Reading Through The Bible - MICAH

Some Books of the bible are very short and some are very long and this one is another quite small book and it only takes 18 mins to read it according to Crossway and their lovely barchart

MICAH  -  OLD TESTAMENT  -  PROPHECY

33rd book of the OT 

33rd book of the Bible

How Does it Start?

It starts right away in the first verse with the declaration that this is the Word of the Lord.  

It then sets the time frame by naming the ruling kings of the period and specifies Micah as the prophet this Word is given through.

 

"The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem."

What is it?

The Book of MICAH is one of the MINOR PROPHETS in the Old Testament which means it is a book of Prophecy.

How Long is it?

It has 7 chapters.

No other single book of the bible has 7 chapters but if you combine the 3 letters of John you would have a section with 7 chapters.

When was it Written?

It was written between 735 & 710 BC

Who Wrote it?

The prophet Micah who came from Moresheth also known as Moresheth-Gath which was a town of the tribe of Judah in ancient Israel.

 

Who was it Written to?

It was written to the people of Samaria & Israel as stated in verse 1

 

"The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem."

 

Why was it Written? 

It was written to express to the Israelites how they were not living righteously and to remind them that God had told them the right way to live with respect to God and others.

But it was also to tell them of the great blessing Bethlehem would be in the future as the birthplace of the Messiah in chapter 5 v 2

"“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.”"

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

"Micah confronts the leaders of Israel and Judah regarding their injustice, and prophecies that one day the Lord himself will rule in perfect justice."  

Teach Sunday School  tells us the following

"Micah prophesied during the tragic and historic years surrounding the Assyrian invasion of the Northern Kingdom.  Micah predicted the event in Micah 1 v 6 and it came to pass between 10 and 15 years later in 722 BC"  

"Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the field,
Places for planting a vineyard;
I will pour down her stones into the valley,
And I will uncover her foundations."

What is it normally well-known for?

This book is about justice and injustice and personally I feel that wonderful verse in chapter 6 sums it all up as to how a Christian should live.

• Act Justly to others
• Be Merciful to others
• Walk Humbly with God

However God also states throughout this book that He will

• Rule Justly 
• Show Mercy
• Lead the people in His ways

How does it end?

With Israel's confession of sin 

and 

the forgiveness of God

in chapter 7 v 18-19.

"Who is a God like You,
Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?

He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities."

which finishes with those reassuring words 

"You will cast all our sins
Into the depths of the sea."

 

The Overview Bible  gives us this

Quick outline of Micah

1. Israel’s injustice (Mic 1–3)
2. The Lord’s promise to rule Israel with justice (Mic 4–5)
3. The Lord’s expectations and judgment (Mic 6)
4. The Lord’s compassion and everlasting love (Mic 7)

Other Minor Prophets are 

Habakkuk

Haggai

Joel 

Jonah

Malachi

Nahum

Obadiah

Zephaniah

OTHER BOOKS OF THE BIBLE ARE ADDED REGULARLY AND AN UPDATED LIST CAN BE FOUND AT OUR READING THE BIBLE PAGE 

Reading Through The Bible - MALACHI

Some Books of the bible are very short and some are very long but this one is one of the shortest.

MALACHI  -  OLD TESTAMENT  -  PROPHECY

39th book of the OT 

39th book of the Bible

What is it?

The Book of Malachi is one of the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament which means it is Prophecy.

How Long is it?

It has 4 chapters with the last one being very short (only 6 verses).

When was it Written?

It is generally thought to have been written between 433 & 424 BC 

Who Wrote it?

Malachi

Neither the book of Malachi nor the Bible tell us who Malachi was.

All we know is Malachi is a Hebrew term that means “my messenger”

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

The prophet Malachi isn’t mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, but he deals with some of the same issues that Ezra the scribe and Nehemiah the governor deal with when the Jews disregard God’s law in their times:

• Corrupt priests 
• Intermarriage with pagans 
• Lapses in tithes and offerings 

But we do know that Jesus quotes Malachi within the passage Matthew 11:7-15

Who was it Written to?

It was written to the people of Israel as we see in the very first verse.

 "The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi."

Why was it Written? 

It was written because God wanted the people to know that they were falling into sin again and they could hurt themselves and others. 

They were not treating God or His sacraments properly and the Priests were also held to account by God as we can see in chapter 2

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

"God has been faithful to Israel, but they continue to live disconnected from him—so God sends Malachi to call them out."

Teach Sunday School  tells us the following

"By the time of Malachi, the people had been back after the Babylonian exile for over 100 years.  They were looking for blessings.  The temple had been rebuilt.  However there was corruption in the priesthood and the people were becoming spiritually disinterested."

What distinctive thing did God tell them about himself?

