The Minor Prophets
The common title for these twelve books of the English Bible is “minor prophets.” This title originated in Augustine’s time (late fourth century A.D.), but they are minor only in that they are each much shorter than the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel (called “major prophets”). In Old and New Testament times, the Old Testament was called “The Law and the Prophets.” This title looked at the Old Testament from the standpoint of its divisions, but it also included the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings, which constituted a 22-book division.
Although in most modern Bibles, each prophet is given their own book, in the ORIGINAL Scriptures, the twelve made up 1 book, called collectively THE MINOR PROPHETS.
When we study the prophets we find they all pretty much have the same basic ingredients: (1) warning of impending judgment because of the nations’ sinfulness; (2) a description of the sin; (3) a description of the coming judgment; (4) a call for repentance; and (4) a promise of future deliverance.
The "Twelve" are listed below in order of their appearance in Hebrew and most Protestant and Catholic Christian bibles:
The Septuagint of the Eastern churches has the order: Hosea, Amos, Micah, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, the rest as above. It also puts the "Minor Prophets" before, instead of after, the "Major prophets".Jesus refers to all twelve prophets.
The first extra-biblical evidence we have for the Twelve is the writings of Jesus ben Sirach (190 BC) where they are venerated as praiseworthy. (Sir. 49:12). Josephus[1] speaks of the Twelve as part of the scriptural canon, and they were regarded as such in the Dead Sea Scrolls. By the Council of Jamnia in AD 90 the Twelve were not in dispute as canonical for Jews. The Twelve are cited and alluded to in the New Testament and were accepted as canonical by the early church. Marcion deleted them, along with the entire Old Testament, from his heretical canon.[2]
Recent biblical scholarship has focused on reading the "Book of the Twelve" as a unity.[3]
The term "minor" refers to the length of the books, not their importance. See Major Prophets for the longer books of prophecies in the Bible and the Tanakh.
