The Twelve Lesser or Minor Prophets

The prophetic books of the Lesser or Minor Prophets possess a special difficulty for the modern mind because they are not arranged chronologically, nor according to date.  In addition the message, which is spoken by each prophet to his contemporaries, does not describe or indicate the circumstances under which the message is being delivered.  They do, however, expose the political and social ills in Israel, her apostasy and denial of her fundamental teachings, and religious principles which are valid and have endured in every generation since.  And the view of some of the historical points in the history of God’s Chosen People, from the ninth century

B. C. to the present has prevailed, and is a necessity in order to relate to the twelve Minor Prophets, and how, and when, and where they fit into history.  We should strive to look through and beyond those things pertinent to the time of

of the prophet to that which is abiding and significant in order to convert it into terms that apply to our own era and to our lives.

For almost forty years I have been involved in Church music and Bible teaching. I taught adult classes, served as a guest teacher, as a guest speaker, and delivered many sermons. When I was involved in the music of the church as an organist, pianist, or director of the choir, I taught a Bible class developing my own class format, which demanded a lot of research and study. I hold an L.L.B. degree; however, as does every law student, I learned very early the importance of, and how to do research and documentation. This has served me well in my Bible study and preparation for both teaching and writing.

During my years in law school, I had the great experience of working for a blind judge, and as a result was required to learn to read and write Braille. During this time, I also worked in the Capitol of my state, and was permitted to sit in on hearings in the Georgia Public Service Commission, the Supreme Court trials, and served as stenographer in the Attorney General’s office.

Through the years I have taken many special courses and non-credit classes in Ancient History, Archaeology, Ancient Documents, Hebrew, Greek, and other subjects related to the Bible, and these have been an invaluable background source in my writing.

Although I am not now registered, I have had certificates in accounting and nursing, and worked with my husband, D.L. Burns, M.D., as head nurse and director of his clinic until his death from cancer. I was elected to and served twelve years on the Valdosta Board of Education, and served as Chairman of Personnel for twelve years, as well as president, and chairman of various committees. I did not choose to run for a third term of six years, but did not put education aside. During my tenure of office, I served as a substitute teacher for a couple of months in a class on the Constitution of Georgia and the United States, where I saw the need for some parliamentary education. As a result I wrote a Parliamentary Leadership Training Course, which I taught over a period of several years in the high school, and a number of civic, professional, and church organizations, including the local synagogue.

For twenty years, when my husband was living, we would take a holiday of at least thirty days each year, and traveled the world, visiting the Near East, the Middle East, Europe (all except Turkey and Russia), China, Japan, the South Pacific, and the Far East. On one trip to Nepal we flew through the Himalayan Mountains in a helicopter, just the two of us and the pilot, to deliver some food to Tibetan refugees who had been granted asylum and were living at a very high level in the Himalayas. My husband was requested to give a medical opinion on the health condition of the refugees and their living conditions.

In our travels, we had many modes of transportation, some more interesting than others, particularly that of a camel ride across the Sahara Desert to visit an archaeological site, and sailing in a felucca on the Nile River from Luxor Egypt down to the Aswan Dam, visiting historic sites along the way. Always before we left for our proposed destination I did research and prepared notes on that country, which have been invaluable to me in my writing.

During my years of teaching I had a wide range of students, which included college professors, teachers, ministers, lawyers, and laity, many of whom were just getting acquainted with the Bible. They repeatedly asked why I did not put my lectures and notes into a written form so that others could share them.

Finally, in September 1988 I attended Valdosta Technical Institute, a Georgia State Institution, for computer training. I bought my first computer, and started writing in 1991. Since then I have written a commentary on all the books of the Old Testament, except the four Major Prophets, and a commentary on The Apographa and Pseudepigrapha, which covers the approximate four-hundred-year period between the Old and the New Testaments. A list of the Bibles that include this work is also given. In the New Testament a commentary has been written on A Parallel of the Four Gospels, The Trial of Jesus, and the Revelation to John.

This has entailed a lot of study and a lot of work, but I’ll just keep on writing until my goal of a commentary on ALL of the books of the Old Testament, The Apographa and Pseudepigrapha, and the New Testament is reached.