'In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah

came Nebuchadnezzar ... in the second year of the reign of

Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams ... this is

the dream' (Dan. 1:1; 2:1,36).

It will be seen that Ezekiel should come after Daniel if the order of

appearance is to be strictly observed.

Of the twelve Minor Prophets, six are dated and six are undated.  The

six that are dated are Hosea, Amos, Micah, Zephaniah, Haggai and Zechariah.

The six undated are Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk and Malachi.

Let us record the six dated Minor Prophets first, and then see how far

it is possible to relate the undated ones with those whose chronological

sequence is plain

'The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of

Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah,

kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of

Joash, king of Israel' (Hos. 1:1).

'The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa,

which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king

of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king

of Israel, two years before the earthquake' (Amos 1:1).

'The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morasthite in

the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah,

which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem' (Mic. 1:1).

'The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah the son of

Cushi ... in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of

Judah' (Zeph. 1:1).

'In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month,

in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by

Haggai the prophet' (Hag. 1:1).

'In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came

the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah

... '(Zech. 1:1).

These six prophets are explicitly dated, their chronological order is not a

matter of debate or deduction.  This is not the case with the remainder.

Of the six undated Minor prophets, nothing can be said with certainty,

but Jonah being called the son of Amittai, turns us back to 2 Kings 14:25 and

so relates the prophetic ministry of Jonah with the reign of Jeroboam king of

Israel (2 Kings 14:23).

Malachi, while undated by specific chronological reference, is linked

by internal evidence to the days of Ezra and Nehemiah.  He speaks as did

Nehemiah of the intermarriage of Israel with 'the daughter of a strange god'

and of the declension of tithes.  The temple, with its altar, its sacrifices

and its feasts had evidently been restored, and was now suffering a relapse

into formalism.  The fact that the 'governor' (Mal. 1:8) is given a name

(Pechah) which is used mainly of the Persian ruler is a further chronological

link.  The testimony of the Rabbins is that Malachi was 'The seal of the