Hosea: Apostasy of the Northern Kingdom
• Hosea was from the Southern Kingdom and spoke to the Northern Kingdom
• Hosea was to the Northern Kingdom as Jeremiah was to the Southern Kingdom.
• From Jeroboam II to the Assyrian invasion: 50 years.
– Murder of his son ends the Jehu dynasty.
– Shallum slays Zechariah (6 mos).
– Manahem slays Shallum (1 mo).
– Pekah kills Pekahiah, son of Manahem.
– Hoshea slays Pekah.
• Golden Calves erected at Bethel & Dan.
– Originally simply symbols.
– Led to nature worship, child sacrifices, etc.
• Just as we are today
• They sacrificed their children on idols of bronze
• We’ve found a way to sacrifice in the most holy place of all, in the womb of the mother!
The Book of Hosea
• Prologue Ch. 1 – 3 he takes an adulterous wife, through whom he has 3 children that God names prophetically.
• National Sin: Is the focus of his book.
• Gomer
Homonyms
• Jezreel “Scattered or Sown of God”
• Lo-ruhamah “Unloved” Lo means “No” in Hebrew
• Lo-Ammi) “Not My People”
– Intolerable Ch. 4 – 7
– Shall be punished Ch. 8 – 14
The Prologue
• The reigning house of Israel had succeeded to the throne through the “Blood of Jezreel”;
• It was the site of Jehu’s ruthless massacre of the house of Ahab at Jezreel (1:4; cf . 2 Kings 9-10);
• And in the future it would also be the scene of Israel’s military demise (1:5).
Jezreel: the Plain of Esdraelon:
10 miles in breadth;
Mediterranean (near Mt. Carmel) to the Jordan;
from Galilee to the Mountains of Ephraim.
The great battlefield of Gideon (Judg 6:33; 7);
became a symbol of national disgrace and defeat as it had been after Saul’s death (1 Sam 29:1, 11; 31).
• Gomer
• Jezreel = “scattered/sown of God”;
– God will scatter (Jeremiah 31:10);
– God will sow (Zechariah 10:9);
• Lo-ruhamah = “Unloved”;
• Lo-Ammi = “Not-my-people.”
Hosea 2:23
Then I will say to them which were not My people: Thou art My people; and
they shall say: Thou art my God.
Hosea’s Message
• No other messenger gives so complete an outline of the ways of God with His earthly people:
– God suffers when His people are unfaithful to Him;
– God cannot condone sin;
– God will never cease to love His own, and, consequently
– He seeks to win back those who have forsaken Him.
The Northern Kingdom
• Their standing army had recovered all of the territory previously lost;
• They enjoyed unparalleled material prosperity...
• “It was the best of times…”
God’s Indictment
• They had exchanged their loyalty to their heritage for pagan worship.
• Results: the lowest ebb of immorality:
• Widespread adultery,
• Social injustice,
• Violent crime,
• Religious hypocrisy,
• Political rebellion,
• Selfish arrogance, and
• Spiritual ingratitude.
• Their Predicament:
• “It was the best of times and it was the worst of times.”
— Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
Our Trilogy: Nancy Missler
The Way of Agape – Understanding God’s Love; Be Ye
Transformed-Understanding God’s Truth; and Faith in the Night
Seasons—Understanding God’s Will (Intimate Knowledge).
An American Parallel?
• Our stock indexes are at unprecedented highs.
• People are buying their 3rd and 4th cars.
• Almost every home has a computer.
• It’s hard to find anyone without a cellular phone on their belt.
• Fuel costs less than the water we drink...
• “It is the best of times…”
• However… Homosexuality is just an “alternative lifestyle,”
• We murder babies that are socially inconvenient;
• We change marriage partners like a fashion statement and
• We have abandoned the sanctity of commitments in all of our relationship.
• God rebuked Israel for their brutality, murder, and warfare.
• We have had Waco and
• Columbine High School.
• New York City has recorded more crimes than England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark, combined.
• Immorality and deceit have also come to characterize the highest offices of our
nation as well.
• Our politics have condoned and covered up more murders than we dare list.
• Our public enterprises have been prostituted to the convenience of the elite.
• Our entertainments celebrate adultery, fornication, violence, aberrant sexual practices, and every imaginable form of evil.
• We have become the primary exporters of all that God abhors...
• “It is (indeed) the worst of times.”
I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.
— Thomas Jefferson, 1781
Notes on the State of Virginia
Hosea’s Message
• Although a loving and caring God had provided their abundance and prosperity;
• Their sin, disloyalty and abandonment of Him will force Him to vindicate His justice with judgment.
• God is going to use their enemies as His instrument of judgment.
• Shortly they will be history.
Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a
controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no love, nor
truth, nor intimate knowledge of God in the land.
