Table 13.1 Kings and Prophets of the Assyrian Period | Table 13.1 Kings and Prophets of the Assyrian Period | Table 13.1 Kings and Prophets of the Assyrian Period
Kings of Judah | Kings of Israel | Hebrew Prophets
Amaziah 800-783 | Joash 802-786 |
Uzziah 783-742 | Jeroboam II 786-746 | Amos c. 760-750
Jotham 742-735 | Zechariah 746-745 | Hosea c. 750-725
| Shallum 745 | Isaiah of Jerusalem c. 740-700
| Menahem 745-737 |
| Pekahiah 737-736 |
Ahaz 735-715 | Pekah 736-732 |
Hezekiah 715-687 | Hoshea 732-724 | Micah c. 730
1. Assyrian Period - A. Amos, B. Hosea, C. Micah , D. Isaiah ( Major Prophet )
A. Amos
Taken in chronological rather than canonical order, Amos is the earliest of all Hebrew prophets with books named after them. Amos was an older contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah. He prophesied sometime during the decade 760-750 B.C.E.
The book of Amos appears at first reading to be a collection of sayings with very little organization. But a close reading looking for connections reveals that there are identifiable groupings of material. The first group of similar material is the oracles against the nations (1:3-2:16), discrete units targeting the nations of Syria-Palestine one at a time. Chapters 3-6 are a collection of various Amos sayings. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 all begin with the same phrase “Hear this word …” This phrase may have provided the principle of organization for this subcollection. Chapters 7-9 are largely vision reports and so have a certain commonality.
There is strong evidence that the book of Amos grew in stages. Wolff (1977) has posited six stages in the literary formation of the book, beginning with words attributed to Amos himself and ending with editorial additions in the postexilic period. Simplifying somewhat the analysis of Wolff, Coote (1981) has posited three primary editorial stages in the book. The first stage, the Amos Edition, contains Amos’ words to eighth century Israel. Among the passages included in this early stage are 2:6-8, 2:13-16, 3:9-12, 4:1-3, 5:1-3, 5:18-20 and 8:4-7. In the following two stages material was added by writers who felt they were speaking with an “Amos voice” in their own age.
The first words of the book were clearly written by an editor, because they refer to Amos in the third person.
1 The words of Amos, one of the shepherds from Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel during the reign of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel–two years before the earthquake. 2 He said, “Yahweh roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the shepherd’s pastures dry up and the height of Carmel shrivels.” (1:1-2)
The very first words are, in effect, the title of the book: “The words of Amos.” The editor dates the prophet by reference to the kings ruling in Judah and Israel at the time.
This places Amos in the middle of the eighth century B.C.E. Uzziah reigned 783-742 and Jeroboam 786-746. The latter king is usually referred to as Jeroboam II to distinguish him from the first king of the Northern Kingdom. This kind of introduction is typical of a number of prophetic books, including Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Hosea.
Earthquake. This introduction goes further than that of most other prophetic books in making the date even more precise, specifying that the words of Amos date two years before the earthquake. The reference to the earthquake has been correlated with geological data obtained through field work. The archaeological excavation of Hazor in the Galilee region evidenced in stratum VI a particularly violent quake datable to the time of Jeroboam II (see Yadin 1964).
From this introduction we learn a few things about Amos. He was from a little town in Judea called Tekoa and he was a shepherd. This has been interpreted by some authorities to mean that he was poor, but this was not necessarily so. In addition, from 7:14 we learn that he was an agricultural worker, “a dresser of sycamore trees,” and he strongly denied he was a professional prophet. Though not belonging to the prophetic guild, he was called to be a prophet directly by God.
Verse 2 contains the theme statement of the book. These, the first words of Amos in the book, describe an angry Yahweh. In roaring like a lion he laid waste the green pastures of Carmel. Note the geographical indicators, for they tell us a lot about Amos’ theological and political perspective. Yahweh roars from Jerusalem, the seat of Davidic ideology, and condemns the heartland of the Northern Kingdom.
This raises an important issue concerning the perspective of Amos. It would appear, on first reading, that Amos was an advocate of Zion ideology. But this might depend on the attribution of these words. If they are Amos’, then perhaps yes. If they are an editor’s words, shaping the book from a Judean and Davidic slant, then perhaps no. The one other passage in the book of Amos that reflects a strong Davidic bias is the last paragraph, 9:11-15. Here is a sample, with Yahweh speaking:
11 “On that day I will restore David’s fallen house. I will repair its gaping walls and restore its ruins. I will rebuild it as it was a long time ago.” (9:11)
Clearly looking to the rebirth of the Davidic dynasty, these words are usually attributed to an editor later than Amos’ day.
Turning to an examination of the book in terms of its major structural units, the first is 1:3-2:16. This section is a series of condemnatory statements aimed at the nations in Syria-Palestine in this order: Syria (Damascus), Philistia (Gaza), Phoenicia (Tyre), Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah, and finally Israel.
Notice how Amos jumps from one end of Syria-Palestine to the other, until finally he hits his favorite target–Israel. A sample, the oracle against Syria, gives us the flavor of Amos’ language.
3 “Thus says YHWH, ‘For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke it (the punishment) on account of their threshing Gilead with iron threshing sledges. 4 I will send fire on the house of Hazael and it will devour the fortresses of Ben-hadad. 5 I will break the gate bars of Damascus and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven and the scepter-bearer from Beth-eden. The people of Aram will go to Kir in exile,’ says YHWH.” (1:3-5)
Speaking for God in the first person, Amos condemned Syria for dealing cruelly with the Israelites who lived in Gilead, that is, to the east of the Sea of Galilee. The king and his royal city would be destroyed because of their cruelty, and the population would be exiled to Kir, a place far in the east, near Elam .
