The Minor Prophets are twelve Old Testament prophetic books, which were put together as one scroll called The Book of the Twelve. Our title "minor" refers to length, not significance. All were considered important enough to be included in the Hebrew Bible, but none were long enough to form an independent scroll. If you read only one chapter a day, you can study through all twelve books in about two months.But, other than the story of Jonah, most Christians know little about the "minor" prophets, and we constantly push these books into some dusty corner of the Old Testament. By ignoring the Twelve, we have deprived ourselves great spiritual and moral warnings. The Twelve can teach us a lot about social injustice and what God thinks about the rich and powerful taking advantage of and oppressing the poor and weak, which is a subject extremely relevant to us today.The warnings and promises of The Twelve, apply just as much to us today. And, perhaps more so, in that while many of these prophets probably didn't see any eschatological message in their prophecies, every one of the Twelve offers at least a glimpse into the end-times Day of the LORD.Unfortunately, these books are mostly neglected by Christians. Yet, they offer a wealth of guidance concerning our modern-day struggles, and also concerning the future Day of the LORD. The Twelve speak of divine judgment, not only during their own time periods, but also during our present time, as well as in the last days. We should resolutely heed 2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:"This book is a verse-by-verse commentary of the books of The Twelve. To the best of my ability, I have arranged the books in historical order.My hope is to help you understand how the nation of Israel historically failed in their relationship with God, how Christians today are repeating the same failure, and how this all plays out in the approaching end-times events.