Transcending Context
Matthew 2:15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
This is referring to Jesus, Matthew perceived that this was also, referring to Messiah.
Hosea 11:1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
• This is talking about the nation Israel, yet, Matthew is applying it Messianicly.
• This is a “Double Reference”
• The ultimate context, is the whole counsel of God.
The “Time of Jacob’s Trouble”: (Jeremiah 30:7)
Hosea 5:15 I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek
my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly.
• “I will return and go.....” Jesus returned to the Father.
• The offence is rejecting their Messiah, Jesus Christ.
• The purpose of the Tribulation, is to drive them to wall and acknowledge their offenses of rejecting Jesus.
Daniel 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for
the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
Rhetorical Devices
Hosea 12:10 I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.
Figures of Speech -
• Allegories,
• Analogies
• Metaphors
• Similes
• Similitudes
• Metanyms
• Paraboles
• Synecdoches
• Anagrams
• Acrostics
• Types
…and over 200 other devices!
Catalogued in the Appendix A, Cosmic Codes
Similes
• The Lion of Judah Genesis 49:10; Hosea 5:14; Revelation 5:5
• The Good Shepherd John 10
• The Lily of the Valley Song of Solomon 2
• The Root out of a dry ground Isaiah 53:2
– The fruitful branch Isaiah 4:2
• “Without form nor comeliness” Isaiah 53:2
– Yet “altogether lovely” Song of Solomon 5:16
Types
• The Ark of the Covenant; a type of Jesus Christ
• The Sacrifice on the brazen altar; sacrifice of Jesus Christ
• The Mercy Seat in the sanctuary; Propitiation of Jesus Christ
• The Water from the Rock; Is Jesus Christ
• The Manna from the sky; Is Jesus Christ
• The Brazen Serpent lifted up; Is Jesus Christ
• The Passover Lamb; Is Jesus Christ
• The Scapegoat, et al. Is Jesus Christ
• Micah was from Moresheth-gath, in Galilee (Micah 1:1)
• Jonah was from Gath Hepher, in Galilee (II Kings 14:25; see Joshua 19:13)
• Elijah, of Gilead, was a native of Galilee (I Kings 17:1)
The Book of Joel
• An Alarm: Invasion by Plague 1-2:11
• An Appeal:
– “Turn ye to me” 2:12-17
– “I will restore” 2:18-27
• The Day of YHWH 2:28-3:21
– End of the present age Revelation 6 – 19
– Unprecedented plagues Matthew 24:21, 22
The Army of Locusts
Locusts from North? (usually from South)
• Like horsemen?
• Like chariots?
• Like men of war?
Why compared to real?
“My great army?” (Amos 7:1; Rev 9).
They have no king (Prov 27:30).
Peter’s Quote of Joel 2
Acts 2:15-21
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. 16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; 17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: 18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: 19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come: 21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved..
• Acts chapter 2, is the bridge before the “Big Climax”, which is right on the horizon, that’s coming.
• Just as certain as the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts chapter two, these things are coming.
• Joel’s expression encompasses the entire period.
The Book of Amos
Amos was a rustic man from Judea, yet a prophet to the Northern Kingdom.
• From, Tekoa: 6 miles South of Bethlehem in the
• Wilderness of Judea: David’s refuge from Saul…
• Amos was a layman; a man of the fields.
• Bethel was the center of Calf Worship.
Amos’ Message
• The Ultimate Rule of David
• Judgment against 8 “burdens”: Ch. 1 -2
• Gaza,
• Tyre,
• Edom,
• Ammon,
• Moab,
• Judah, and
• Israel.
• Three Sermons Chapter. 3 - 6
• Five Visions Chapter. 7 - 9
An Astonishing Commitment
Amos 3:7
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His
servants the prophets.
• Everything that God is doing you will find written in the scriptures
Who Is Gog?
Amos 7:1 (Masoretic Text)
Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed
grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and,
lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings.
• What does that mean?
• See the Septuagint version
Amos 7:1 (The Septuagint LXX)
The Lord hath shown me, and, Behold, a swarm of locusts were coming,
and behold, one of the young devastating locusts was Gog the King.
• Gog, is the King of the locusts, a herd of demons
Proverbs 30:27
The locusts have no king…
The Fifth Trumpet
Revelation 9:3, 11
And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power…And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
• Apollyon, destroyer
The Book of Obadiah
• From Southern Kingdom.
• Destruction of Edom.
• Esau: “Red”; Mt. Seir (S of Dead Sea to Gulf of Aqaba):
– Bozrah (Petra, Sela) Capital.
– Fierce, cruel, proud, profane, they always cheered for Israel’s enemies.
– Enemy of Israel (Numbers 20:14-22).
– Active alliance with Israel’s destroyers.