The oracles continue with all of Israel’s neighbors coming under God’s condemnation one by one. The condemnation of Judah must have been especially sweet to the Israelites who were Amos’ primary audience. They no doubt welcomed his words and urged him on. Israel’s enemies deserved what they got! It was a surprise, then, when Amos continued after Judah and exposed God’s anger with Israel “because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals” (2:6).
Amos is especially to be appreciated for his sensitivity to matters of social welfare in Israel. He spared no words in condemning the royalty and aristocracy of Israel, who abused the privilege of wealth and even used their authority to get richer at the expense of the poor.
The next major unit, chapters 3-6, is another collection of oracles, but without the focus and structure of the first collection. The words from chapter 4 continue Amos’ accusatory tone and strong condemnation of the Israelite ruling elite, in this case the wives of the aristocracy.
1 “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan who are on Mount Samaria–you who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, ‘Bring us something to drink!’ 2 YHWH has sworn by his holiness: the time is definitely coming when they will take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks. 3 You will leave through breaches in the wall, each of you going straight out, and you will be tossed into Harmon.” (4:1-3)
These words of Amos are direct and announce that punishment is inevitable and close. There is no hint that it can be avoided–the culprits will not be able to dodge the coming doom. Amos does not seem to allow for repentance.
The socio-economic background for these words is an Israelite elite enjoying an indulgent lifestyle at the expense of disenfranchised peasants. Amos’ announcement of punishment is so direct and certain that Coote argues Amos must have uttered these words around 745 B.C.E. when Tiglath-Pileser III, the Assyrian expansionist king, came to power and directly threatened Israel. This would account for the vividness and accuracy of the language describing Assyrian policies of capture and deportation.
In addition to castigating the rich (“you cows of Bashan”) who callously oppressed the poor (4:1), Amos was critical of Israel’s centers of religious worship, especially Bethel and Gilgal (4:4-5; 5:4-7).
21 “I hate and despise your festivals; I do not take pleasure from your pious meetings. 22 Although you offer me burnt offerings and your grain offerings I will not accept them. The peace offering of your choice animals I will not eye. 23 Away from me with the noise of your songs! The melody of your harps I will not hear. 24 Let justice roll down like water, righteousness like an eternally flowing stream.” (5:21-24)
Amos’ famous call for social caring, “Let justice roll down like water!” is one of his most famous statements. Amos took the religious concepts of justice and righteousness, which had primary application to the way God deals with his people, and applied them to social interaction.
In Amos’ analysis, Israel was just going through the motions of worshiping God and observing proper rituals, thinking that this was the sum total of their obligation to God. In reality, God valued personal responsibility and community caring above formal worship. Amos here disparaged formal religion when its performers used it to make themselves right with God, in the absence of personal and corporate morality. His words should not be absolutized as a total prophetic condemnation of all formal worship. This is typical of Amos’ unconditional language and a fine example of a sweeping condemnation, in its context appropriate, but not meant by Amos to be universalized.
The last major section is chapters 7-9 built around five visions and a prophecy of restoration (see Table 13.2).
Table 13.2 Visions of Amos | Table 13.2 Visions of Amos | Table 13.2 Visions of Amos
Vision 1 | 7:1-3 | Locusts
Vision 2 | 7:4-6 | Fire
Vision 3 | 7:7-9 | Plumb line
Narrative | 7:10-17 | Amos vs. Amaziah
Vision 4 | 8:1-3 | Summer fruit
Vision 5 | 9:1-4 | Yahweh by the altar
Salvation Oracle | 9:11-15 | David’s tent
The first four visions are similarly structured. Each begins with the sentence “This is what my lord YHWH showed me.” In each vision Amos saw something that indicated God was going to destroy Israel. In the first (7:1-3) he saw locusts devouring the produce of the land. In the second (7:4-6) he saw a fire consume the land. In both of these visions, after Amos cried out with concern for Israel, God changed his mind and withdrew the punishment.
In the third vision (7:7-9) Amos saw Yahweh with a plumb line in his hand. This vision is different from the prior two. It is not an image of destruction. Rather, Amos sees God holding a measuring device against which Israel was measured.
8b YHWH said, “I am putting a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel. I will never again overlook them. 9 The high places of Isaac will be made barren, and the holy places of Israel will be leveled. I will come against Jeroboam with a sword.” (7:8b-9)
A plumb line is a construction worker’s tool consisting of a weight attached to a string. The weighted string provides a true vertical (or plumb) standard by which other objects, such as masonry walls or door posts, can be built straight. Judged against true vertical, Israel was tilted and out of plumb. Religion was not doing it any good. Consequently, Israel’s worship centers would be destroyed, especially the “high places,” which had Canaanite Baalistic associations. And Jeroboam II, king of Israel, would be removed.
This, the third vision, is not followed directly by the fourth. Instead, a narrative was inserted recording a confrontation between Amos and Amaziah, a Bethel priest loyal to Jeroboam II. Amaziah was provoked by the preaching of Amos. In Bethel, the main Israelite worship center sponsored by the king, Amos proclaimed that Jeroboam would die and Israel would go into exile (7:11). Amaziah, in reality, told Amos to go back to Judah where he had came from.
This narrative breaks up the flow of the vision accounts, but the arrangement does have a certain editorial logic. The vision accounts condemned Israel for sinning, and especially the third vision account blamed Israelite sanctuaries. The Amos-Amaziah confrontation is evidence of the perversity of Israelite sanctuaries, condemned in the third vision, and evidence of Israelite hardness of heart. Whereas after the first two visions God relented of his planned punishment, there is no relenting in the third and fourth visions. This confrontation account demonstrates that there was no repentant spirit in Israel that could warrant a removal of God’s planned destruction.
