The Reluctant Prophet

The Book of Jonah is one of the Old Testament Minor Prophets whose story is well known… sort of. For most people, their exposure to the Jonah is via children’s books or videos. Jonah is almost secondary to the whale (large fish). In the four chapters of the book, the whale has played its part by the end of Chapter 1.

Unlike the other Minor Prophets, this book is not terribly prophetic. The only oracle is only 5 words long (in Hebrew) and simply warns the people of Nineveh that in 40 days they will be destroyed. The oracle does not say by whom, why, and if there are any measures that can be taken to prevent such a calamity.  As a prophet, Jonah is reluctant at best and more like minimizes his efforts so that God will punish Nineveh. And why not? They are the mortal enemy of Israel – in fact, the mortal enemy of everyone. The world would be better off without them.

This book is not really about prophecy. It is about the prophet. It is about Israel in its prophetic role to the nations. It is about us and our prophetic role to our neighbors.

For those who would like to explore details of this book, please consider videos from Fr. Mike Schmitz’s “Bible in a Year” program. You can find the entire playlist here.

Prophet Against Edom

The Book of Obadiah is the shortest book in Scripture. It is 21 verses long and the book in its entirety is directed against the Edomites. Who is Edom and why is the prophet Obadiah so focused on them?  In short, the Edomites are the descendants of Esau, the son of Isaac and fraternal twin of Jacob. Take a moment to read Genesis 26 and following and you’ll see the origin of the acrimony between the brothers. As a result, Esau and his people established a homeland/kingdom to the south and east of Israel. By the time Moses was leading the people through the wilderness to the land promised to Abraham, Edom already had a long history of Kings.  When Moses asked to use the “King’s Highway” to reached the Jordan River, they were refused – and that was just one of the many encounters between Israel and Edom over the next 800 years – most of which were violent conflict. You can read about that history is this short overview: Obadiah and Edom.

From history and scripture we know that the Babylonian Empire was the instrumental cause of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 586 BC – but they apparently had assistance. The psalmist calls out to God: “Remember, LORD, against Edom that day at Jerusalem. They said: ‘Level it, level it down to its foundations!’” (Ps 137:7) Whether Edom participated in the destruction or merely “cheered” Babylon’s efforts is unclear, but Babylonian records indicated that Edom participated in the capture of Jews fleeing the wrath of Babylon. And for this, Obadiah preaches against the evil done by them against the People of God.

For those who would like to explore details of this book, please consider videos from Fr. Mike Schmitz’s “Bible in a Year” program. You can find the entire playlist here.

Prophet of History and Prophecy

The Book of Joel is perhaps the one book of Scripture in which there is a quite large divergence of scholarly views on where to place the book of the “timeline.” Most books have a concrete marker of time, e.g., during the reign of a certain king. But not Joel. There are all manner of clues, e.g., did Joel quote other books or did they quote him? The list includes: Isaiah, Amos, Ezekiel, Zephaniah, Nahum, Malachi, Obadiah, Micah and Psalm 79. And his development of Amos’ idea of the “day of the Lord” is more developed. Take a moment and read Dating Joel – bit of a deep dive into the importance of dating the Book of Joel – because that will determine how much of Joel is history and how much is prophetic in either vision or hope.

For those who would like to explore details of this book, please consider videos from Fr. Mike Schmitz’s “Bible in a Year” program. You can find the entire playlist here.

Prophet of Justice and Righteousness

Amos is one of the prophets of the Old Testament who lived in the time between the division of the Davidic Kingdom into Judah/Israel and the fall of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) to the Assyrian Empire. Unlike Hosea who was resident in the north, Amos lived in Judah but was called by the Lord to preach against the sins, ills, and injustice of the north during one of its most prosperous times. But it was in that time that the “rich got richer and poor got poorer.”

Amos is a prophet of divine judgment, and the sovereignty of the Lord in nature and history dominates his thought. He called the people back to the high moral and religious demands of the Covenant. Amos’s message stands as one of the most powerful voices ever to challenge hypocrisy and injustice. He boldly indicts kings, priests, and leaders. He stresses the importance and the divine origin of the prophetic word; one must either heed that word in its entirety or suffer its disappearance.

Amos alludes to historical forces at work through which God would exercise judgment on Israel; several times he mentions deportation as the fate that awaits the people and their corrupt leaders. Israel’s rebelliousness has exhausted the divine patience and the destruction of Israel as a nation and as God’s people is inevitable.

For those who would like to explore details of this book, please consider videos from Fr. Mike Schmitz’s “Bible in a Year” program. You can find the entire playlist here.

Prophet of the Covenant

Hosea is one of the minor prophets of the Old Testament. “Minor” only refers to the length of the text which is considerably shorter than the major prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. Also Hosea lived some 150 years before the time of Jeremiah and the fall of Jerusalem to the Empire of Babylon. Unlike Isaiah and Jeremiah in Jerusalem, Hosea was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom that had broken away from the throne of King David/Jerusalem. Although earlier in time, the North also faced a warring empire: the Assyrians.

Hosea’s message is for the kings and people to remain faithful to the covenant bond with Yahweh. Hosea compares the North’s lack of fidelity to his own wife, Gomer, who is repeatedly unfaithful, is forgiven by Hosea and taken back, only to again betray the sacred bonds of the marriage covenant.

Enjoy the videos, but take a moment to read an introduction to the Book of Hosea.

For those who would like to explore details of this book, please consider videos from Fr. Mike Schmitz’s “Bible in a Year” program. You can find the entire playlist here.