Joel

Joel is a short collection of poetic prophecies that is powerful yet puzzling. This obscure prophet alludes to the writings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Obadiah, Nahum, Zephaniah, which makes it all the more interesting to read but somewhat difficult to grasp without referencing the works of these Old Testament prophets.

Israel's sin and rebellion had led to disaster in the past when God judged them in the day of the LORD. The locust plague was a devastation unlike anything in the history of Israel, a terrible resemblance of the eighth plague God performed upon Egypt. Joel called out to the people to repent because a future day of the LORD is coming, in which a more fearful locust host in the form of a menacing, merciless army will devour the land and its inhabitants.

Human sin and failure often reap devastating destruction in this fallen world, and only when we are willing to own up to our faults can we experience forgiveness and favor, for God's mercy and love is more powerful than His wrath and judgment (2:13; Exodus 34:6).

The message of Joel brings hope to all of humanity that one day God will rid the evil that is rampant in our world as well as inside of us, and bring His healing presence among us and make all things new:

2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.

 

OUTLINE OF JOEL

1. The Day of the Locust (1:1-20)
a. Destruction by the Plague (1:1-12)
b. Desolation from the Plague (1:13-20)
2. The Day of the LORD (2:1-3:21)
a. Message to Israel (2:1-32)
The Coming of the Day of the LORD
The Calling of the LORD
The Comforting of the LORD
b. Message to Gentile Nations (3:1-21)
The Gathering of the Nations
The Pouring out of Judgment
The Promise of Blessing

Hosea

Hosea ministered to northern Israel in the reign of Jeroboam II at a time when the nation was enjoying material prosperity and peace outwardly, but morally decayed and spiritually dead inwardly. Good times, however, didn't last and with the passing of Jeroboam II, the wayward nation began to feel the pressure asserted by the growing threat of Assyria.

The last six kings that followed—from Zechariah to Hoshea— did not fare any better either. Four were murdered by their successors and one was taken captive to Assyria. As the nation buckled under the weight of external political pressure and its own spiritual stupor, Hosea spoke out against the northern kingdom's root problem—unfaithfulness to God—and pleaded with the adulterous nation to repent and return to the One who was both faithful and forgiving.

God is portrayed as a spouse that was spurned by the very people He redeemed and loved, who yet pleaded earnestly for them to change their ways before it was too late. Arrogance and disobedience ultimately sealed their doom and led to the dispersion of the nation under the dire leadership of Ephraim, just as Hosea prophesied:

8:7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.

But God is a faithful Lover who will not give up easily. In the imagery of Hosea's broken marriage, God firmly expressed His love to His wayward people after He is done disciplining them out of righteous anger:

14:4 I will heal their backsliding; I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.

 
OUTLINE OF HOSEA

1. Hosea and Gomer—A Personal Tragedy (1:1-3:5)
a. Broken Marriage (1:1-9)
Harlot for a Wife | Children and their Names
b. Restored Marriage (1:10-3:5)
Future Hope | Present Hurt
Prosperity Removed | Privilege Restored
Gomer Redeemed | Israel Reformed
2. God and Israel—A National Tragedy (4:1-14:9)
a. Spiritual Adultery (4:1-6:3)
Sins—Unfaithfulness | Idolatry
Severance—Rebuke | Enmity | Separation
Salvation—Return | Revive | Refresh
b. Israel's Stubbornness (6:4-8:14)
Treachery | Obstinacy| Idolatry
c. God's Judgment (9:1-10:15)
Dispersion | Barrenness | Destruction
d. Israel's Restoration (11:1-14:9)
God's Love | Israel's Waywardness
God's Promise of Restoration

Minor Prophets

'The Twelve', or Trei Asar, refers to the last twelve books of the English Old Testament, but is regarded by the Jews as one book or scroll. These prophets are designated 'minor', not because they had a less important role, but because their writings are much shorter which in a way also reflected the durations of their ministries.

Hosea and Amos were prophets to the northern kingdom of Israel though they certainly were not the only ones; there were Elijah and Elisha too, despite them not having written any book that carried their names but were mentioned in the book of Kings nonetheless.

Jonah and Nahum prophesied against Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria, while Obadiah pronounced judgment on Edom for its treachery against Israel despite the two sharing a common ancestry. These three prophets are God's 'emissaries' to the surrounding nations.

The remaining seven prophets ministered to the southern kingdom of Judah—Joel, Micah, Habakkuk and Zephaniah pre-dated the Babylonian captivity, while Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi ministered in the post-exilic period.