 

That He never changes - chapter 3 verse 6

How does it end?

Chapter 4 starts by giving great encouragement in v. 2

but this verse also has a condition to it - the people must fear God.

Then

it draws the people back to God's Law in v 4

 "Remember the Law of Moses, My servant,

Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel,
With the statutes and judgments."

OUTLINE of MALACHI

The Overview Bible  gives us the following

1. God loves His children (Mal 1:1–5)
2. God disciplines His children (Mal 1:6–2:17)
   • For the priests’ dishonesty (Mal 1:6–2:9)
   • For intermarriage with foreigners (Mal 2:10–12)
   • For husbands’ infidelity (Mal 2:13–17)
3. God will purify His children (Mal 3:1–15)
4. Some people again revere The Lord (Mal 3:16–18)
5. God will bless those who fear Him (Mal 4)

OTHER BOOKS OF THE BIBLE ARE ADDED REGULARLY AND AN UPDATED LIST CAN BE FOUND AT OUR READING THE BIBLE PAGE 

Reading Through The Bible - JONAH

Some Books of the bible are very short and some are very long but this one is one of the shortest.

JONAH  -  OLD TESTAMENT  -  PROPHECY

32nd book of the OT 

32nd book of the Bible

It starts with hearing the Word of God -  and immediate disobedience to that Word.

Jonah chapter 1 v 1-2   The Word

"Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 

  “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me." 

Jonah chapter 1 v 3   The Disobedience

"But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord."

What is it?

The Book of Jonah is one of the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament which means it is Prophecy.

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

"Jonah is the most widely known of the Minor Prophets, the last 12 books of the Old Testament. When God had a message for the people, He spoke through the prophets. His word came in visions, oracles, dreams, parables, and the like. Most of these book were written to the people of Israel and Judah, but Jonah, Obadiah, and Nahum are more concerned with surrounding nations.

These Minor Prophet books record those messages. They outline the people’s sins, the consequences of those sins, and the proper response to God. 

Well, except the book of Jonah. It’s a story, not a sermon. It focuses on the prophet, not the people. And Jonah contains hardly any prophecy at all . . . only one line: “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4). Among the books of the Bible, Jonah is a bit of an oddball."

How Long is it?

It only has 4 chapters yet the story of Jonah is one of the most famous from the Bible.

The Story of Jonah & the whale is regularly taught to children.

When was it Written?

It is generally said to have been written in 780 BC and the Ninevites repented 

by 775 BC.

Who Wrote it?

Jonah

The first verse of the book tells us who Jonah was

"Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai"

 

The Book of 2nd Kings also mentions Jonah in 

ch.14 v 25

"He [King Jeroboam the son of Joash] restored the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which He had spoken through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath Hepher"

telling us that Jonah was a prophet and came from Gath Hepher.

Who was it Written to?

It was written to the people of Nineveh as we see from what God said to Jonah in the second verse of chapter 1:

 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me."

Why was it Written? 

It was written because God saw the evil of a nation but wanted to give them the chance to repent and also wanted Jonah to learn more about God's compassion and love.

It is also because it carries a very important message about Jesus' death and resurrection.

 

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

"Jonah’s life events told some of Christ’s story, and his message foreshadowed Christ’s message: repent!

But Jonah isn’t all about repentance. It’s also a story of God’s compassion for all peoples, not just Israel."

Teach Sunday School  tells us the following

"The Book contains not only one of the most famous Bible miracles but it is also a great study on what can happen when we behave like snobs ."

Who refers to Jonah in the New Testament?

Jesus refers to Jonah in Matthew 12 v 39-41 when he is replying to the scribes and pharisees who have asked him for a sign.

"But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 

 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 

 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. "

What other books of the bible would have been written around the same time as Jonah or connected to it?

Hosea & Amos were also preaching during Jeroboam's reign.

Nahum was also written about the wrath of God on Nineveh although this was many years later.

How does it end?

In chapter 4 we see Jonah's anger and how God deals with this using a plant and the heat of the sun.

The message Jonah and the reader gets is that

 God is a compassionate God.

But Jonah should have remembered this because he had experienced this compassion earlier in chapter 2 v 2

Simple Brief Outline

The Overview Bible  gives us the following:

Jonah has only four chapters, which makes it easy to outline the book chapter-by-chapter:

1. God directs Jonah,  Jonah disobeys (Jonah 1)
2. God has compassion on Jonah (Jonah 2)
3. Jonah preaches to Nineveh,  Nineveh repents (Jonah 3)
4. God has compassion on Nineveh,  but Jonah does not (Jonah 4)

OTHER BOOKS OF THE BIBLE ARE ADDED REGULARLY AND AN UPDATED LIST CAN BE FOUND AT OUR READING THE BIBLE PAGE