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Hey Reading Community,
We hope you enjoyed last week’s reading, and that you’re growing to appreciate the poetic colors used by the prophets as they describe Israel’s covenant failure. We should remember that even though these books were written to an ancient Jewish audience, they were written for all generations of God’s covenant people.
This week, you’ll explore the rest of the Minor Prophets in Israel’s pre-exilic history—and in it, are some unique books. Jonah is a prophetic work, but it doesn’t contain his words addressed to Israel. Rather, it’s a story about the prophet himself. Habakkuk, on the other hand, tells us a story about a prophet's struggle with the lingering evil he sees all around him. These are the same struggles we have in our day, and these books offer us immense wisdom, even in this age.
Onwards!
Jon, Tim, & The Bible Project Crew
P.S. Want to dive deeper? Start with our blog on Biblical Theology. This week, we take a look at Nahum’s Oracle & Habakkuk’s Grievance |
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Chapter 8
The prophets before the exile |
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Week 20
Summary |
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Jonah is subversive story about a rebellious prophet who despises his God for loving his enemies. Jonah's ridiculous behavior contrasts the soft-hearted repentance of the Gentiles in this story, and so becomes the author's way of challenging the reader to reckon with God's love for their enemies as well.
Micah announces that God's justice is coming down on Israel's sin and covenant failure. But their sin is not the final word, as God's covenant love and faithfulness will create a new future on the other side of Israel's sin and exile.
Nahum portrays the downfall of Nineveh and Assyria as an image of how God will confront and bring down all the violent human empires. His message of justice against Nineveh challenges us toward humility and hope for the future of God's world.
Habakkuk struggles to understand God's goodness in the midst of such evil and injustice in the world. God announces that he will bring down Babylon and any nations that act like Babylon; he will bring his kingdom and the Messiah in the future. And so Habakkuk becomes an example of God's righteous people living by faith in God’s promises to rescue his world.
Zephaniah lived and prophesied to the people of Israel in the final decades leading up to Judah's exile. Like most of the prophets, he focused on three areas, the Day of the Lord coming for Israel, the Day of the Lord coming for the nations, and the hope Israel and the Nations can look forward to.
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| Next week we will be reading through the book of Job. |
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