Bible Blitz

Msgr Ed Thompson

And

Deacon Norm Kazyk

With Technical Assistance

Ray Hosler

Nahum

• 663 – 612 B.C.

• Judean prophet – Vision of God’s punishing Assyria

• “I am Nahum from Elkosh”

Assyria

Northern Iraq in power for three centuries.

Crushed Israel in 722 B.C.

Deported the “useful” Jews to Assyria.

100 years later Nahum has a vision to lift up the hopes of all Jews.

Fall of Assyria - 612 B.C. -

Babylonians and Medes

Messages

• Assyria’s reign of terror almost over.

• Not meant to condone revenge and retaliation.

• It is in the deliverance from evil, not the punishment of the guilty, the Jews found comfort.

• Ch 2:1-13 The fall of Nineveh

Habakkuk

605 – 597 B.C.

Judean prophet who argued with God

“Where is God when people suffer?”

“God is out of control”

“Why are you not punishing the wicked?”

The Plot

Hababbuk has a vision – a conversation with God

Why not punish Judah? Habakkuk objects.

Later God will punish the Babylonians.

Ch 3:1-19 Awaiting the invasion of Babylon

Zephaniah

640 – 609 B.C.

A prophet who predicts the destruction of Judah and the surrounding nations.

Culture

Time of religious degradation with the reappearance of pagan worship

Three Sections

1. The day of the Lord – a day of doom (1:2-18)

2. The day of the Lord – a day of judgment (2:1-15)

3. Reproach and promise of Jerusalem (3:1-20)

Plot

• Theme: punishment for sin• Judah will be defeated and

punished• The Lord will destroy their enemies

too• Yet – the remnant of righteous

survivors will live joyously in a restored Jerusalem

Ch 1:2-3 The end of all life on this planet.

Introduction to Post-Exilic Prophecy

Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

Returning exiles encountered serious obstacles to rebuilding the Temple;

Samaria, Syria, OtherRepatriated Jews were depressed;

lethargy followed

Haggai

• Ch 1:1-9 Called the people to action to complete the great task of rebuilding the Temple which had already begun.

Haggai promised that it would surpass even Solomon’s when it was graced by God’s presence. This was more than fulfilled by Jesus who not only entered but replaced the Temple with his own body, which is the Church.

• Ch 2:2-9 An oracle of encouragement.

A Contrast:

Note Mk 12:17 Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.

Zechariah

• A contemporary of Haggai• Also worked for the rebuilding of

the Temple; however, he insisted that the holiness it represented must also be expressed in a way the people lived their lives if the salvation they longed for was not to be held up any longer

• In eight visions he illustrates how God continually proved his readiness to save. The coming of the Kingdom depends on them.

• Ch 8:18-23 A portrayal of a messianic future.

• The remaining chapters are considered deutero-Zechariah: written by persons other than the prophet, but under his name.

Malachi

• He was from the same period.• He reacted to the apathy of the

people which was also reflected in the priests who dishonored God by their blemished sacrifices, the acceptance of divorce and mixed marriage against which the reformers fought.

• He saw the future in terms of a reformed priesthood offering worthy sacrifice to God.

• (This was finally fulfilled in the Christian priesthood and the Mass which surpasses all his expectations.)