Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk;: Minor prophets of the seventh century B.C., (Everyman's Bible commentary)

The Minor Prophets or Twelve Prophets is the last book of the Nevi'im (prophets), the second main division of the canon of the Hebrew Bible and falls between the Torah (instruction) and the Ketuvim (writings). The collection is broken up to form twelve individual books in the Christian Old Testament, one for each of the prophets. The works are commonly studied together, and are consistently ordered in Jewish, Protestant and Catholic bibles as: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The term "Minor" relates to the length of each book (ranging from a single chapter to fourteen); even the longest is short compared to the three major prophets, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah. Nahum wrote about the end of the Assyrian Empire, and its capital city, Nineveh, in a vivid poetic style. Zephaniah prophesied in the days of Josiah, king of Judah (B.C. 641-610), and was contemporary with Jeremiah, with whom he had much in common. Habakkuk is unique among the prophets in that he openly questions the wisdom of God. They all wrote in the 7th century B.C. and not much was known about them until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The author, Hobart Freeman (1920-1984), was a charismatic preacher and author, who ministered in northern Indiana and actively promoted faith healing. From the beginning, Freeman's congregation was the subject of controversy. Like many charismatic congregations, the work of the Holy Spirit was emphasized - with claims of prophesy, miraculous healings, testimonies, speaking in tongues and believers being slain in the Spirit. Freeman's teaching emphasized the deeper life in the Spirit, overcoming all things, separation from the world and its ways, trusting only in God for all things, the crucified life, and the true meaning of discipleship, as seen in the topics covered by his teaching tapes and literature.