Some of these prophets were contemporaries of each other, as with Haggai and Zechariah; most were identified as either the son of someone or a clan, though a few were simply introduced by name alone. Whatever background or occupation these men came from, they were men sent by God with a message to the nation or people facing divine judgment for their moral failures and sins.

Their messages are just as applicable to us today because God still rules and judges from heaven on His throne.

 

Ezekiel

Ezekiel's visions are perhaps among the most extraordinary as to evoke imageries that came out of modern science fictions. Like Jeremiah, Ezekiel was also a priest called to a prophetic ministry (1:3). Jeremiah was a man of tears, but Ezekiel was a man of visions. And his visions of the glory of the LORD was no less spectacular compared to Isaiah's, or even the apocalypse of John the apostle.

As a prophet who ministered among the early Jewish exiles to Babylon, Ezekiel employed parable, signs, symbols and even live dramas to bring God's words to a devastated people. Like his name which means 'God strengthens', the prophet is being strengthened by his visions of God's glory and power, in order to bring hope and comfort to his hearers in the midst of a dark and depressing setting.

Interestingly, Daniel who was the first to be deported among the exiles, was mentioned three time by Ezekiel in his writings (14:14, 20; 28:3). While Daniel attained prominence politically in the palace, Ezekiel attested powerfully to the prominence of God among the people. No wonder he was addressed by God as 'son of man' more than ninety times—a title fittingly used by Jesus Christ Himself in the gospels. In fact, his very first vision at the river Chebar (1:1-10) contains vivid description of four-face angelic beings that many Bible scholars believed, pointed to the characteristics of the true 'Son of Man' depicted within the gospels.

The book of Ezekiel bridges the gap between Jeremiah's closing ministry and the beginning of Daniel's story. While there was no hope of immediate reprieve or return from the captivity, the visionary prophet foresaw a day when God shall bring to life again the valley of dry, lifeless bones. The present gloom will be replaced by a future glory, and when God put His Spirit in man again, then 'you shall know that I the LORD have spoken and performed it.' (37:14)

OUTLINE OF EZEKIEL

1. The Appearance of God's Glory (1:1-3:27)
a. Ezekiel's Vision (1:1-28)
Living Creatures | Wheels | Firmament | Man
b. Ezekiel's Commission (2:1-3:27)
Call | Scroll | Watchman
2. The Departure of God's Glory (4:1-24:27)
a. Four Signs (4:1-5:17)
Clay Tablet | Lying on Left=390 days, Right=40 days
Defiled Bread | Razor and Hair
b. Two Sermons (6:1-7:27)
Consequences of Idolatry | Captivity
c. Four Visions (8:1-11:25)
Glory | Abominations | Marking | Departure
d. Signs, Messages and Parables (12:1-24:17)
Signs—Belonging | Removing | Trembling
Rebukes—False Prophets | Idolatrous Elders
Parables—Vine | Marriage | Two Eagles
Sins of the People and Princes | Withered Vine
                Judgment on Jerusalem
3. The Vindication of God's Glory (25:1-32:32)
a. Judgment on the Nations (25:1-17)
Ammon | Moab | Edom | Philistia
b. Judgment on the North (26:1-28:26)
Tyre | King of Tyre | Sidon
c. Judgment on the South (29:1-32:32)
Egypt—Desolation | Destruction | Lamentation
4. The Return of God's Glory (33:1-48:35)
a. The Rebirth of a Nation (33:1-39:29)
Watchman | Shepherds—False | True
Edom | Nations | Valley of Dry Bones
Two Sticks | Gog and Magog
b. The Renewal of All Things (40:1-48:35)
New Temple | Worship | Land

 

Jeremiah

Among the Old Testament prophets, perhaps none is as heart-broken and devastated as Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. As a young man living in the darkest period of Judah's history in which spiritual and moral decay was prevalent, Jeremiah was called to the unenviable task of preaching and proclaiming judgment on the unrepentant nation for forty long years. The result was alienation, opposition, imprisonment, berating and beatings from his countrymen.

The book of Jeremiah is the largest in the Hebrew scripture, surpassing the whole Psalms collection in length. It portrays a holy and patient God who delayed judgment on a rebellious people with longsuffering and pleadings to no avail. Divine retribution inevitably followed as the city and temple were destroyed and the people carried away into captivity.

Unlike Isaiah with its chronological organization, Jeremiah is a collection of the prophet's oracles using words, illustrations and his own life as a living witness. God promised to preserve him and his scribe Baruch as they proclaimed God's messages to the wicked nation, though that did not spare Jeremiah the heartbreak and trauma as he poured out his life in tearful intercession for an unrepentant people. God finally had to tell Jeremiah to stop praying for them on two separate occasions as He would no longer bear with their sins (7:16; 11:14).