The fourth vision account, 8:1-3, was built around a visual-verbal pun. Amos saw a basket of summer fruit (Hebrew qayits). Yahweh said in explanation, “the end (Hebrew qets) of my people has arrived.” What follows, almost until the end of the book, is a series of disaster descriptions: famine, mourning, violence, exile, death, and despair.
The fifth vision account, 9:1-4, is structured differently from the preceding four visions. Instead of Yahweh showing Amos an object and constructing a lesson around it, here Amos sees Yahweh standing by the altar. He issues an order to “smash the pillar capitals.” Either the temple was to collapse on the people and kill them, or the capitals symbolize the heads and leaders of Israel who will not escape punishment.
The last oracle, 9:11-15, contains expectation of the rebirth of the Davidic dynasty and a delightful depiction of the glorious future awaiting the land and its people. The ground will be so productive harvesters will not be able to keep pace, and the people will enjoy peace and prosperity. This last unit is so radically different from the preceding words of Amos, concerning not Israel but the rebirth of the Judean Davidic dynasty, that it is usually attributed to someone other than Amos.
B. Hosea
Hosea was placed first in the Book of the Twelve, but we cannot be sure why. Perhaps because it is the longest book of the twelve. Perhaps because someone at one time mistakenly thought he was the earliest prophet of the twelve. The evidence of the book itself, however, indicates that Hosea prophesied a little later than Amos. Like Amos, he prophesied in the Northern Kingdom. Unlike Amos, he was a native of the north. In fact, Hosea was the only non-Judean literary prophet besides Jeremiah.
Hosea’s northern origin probably puts him in touch with the substantial northern prophetic tradition represented by Elijah, the Elohist traditions of the Pentateuch, the traditions of Deuteronomy, and probably even Jeremiah. This may account for Hosea’s frequent allusions to the decalogue and the Sinai covenant traditions.
Historical indicators in the text, including the editorial framework of the first verse, suggest that Hosea prophesied from 750 to 725 B.C.E. Jeroboam II was the king of Israel at the beginning of Hosea’s prophetic activity, and after he died there was virtual anarchy in the Northern Kingdom until its destruction by Assyria in 721.
The final book was compiled much after the time of Hosea the prophet. The book has a discernible structure, falling into two basic parts. The first unit, chapters 1-3, is built around Hosea’s ordeal of marrying a prostitute. This marriage functions as a living parable of husband Yahweh’s relationship to Israel. The second unit, chapters 4-11, begins with the phrase “Hear the word of YHWH” and consists largely of uncontextualized statements. It has no obvious thematic unity but consists of oracles of disaster and salvation. This alternation of disaster and salvation, even discernible to some extent in the first unit, provides a structuring principle to the book (see Table 13.3).
Table 13.3 Structure of Hosea | Table 13.3 Structure of Hosea | Table 13.3 Structure of Hosea
| Disaster | Salvation
I. Chapters 1-3 | 1:2-9 | 1:10-2:1
| 2:2-13 | 2:14-23
| 3:1-4 | 3:5
II. Chapters 4-14 | 4:1-11:7 | 11:8-11
| 11:12-14:1 | 14:2-9
The first chapter contains a third-person narrative describing Hosea’s marriage to Gomer.
2 The beginning of YHWH’s speaking through Hosea: YHWH said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a promiscuous woman and children from promiscuity, because the land is promiscuous with regard to YHWH.” 3 He went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. She conceived and bore him a son. 4 YHWH said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, because in yet a little while I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 In that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.” 6 She conceived again and bore a daughter, and he said to him, “Call her name Lo-ruhamah, because I will no longer show mercy to the house of Israel. I will not forgive them. [ 7 But to the house of Judah I will show mercy, and I will save them, by YHWH Elohim, but I will not save them by bow, sword, warfare, horses or charioteers] 8 She weaned Lo-ruhamah, conceived and bore a son. 9 He said, “Call his name Lo-ammi, because you are not my people, and I am ‘Not I am’ to you.” (1:2-9)
Gomer had three children. The text clearly indicates the first child was fathered by Hosea himself, but the second and third might have been children of “whoredom.” In any case, the children serve as prophetic signs having to do with the northern kingdom of Israel.
The first child was named Jezreel (which in Hebrew sounds very close to Israel: Yizreel and Yisrael, respectively). “The blood of Jezreel” refers to Jehu’s bloody coup d’état and slaughter of the house of Ahab. For these acts the monarchy would be punished.
The second child’s name, Lo-ruhamah, means “Without mercy.” The Hebrew word rehem (literally “womb”) to which it is related recalls descriptions of Yahweh as the merciful God of the covenant (see Exodus 33:19), the one who loves Israel with parental (a mother’s ?) love.
The third child’s name Lo-ammi means “Not my people.” This name is also related to covenant notions. The essence of God’s covenant with Israel was this: “I will be your God, and you will be my people.” The (anti-) covenant context is reinforced with the words “I am ‘Not I am’ to you.” The Hebrew original of the phrase “Not I am” is Lo-ehyeh, and undoubtedly puns on the covenant name of God, Yahweh, whose name was revealed to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3) as “I am who I am”, ehyeh asher ehyeh in Hebrew.
A major interpretive, indeed moral, issue regarding this account is whether or not Gomer was a known prostitute at the time of her marriage to Hosea. The command “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom,” as the NRSV renders it, sounds like he was told to marry an out-and-out prostitute. If she was, then Yahweh was asking a very difficult thing of Hosea.