• Sentence: Poetic justice
• Extinction Nabateans (Arab tribe) …
Poetic Justice
• Edom had indulged in treachery
– Edom would perish through treachery
• Edom had seized a chance to rob Judah
– Edom would be robbed
• Edom had indulged in violence
– Edom would perish by slaughter
• Edom sought the utter destruction of Israel
– Edom would be utterly destroyed; extinct. (And it is.)
• Edom had sought to dispossess Jerusalem
– Edom would be possessed by the remnant
• Five years after they had helped raze Jerusalem, they felt the yoke of Babylon. Thereafter, the Nabateans, an Arabian tribe, occupied Petra, their capital.
• Later, in 312 B.C.,
• Anigonus, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, crushed these people and despoiled Petra.
• Later, the remaining Edomites sustained crushing defeats from Judas
Maccabaeus;
• Josephus tells us that still later Alexander Jannaeus completed their ruin. They became absorbed in desert tribes; Origen (3rd century A.D.) spoke of them as a people whose name and language had perished. Obadiah’s prophecy had been fulfilled.
The “Natural Man”
• Cain – Abel: Antipathy to redemption; Religion of culture.
• Ishmael – Isaac: Self-life vs Spiritual (Galatians 4:29).
• Esau – Jacob: Red horse, red dragon, scarlet beast (Revelation 6, 12, 17).
• Edom a form of Adom adomah: Flesh.
• Pride, defiance, ambition, hatred, violence, cruelty, self-deception.
• Romans 6:6-14; Galatians 5:17-25:
• Type of all nations hostile to God.
The Book of Jonah
• The Storm Chapter. 1
– Why did he flee?
• The Fish Chapter. 2
– Did this really happen?
• The City Chapter. 3
– Why Nineveh?
• The Lord Chapter. 4
– Why Chapter 4?
• Jonah did not want God to spare Nineveh.
• Was the story of the fish, fact or fiction?
• Jesus authenticated both the fish, and the repentance of Nineveh. Matthew 12:39
• Some believe Jonah died, and rose.
• Psalm; “sheol.” Nineveh was an example…
• He was a patriot
Jonah: The Reluctant Prophet
• A Warning to Nineveh:
Later years of Joash; earlier years of Jeroboam II.
Quadrangle of cities, 60 miles circumference.; 350 sq mi; walls 100 ft high;
1500 towers 200 ft high; chariots 3 abreast; >1 million population.
• Fact or fiction? Jesus Himself authenticates.
• The Fish (Matthew 12:39; 16:4).
• The Repentance of Nineveh (Matthew 12:41).
Historical equivalents.
• Jonah a patriot: Did not want Nineveh spared for Israel’s sake:
– Isaiah’s prophecy Isaiah 7:17
– Hosea’s prophecy Hosea 9:3; 10:6,7; 11:5
– Amos’ prophecy Amos 3:7
Jonah’s Prayer
Jonah 2:1-9 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of sheol cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple…But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
Cf. Psalms 39:9; 18:4-6, 7, 15; 30:2; 120:1; 42:7; 69:1-2
Jonah & Nineveh (Assyria)
• Pagan Capital of the World
• 40 days from “ground zero!”
• Jonah was the reluctant prophet
• “40 days and you get yours!”
• The Greatest Miracle in the Old Testament, the repentance of the whole city!
• They changed their mind and so did God!
Ten Miracles
1) The Storm
2) Selection of Jonah as guilty
3) Sudden subsisting of the storm
4) Great fish: (at the right time and place!)
5) Preservation of Jonah
6) Ejection—safe and sound—on dry land
7) The Gourd
8) The Worm(s)
9) East wind
10) Repentance of entire city of Nineveh!
The “Sign” of Jonah?
• “Seek a sign”?
• The story of the bleached prophet preceded him.
• They worshipped Dagon, the Fish god
• Death and Burial of Christ.
• Jonah a prophet to the Gentiles.
• Trio of prophets at end of Northern Kingdom:
• Elisha dies and is buried;
• Jonah dies, goes to Sheol, comes up uncorrupted; and,
• Elijah ascended into heaven…
• Jonah Foreshadows Israel’s History.
Foreshadows Israel’s History
• Disobedient to heavenly commission.
• Out of their own land.
• Precarious refuge among the Gentiles.
• Everywhere a source of trouble.
• Yet witnessing to the true God.
• Cast out by the Gentiles.
• Miraculously preserved amid their calamities.
• Calling on YHWH at last ( 3rd day: Cf. Hosea 6:1ff).
The Book of Micah
• Imminent Judgment Declared Ch. 1 - 3
– Assyrians will strike at Egypt;
• Will march through Micah’s neighborhood on Judah.
• Ultimate Blessing Promised Ch. 4 - 5
– Incarnation (Mt 2:5; Micah 5:2).
