Okay, take a deep breath and get ready to sprint. This week we are going to be finishing up Hosea and blazing through Joel, Amos, and Obadiah and starting in Jonah. They call these books the minor prophets and they mean it, because they are short. In fact Obadiah at 1 chapter is the shortest book in the Old Testament. However they are still worth reading! Briefly, Joel was a prophet in Judah who lived during a massive plague of locusts and severe drought in Judah at the time, and he prophesied that it was the harbinger of destruction on the people if they do not repent. Amos prophesied during the time of Uzziah and Jeroboum the second, and he prophesied during a time of prosperity for Israel, but it was also a time where the people were becoming more and more corrupt and immoral. His prophesies of destruction didn't come true until around 30 to 40 years later. Plenty of time for the Israelites to repent, but as we know, they didn't. Obadiah's book is primarily a prophecy against Edom who evidently assisted in the downfall of Israel and gloated over their demise. In the book Obadiah tells Edom that they will be punished, and they were! Jonah is a book most of us are familiar with and in chapter 1 the scene is set as Jonah disobeys God and tries to flee, and ends up as "fish food", or so he thinks.