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Minor Prophets, Part 1: Assyrian Crisis

  1. Lesson One
    Introduction to the Prophets
    21 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  2. Lesson Two
    Prophets and Prophecy
    20 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  3. Lesson Three
    Amos
    24 Activities
    |
    3 Assessments
  4. Lesson Four
    Hosea
    19 Activities
    |
    5 Assessments
  5. Lesson Five
    Jonah
    18 Activities
    |
    3 Assessments
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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Grab your Workbook Journal!

[Record your answers in the workbook provided at the beginning of this course.]

A common term for prophets is “seers.” The prophets had a clear vision for the Law in an imperfect world. And when the world comes up short, they don’t make any compromises. They have their sights set beyond what’s happening around them. The language of “seeing” and “vision” is central to their work, and in our understanding of who they were and what they did.

Read some of the opening verses of the prophetic books below. 

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem, which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.  Isaiah 1:1 NASB

 

The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa—the vision he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake . . . Amos 1:1 NIV

 

The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Micah 1:1 NIV

 

An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh. Nahum 1:1 ESV

 

The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw. Habakkuk 1:1 NASB

 

In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. Ezekiel 1:1 ESV

  1. What do you notice about these passages in terms of how they introduce the prophecy that follows?
“Seeing”

Vision drives the ministry of the prophets and sets them apart. Abraham Heschel says it well:

 

To a person endowed with prophetic sight, everyone else appears blind; to a person whose ear perceives God’s voice, everyone else appears deaf . . . The prophet hates the approximate; he shuns the middle of the road. Man must live on the summit to avoid the abyss . . . Carried away by the challenge, the demand to straighten out man’s ways, the prophet is strange, one-sided, an unbearable extremist.

And yet, their vision is never ultimately about destruction. It’s always about a future hope that can be found on the other side of every injustice and exile. No matter how bad things get, YHWH will always be there to restore and comfort his people.

 

Source: Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Prophets, 2007, p. 16.

Reference: Samuel A. Meier, Themes and Transformations in OT Prophecy, 2009, p. 44.