The true test of a prophet is not just in the words he brings but the spirit and heart of the man behind the message. Jeremiah's tender spirit and sensitive heart caused him much grief over the deplorable state of his people, but that did not stop him from ministering to the very end, even when he knew they would not listen to him and turn back:

9:1 Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

OUTLINE OF JEREMIAH

1. The Calling (1:1-19)
Jeremiah's Commission | Visions | Protection
2. The Condemnation (2:1-25:38)
Message   1:  Judah's Willful Sin
Message   2:  Judah's Coming Judgment
Message   3:  Judah's Hypocrisy in Worship
Message   4:  Judah's Breach of the Covenant
Message   5:  Judah's Relationship with God
Message   6:  Jeremiah's Intercessions
Message   7:  Jeremiah's Singlehood
Message   8:  Potter | Persecution | Pashur
Message   9:  Zedekiah | Shallum | Jehoiakim | Coniah
Message 10:  Judah's False Prophets
Message 11:  Two Baskets of Figs
Message 12:  The Seventy-Year Captivity
3. The Conflicts (26:1-45:5)
The Nation | False Prophets | Hananiah | Shemaiah
Future Restoration of Israel and Judah
Rebuilding of Jerusalem
Reaffirming of the Covenant
Present Challenges
Messages to Zedekiah | the People | the Rechabites
Interrogations and Imprisonments
Release and Reward | Remnants
4. The Confrontations (46:1-51:64)
Against Egypt | Philistia | Moab | Ammon | Edom
Damascus | Kedar and Hazor | Elam
Babylon's Defeat | Desolation | Destiny
5. The Captivity (52:1-34)
Jerusalem Captured | Temple Destroyed
People Exiled | Jehoiachin Restored

Isaiah

Isaiah is probably the longest serving prophet in the history of Judah before the captivity, having ministered during the reigns of four kings—Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. He is often regarded as 'the Shakespeare of the prophets' and his writings as 'the Mount Everest of Hebrew prophecy'.

The organization of the book of Isaiah is also interesting: its 66 chapters correspond to the 66 books of the English Bible. The first 39 chapters focus on the righteousness of a holy and just God who exercises judgment on the immorality and idolatry of Judah and her surrounding nations. The last 27 chapters bring forth a message of hope through the prophecies of a Messiah in His sufferings and sovereign reign.

Like his name which means 'salvation is of the LORD', the book reveals the depth of man's need to be saved from sin and its consequences, and reassures us that God has provisioned the means by which He will do just that. Left to his own, man is indeed helpless and hopeless, and only the sovereign Lord who rules human history, the Holy One of Israel, is the only Savior of sinful, fallen mankind.

Isaiah was ultimately martyred for his unpopular ministry and message (Hebrews 11:37), but his clarion call to erring Judah to repent and embrace God's mercy and grace still rings loud and clear for us today:

55:6-7
Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

 OUTLINE OF ISAIAH

1. Reprimands (1:1-35:10)
a. Against Judah (1:1-12:6)
Judgment | Day of the LORD | Parable
Commission of Isaiah
Destruction of Israel | Assyria by God
b. Against the Nations (13:1-23:18)
Babylon | Assyria | Philistia | Moab
Damascus and Samaria | Ethiopia | Egypt
Dumah | Arabia | Jerusalem | Tyre
c. The Day of the LORD (24:1-27:13)
Kingdom Tribulations and Triumphs
d. Woes and Beholds (28:1-35:10)
Woes to Ephraim | Ariel | Egyptian Alliance
Behold the Coming King
Woes to Assyria | Sundry Nations
Behold the Coming Kingdom
2. Recollections (36:1-39:8)
a. Hezekiah's Salvation (36:1-38:22)
Assyria's Invasion | Sickness of Death
b. Hezekiah's Sin (39:1-8)
3. Reassurance (40:1-66:24)
a. Israel's Deliverance (40:1-48:22)
Comfort of Deliverance
God's Character | Greatness | Servant
Israel's Restoration through Cyrus
Babylon's Destruction
b. Israel's Deliverer (49:1-57:21)
Messiah's Mission | Obedience | Atonement
Promise | Invitation | Rebuke
c. Israel's Dependable Future (58:1-66:24)
Restoration of True Worship | Kingdom Glory
Messiah's Advent | Jerusalem's Future
God's Vengeance | The Remnant
The Consummation of History