On the other hand, it is quite possible that the wording was affected by Hosea’s experience and theology. The account was, of course, written after the fact of the marriage. While at the time he may not have known she was a prostitute, in retrospect it was obvious that she was. God in his providence must have known ahead of time her propensities; therefore, he had told Hosea to marry a prostitute.
Yet a third interpretive possibility is that Gomer was not unfaithful to the marriage bond as such, but that she was associated with Canaanite Baalistic bridal rites of initiation (Wolff 1965). The children were considered, metaphorically speaking, to be children of “whoredom” because conception was credited to Baal, the Canaanite god of fertility, and not Yahweh.
Hosea was the first prophet to use his family life, and in particular his children, to make a theo-political prophetic point. Prophesying shortly after him, Isaiah would do the same (see Isaiah 7-8). Hosea’s marriage to Gomer was a mirror of Yahweh’s experience with Israel. Marriage was equated with the covenant God had made with Israel in the wilderness.
Chapter 1 is a third-person account of Hosea’s marriage. Chapter 3 is an autobiographical description of his marriage. In his own words Hosea describes “purchasing” a prostitute. Some interpreters suggest this account temporally follows the story of chapter 1, with Hosea buying back his wife after an intervening period of unfaithfulness. Other interpreters view it as the same story of chapter 1, just retold in first-person.
1 YHWH said to me again, “Go, love a woman who has a lover and is a prostitute, just as YHWH loves the people of Israel–even though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer of barley and a measure of wine. 3 And I said to her, “You must stay mine in the future; you must not play the prostitute. You must not have intercourse with a man, including me with you.” 4 For the Israelites shall remain many days without a king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or teraphim. 5 Afterward the Israelites shall return and seek YHWH their God, and David their king. They shall come in fear to YHWH and to his goodness in the days to come. (3:1-5)
Again, the relationship of man and woman is a mirror of Yahweh’s relationship to Israel. The specified purchase price consisted of silver and grain, the usual offerings to a deity. After paying the price, Hosea’s expectation was that the former prostitute, now his wife, would be pure.
Originally applying to the Israel (read Northern Kingdom) of Hosea’s day, the description of the relationship was reapplied by a later writer in verses 4-5 to Judah. Brought to Judah after the fall of the north, the experience of Hosea became a lesson to the Southern Kingdom.
Abstinence from sexual intercourse was appropriated as a symbol of Judah’s isolation, without king or sacred paraphernalia in Babylonian exile. Mention of the return included the expectation of the return to power of the Davidic line. Although the people were wayward, days of blessing would return. Perhaps this prophetic material was shaped by Deuteronomic circles, as was so much other classical prophecy. Especially in this case it would be natural for Deuteronomic theology to have an influence, given the similar northern origin of Hosea and Deuteronomy.
As has just been suggested above, chapters 1 and 3 may be viewed as third-person and first-person renderings, respectively, of the same experience of marital betrayal and alienation. It seems, however, that the editor took chapter 3 and intended it to be an historical continuation of chapter 1. Note the use of “again” in 3:1. Perhaps his intention in repeating the scandalous affair was to suggest the patience of Yahweh, who puts up with this people even as time after time they, like Hosea’s wife, go running after forbidden gods. A recurring biblical theme was this: Generation after generation of Israelites forget their genuine husband, Yahweh, and sought out the company of Baal and Asherah.
C. Micah
Micah was a southerner, a Judean, as was Amos. Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah of Jerusalem and came from a rural background, specifically from a town called Moresheth, which lay to the west of Jerusalem. Wolff (1981) argues that Micah was, in effect, a Moresheth city councilman who served as an advocate for his people, presenting their concerns to the rich and famous in Jerusalem. Micah is cited in Jeremiah 26 as an anti-establishment prophet who, nonetheless, was respected by the king.
Table 13.4 Structure of Micah | Table 13.4 Structure of Micah | Table 13.4 Structure of Micah
| Disaster | Salvation
1. Chapters 1-2 | 1:2-2:11 | 2:12-13
2. Chapters 3-5 | 3:1-12 | 4:1-5:15
3. Chapters 6-7 | 6:1-7:7 | 7:8-20
Micah prophesied in the latter part of the eighth century during the rising threat of the Assyrian Empire. Except for one oracle that includes the Northern Kingdom within its purview (1:2-7), the bulk was directed against Judah. The oracle that predicts the demise of Samaria places the earliest words of Micah before 721 B.C.E. The explicit allusion to the Babylonian exile, as well as the repatriation hinted at in 4:9-10, indicates that the book went through the hands of editors as late as the postexilic period.
Micah’s social criticism consists of a critique of the economic aristocrats, whose greed for homes and property had no bounds. Micah opposed the ritualistic righteousness of the pious (as did the other eighth-century prophets, especially Amos but also Hosea and Isaiah).
6 “With what should I come before YHWH, and bow before God on high? Should I come before him with burnt offerings, year old calves? 7 Would YHWH be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Should I give my firstborn for my sin, the produce of my own body for my very own sin?” 8 He has told you, O Mortal, what is good, what YHWH requires of you: Do justice! Love kindness! Walk humbly with your God.” (6:6-8)
This passage appears to borrow from temple liturgies through which the worshiper sought entry into the presence of God (for a similar liturgy, see Psalm 24). The prophet Micah modified this genre and applied it to one’s personal relationship with God.
The earnestness with which Micah pursued a critique of the opportunistic and heartless upper class suggests that he may have been one of the farmers who was threatened by the influential aristocracy (see 3:2-3). He probably belonged to that class called “the people of the land,” conservative landowners who were distrustful of royal and religious bureaucrats who sought to control their lives.
The preaching of Micah might have contributed to the Deuteronomic reform movement in Judah, It advocated land reform but at the same time was supportive of the Davidic monarchy, as long as kings remained true to Mosaic ideals (see Deuteronomy 17:14-20).
