Although we’re hearing the dangers of sharing our information on various sites like Facebook, etc., I contend that there is also great benefit to be had from doing so, and I contend that research on the internet has many benefits.
Our small group at Covenant is studying the book of Hosea. In our first chapter time last Wednesday, we had many questions. I decided to do some “deep diving” to see what I could learn. It has been an interesting experience.
In my writing, I’ve often found it necessary to find a verse I wanted to use to illustrate a point. Because my eyesight is poor, the tiny-print concordance in my Bible is very hard to read. So I “Google” it! In a short second, Google tells me where it is in the Bible and many times gives an interpretation of it and its context. Then I go to www.biblegateway.com and read it in various translations to better understand the passage.
So, this week I created two documents you might (or might not) be interested in. Here are the reference places in case you might be interested. Feel free to study with us. I am thankful to be able to find, study, and share this material with Google’s help, and will never apologize for using the internet and this blog to share my faith. I figure that while this tool is available, I really don’t care about censorship or some authority telling me my post is inappropriate. It has happened before, and I count it as a badge of courage. Upon review, my posts have been reinstated. We need boldness in this age.
Major or minor has to do with the length of the book. The Hebrew Bible puts the minor prophets together.
Learning about the major and minor prophets may sound like a reference to the major and minor leagues of baseball, but that’s where the similarities end. Who were these biblical prophets? God sent appointed messengers throughout history to warn and guide his people.
We discover God’s first mention of a prophet in Deuteronomy 18:18-19. “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.”
List of the Major and Minor Prophets
Before we go more in-depth, here is a list of the major and minor prophets mentioned in the Bible:
The Four Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel
The Twelve Minor Prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi
What Does Prophet Mean?
The word prophet defines someone who gives the declarations of God. These men and women did not exist for their own glory but for the glory of God. The Hebrew word for prophet is Nebi, which is derived from the verb action, “to bubble forth” like a fountain. The English word for prophet comes from the Greek word prophetes which means to “speak for another, especially one who speaks for a god.”
The biblical prophets spoke the truth which came from God. Their unique vocation allowed them to authoritatively speak on God’s behalf. They never spoke on their own authority nor did they share their own opinions. They only shared their message as God instructed them. Their role was to make God’s will known, as well as his holiness, and to instruct God’s people to reject idolatry and sin.
https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/who-were-the-major-and-minor-prophets-in-the-bible.html
Interestingly enough, women were also prophets. Moses’s sister Miriam is called a “prophet” (Exod. 15:20), as are Deborah (Judg. 4:4) and Huldah (2 Kings 22:14–20).
How Did These Men and Women Become Prophets?
The Bible doesn’t explain how the word of the Lord came to a prophet, however, there are a number of examples where the Lord revealed his will through visions aside from an audible or internal voice (1 Samuel 3:1,15; 2 Samuel 7:17; Isaiah 1:1; Ezekiel 11:24) or dreams (Numbers 12:6). Jesus also fulfilled this advocacy of his father as a priest, prophet, and king.
The Bible uses the terms major and minor simply as a way to divide the prophetic books of the Old Testament. The Major Prophets are described as “major” because of the longer lengths of their books, not their significance. In order of occurrence, the Major Prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
The Minor Prophets of the Bible are shorter books with more specific content, compared to the broader subjects of the Major Prophets. These men were just as significant as the Major Prophets despite the title of minor. The Minor Prophets are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The Minor Prophets are also sometimes called The Twelve.
What Do the Major and Minor Prophets Have in Common?
The Major and Minor Prophets are typically the least popular for Christians to study or read. This is due to the difficult and unusual prophetic language. There are constant warnings and condemnation of either God’s people going astray or what will happen to those who choose to reject God. However, there is valuable truth to be gleaned from each book. For example, we can read of Christ’s birth being foretold in Micah and Isaiah. We can then read how Christ will return in the books of Zachariah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
As with every part of the Bible, the Major and Minor Prophets shouldn’t be skipped over. In fact, these books give us some of the richest glimpses and foreshadowing of Christ that we see in the entire Old Testament. If you’re looking for a better understanding of the Messiah and the events that led to and foretold his coming, the Major and Minor prophets are must-reads.
Prophetesses in the Bible
There are only eleven women that the Bible specifically called a prophetess. Nine of them were true prophetesses. They are: Miriam (Exodus 15:20); Deborah (Judges 4:4); Huldah (2 Kings 22:14; 2 Chronicles 34:22); wife of Isaiah (Isaiah 8:3); Anna (Luke 2:36-38); and the four daughters of Philip (Acts 21:8-9). Two of them were false prophetesses: Noadiah (Nehemiah 6:14) and Jezebel (Revelation 2:20).
Over half of these prophetesses (six) appear in the New Testament. Four of the prophetesses are virgin daughters. Three of the prophetesses are wives (Deborah, Huldah, and the wife of Isaiah). One is known as a widow named Anna. The marital status of the other prophetesses is unknown. The Bible provides the most information about the prophetess Miriam. Here is a table that summarizes this information.
https://www.neverthirsty.org/bible-qa/qa-archives/question/prophetesses-in-the-bible/
https://www.neverthirsty.org/bible-qa/qa-archives/question/prophetesses-in-the-bible/
See their specific prophecies at this site.
Miscellaneous Scriptures regarding the Grain, the Wine, and the Oil.