Key truth: Ruler yet to come…
• Present Repentance Pleaded Ch. 6 - 7
– Last days…
Birthplace of the Messiah
Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of
Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require
of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
The Book of Nahum
• A century after Jonah.
• Doom of Nineveh; world’s greatest city.
• Capernaum (Kaphar-Nahum): “Village of Nahum.” of Galilee
• “YHWH will not acquit the wicked”:
Objectifies for all peoples for all time the governmental method of God with the Gentile nations
• God will forgive sin repented of;
• He will not condone sin persisted in.
• Same God super-rules the world today.
• Nineveh’s Doom:
--Declared,
--Described, and
--Deserved.
• Decisive test of prediction: fulfillment.
• Found in 1849
The Book of Habakkuk
• A Burden: An agony of perplexity:
• The ostensible silence, inactivity, and apparent unconcern of God.
• Why would God use a people far more wicked than Judah themselves?
• A Vision: “The Just Shall Live By Faith” Habakkuk 2:4
This was the catch word that led to the Martin Luther’s “Reformation”
• A Prayer: “Rest in the day of tribulation” Habakkuk 3:16
Habakkuk 2:4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
• The Just Shall Live By Faith Romans 1:17
• The Just Shall Live By Faith Galatians 3:11
• The Just Shall Live By Faith Hebrews 10:38
Against Israel’s Enemies
Obadiah Edom
Nahum Assyria
Habakkuk Babylon
The Book of Zephaniah
• Wrath Coming Upon Judah Ch. 1:1 – 2:3
• Wrath Upon All Nations Ch. 2:4 – 3:8
– West, East: Philistia, Moab, Ammon
– South, North: Ethiopia, Assyria
• After Wrath, Healing Ch. 3:9 – 3:10
– Conversion of Gentile nations
– Restoration of Covenant People (Also: predicted Hebrew as a pure language…)
• Zephaniah, said, that when Israel returns to the land, they would speak pure Hebrew.
Prophets Post Exile
(Prophets After the Nation Israel Returns from Babylon)
The Book of Haggai
• Message to Arouse Ch. 1:1-15
• Message to Support Ch. 2:1-9
• Message to Confirm Ch. 2:10-19
• Message to Assure Ch. 2:20-23
The Prophetic Problem
• Prophecy had become a narcotic; they kicked back and said that God is going to do this
• Gave way to hopeless inevitability;
• Thus, leads to indifference.
• Without Him, we can’t. Without us, He won’t.
Haggai 2:15 And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a
stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD…
Haggai 2:18…Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth
day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the
LORD’S temple was laid, consider it.
The Scripture clearly indicates that this era closed on “the four and twentieth day of the ninth month,
[Kislev] even from the day that the foundation of the LORD’S temple was laid, consider it.”
(Haggai 2:10, 15-19) which was in 520 B.C.
Ezekiel 24:1,2 Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month,
the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, write thee the name
of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against
Jerusalem this same day.
• The capital was invaded on tenth day of tenth month,
• Tebeth, in the ninth year of Zedekiah (Jer 52:4; Ezek 24:1, 2; 2 Kgs 25:1) of 589 B.C.
• And for 25 centuries the day has been observed as a fast by the Jews in every land.
The Desolations of Jerusalem
• At the very time the Babylonian army was surrounding Jerusalem,
• Ezekiel, hundreds of miles away in Babylon... 10th day of Tebeth, 589 B.C.
• Haggai, nails the date they ended, 24th day of Kislev, 520 B.C.
• The interval is 25,200 days, 70 years of 360 days each.
• 70 years: 25,200 days (70 x 360).
• The calendar difference is 25,202 days:
reckoning began the day after the Babylonian army invaded,
and ended the day before the foundation of the 2nd temple was laid.)
The Book of Zechariah
• Early Prophecies: The Temple being Rebuilt Ch. 1-8
• Later Prophecies: After Temple Rebuilt Ch. 9-14
– The Second Coming
Zechariah
• Visions Ch. 1-8
– Four horses; four horns; four smiths.
– Measuring line.
– Crowning of Joshua, the priest.
– Golden Lampstand.
– The flying Scroll.
– The Woman in the Ephah.
– Four Chariots.
• A collection of enigmatic riddles that tie into other passages…
Four horsemen (Revelation 6);
the crowning of a priest(!) [only the Messiah];
the golden lampstand (Rev 11);
a flying scroll;(the 7-sealed scrolls in Rev 5, etc.);
The Woman in the Ephah: will help unravel a paradox in Rev 17 & 18…We will also examine a selection when we get to a special analysis in the next session…
An Absurd Prediction?
Zechariah 12:2,3 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about…And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be torn in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
The Enigma of Jerusalem
“A Cup of Trembling” to all nations?
• This is ostensibly absurd, yet it is the reality of these very days!
