The Minor Prophets: Amos—Micah
Amos
Amos speaks of judgment, but if God is going to judge, He will warn His people first. “Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets” (ch. 3:6-7). In keeping with this message, Amos begins his prophecy two years before the earthquake (ch. 1:1), doubtless the same event mentioned by Zechariah (Zech. 14:55And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. (Zechariah 14:5)).
The first two chapters comprise a single prophecy; the remaining chapters are separate prophecies. Beginning with the nations that have occupied the land of Israel—Syria, Gaza and Philistia, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab—and ending with Israel and Judah, judgment is pronounced. The nations are judged for their treatment of Israel. Judah is judged for having despised the law of the Lord (Amos 2:44Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the Lord, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked: (Amos 2:4)) and Israel for not walking in the fear of the Lord and having profaned His holy name (vss. 6-8). Our walk should agree with our position: “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (ch. 3:3). Though Amos prophesied in Israel—the ten tribes (ch. 7:10-13)—both Israel and Judah are addressed: “The whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt” (ch. 3:1).
God had borne with them in patience; He could no longer (ch. 7:8), for the fruits of the summer must be consumed when ripe. Judgment could be delayed no longer (ch. 8:12). A righteous remnant preserved (ch. 3:12; 9:9-10), God would raise them up again. He would plant them in the land, and they would no more be pulled up (ch. 9:14-15).
Obadiah
The vision of Obadiah concerns Edom, a people that hated Israel and were the descendants of Esau (Gen. 36:11Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom. (Genesis 36:1)), Jacob’s brother. Their hand has always been against Israel (Gen. 27:4141And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob. (Genesis 27:41)). See Psalm 83:48, 137:7, and Ezekiel 35:10,1510Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the Lord was there: (Ezekiel 35:10)
15As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 35:15). Doeg was an Edomite (1 Sam. 21-22), as was Haman (Esther 3:11After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him. (Esther 3:1); 1 Sam. 15:88And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. (1 Samuel 15:8); Gen. 36:9,129And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount Seir: (Genesis 36:9)
12And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau's son; and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek: these were the sons of Adah Esau's wife. (Genesis 36:12)).
While Edom, along with several other nations, may be found in the prophets as coming under the judgment of God, such is the importance of the subject that the entire book, though brief, is dedicated to Edom alone.
Jonah
Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, Israel’s enemy, and before that message was preached, Jonah had to pass through the very depths of the ocean where he acknowledges, “Salvation is of the Lord” (ch. 2:9).
Through Jonah’s unfaithfulness, the name of Jehovah was known and worshipped among the Gentiles (Jonah 1:1616Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. (Jonah 1:16)), and it is through Israel’s fall that salvation is come to us (Rom. 11:11-1511I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. 12Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? 13For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: 14If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. 15For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? (Romans 11:11‑15)). In a coming day, Israel will again be raised up to witness to the nations (Matt. 24:1414And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14)).
Though Jonah fulfilled his mission to preach to Nineveh, he had to go through many things to learn the ways of God’s action in grace. So it will be with Israel, and so it is with each one of us. The very existence of this book and its unflattering account of the author are proof to us of the lesson learned.
Micah
Jehovah will not always remain on high; He will come forth out of His place to tread upon the “high places of the earth” (Mic. 1:36). Samaria would become a heap and evil would come down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem—the Assyrian invasion as detailed in Isaiah.
The second chapter addresses the moral state of the people, while the third takes up the princes and prophets of Israel. Zion would be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem would become heaps (ch. 3:12)—as was the case upon its destruction by Titus.
In the fourth chapter we move from the destruction of Jerusalem to her millennial glory! In the fifth chapter we have introduced the Judge of Israel (ch. 5:1; verses one and three are continuous, while verse two is parenthetical).
Because the Judge of Israel was smitten on the cheek with a rod, Israel must be given up for a time. She must pass through deep travail and be brought to a state suited for the manifestation of their King. In that day He will feed His flock, and when the latter-day Assyrian—the king of the North—comes into the land, He will be their peace (ch. 5:5).
In this parenthesis we have a detail concerning the Messiah not found elsewhere in Scripture: “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” (ch. 5:2; Matt. 2:55And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet, (Matthew 2:5)).
In the final two chapters, Jehovah resumes His pleading with His people: “Hear ye now what the Lord saith. . . . For the Lord hath a controversy with His people, and He will plead with Israel” (Mic. 6:1212For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. (Micah 6:12)).
Chapter 6 begins as a dialog between Jehovah and the remnant, and in the seventh chapter the prophet speaks for the remnant: “I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold His righteousness” (ch. 7:9).
N. Simon