The Old Testament is often divided up into three major parts: the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets.  The scriptures do not designate the prophetic books as major or minor.  The Major Prophets are called that because of the size of the books.  The Minor Prophets are called that because they are smaller than the major prophets.  That, in no way, indicates that there is greater value found in the major prophets than that of the minor prophets.

It is not correct to think that some of the prophets are more important than the others.  We read in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”  Every bit of the Bible, each book, each paragraph, and each word has been given to us through the inspiration of God.  All are important and all are needful. 

In one sense, all the Old Testament books are prophetic for they all point to the Lord Jesus Christ either in word or in type.  The Lord Himself said in John 5:39, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”  At this point, the Old Testament was all the scriptures that existed.  The Lord said these Old Testament scriptures spoke of Him.  After His resurrection, the Lord met two people who were walking along a road that led to Emmaus.  They were perplexed about the crucifixion of the Lord saying, “But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.” (Luke 24:21).  The Lord’s response to them was to assure them that His crucifixion was His purpose in coming to the earth.  We read in verse 27, “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”  So, once again, we see that all the books of the Old Testament were prophetical in the sense they all spoke of the Lord Jesus. 

Some books of the Old Testament are considered to be Historical Books.  There are 12 books that are considered historical: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.  These books give us much historical information about the nation of Israel.  It is important to read these books because 1 Corinthians 10:11 tells us, “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 

There are five books that are considered to be the Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel.

There are twelve books that are considered to be the Minor Prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

Regardless how we divide the books of the Bible, we can be assured that each one of them was written under the inspiration of God and is “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”  (2 Timothy 3:17).  (CC) (549.6)