• The Fallacy of the “Piece Process”: are built on a false premise and assures an armed
“Piece Process”not Peace!
An armed conflict is coming—probably nuclear!
Zechariah 14:3,4
Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
• Joshua 5, the Battle of Jericho
Zechariah 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
Zechariah 12:10
...and they shall look upon me (ta) whom they have pierced,...
“me (ta) whom ” Aleph & tau = “Alpha and Omega”…
[No maqqeph: direct object of a verb?
• Also other uses, including indefinite pronoun: 2nd person masculine singular. Hypocatastasis
(Greek “putting underneath”): a hidden but declarative implied metaphor expressing a superlative degree of resemblance.
• me (ta) whom Pierced the Alpha and Omega
(Also in Genesis 1:1.)
The Idol Shepherd (Anti-Christ Mark of the Beast?)
Zechariah 11:17 Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.
• The only physical description of the Antichrist in the Scripture…
This false Shepard (Anti-Christ) apparently has an arm that is useless, and a right eye that is lost. Mark on the hand or the forehead, as a sign of identifying with him as well as an allegiance?
The Book of Malachi
• Final Message to a Disobedient People.
• (This ceasing of prophecy with Malachi may account for segmenting of the initial week of Gabriel’s prophecy of the 70 Weeks.)
A Dare by God
The solution to every financial problem.
Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine
house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
God told Israel to call His dare, that if they would bring the tithes to the storehouse, He would pour out a blessing upon them that there would not be room enough to contain it.
The “Silent Years” Between the Testaments
• Antiochus Epiphanes 167 B.C.
– The Abomination of Desolation
• The Maccabean Revolt 165 B.C.
– The Hasmoneans
• The Roman Conquest 63 B.C.
– Appoint Herod king
• 400 years of silence
– Until an angel visits Zechariah…
• Old Testament Incomplete
– Unexplained ceremonies (sacrificial rituals)
– Unachieved purposes (the covenants)
– Unappeased longings (poetical books)
– Unfulfilled prophecies
John 5:39
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
Subsequent Sessions: Hour 13—The Messianic Thread; How Sure Can
We Be? Hour 14—Intro to the New Testament; Hour 15—The Gospels.
The Prophet Malachi:
Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine
house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not
open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there
shall not be room enough to receive it.
List the 12 “minor” prophets and their key messages
Hosea - Key Messages: (1) God suffers when His people are unfaithful to Him, (2) God cannot condone sin, (3) God will never cease to love His own, and He seeks to win back those who have forsaken Him.
The theme of Hosea’s opening chapters is of prophecy is the unfaithfulness of Israel, set forth in the terms of the marriage relationship, depicting God’s relation to His chosen people. Israel is God's adulterous wife, rejected, but ultimately to be purified and restored. This is Hosea's distinctive message, which may be summed up in his two words, Lo-ammi, "not my people," and Ammi, "my people." Israel is not merely apostate and sinful but her sin takes its character from the exalted relationship into which she has been brought.
Joel - Key Messages: (1) The Present Chastisement and it’s Removal, (2)The Promise of the Spirit of God, (3) The Future Deliverance in the Coming Day of the Lord.
Amos - Key Messages: (1) The Pronouncement of Judgement; (2) The Inevitable Divine Judgement Because of Sin, (3) God Pleads with Israel to Return to Him (4) Some Happenings in Relation to Coming Judgement, (5) The Final Restoration of Israel
Obadiah - Key Messages: (1) The Pronouncement of Doom upon Edom, (2) The Cause of this Doom, (3) Edom in the Day of the Lord.
Jonah - Key Messages: (1) The Disobedience and the Flight of Jonah, (2)Jonah and the Great Fish, (3) The greatest Revival in History, (4) The Wisdom of God’s Mercy.
Micah - Key Messages: (1) Condemnation and Captivity, (2)Reproof and Restoration in the Kingdom, (3) Pleading, and the Assurance of Mercy.
Nahum - Key Messages: (1) The Character of God, (2) God’s Punishment of His Enemies, (3) The Destruction of Nineveh Detailed, (4) The Cause of the Destruction.
Habakkuk - Key Messages: (1) The Perplexity of the Prophet, (2) The Answer of God, (3) The Triumphant Faith of Habakkuk.
Zephaniah - Key Messages: (1) The Coming Invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, a Figure of the Day of the Lord, (2) Predictions of Judgements of the Surrounding Nations, (3) The Moral State of Israel; Captivity Will Come, (4) Future Judgement of the Gentiles, (5) Kingdom Blessings by the Messiah.
Haggai - Key Messages: (1) The First Message of Rebuke, (2) The First Message of Encouragement, (3) The Second Message of Encouragement, (4) The Second Message of Rebuke, (5) The Third Message of Encouragement; And the Final Overthrow of Gentile World Powers.
