and made him a Holy Prophet and even a type of Christ, and through him the Ninevites were saved from destruction and their fast is still observed by many Eastern Christians even to this day, including those descended from the ancient Ninevites in Iraq, the Syriac Orthodox and Assyrian Christians who live in Mosul (which Nineveh is now known of) and the surrounding plains and mountains and who endured such fierce persecution by ISIS in 2014-2016, in an attempted genocide, but survived, and in the process of this Jonah was even glorified to being made a typological prophecy of the death and resurrection of Christ our God.

Thus if God will do that for Jonah, that means perhaps there is hope even for such a great sinner as myself. Indeed I cannot think of a more pathetic sinner than myself, so the story of Jonah really gives me hope in the possibility of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.

That is so deep and rich! Thank you for sharing that!

 

[The Liturgist]

That is so deep and rich! Thank you for sharing that!

Thank you for posting this thread! God bless you my friend.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

By the way this is quite a lovely thread you posted. I don’t like naming favorites, but perhaps people who don’t wish to declare a favorite can still use it to name a minor prophet they think is overlooked or not emphasized enough.

I have to confess I don’t know enough about Micah or Amos, among others.

Favorite might not be the best word to use. Perhaps most preferred? Or what minor prophet's message has had the greatest impact on your life? But that is a mouthful!

 

[The Liturgist]

Favorite might not be the best word to use. Perhaps most preferred? Or what minor prophet's message has had the greatest impact on your life? But that is a mouthful!

Maybe “meaningful”?

Either way we should hope for more replies. I might ask some of my friends to contribute if this thread doesn’t get the attention I feel it deserves.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

The two major themes as I see it from Hosea are:

God's love towards Israel (and by extension to those in covenant with Him)
The knowledge of God

Then the LORD said to me, “Go show love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and offer raisin cakes to idols.” Hosea 3:1 (BSB)

God's love and faithfulness did not diminish even as His anger grew over how the Israelites were behaving towards Him.

Hosea 11:1-4 (BSB)
When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called My son.
But the more I called Israel,
the farther they departed from Me.
They sacrificed to the Baals
and burned incense to carved images.
It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
taking them in My arms,
but they never realized
that it was I who healed them.
I led them with cords of kindness,
with ropes of love;
I lifted the yoke from their necks
and bent down to feed them.

The tenderness, care and compassion the Lord shows to His people is beyond compare. Here the prophet expresses in the dearest of terms just how the Lord showed His love towards His people. Expressing His actions like that of a father teaching his child how to walk.

Hosea 11:8 (NLT)
Oh, how can I give you up, Israel?
How can I let you go?
How can I destroy you like Admah
or demolish you like Zeboiim?
My heart is torn within me,
and my compassion overflows.

I love the way the NLT expresses this verse, the overflowing compassion of God for His people who are wandering from Him. The longing of a Father calling out to his wayward child, longing for them to return. And of course, this mirrors closely so much of what the New Testament references in connection with God's love.

Luke 15:11-24 (BSB)
Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger son said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
After a few days, the younger son got everything together and journeyed to a distant country, where he squandered his wealth in wild living.
After he had spent all he had, a severe famine swept through that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. He longed to fill his belly with the pods the pigs were eating, but no one would give him a thing.
Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food? But here I am, starving to death! I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’
So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still in the distance, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
The son declared, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

One of Jesus most famous parables demonstrates just the kind of love the Father has for us, and I believe speaks of the same love the Hosea expressed as well. A Father who watches eagerly for His wayward child to return so He can celebrate over them.

But you know, God's love is not meant just for show. He demonstrates His love, He gives us His love so that we would return to Him, abide with Him, and grow in our knowledge of Him.

Romans 2:4 (BSB)
Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?

Hosea 2:19-20 (BSB)
So I will betroth you to Me forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in loving devotion and compassion.
And I will betroth you in faithfulness,
and you will know the LORD.”

John 17:3 (BSB)
Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.

This is the next area that Hosea deals with, the Israelites not knowing God and the devastating consequences that ignorance was having on them.

Hosea 4:6 (BSB)
My people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,

Hosea 5:4 (BSB)
Their deeds do not permit them
to return to their God,
for a spirit of prostitution is within them,
and they do not know the LORD.

The Israelites were rejecting God and they were becoming ignorant of Him. They were prostituting themselves to other gods that they had not known and forsaking their covenant with the Holy One. Because of this they were being led into sin and destruction.

You see, that's the thing. Sin seems fun for a season, but the fruit of that is always going to lead us to ruin. God wants us to walk with Him in holiness and righteousness. He wants us to know Him, and He offers that knowledge freely to any who would press in and take hold of it!

Hosea 6:1-3 (BSB)
Come, let us return to the LORD.
For He has torn us to pieces,
but He will heal us;
He has wounded us,
but He will bind up our wounds.
After two days He will revive us;
on the third day He will raise us up,
that we may live in His presence.
So let us know—
let us press on to know the LORD.

God wants us to know Him. He wants us to know Him so that we can live with Him and walk in love. His love is meant to bring us into a closer bond and fellowship with Him. The lies the enemy tells people that God is upset with them, that He has rejected them, that He wants nothing to do with them because of their sin is an utter lie. Straight falsehood.

Romans 5:8 (BSB)
But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

If God gave us His Son while we were in sin, then surely now that we belong to Him, He will graciously bring us back into His loving arms! Let me close with this.

Romans 8:28-39 (BSB)
And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.
What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is there to condemn us? For Christ Jesus, who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God—and He is interceding for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For Your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

[PloverWing]

The book of Amos made a deep impression on me, when I first read it as a college student. It talks about how we treat the poor, how God sees and disapproves when we mistreat the poor and take advantage of the unwary. All of a sudden, here was something in the prophets that spoke to stuff that goes on around us here and now. This experience with Amos led me to reread the other prophets with a new eye.

Amos 8:4-7:
Hear this, you who trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
saying, “When will the new moon be over
so that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath,
so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah smaller and the shekel heavier
and practice deceit with false balances,
buying the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals
and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”
The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

We will make the ephah smaller and the shekel heavier

This is especially pertinent in today's society. Consumer products are getting smaller, but the prices are staying the same or getting more expensive in some cases. I know it's not exactly what the prophet was referring to, but that came to mind. Thank you for sharing.

 

[PloverWing]

This is especially pertinent in today's society. Consumer products are getting smaller, but the prices are staying the same or getting more expensive in some cases. I know it's not exactly what the prophet was referring to, but that came to mind. Thank you for sharing.

I think it's in the spirit of what the prophet was talking about -- raising prices in a hidden way is a way of trying to trick the buyer, similar to practicing deceit with false balances.