Joel 2:23
Psalm 104:15
Exodus 29:40
Joel 2:19
Leviticus 23:13
Numbers 19:2
Deut. 18:4
Deut. 7:13
Exodus 29:38-40
Deut. 28:38-40
Anointing of Aaron passage
Joel 2:23
the case of corn, wine, and oil, you will find that together they represent the Gospel. Individually, corn is associated with Jesus or bread; wine is represented by the blood of Christ in some contexts, and God’s wrath in others; and oil is often pointing to the Holy Spirit.
https://www.familyradio.org/devotional/spiritual-meaning-corn-wine-oil/Take another psalm (104:15), and again we see the threefold blessing: “Wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.” Here also are the bread (table), the oil and the wind, the positions of the first and third being reversed. The bread and the wipe, each connected with the need of the heart its joy and its strength – speak (to us, at least) of Christ in redemption to us; that bread is the bread, and that wine cheereth, not only man, but God also (Judges 9:13); while the oil clearly enough speaks of the Holy Ghost, through whom shines forth the glory in the face of Jesus Christ, and through whom only is there any reflection found in our faces; for it is the unction of the Holy Ghost alone that lights up the countenance with the reflection of that glorified One on high. The countenance stands for the person, and thus the face of Moses, as the mediator, so shone when (after his second forty days and forty nights he came down from the mount) that the children of Israel were afraid to come nigh him. Of Stephen it is said, “They saw his face as it had been the face of an angel;” and of the Lord Himself, as the glorified Man, we read that God hath “shined in our hearts for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” And as we contemplate the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit. Surely all will admit that this. alone can meet the significancy of that word, “Oil to make his face to shine.” https://www.stempublishing.com/magazines/cf/1883/The-Corn,-the-Wine,-and-the-Oil.html
It has been speculated that the offering of an animal, grain, oil, and wine—the smoke making a “soothing aroma to the LORD”—is a metaphor for providing food for God, an important cultural requirement in the Middle East. What we do know is that the pouring out of a drink offering is a metaphor for the blood Jesus spilled on the cross. Jesus spoke to this directly in Luke 22:20 when He instituted the New Covenant. He picked up a cup of wine and said, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.” Jesus’ sacrifice fulfilled the need of a drink offering, His blood literally pouring out when the soldier pierced His side with a spear (John 19:34).
Paul took the metaphor further, twice using the image of a drink offering to describe his own service. In Philippians 2:17, he challenged the church in Philippi to live a life worthy of his dedication to them. In 2 Timothy 4:6, he sensed the end of his ministry, again comparing his efforts to wine poured out of a vessel onto an altar.
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/grain-offering
Drink Offering: wine
https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Drink-Offering
The first recorded occurrence of a drink offering was that given by Jacob in Genesis 35:14, right after God changed his name to Israel. Drink offerings were also included with burnt and grain offerings in God-ordained sacrifices, including the morning and evening sacrifices of Exodus 29:40. One-quarter hin, about one quart, of wine was poured out into the altar fire for each lamb sacrificed (Numbers 15:4-5). A ram sacrifice required one third of a hin (Numbers 15:6), and a bull required one half (Numbers 15:10).
It has been speculated that the offering of an animal, grain, oil, and wine—the smoke making a “soothing aroma to the LORD”—is a metaphor for providing food for God, an important cultural requirement in the Middle East. What we do know is that the pouring out of a drink offering is a metaphor for the blood Jesus spilled on the cross. Jesus spoke to this directly in Luke 22:20 when He instituted the New Covenant. He picked up a cup of wine and said, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.” Jesus’ sacrifice fulfilled the need of a drink offering, His blood literally pouring out when the soldier pierced His side with a spear (John 19:34).
Paul took the metaphor further, twice using the image of a drink offering to describe his own service. In Philippians 2:17, he challenged the church in Philippi to live a life worthy of his dedication to them. In 2 Timothy 4:6, he sensed the end of his ministry, again comparing his efforts to wine poured out of a vessel onto an altar.
https://www.gotquestions.org/drink-offering.html
anointing the altar with oil
Leviticus 8:11
Num 18:12 AMP All the best of the oil, and all the best of the [fresh] wine and of the grain, the firstfruits of what they give to the Lord, to you have I given them.
Deu 18:4 AMP The firstfruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first or best of the fleece of your sheep you shall give the priest.
Rev 1:6 KJV And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him [be] glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Deu 7:13 AMP And He will love you, bless you, and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your land, your grain, your new wine, and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the young of your flock in the land which He swore to your fathers to give you.
This background can perhaps shed some light on Paul’s statement that he was being poured out as a drink offering (Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6). Though often understood as a reference to his impending death, it is more likely that Paul understood the struggles and toils of his apostolic ministry as a libation upon the sacrificial service of the churches among which he ministered. ((See Gerald F. Hawthorne, Philippians. Word Biblical Commentary 43 [Waco: Word, 1983], pp. 104-6)) In the OT, the libation was offered as a portion of the fruits of the worshiper’s labor, so it is fitting for Paul to speak of his labor as a libation. His labor was offered up as drink for God, as wine to make His heart glad. But, as is appropriate to a better covenant, it is not only the Lord who drinks the wine of joy, but also the people: hence, Paul says that he shares the joy of his libation-labor with the Philippians, and asks them to respond by pouring their libations out upon him (2:17-18).a
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