What was the criteria for determing...

The terms “Major Prophets” and “Minor Prophets” are simply a way to divide the Old Testament prophetic books.The Minor Prophets are .

The Major Prophets --- Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel -- are described as "major" because their books are longer and deal with a far larger segment of both Israeli history, and Jewish circumstance. The Minor Prophets -- Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi -- are described as "minor" because their books deal with short-term circumstances, specific sins of the people and/or their leaders that God felt needed to be addressed directly to the people and their leaders. Amos, Joel, and Habakkuk come to mind as excellent examples of those times in Israel's history.