Micah wrestled with the nature of prophecy and condemned prophets who worked for wages. Perhaps he was standing in critique of cult or royal prophets who were eager to please (see 3:5-6). The prophets he criticized produced the official Zion Theology. Based on their belief in the divine election of the nation, the Davidic dynasty, and the city of Jerusalem, it defined a theology highly supportive of the establishment and designed to foster high morale and fierce loyalty and pride. Micah merely pointed out that a prophecy that supported this type of theology was prone to deceive the people by feeding their need for support and reassurance, and by telling them exactly what they wanted to hear. When he says “I am filled with power and justice and strength to declare to Jacob his transgression” (3:8), his challenge sounds very much like Amos’. In 3:11-12 he criticized the self-assured security of those who felt Zion and Jerusalem were impregnable. But the book of Micah does not appear to reject Davidic ideology completely. 2 You, Bethlehem of the Ephrathites, small among the tribes of Judah–you will produce for me a ruler in Israel, one whose origin is venerable, from ancient times. (5:2)
These words, with most of chapters 4-7, are usually attributed to a writer other than Micah. They put the book more in sympathy with the mainstream of Jerusalemite views by placing hope in the Davidic dynasty. Bethlehem was venerated because “David slept there.” It was his birthplace.
Table 13.5 Kings and Prophets of the Babylonian Period | Table 13.5 Kings and Prophets of the Babylonian Period | Table 13.5 Kings and Prophets of the Babylonian Period
Kings of Judah | Kings of Babylon | Hebrew Prophets
Manasseh 687-642 | |
Amon 642-640 | | Zephaniah c. 640-622
Josiah 640-609 | Nabopolassar 626-605 | Jeremiah c. 627-562
| | Nahum c. 620
Jehoahaz 609 | Nebuchadnezzar 605-562 | Habakkuk c. 608-598
Jehoiakim 609-598 | |
Jehoiachin 598 | |
Zedekiah 597-587 | | Ezekiel c. 593-571
Gedaliah | Amel-Marduk 562-560 | Obadiah c. 587
| Neriglissar 560-556 |
| Nabonidus 556-539 | Second Isaiah c. 546-538
2. Babylonian Period ,A. Zephaniah, B. Nahum, C. Habakkuk, D. Obadiah
A. Zephaniah
Zephaniah was a Judean prophet, possibly descended from the Davidic line, who was active during the reign of Josiah. His condemnation of the kinds of religious practices that were eliminated by the Josiah reformation in 622 B.C.E. suggests that he prophesied before that time, somewhere between 640 and 622.
Typical of most other Judean prophets, Zephaniah’s words cover these three main topics: condemnation of Judah and Jerusalem for religious sins, condemnation of foreign nations (including Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Ethiopia, and Assyria), and promises of salvation for God’s people.
Zephaniah follows the lead of Amos (see Amos 5:18-20) and proclaims that the Day of Yahweh is coming. But it will be a sad day for God’s people, and not a day on which they would see victory.
14 The great day of YHWH is near, near and fast getting closer. The sound of the day of YHWH is harsh. On it the warrior screams. 15 A day of wrath will be that day: a day of trouble and anguish, a day of ruin and waste, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and thick darkness. (1:14-15)
The people will see clouds and fire, effects that in the past signaled the protective presence of God, but this time God would be active to punish them.
Judgment Day. The day of Yahweh notion as found in Amos 5:18-20, Isaiah 2:6-22, and Zephaniah 1:14-2:3 is a prophetic expression signaling the impending destruction of God’s own people. Authorities trace the idea back to the conquest and holy war tradition of God’s appearing in victory (see von Rad 1991). At that time, of course, Israel was the recipient of the triumphs of Yahweh. The day of Yahweh is the prototype of the judgment day of apocalypticism. A final battle between good and evil will mark the end of history. The cosmic scale of this day is evident in Zechariah 14 and Joel 2.
Table 13.D Outline of Zephaniah
Judgment Against Judah (1:2-2:3)
Oracles Against Foreign Nations (2:4-15)
Judgment Against Judah (3:1-8)
Salvation for Judah (3:9-20)
B. Nahum
The book of Nahum is one thing only, an oracle denouncing Nineveh, the glorious capital city of the Assyrian domain. The book looks forward to the destruction of this city, which epitomized everything the Judeans hated about the Assyrians. Because the city was not destroyed until 612 B.C.E., the book that places its destruction in the future must have been written before that time. Some authorities place it as early as 650, others just before the actual destruction of the city.
Nahum vividly depicts the battle of Nineveh in all its confusion and gore. The prophet seems eager to gloat–no wonder, after the decades of Assyrian tyranny and oppression under which Israel and Judah suffered. The basic theme of Nahum is this: Yahweh punishes any nation, in this case Assyria, that has exploited his people and treated them cruelly. Israel’s enemies are God’s enemies, and God is supreme, being even more powerful than the mightiest empire.
Table 13. Outline of Nahum
Destruction of Nineveh (1)
The Assault Against Nineveh (2)
Woe Oracle Against the Bloody City (3
C. Habakkuk
The prophet Habakkuk was active in Judah during the first part of the Babylonian crisis, from around 608 to 598 B.C.E. Virtually nothing is known about the prophet himself. The book essentially consists of two units. The first unit, chapters 1-2, is a dialogic give-and-take between Habakkuk and Yahweh. The second unit, chapter 3, is a hymn, much in the style of hymns in the book of Psalms, which anticipates the victory march of Yahweh who would vindicate his people.
