Week 3 - Joash, Joel, and Jonah

Week 3 - Joash, Joel, and JonahLife and Times of the Minor Prophets

Life and Times of the Minor Prophets

Last Week -

The Divided Kingdom

The Times of Elijah and Elisha

Life and Times of the Minor ProphetsAthaliah mother of Ahaziah

2Ki 11:1 When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family.

Life and Times of the Minor ProphetsJoash hidden from Ahaziah

2Ki 11:3 He remained hidden with his nurse at the temple of the LORD for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.

• Preserved David's lineage of kings

Joash – Before death of Jehoiada

2 Kings 12:2 “Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him. 3 The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.”

Joash – Before death of Jehoiada2 Kings 12:4 Joash said to the priests, “Collect all the money that is brought as sacred offerings to the temple of the LORD—the money collected in the census, the money received from personal vows and the money brought voluntarily to the temple. 5 Let every priest receive the money from one of the treasurers, then use it to repair whatever damage is found in the temple.”

Joash – After death of Jehoiada2 Chronicles 24:17 After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them. 18 They abandoned the temple of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God’s anger came on Judah and Jerusalem. 19 Although the LORD sent prophets to the people to bring them back to him, and though they testified against them, they would not listen.

Joash – After death of JehoiadaJoash kills Zechariah, son of Jehoiada

II Chronicles 24: 23 At the turn of the year, the army of Aram marched against Joash; it invaded Judah and Jerusalem and killed all the leaders of the people. They sent all the plunder to their king in Damascus. 24 Although the Aramean army had come with only a few men, the LORD delivered into their hands a much larger army.

835 B.C.40 yrs.

Joel - Overview

Probably the first of the so called “writing prophets,” Joel spoke to the southern kingdom of Judah.

Unique Features:

1. Joel uses many literary devices such as alliteration, metaphors, similes, and parallelism.

2. Plague of locusts – Figurative or literal?

3. Prediction of the outpouring of God's Spirit on all flesh (Joel 2:28-32) and the wonders that would follow.

Joel - Overview

Joel’s name means Jehovah is God. He has been called the John the Baptist of the OT.The fact that no king is mentioned may be due to the book having been written when Jehoiada the high priest was regent (in the boyhood years of Joash, who reigned between 835–796 B.C.) just after Queen Athaliah’s wicked reign.The key phrase of the book is "the Day of the Lord," found five times (1:15; 2:1, 2:11, 2:31; 3:14).

Joel Outline - Chapter 1

I. DESCRIPTION OF THE LOCUST

PLAGUE

A. Its Unprecedented Severity (1:1-4)

B. Its Effect Upon: (1) Drunkards

(1:5-7) (2) Priests (1:8-10, 13-16)

(3) Farmers (1:11, 12, 17, 18)

Joel - Chapter 1

2b Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your ancestors? 3 Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. 4 What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten.

Locust Invasion DescriptionIn 1915 a devastating plague of locusts covered what is modern-day Israel and Syria. The first swarms came in March, in clouds so thick they blocked out the sun. The female locusts immediately began to lay eggs, 100 at a time. Witnesses say that in one square yard, there were as many as 65,000 to 75,000 eggs. In a few weeks they hatched, and the young locusts resembled large ants. They couldn’t fly yet, and got along by hopping. They marched along 400 to 600 feet a day, devouring every speck of vegetation along the way. After two more stages of molting they became adults who could fly - and the devastation continued.

Joel - Chapter 1

2b Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your ancestors? 3 Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. 4 What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten.

Joel - Chapter 1:15-1615 Alas for that day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.

16 Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes—

joy and gladness from the house of our God?

Outline of Joel – Chapter 2

II. DESCRIPTION OF THE ENEMY INVASION (2:1-11)III. DIVINE APPEAL TO JUDAH TO

REPENT (2:12-14)

IV. DECLARING A FAST (2:15-17)

Joel 2 – Call to True Repentance12 “Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” 13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. 14 Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God.