Zechariah - Key Messages: (1) Call to Repentance, (2) A Series of 8 Visions to Comfort Jerusalem (3) The Delegation from Bethel concerning Fasting, (4) Prophecies concerning the end of Israel’s Age and the Return and Reign of Christ.
Malachi - Key Messages: (1) Israel Pretend’s to be Unaware of God’s Love, (2) The Priest’s Deny Despising the Name of the Lord, (3) Israel Sins against One Another and against the Family, (4) The Coming of the Forerunner, John The Baptist (5) Two Groups of Israel Contrasted: Those Withholding Tithes; and the Faithful Remnant, (6) The Coming Day of the Lord, and the Return of Christ Jesus.
The New Scofield Study Bible
Although a loving and caring God had provided their abundance and prosperity; their sin, disloyalty and abandonment of Him will force Him to vindicate His justice with judgment. Thus, God is going to use their enemies as His instrument of judgment. Shortly they will be history.
Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a
controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no love, nor
truth, nor intimate knowledge of God in the land.
Transcending Context
Matthew 2:15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
Hosea 11:1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
The “Time of Jacob’s Trouble”: (Jeremiah 30:7)
Hosea 5:15 I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek
my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly.
Daniel 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for
the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
Rhetorical Devices
Hosea 12:10 I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.
Joel
• An Alarm: Invasion by Plague 1-2:11
• An Appeal:
– “Turn ye to me” 2:12-17
– “I will restore” 2:18-27
• The Day of YHWH 2:28-3:21
– End of the present age Revelation 6 – 19
– Unprecedented plagues Matthew 24:21, 22
The Army of Locusts
Locusts from North? (usually from South).Like horsemen? Like chariots?
Like men of war? (Why compared to real?)
“My great army?” (Amos 7:1; Rev 9).
They have no king (Prov 27:30).
Peter’s Quote of Joel 2
Acts 2:15-21
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. 16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; 17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: 18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: 19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come: 21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved..
Amos
Amos was a rustic man from Judea, yet a prophet to the Northern Kingdom.
Tekoa: 6 mi S of Bethlehem in the wilderness of Judea:
David’s refuge from Saul…
Amos was a layman; a man of the fields.
Bethel was the center of Calf Worship.
Amos’ Message
• The Ultimate Rule of David
• Judgment against 8 “burdens”: Ch. 1 -2
Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah, and Israel.
• Three Sermons Ch. 3 - 6
• Five Visions Ch. 7 - 9
An Astonishing Commitment
Amos 3:7
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His
servants the prophets.
Who Is Gog?
Amos 7:1 (MT)
Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed
grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and,
lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings.
Amos 7:1 (LXX)
The Lord hath shown me, and, Behold, a swarm of locusts were coming,
and behold, one of the young devastating locusts was Gog the King.
The Fifth Trumpet
Revelation 9:3, 11
And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power…And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
Proverbs 30:27
The locusts have no king…
• From Southern Kingdom.
• Destruction of Edom.
• Esau: “Red”; Mt. Seir (S of Dead Sea to Gulf of Aqaba):
– Bozrah (Petra, Sela) Capital.
– Fierce, cruel, proud, profane.
– Enemy of Israel (Numbers 20:14-22).
– Active alliance with Israel’s destroyers.
• Sentence: Poetic justice
• Extinction Nabateans (Arab tribe) …
Poetic Justice
• Edom had indulged in treachery
– Edom would perish through treachery
• Edom had seized a chance to rob Judah
– Edom would be robbed
• Edom had indulged in violence
– Edom would perish by slaughter
• Edom sought the utter destruction of Israel
– Edom would be utterly destroyed; extinct. (And it is.)
• Edom had sought to dispossess Jerusalem
– Edom would be possessed by the remnant
• Five years after they had helped raze Jerusalem, they felt the yoke of Babylon. Thereafter, the Nabateans, an Arabian tribe, occupied Petra, their capital. Later, in 312 B.C.,
• Anigonus, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, crushed these people and despoiled Petra.
• Later, the remaining Edomites sustained crushing defeats from Judas
Maccabaeus;
• Josephus tells us that still later Alexander Jannaeus completed their ruin. They became absorbed in desert tribes; Origen (3rd century A.D.) spoke of them as a people whose name and language had perished. Obadiah’s prophecy had been fulfilled.
The “Natural Man”
• Cain – Abel: Antipathy to redemption; Religion of culture.
• Ishmael – Isaac: Self-life vs Spiritual (Galatians 4:29).
• Esau – Jacob: Red horse, red dragon, scarlet beast (Revelation 6, 12, 17).
• Edom a form of Adom adomah: Flesh. Pride, defiance, ambition, hatred, violence, cruelty, self-deception.
