Kraig Krempa

Up until this point we’ve been looking at the “minor” prophets from the Assyrian Crisis (Jonah, Amos, Hosea & Micah). Next week we’ll cover our first “major” prophet and the final prophet from this era in history: Isaiah.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

The difference between “minor” and “major” prophets is quantity NOT quality. The minor prophets are NOT inferior nor are their messages less important. They are simply shorter books (i.e., With 14 chapters to his name, Hosea wrote the longest book among the minor prophets; Isaiah, by contrast, is 66 chapters long).

Is a long prophecy better than a short prophecy?
Hint: Most prophetic books are really collections of multiple prophecies preached over the lifetime of each prophet.

Don’t ignore the minor prophets. The minor prophets are just as important, just as inspired, just as relevant, and just as helpful as the major prophets. Many people (including preachers) neglect these books because they mistakenly think they aren’t important.

Short on time?
Hint: You can easily read entire books from the minor prophets in a single sitting.

Don’t be intimidated by the major prophets. Some people steer clear of the major prophets because of their length. Read the major prophets the same way you eat an elephant: one bite at a time. What’s your hurry, anyways?

Bored easily?
Hint: Most prophets give the names of the kings who reigned during their ministry. Use a tool like biblegateway.com to search for other passages about those kings & their historical settings.

I cannot tell it all. Because of the length of the major prophets, I will have to summarize large blocks of material (like skipping a rock across the surface of the water). Do yourself a favor and dive into the deep end — read them for yourself!

Looking forward to my post about your favorite verse?
Hint: I’m going to intentionally skip the popular passages. Ha!