The first unit is remarkable for the frankness of its theological inquiry. Habakkuk questions God in an attempt to understand the morality of God’s actions, specifically how God could use the evil Babylonians to punish his own covenant people, who presumably are not as bad as that nasty Nebuchadnezzar. The investigation of the morality of God’s actions is referred to by the theological term theodicy. Habakkuk put it this way:
13 Your eyes are too clean to countenance evil. You are not able to put up with wrongdoing. Why, then, do you put up with treacherous people, and are silent when the wicked devour those more righteous than they? (1:13)
Yahweh replied:
2 Write down the vision, make it legible on clay tablets so that anyone in a hurry can read it. 3 For this vision is for a time yet to come. It deals with the end and will not deceive. If it seems to be delayed, just wait for it. It will definitely come, it will not be late. 4 Now the proud, his life is not virtuous. But the righteous, by his faithfulness will he have life. (2:2-4)
Although there are translation problems in verse 4, in essence God’s answer seems to be this: Be patient, Habakkuk. This is the way I planned it. The proud, that is, the Babylonians, will meet their end eventually, and in the not too distant future. The righteous, that is, the Judeans, will survive if only they remain faithful to God.
The prophecy of Habakkuk affirms the sovereignty of God, and promises that in the end the wicked would be punished and the righteous vindicated
Table 13.F Outline of Habakkuk
Dialogue between Habakkuk and Yahweh (1:2-2:5)
First Cycle
Habakkuk’s Lament (1:2-4)
Yahweh’s Response (1:5-11)
Second Cycle
Habakkuk’s Lament (1:12-13)
Yahweh’s Response (2:1-5)
Five Woes (2:6-20)
Prayer of Habakkuk (3)
. Obadiah
The book of Obadiah is the shortest book in the Hebrew Bible. It is only one chapter long and consists of a single oracle against the country of Edom, which lay immediately to the southeast of Judah. We know virtually nothing about the prophet Obadiah, except that his name means “servant of Yahweh,” a common Hebrew name.
The book of Obadiah is undated, but it is usually credited to the period immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.E. The theme of the oracle is divine condemnation of Edom because the Edomites took advantage of the Judeans after they were forced to leave Jerusalem. The Edomites even seem to have cooperated with the Babylonians in despoiling Judah at the time of the exile. Obadiah voices the words of Yahweh:
13 You should not have entered the gate of my people on the day of their tragedy. You of all people should not have gazed on their disaster on the day of their tragedy. You should not have looted their goods on the day of their tragedy. (1:13)
With nobody to stop them, Edomites encroached on Judean territory during the period of Judean exile. Obadiah makes reference to the Day of Yahweh as the time Edom would be punished by a vengeful God. He predicts a time when the exiles would return and Mount Zion would again be glorious.
There was a long-standing antagonism between Israel and Edom. The antipathy was traced in the national epic all the way back to the rivalry between Jacob and Esau, who was the ancestor of the Edomites. Obadiah stands with Amos, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel as a prophetic voice condemning Edom. In fact, Obadiah and Jeremiah stand so closely together that portions of Jeremiah’s oracle of judgment against Edom in 49:7-22 are found in Obadiah 1-9.
Jeremiah 49:14-16 (NRSV) 14 I have heard tidings from the LORD and a messenger has been sent among the nations: “Gather yourselves together and come against her, and rise up for battle!” 15 For I will make you least among the nations, despised by humankind. 16 The terror you inspire and the pride of your heart have deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill. Although you make your nest as high as the eagle’s, from there I will bring you down, says the LORD. | Obadiah 1-4 (NRSV) 1 We have heard a report from the LORD, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: “Rise up! Let us rise against it for battle!” 2 I will surely make you least among the nations; you shall be utterly despised. 3 Your proud heart has deceived you, you that live in the clefts of the rock, whose dwelling is in the heights. You say in your heart, “Who will bring me down to the ground?” 4 Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says the LORD.
Jeremiah 49:9-10 (NRSV) 9 If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? If thieves came by night, even they would pillage only what they wanted. 10 But as for me, I have stripped Esau bare, I have uncovered his hiding places. | Obadiah 5-6 (NRSV) 5 If thieves came to you, if plunderers by night–how you have been destroyed!–would they not steal only what they wanted? If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? 6 How Esau has been pillaged, his treasures searched out!
Obadiah’s version is a bit wordier perhaps, but both either draw on the same tradition, or Obadiah borrowed from Jeremiah.
Table 13. Outline of Obadiah
Introduction (1-4)
Edom’s pillaging and betrayal (5-7)
Oracle of Judgment (8-14)
The Day of Yahweh (15-18)
Division of the Land (19-21)
Table 13.6 Kings and Prophets of the Persian Period | Table 13.6 Kings and Prophets of the Persian Period | Table 13.6 Kings and Prophets of the Persian Period
Jewish Leaders | Persian Kings | Hebrew Prophets
Sheshbazzar 538 | Cyrus 550-530 |
Zerubbabel c. 520 | Cambyses 530-522 | Third Isaiah 520-520
| Darius I 522-486 | Haggai 520
| | Zechariah c. 520-518
| | Malachi c. 500-450
| Xerxes 486-465 | Joel c. 400-350
Ezra c. 450 | Artaxerxes I 465-424 | Jonah c. 400
Nehemiah c. 445 | | Second Zechariah c. 400
3. Persian Period - A. Haggai, B. Zechariah, C. Malachi, D. Joel , E. Jonah
A. Haggai
Cyrus allowed the Judean refugees to return to Palestine, and he encouraged them to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Life was very difficult back in Judea, and the work, though begun shortly after 538, soon ground to a halt. Haggai was a major voice in Jerusalem encouraging the work to be completed. In 520 he gave five addresses, collected in the book of Haggai, which urged the Jewish leaders to assume responsibility for the project and finish it. The leaders at this time were Zerubbabel, the governor, and Joshua, the high priest (spelled “Jeshua” in the Chronicler’s History). Addressing them and the people of Jerusalem, Haggai said,
2 Thus says YHWH of hosts, “These people said, ‘It is not yet time to rebuild YHWH’s house.’” 3 The word of YHWH came through the prophet Haggai, 4 “Is it time for you to live in your paneled homes while this house remains in ruins?”… 9 “You have expected much but now it has came to little. When you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says YHWH of hosts. “Because my house lies in ruins, while all of you are concerned about your own homes.” (1:2-4, 9)
Evidently the people were busy reestablishing their own standard of living while putting off rebuilding the temple until they were satisfied. Haggai demanded that the people reverse their priorities. First, Yahweh’s house must be rebuilt, and only afterwards might the people expect to prosper. In large measure due to Haggai’s urging, the temple was completed in 515. This temple has come to be called the Second Temple to distinguish it from the first temple of Solomon.
