Perhaps you especially enjoy the Minor Prophets as I do, then you are really going to savor this volume by Richard Alan Fuhr, Jr. and Gary E. Yates. The Minor Prophets make up one of the least well-known sections of the Bible, so the help this type of volume can provide is greatly needed.

The authors begin the volume proving the book’s worth immediately with a chapter on the historical background of the tumultuous times of these prophets. Though I might quibble on some details,  the chapter was outstanding at putting these twelve prophets into perspective. The next two chapters discussed what the prophets were accomplishing in their writings and the literary genres and rhetorical devices involved. Finding ten literary subgenres might be stretching it a bit, but that would match modern scholarly opinion. 

Chapter 4 was one of my favorites as it made a case for canonical unity of these twelve Minor Prophets. While they all stand quite well individually, I believe looking at them as a unit also yields tremendous insights.

As you might imagine, chapters  5-16 cover the Twelve individually. I appreciate the way the authors present these individual evaluations. Background, structure, overview, and theological leave you with a good idea of what’s going on in each of these books. Only some comments on Jonah’s historicity were subpar.

A few helpful charts, maps, and pictures round out this useful volume. Still, unlike some modern volumes, this book aims at providing its help by words rather than just a visual presentation.

This book is 5-star all the way.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.