12 Minor Prophets (2): Week of 15 April 2008

12 Minor Prophets (2)
Week of 15 April 2008

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Nahum
An attack on Ninevah (capital of Assyria), soon to fall to the Babylonians; the city Jonah is asked to reform. Study the strong images.
1

1: The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

3

1: Woe to the bloody city, full of lies and robbery;
2: The noise of a whip and rattling wheels and horses and chariots.
3: The horseman lifts up the bright sword and the shining spear: there are many corpses:
12: Your strongholds shall be like fig trees with the first ripe figs: if shaken, they'll fall into the mouth of the eater.
17: Your crowned are like the locusts, and your captains great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun arises, they flee and their place is not known.
The following may be an ironic reference to the great Trust Psalm, 121: "He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep" (121:4).
18: Your shepherds sleep, O king of Assyria: your nobles shall dwell in the dust.

Habakkuk
1

Similar to Job, and Jeremiah's question, "Why do the wicked prosper?"

2: O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you not hear?
3: Why do you make me see wrongs and look upon trouble?
4: So the law is slacked and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous, so justice goes forth perverted.
13: Why do you look on faithless men, and are silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?
14: For you make men like the fish of the sea, like crawling things with no ruler.
15: He drags them out with his net; so he rejoices.
16: And he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to it; by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich.
17: Is he then to empty his net, and cruelly slay nations forever?
Should the evil benefit from their crimes?

2

2: And the LORD said: "Write the vision; make it plain upon tablets, so he may run who reads it.
3: For still the vision awaits its time; it hastens to the end -- it will not lie. If it seem slow, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.
Because of Romans 1:17, the following has become one of the key verses in the Bible: "the righteous shall live by faith." This is the text that inspired Martin Luther, that started the Reformation, which split the church.
4: Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his faith.
This is an unusual biblical argument by "prudence" (foresight) rather than "morals": that is, one should act because of the feared consequences, not because it is wrong in itself. It applies even today: neglected social groups cause social problems (crime, drugs, etc.):
7: Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be booty for them.
8: Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you.
9: Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm!
A common saying, which is probably independent of the Bible: "What goes around comes around":
16: The cup in the LORD's right hand will come around to you, and shame will come upon your glory!

3

I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.
This is one of the clearest statements of faith in the Bible:
17: Though the fig tree do not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,
18: yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Zephaniah
1

14: The great day of the LORD is near.
The following is the source of the Dies Irae ("Day of Wrath" or "Day of Anger") of the Requiem Mass (the mass for the dead). It's a theodicy too, since it says that Judah's fall is punishment by God for social wrongs:
15: A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
16: a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.
18: Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the LORD.

Haggai
1

The house refers to the temple, after the Jews returned from the Babylonian Captivity (539 BCE). The temple was finished in 515.

1: In the second year of Darius the king, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the high priest.
9: "You have looked for much, and it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? Because of my house that lies in ruins, while you busy yourselves each with his own house."
12: Then Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest, with the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet.
14: and they came and worked on the house of the LORD.

2

20: The word of the LORD came a second time to Haggai,
The Jews hope for a change in the world's powers, so they can be at peace again.
21: "Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth,
22: and to overthrow the kingdoms.
23: On that day, says the LORD, I will make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you, says the LORD."

Zechariah
1

Both Haggai and Zechariah are dated about 520, and are concerned about the rebuilding of the (Second) Temple (completed 515 BCE). Zechariah is commonly divided into two parts (1-8, 9-12) with the last part seemingly from another prophet (Zechariah's name is not mentioned after chapter 8, among other clues). Note that an angel comes between ("mediates") the prophet's vision, whereas before prophets had first-hand experience of their message. This is the beginning of "angelology," as in Daniel, which (for the first time) mentions names of angels (Michael and Gabriel). Gabriel appears to the Virgin Mary 500 years later.

7: The word of the LORD came to Zechariah the prophet; Zechariah said,
18: And I lifted my eyes and saw four horns!
The four horns  represent four countries, as in Daniel:
19: And the angel said, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."
20: Then the LORD showed me four smiths.
21: And I said, "What are these coming to do?" He answered, "These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man raised his head; and these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it."
The smiths suggest God's power to change the "horns" by his hands; the "4" continues the symbolism of the 4 horses and horns.

3

The "Branch" (below) refers to Jeremiah's "messianic" prophecy: "The days are coming when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch" (23:5). The "stone" refers to the building stone of the Second Temple. For the reference to the "fig tree," see Micah, 4:4: "Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree and no one will make him afraid."
8: Hear now, O Joshua, the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men of good omen: I will bring my servant the Branch.
9: For behold, upon the stone which I have set before Joshua, upon a single stone with seven sides, I will write on it, says the LORD, and remove the guilt of this land.
10: In that day, says the LORD of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor under his vine and under his fig tree."

4

1: And the angel who talked with me came again, and waked me, like out of my sleep.
2: And he said, "What do you see?" I said, "I see a lampstand of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps.
3: And there are two olive trees by it, on the right of the bowl and its left."
10: "These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range through the whole earth."
12: And a second time I said to him, "What are these two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the oil is poured out?"
14: He said, "These are the two anointed who stand by the Lord of the whole earth."
The above says that the two olive trees (source of oil) are the two anointed, Zerubbabel and Joshua, who represent secular (worldly) and sacred power from God.