• Romans 6:6-14; Galatians 5:17-25: Type of all nations hostile to God.
Jonah
• The Storm Ch. 1
– Why did he flee?
• The Fish Ch. 2
– Did this really happen?
• The City Ch. 3
– Why Nineveh?
• The Lord Ch. 4
– Why Chapter 4?
• Jonah did not want God to spare Nineveh. (A patriot?) Jesus authenticated both the fish, and the repentance of Nineveh.
• Some believe Jonah died, and rose. Psalm; “sheol.” Nineveh was an example…
Jonah: The Reluctant Prophet
• A Warning to Nineveh: Later years of Joash; earlier years of Jeroboam II.
Quadrangle of cities, 60 miles circumference.; 350 sq mi; walls 100 ft high;
1500 towers 200 ft high; chariots 3 abreast; >1 million population.
• Fact or fiction? Jesus Himself authenticates.
• The Fish (Matthew 12:39; 16:4).
• The Repentance of Nineveh (Matthew 12:41). Historical equivalents.
• Jonah a patriot: Did not want Nineveh spared for Israel’s sake:
– Isaiah’s prophecy Isaiah 7:17
– Hosea’s prophecy Hosea 9:3; 10:6,7; 11:5
– Amos’ prophecy Amos 3:7
Jonah’s Prayer
Jonah 2:1-9 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of sheol cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters
compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple…But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
Cf. Psalms 39:9; 18:4-6, 7, 15; 30:2; 120:1; 42:7; 69:1-2
Jonah & Nineveh
• Pagan Capital of the World
• 40 days from “ground zero!”
• Jonah was the reluctant prophet
• “40 days and you get yours!”
• The Greatest Miracle in the Old Testament
Ten Miracles
1. God caused a great tempest to beat Jonah out of the ship, he was asleep at the bottom of the ship
2. The casting of lots found Jonah as guilty
3. When Jonah was reluctantly cast over board, there was a sudden subsisting of the storm
4. Great fish swallowed Jonah
5. Jonah was preserved in the great fish’s belly, he may have died and was resurrected
6. After Jonah cried out from the depths, “sheol” Of the fish’s belly, and God caused the great fish to vomit him out safe and sound on dry land
7. The Gourd
8. The Worms ate the gourd quickly
9. God prepared a vehement east wind of heat that beat down on the head of Jonah, until he wished for death
10. Repentance of entire city of Nineveh!
The greatest miracle was: Repentance of entire city of Nineveh!
The “Sign” of Jonah?
• “Seek a sign”? The story of the bleached prophet preceded him.
• Death and Burial of Christ.
• Jonah a prophet to the Gentiles.
• Trio of prophets at end of Northern Kingdom:
• Elisha dies and is buried;
• Jonah dies, goes to Sheol, comes up uncorrupted; and,
• Elijah ascended into heaven…
• Jonah Foreshadows Israel’s History.
Foreshadows Israel’s History
• Disobedient to heavenly commission.
• Out of their own land.
• Precarious refuge among the Gentiles.
• Everywhere a source of trouble.
• Yet witnessing to the true God.
• Cast out by the Gentiles.
• Miraculously preserved amid their calamities.
• Calling on YHWH at last ( 3rd day: Cf. Hosea 6:1ff).
Micah
• Imminent Judgment Declared Ch. 1 - 3
– Assyrians will strike at Egypt; will march through Micah’s neighborhood on Judah.
• Ultimate Blessing Promised Ch. 4 - 5
– Incarnation (Mt 2:5; Micah 5:2). Key truth: Ruler yet to come…
• Present Repentance Pleaded Ch. 6 - 7
– Last days…
Birthplace of the Messiah
Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of
Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require
of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Nahum
• A century after Jonah.
• Doom of Nineveh; world’s greatest city.
• Capernaum (Kaphar-Nahum): “Village of Nahum.”
• “YHWH will not acquit the wicked”: Objectifies for all peoples for
all time the governmental method of God with the Gentile nations
• God will forgive sin repented of; He will not condone sin persisted in.
• Same God super-rules the world today.
• Nineveh’s Doom: Declared, Described, and Deserved.
• Decisive test of prediction: fulfillment.
• A Burden: An agony of perplexity: The ostensible silence, inactivity,
and apparent unconcern of God. Why would God use a
people far more wicked than Judah themselves?