Haggai expressed the Jerusalemite priestly perspective that the presence of Yahweh in Jerusalem was the precondition for the return of national prosperity and blessing. And Yahweh would not return until he had a dwelling place, the temple. In his last address to Zerubbabel (2:20-22) Haggai foresaw the demise of the other nations and the rise to power of Zerubbabel who would be God’s “signet ring”.
Table 13.H Outline of Haggai
Call to Rebuild the Temple (1)
Promise of Restoration (2:1-9)
Call to Be Holy (2:10-19)
Zerubbabel the Chosen Leader (2:20-23)
B. Zechariah
The prophet Zechariah was a contemporary of Haggai, and both were contemporaries of the leaders of the early Judean restoration, Zerubbabel and Joshua. Zechariah prophesied in Jerusalem from 520 to 518 B.C.E. Whereas the style of Haggai’s prophecy was hortatory, Zechariah’s prophecy took the shape of visions and dialogues with God.
The book of Zechariah divides into two main parts. The first unit, chapters 1-8, is usually attributed to the prophet Zechariah of the sixth century. The second unit, chapters 9-14, are referred to as Second Zechariah. It was written by an unnamed prophet (a situation much like that in the book of Isaiah) in the Greek period of the fourth and third centuries B.C.E.
Zechariah was concerned about the religious purity of the people and the morale of Jerusalem’s leaders. To that end he attempted to inspire them. In eight visions Zechariah glimpsed the changes ahead. In the first vision he saw four horsemen patrolling the earth in anticipation of the punishment of the foreign nations, and the return to power of Jerusalem. In the second he saw four horns representing world powers and four blacksmiths who would destroy those horns. In the third he saw a man measuring Jerusalem for the rebuilding of its walls, who was then told that the city would be huge, and Yahweh would be its protecting wall.
In the fourth vision Zechariah saw an unclean Joshua, the high priest, standing accused by Satan of being unfit for duty. Then he was confirmed by God and given the duties of the high priesthood. In the fifth he saw two olive trees, representing Zerubbabel and Joshua, who supplied a golden lamp stand that illuminated the world. In the sixth he saw a flying scroll containing the covenant laws. All wrongdoers fell under the judgment of the Torah. In the seventh he saw wickedness personified as a woman in a flying basket, which was removed to a distant land. In the eighth, forming an envelope structure with the first vision, he saw four horses patrolling the earth in anticipation of the messianic age.
The first unit closes on a highly positive note. Yahweh declared that he would return to Jerusalem, restore its greatness, and usher in a time of peace.
7 Thus says YHWH of hosts, “Now I am saving my people from the eastern territory and from the western territory. 8 I will bring them to live in Jerusalem. They will be my people and I will be their God, with faithfulness and righteousness.” (8:7-8)
Here Zechariah anticipates even further repatriations of the people. Jerusalem remained the holy city of the Jews, and the ideal for the Jews of the dispersion was to return to Zion. Notice also how Zechariah uses the covenant slogan to express hope: “They will be my people and I will be their God.”
We note a couple features of the prophecies of Zechariah. The book of Zechariah demonstrates a considerable awareness of past prophecy. Zechariah clearly sees himself as standing in a long line of prophetic tradition. The book begins by drawing connections.
4 “Do not be like your forebears, to whom earlier prophets preached, ‘Thus says YHWH of hosts, return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not hear me, says YHWH. 5 Where are your forebears now? Do the prophets live forever? 6 But my words and my laws, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your forebears so that they repented and said, YHWH of hosts has dealt with us according to our ways and deeds, just as he planned to do.” (1:4-6)
Zechariah attests here to the power of the word of Yahweh spoken through the prophets. The tragedy of the exile was the result of the hardness of the ancestors’ hearts and happened according to God’s plan. This should be a warning to the current generation. Furthermore, serving as the introduction to the visions, it reinforces the certainty of the prophetic word concerning the future.
Zechariah also shows his dependence on earlier prophecy by the way he adopts and adapts earlier prophetic images. Jeremiah’s prophecy of the seventy years of captivity (Jeremiah 29) was used in the first vision to designate the length of captivity. It also became the basis of Daniel’s vision of seventy weeks of years (Daniel 9). And the flying scroll of the sixth vision seems to derive from Ezekiel’s scroll (Ezekiel 2-3).
The oracles found in Second Zechariah echo familiar prophetic themes: the destruction of the foreign nations, the restoration of Israel, and the coming Day of Yahweh. Second Zechariah gives special attention to messianic leadership. It describes the triumphant king who comes on a donkey (chapter 9). The evil shepherds would be removed from office (chapters 11 and 13). The evil nations would be finally destroyed, and Jerusalem would become a holy place where Yahweh the king would dwell forever.
