Good morning! It’s hard to believe in this rush through the final “minor” prophets, but we only have five more days of reading the Hebrew Scriptures! We start the New Testament this Saturday (October 1st), when we will again be on to something very new (yet rooted in all that has been so far). This week would be a great time to invite others to consider joining Daily Bible for the three months we have left! But before we get there, today we read two other small prophetic books, Zephaniah and Haggai.
Author: Oby Ballinger
Nahum and Habakkuk
Good morning! Before we get started with the books of today’s passage (Nahum and Habakkuk), I want to take a moment and remember what a daunting and daring project we are part of. Those who have been along this Daily Bible journey for the past nearly-nine months (!) probably share with me the sense that we didn’t really know what we were getting into. Over the past few months especially, I have found myself overwhelmed by the thought of how much of the Bible I really don’t know, even though I’ve read through it before. If you have struggled—like me—to get a deeper sense of Scripture in this format which calls for engagement with others as well as the biblical text, I salute you for accepting the challenge and doing your best day by day. In the midst of what could feel like a daily slog, let’s pause to remember what a remarkable thing we are about, and the ways this common commitment has brought us together. Whether you are a daily reader and commenter, or you’re able to participate very occasionally—thank you for your efforts! Often-overlooked books like Nahum and Habakkuk are some of the texts we take time to consider in this middle part between famous Old Testament and New Testament books.
Micah
Good morning! The seven chapters of Micah compose our full reading today. This prophet comes from Judah in the south, around the same time as Isaiah, Amos and Hosea. He experiences the fall of Israel, and is familiar enough with its cities to invoke them in these chapters. We may be most familiar with Micah 6:8 (a powerful and compact summary of God’s desire for human behavior), but there’s more to this prophet. He entwines oracles about divine judgment with others of divine restoration, conveying trust that though the path of righteousness leads to hardship sometimes, God will see the righteous through to a pleasant reward.
Obadiah and Jonah
Good morning! Today we have two minor prophets as our focus, but one of them is quite well known. Obadiah is a one-chapter book focused on the sins of Edom, a neighboring community to Judah which takes its name from Jacob’s brother Esau (also called Edom). After the chapter excoriating Edom, we get the delightful little book of Jonah, which is worth spending more of your time on today.
Amos 6-9
Good morning! The prophet Amos’ critique of wealth and ease, with its foretelling of divine judgment, continues today with the remainder of the book (chapters 6-9). Amos uses a variety of visuals to describe the military conquest, plague, famine and death which await the unrepentant people. In addition to these visuals, I also find interesting the prophet’s self-disclosure about where his power comes from, as well as how he undermines the idea that Jews are the only “chosen people”.
Amos 1-5
Good morning! Today and tomorrow we commune with the prophet Amos, who was one of the earliest prophets, born in Judah around the eighth century BCE but active in Israel. Amos preaches during a time of relative stability in both kingdoms (about fifty years before Israel’s demise), and this book is largely a record of his speeches. Amos’ greatest concern is that the prosperity of Israel does not flow equally to all parties. Elite landowners benefit from many years of peace, but social injustice keeps prosperity from reaching folks on the bottom of the social ladder. Furthermore, Amos denounces the religious presumption by which wealthy people follow the letter of temple law, yet betray its spirit in how they treat the poor. Today in Amos 1-5, the prophet warns of divine judgment on neighboring cities, then on Israel itself, as the punishing “day of the Lord” draws near.
Joel
Good morning! Today’s passage is the complete book of Joel, in three or four chapters. (Some translations consider chapter 3 an extension of chapter 2.) It’s quite difficult to date when Joel was written, but the general flow of the book is from an opening description of a locust plague and its consequences, to a theological assessment that the locusts are punishment from God, and finally to a promise of divine deliverance of God’s people.
Hosea 8-14
Good morning! Today we take another big piece out of the final prophets with the second half of Hosea (chapters 8-14). We don’t have any further biographical details about Hosea here. These chapters are assorted sayings that trace back to the prophet directly, or to others writing in his name. What I notice most in today’s passage is how God has two entirely different mindsets when it comes to the people of Israel. We get the expected prophetic denunciations of wickedness, but also divine interludes of mercy, compassion and forgiveness.
The Sky’s the Limit
Edina Morningside Community Church
| Today’s scripture reading: Genesis 15:1-6 |
Sermon audio: |
Am I the only one who gets around to reading the Sunday paper on the following Thursday? So it was that on Thursday morning I saw a little book review in the business section of last Sunday’s Star Tribune. The new book Progress by Johan Norberg makes the case that, despite headlines and assumptions to the contrary, things are much better for human beings than they have ever been before. Poverty rates globally have been cut in half over the last twenty years. Two hundred years ago, almost 95% of people lived on less than $2 a day (in current dollars). That global poverty rate was at 37 percent in 1990, and below 10 percent in 2015. Furthermore, medical advancements continue at such a pace that even pandemics which would have crippled the globe a generation ago are now handled before they become catastrophic. The reviewer concludes that “not only have people grown much more prosperous; they also enjoy better health than even rich folks did in the past.”
Hosea 1-7
Good morning! Today we begin two days reading one of the earliest prophets. Hosea 1-7 calls us back to the time of the divided kingdoms, before northern Israel had been overthrown by Assyria. Hosea the prophet is active in Israel during the final decades of Israel’s independence, when it is threatened by Assyria’s military incursions but not overthrown. 2 Kings 14:23-17:41 recounts this part of Israel’s history, for those who are inclined to reread a political-theological account of the era. It sounds like a time of religious pluralism and Baal-worship. The desire for fruitful harvests leads people to worship Baal as a harvest god, rather than trust in Israel’s own God, who has brought them out of Egypt. Also, the northern kingdom is churning through monarchs one after another. Each king’s hold on power is threatened by coups inside and marauders beyond, so they spend much energy searching for military alliances that shore up their positions. For the prophet, this reveals a lack of faith in God’s providence.
Pastor Oby Ballinger 