Bible Question: what is a major prophet? what is a minor prophet? |
Bible Answer: The disignation "major and minor" prophet was assigned to the writings of God's prophets long ago and really doesn't mean anything like that as we would use those terms today. They really apply more to the size of their respective books and certainly doesn't mean anything like superiority of one over the other. The books of the Minor Prophets are the last 12 books of the OT: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Whereas the books of the Major Prophets are known as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel and Daniel. The focus of the minor prophets was usually pretty narrow. For example, in Hosea, God is telling His Beloved Jewish nation how much He hates their unfaithfulness just as Hosea hates his prostitute wife's unfaithfulness. In the books of the Major Prophets, God covers many more characters in the story with many more details. In all 17 of these books, God is expressing His Displeasure with Israel's constant going back and forth between God and their false idols. Go with God in all things, Bill |