Trusting in God’s goodness

Inward, not Outward

Emotion

Intensity

Outline of Joel – Chapter 2-3

V. DIVINE DELIVERANCE PROMISED (2:18-

3:21)

A. Material Prosperity (2:18, 19, 21-27)

B. Destruction of Enemy (2:20)

C. Pouring out of God's Spirit (2:28, 29)

D. Signs Preceding Christ's Second Coming

(2:30-32)

E. Judgment of Gentile Nations (3:1-16a)

Up to that verse, Joel has been speaking of the desolation that would come on Judah. From this verse on, God tells of the deliverance which He will bring to the nation.

Joel - Chapter 2

25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten — the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm—my great army that I sent among you…

Joel - Chapter 2

28 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

This was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost when the disciples gathered in the upper room, waiting in Jerusalem for the outpouring

of the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised would come (Acts 1:4-5).

Acts 2:14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

Jonah - OverviewJonah (Heb. for dove) is the only one among the prophets whose prophecy does not consist of what he said but rather of his own life and experience.

Jonah's mission to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, took place when Assyria was threatening the Northern Kingdom during the reign of its mightiest monarch, Jeroboam II (2Ki_14:23), who ruled from about 793 to 753 B.C

The book is a commentary on Romans 3:29.29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,

Outline of Jonah – Chapter 1

I. THE DISOBEDIENCE OF THE PROPHET A. Jonah's Missionary Call

(1:1, 2)B. Jonah's Flight to Tarshish

(1:3)C. The Storm at Sea (1:4-10)D. Jonah Thrown Overboard

and Swallowed by a Great Fish (1:11-17)

1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

Nahum 3 1 Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims! …3b Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses— 4 all because of the wanton lust of a prostitute, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft.

Assyrian Boasts

“I cut off their heads and formed them into pillars”

“Bubo, son of Buba, I flayed in the city of Arbela and I spread his skin upon the city wall”

“I cut off the limbs of the officers, the royal officers who had rebelled”

“3,000 captives I burned with fire”

3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish.

1:17 Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Philippians 1:4-6

4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.


II. THE DELIVERANCE OF THE PROPHET A. Jonah's Prayer (2:1-

9)B. God's Answer (2:10)

2:2 “In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me.From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.


III. THE DECLARATION OF GOD'S MESSAGE THROUGH THE

PROPHET A. The Threat of Judgment (3:1-

4)B. The City-Wide Repentance

(3:5-9)C. The Judgment Averted (3:10)

Jonah 3:4-5

Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.


IV. THE DISPLEASURE OF THE PROPHET

A. Jonah's Petulant Prayer (4:1-3)

B. God's Searching Question (4:4)

C. Jonah Sulking Outside the City (4:5)

D. Object Lesson on God's Sovereign Mercy (4:6-11)

Jonah 4:1-4But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

4 But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

Lessons from Jonah

1. The primary lesson of Jonah is what he proclaimed before being freed from the great fish: Salvation is of the LORD (Jonah 2:9), and not of any race or nation or class.

2. God is committed to working on/with us till the end! “He who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion!”

Upcoming Schedule

May 6 No Bible class on International Sunday

May 13 No Bible class on Mothers' Day

May 20 Joe Washington (Amos, King Uzziah of Judah, King Jeroboam II of Israel)

The EndLife and Times of the Minor Prophets

Locust Invasion DescriptionIn 1915 a devastating plague of locusts covered what is modern-day Israel and Syria. The first swarms came in March, in clouds so thick they blocked out the sun. The female locusts immediately began to lay eggs, 100 at a time. Witnesses say that in one square yard, there were as many as 65,000 to 75,000 eggs. In a few weeks they hatched, and the young locusts resembled large ants. They couldn’t fly yet, and got along by hopping. They marched along 400 to 600 feet a day, devouring every speck of vegetation along the way. After two more stages of molting they became adults who could fly - and the devastation continued.

Documents

Week 3 - Joash, Joel, and Jonah