Isaiah is not included here. The commentary on his writings is compiled in Volume 5.

Nahum speaks of the horror of war, how to avoid it, and how to know if we will be among those who are spared its outcome. He addressed Assyria in his day, but we can easily see that he’s still speaking to us and asking us to sort ourselves out before events do it for us.

Habakkuk was a questioner. He was very unhappy with the way God was running things, and he had hard questions. God answered him. We learn that God does answer even the tough questions of life. You might have some of the same questions. Check it out.

Zephaniah had the heavy message of God’s day of wrath—Dies irae. In the lesson we can hear some music written about Zephaniah’s words and also try to figure out how to avoid the day of wrath. He advises us not be a do-nothing and not to be blind to what’s going on around us. Still good advice. pp.57

Jonah is a well-known story, not so much because of Jonah’s teachings (of which there aren’t many—he had the shortest and most successful missionary discussion experience in history) but because of the fishy way he took on his calling. His story is relevant to us today because it shows what happens when our commitment to God wanes and our spiritual energies and conscience collapses down into the lesser realm of politics. There’s some of that going on in our culture both in and out of the Church.

Micah is less well-known and perhaps not often quoted—that’s undeserved. He had much to say that is still very relevant. The principal concerns the prophet Micah conveyed were social and economic justice more than the political justice concerns of Jonah. Jonah was called on a foreign mission. Micah was called to speak repentance at home, to give a warning to God’s covenant people, his brothers and sisters in Judah and Israel. God was worried about the society of Israel and Judah and how corrupt the people and their social structure had become. Corrupt judges were suborned and bought by the rich. Onerous taxation was placed on the poor to ruin them in order to seize their property. Unmerciful creditors pushed people into functional slavery. All these were prominent and commonplace features of Micah’s society. It was a society ripening in iniquity by grinding down the poor. If you find that we treat the poor well and that we live in an equitable and happy society, then you needn’t spend much time in Micah. Micah gave us part of the way to create a Zion society. He also told us where Jesus would be born. pp.48

Amos’ message set before the people the choice of the two ways: eternal life or death. He was likely the first of the prophets to have a book with the own name on it, although his book appears later in the minor prophets. He spoke about social justice and the importance of how we deal with the poor in our society. He noted the importance of that in a Zion society and showed how God could reject our outward religious worship of Him if we didn’t attend to those issues in our families and our society. He was also a pretty sarcastic and cutting guy at times. I wonder if he’d be banned from social media if he posted some of his comments today?

Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament. He prophesied against Edom, a long-gone nation—or is it? Joseph Smith used Edom or Idumea when he was inspired to write the preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, the voice of warning for our dispensation. He wrote: And also the Lord shall have power over his saints, and shall reign in their midst, and shall come down in judgment upon Idumea, or the world (D&C 1:36).

With this as a key, we can take any prophecy or word about Idumea (Edom) and apply it to the worldly elements of the society in which we live. Thus, Obadiah writing 2,600 years ago about a remote and long-forgotten people is not irrelevant. That people of Edom might be parts of us—or at the very least, be types of the world in which we are immersed. We shall see what Obadiah had to say about them/us. pp.50

We shall, of course, do those very seriously, but also wander a bit into a few other things that the manual judiciously skipped. Ezekiel was perhaps the oddest prophet in the Old Testament canon. It’s a very interesting read and hopefully the commentary will reflect that.

We will note that no Jewish scholar was to study Ezekiel until he was at least 30 years old. We shall have a look at prophetic visions, can prophets change temple ordinances?, repentance and grace, the role of a prophet (and why you don’t want the job), collective guilt, original sin, and personal responsibility, the resurrection, the Bible and the Book of Mormon as a unitary witness, temple worship, and how to understand and get more out of attending the temple. I have also appended an essay by Dr. Hugh Nibley on the Sticks of Judah and Joseph.

There’s also a new Home Evening game introduced that sure to be popular with no more than one or two members of the family. pp.66