7

8: And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying,
The call for social justice that is common in the prophets:
9: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, Give true judgments, show kindness and mercy,
10: do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the alien, or the poor; don't devise evil against your brother in your heart."
"Let the punishment fit the crime":
13: "As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear," says the LORD of hosts,
14: "and I scattered them among nations they had not known."

9

This second part, to the end, seems to have been written by another prophet. The following verse is one of the most famous and is fulfilled when Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey (symbol of peace, instead of a horse). Therefore, this verse (9) is a messianic prophecy:

9: Rejoice, daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, daughter of Jerusalem! Your king comes to you; victorious, humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass.
10: I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

11

A symbolic action. The prophet will play the role of the good and evil shepherd. Note how people thank God for their unjust profits!

4: Thus said the LORD my God: "Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter.
5: Those who buy them slay them and go unpunished; and those who sell them say, `Blessed be the LORD, I have become rich'; and their own shepherds have no pity on them.
6: For I will no longer have pity on the people of this land, says the LORD. I will cause men to fall each into the hand of his shepherd, and each into the hand of his king."
7: So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slain for those who trafficked in the sheep. And I took two staffs; one I named Grace, the other I named Union. And I tended the sheep.
8: But I became impatient with them, and they detested me.
10: And I took my staff Grace, and I broke it, annulling the covenant which I had made with all the peoples.
11: So it was annulled on that day, and the traffickers in the sheep, who were watching me, knew it was the word of the LORD.
12: Then I said to them, "If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them." And they weighed out as my wages thirty shekels of silver.
The shepherd gets so little respect, they pay him slave wages (see Exodus 21:32): "If a bull gores a slave, the owner must pay 30 shekels." Compare Judas' betrayal of Jesus for 30 coins: "'What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?' So they counted out 30 coins" (Matthew 25:14).
14: Then I broke my second staff Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
In another symbolic action, the prophet must play the part of a bad shepherd:
15: Then the LORD said to me, "Take once more the tools of a worthless shepherd.
16: For I am raising up a shepherd who does not care for the dying, or seek the wandering, or heal the maimed, or feed the healthy.
17: Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock!"

12

The reference to "whom they have pierced" is probably the Good Shepherd, whom the prophet played (11:7) but Christians use it to refer to Jesus:.
10: "And I will pour out on the house of David and the people of Jerusalem a spirit of compassion and supplication, so that, when they look on him whom they have pierced, they shall weep bitterly over him.

13

The following verse is believed to be misplaced, and should follow the action of the false shepherd (11:17: "Woe to the worthless shepherd who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye!" The next verse should follow:
7: "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me," says the LORD of hosts. "Strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered."
Though this is supposed to be the false shepherd, Jesus quotes it from his own point of view as the good shepherd):
     "Then Jesus told them, 'Tonight you will fall away because of me, as is written: "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will scatter"'" (Matthew 26:31).

14

Note this is close to Jesus' cleansing of the temple, a symbolic action in the Gospels.
21: And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day.

Malachi
1

Malachi ends the Christian Old Testament, but 2 Chronicles ends the Hebrew Bible. The logic is that, for the Jews, the temple is the most important idea of God; and 2 Chronicles ends on restoring the temple. But Christians put Malachi last (before the New Testament) because of the reference to Elijah coming as a prophet, an idea taken up by John the Baptist, then Jesus. Note that Malachi ends on the word "curse," ideal for Christians; since if the Old Testament ends on a curse, then there is no cure but someone like Jesus.

8: "When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that no evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that no evil? Present that to your governor; will he be pleased with you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts.

2

The following text refers to the practice of the Hebrew men divorcing their old wives for younger women, especially aliens.
13: You cover the LORD's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor at your hand.
14: You ask, "Why does he not?" Because the LORD was witness to the covenant between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
15: Has not the one God made and sustained for us the spirit of life? And what does he desire? Godly offspring. [That is, Jewish offspring, not mixed children of Jews and pagans.] So take heed to yourselves, and let none be faithless to the wife of his youth.

3
Part of a Messianic prophecy, sometimes applied to Jesus:

1: "Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming.
2: But who can endure his coming?
3: he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, till they present right offerings to the LORD.
5: "Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the worker in his wages, the widow and the orphan, against those who push aside the alien, and do not fear me.
Compare, James' reference to "the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" (JAMES 1:17). Note too the constant question why the evil prosper:
6: "For I the LORD do not change.
7: Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts.
14: You have said, `It is vain to serve God.
15: evildoers not only prosper but when they put God to the test they escape.'"
Another reference to the Book of the Lord ("book of remembrance"):
16: Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another; the LORD heeded and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and thought on his name.
17: "They shall be mine, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.
18: Then once more you shall distinguish between the righteous and the wicked.

4

1: "For the day comes, burning like an oven, when  evildoers will be stubble; the day shall burn them up.
The following is one of the reasons for choosing 25 December for Jesus' birthday (25 December is the birth of the sun; here reference is made to "the sun of righteousness"):
2: But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go forth leaping like calves from the stall.
5: "I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.
The following might refer to Micah 7:6: "For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises up against her mother." Note the Christian OT ends in a "curse," which makes Jesus' coming more necessary.
6: And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse."

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