• A Vision: “The Just Shall Live By Faith” Habakkuk 2:4
• A Prayer: “Rest in the day of tribulation” Habakkuk 3:16
Habakkuk 2:4
• The Just Shall Live By Faith Romans 1:17
• The Just Shall Live By Faith Galatians 3:11
• The Just Shall Live By Faith Hebrews 10:38
Against Israel’s Enemies
Obadiah Edom
Nahum Assyria
Habakkuk Babylon
Zephaniah
• Wrath Coming Upon Judah Ch. 1:1 – 2:3
• Wrath Upon All Nations Ch. 2:4 – 3:8
– West, East: Philistia, Moab, Ammon
– South, North: Ethiopia, Assyria
• After Wrath, Healing Ch. 3:9 – 3:10
– Conversion of Gentile nations
– Restoration of Covenant People (Also: predicted Hebrew as a
pure language…)
Haggai
• Message to Arouse Ch. 1:1-15
• Message to Support Ch. 2:1-9
• Message to Confirm Ch. 2:10-19
• Message to Assure Ch. 2:20-23
The Prophetic Problem
• Prophecy had become a narcotic;
• Given way to hopeless inevitability; thus, indifference.
• Without Him, we can’t. Without us, He won’t.
Haggai 2:15 And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a
stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD…
Haggai 2:18…Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth
day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the
LORD’S temple was laid, consider it.
The Scripture clearly indicates that this era closed on “the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, [Kislev] even from the day that the foundation of the LORD’S temple was laid, consider it.”
(Haggai 2:10, 15-19) which was in 520 B.C.
Ezekiel 24:1,2 Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month,
the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, write thee the name
of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against
Jerusalem this same day.
• The capital was invaded on tenth day of tenth month, Tebeth, in the ninth
year of Zedekiah (Jer 52:4; Ezek 24:1, 2; 2 Kgs 25:1) of 589 B.C.
• And for 25 centuries the day has been observed as a fast by the Jews in every land.
The Desolations of Jerusalem
• At the very time the Babylonian army was surrounding Jerusalem,
• Ezekiel, hundreds of miles away in Babylon... 10th day of Tebeth, 589 B.C.
• Haggai, nails the date they ended, 24th day of Kislev, 520 B.C.
• The interval is 25,200 days, 70 years of 360 days each.
70 years: 25,200 days (70 x 360). (The calendar difference is 25,202 days:
reckoning began the day after the Babylonian army invaded,
and ended the day before the foundation of the 2nd temple was laid.)
Zechariah
• Early Prophecies: The Temple being Rebuilt Ch. 1-8
• Later Prophecies: After Temple Rebuilt Ch. 9-14
– The Second Coming
Zechariah
• Visions Ch. 1-8
– Four horses; four horns; four smiths.
– Measuring line.
– Crowning of Joshua, the priest.
– Golden Lampstand.
– The flying Scroll.
– The Woman in the Ephah.
– Four Chariots.
• A collection of enigmatic riddles that tie into other passages…
Four horsemen (Rev 6);
the crowning of a priest(!) [only the Messiah];
the golden lampstand (Rev 11);
a flying scroll;(the 7-sealed scrolls in Rev 5, etc.);
The Woman in the Ephah: will help unravel a paradox in Rev 17 & 18…We will also examine a selection when we get to a special analysis in the next session…
Absurd Prediction?
Zechariah 12:2,3 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about…And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be torn in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
The Enigma of Jerusalem
“A Cup of Trembling” to all nations?
This is ostensibly absurd, yet it is the reality of these very days!
The Fallacy of the “Piece Process”: are built on a false premise and assures an armed conflict—probably nuclear!
Zechariah 14:3,4
Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
Zechariah 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
Zechariah 12:10
...and they shall look upon me (ta) whom they have pierced,...
Aleph & tau = “Alpha and Omega”… [No maqqeph: direct object of a verb? Also other uses, including indefinite pronoun: 2nd person masculine singular. Hypocatastasis
(Gr. “putting underneath”): a hidden but declarative implied metaphor expressing a superlative degree of resemblance.
(Also in Genesis 1:1.)
The Idol Shepherd
Zechariah 11:17 Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.
• The only physical description of the Antichrist in the Scripture…
Malachi
• Final Message to a Disobedient People.
• (This ceasing of prophecy with Malachi may account for segmenting of the initial week of Gabriel’s prophecy of the 70 Weeks.)
A Dare by God
The solution to every financial problem.
Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine
house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not
open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there
shall not be room enough to receive it.
The “Silent Years” Between the Testaments
• Antiochus Epiphanes 167 B.C.
– The Abomination of Desolation
• The Maccabean Revolt 165 B.C.
– The Hasmoneans
• The Roman Conquest 63 B.C.
– Appoint Herod king
• 400 years of silence
– Until an angel visits Zechariah…
• Old Testament Incomplete
– Unexplained ceremonies (sacrificial rituals)
– Unachieved purposes (the covenants)
– Unappeased longings (poetical books)
– Unfulfilled prophecies
John 5:39
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
Subsequent Sessions: Hour 13—The Messianic Thread; How Sure Can
We Be? Hour 14—Intro to the New Testament; Hour 15—The Gospels.
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