C. Malachi
Nothing is known about the prophet Malachi. Based on an analysis of the themes of the book, it is supposed that he lived in the period 500-450 B.C.E. He complained about abuses in the Second Temple, which was completed in 515. Concern about foreign marriages (2:10-12) was a major issue in Ezra’s day (around 450).
The book of Malachi makes extensive use of the disputation literary form. That is, it frames its prophecies in a question-and-answer dialogic style.
In chapters 1 and 2 Malachi examines the shortcomings of the priests using this disputation style.
6 “A son honors a father, and a servant his master. I am a father. Where is my honor? If I am master, where is my respect?” says YHWH of hosts to you priests who despise my name. You say, “How have we despised your name?” 7 By offering on my altar defiled food. You say, “How have we defiled you?” By your saying that the table of YHWH is defileable. 8 “If you offer for sacrifice something blind, is that not wrong? If you offer something lame or sick, is that not wrong? Offer it to your governor! Would he take it? Would he show you favor?” says YHWH of hosts. (1:6-8)
Here the priests are exposed for dishonoring God with inferior animal sacrifices. Damaged animals were not acceptable for sacrifice. Being less valuable, they indicated less than total devotion. The priests kept the better animals for themselves.
Except for a few negative remarks about Edom, Malachi is concerned less with the foreign nations and more with the spiritual condition of the priesthood and the people. He anticipates a judgment day when the wicked would be destroyed and the righteous rewarded. The book closes with references to the two figures that epitomize the Torah and the prophets, thereby upholding the venerable covenant traditions of Israel.
4 Remember the Torah of Moses my servant, that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel, the laws and rules. 5 Now, I am sending to you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible Day of YHWH comes. 6 He will turn the heart of fathers to sons and the heart of sons to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with utter destruction. (4:4-6)
The expectation of the return of Elijah before the judgment day is here stated clearly. This has given rise to traditions of Elijah’s return within both Judaism and Christianity. Elijah has a place within the traditional Jewish celebration of the Passover yet today. And New Testament writers viewed the career of John the Baptist as the realization of this expected return of Elijah.
The book of Malachi is the last book of the Twelve. It is not necessarily the last book chronologically, given its uncertain setting and our inability to nail down the chronology of some of the other books of the Twelve. Yet it was judged to be a fitting conclusion to the Book of the Twelve, probably because of its eschatological flavor.
1 | 1:2-5 | “I have loved you,” says YHWH. But you say, “How have you loved us?”
2 | 1:6-2:9 | “If I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of me?” says YHWH. But you say, “How have we despised your name?”
3 | 2:10-16 | “How are we faithless?” … “You have been faithless to your wife, your companion.”
4 | 2:17-3:5 | “You have tired YHWH with your words.” Yet you say, “How have we tired him?”
5 | 3:6-12 | You say, “How are we robbing you?” “In your tithes and offerings.”
6 | 3:13-4:3 | You say, “How have we spoken against you?” You have said, “It is useless to serve God.”
Table 13.J Outline of Malachi
Superscription (1:1)
Yahweh Loves Jacob and Hates Esau (1:2-5)
Yahweh Exposes Unfaithful Priests (1:6-2:9)
Yahweh Hates Divorce (2:10-16)
Yahweh Will Send a Messenger to Prepare for the Day of Yahweh (2:17-3:5)
Call to Repentance (3:6-12)
Israel Will Be Restored (3:13-4:3)
Keep Torah; Elijah is Coming (4:4-5)
. Joel
It is difficult to pin down the historical setting of the prophecies of Joel. Early readers must have thought him pre-exilic, hence his placement between Hosea and Amos. The book of Joel was placed before Amos perhaps because of the correspondence between Joel 3:16 and Amos 1:2, and Joel 3:18 and Amos 9:13. Also, Amos, like Joel, was alert to the coming Day of Yahweh.
The evidence for establishing an historical context for Joel is only inferential. Nothing is mentioned about the destruction of Jerusalem, allowing a pre-exilic date that makes him a contemporary of Jeremiah. But the absence of any reference to a king, or to the Assyrians and Babylonians, and an apparent reference to the dispersion, all suggest a postexilic date. The general consensus is that Joel is to be placed somewhere in the period 400-350 B.C.E.
The central theme of the book is this notion of the Day of Yahweh which gives the book as a whole its coherence. The book of Joel divides into two parts. The first part, chapters 1:1-2:27, centers on an elaborate vision of a locust plague, which is a way to warn of the coming judgment of God, the Day of Yahweh. The second part, chapters 2:28-3:21, describes the blessings on Judah and Jerusalem with the coming Day of Yahweh and the corresponding punishment of the surrounding nations.
Joel has sometimes been called a “cult prophet”. That is, he was supportive of the priesthood and the temple, and perhaps was even a priest himself. He was concerned that offerings were not coming in as expected,in part because the land itself was not providing the produce, and in part because the people were not forthcoming. Consequently, the priests were unable to perform their duties.
9 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of YHWH. The priests mourn, the ministers of YHWH. (1:9)
This concern for the temple and its priests is more characteristic of postexilic prophecy than pre-exilic. Compare Jeremiah, who criticized the complacency and self-servingness of the priests in the Jerusalem temple. Joel is more like Haggai and Malachi in his support of the temple.
Joel was a prophet of the judgment day. He called it the “Day of Yahweh” (1:15), as did Amos, but he broadened the concept into a comprehensive world-historical event. Presuming the postexilic dating of Joel, the book is a study in the appropriation of earlier prophetic tradition, especially that of Amos and the Day of Yahweh.
15 Watch out for THE DAY! The Day of YHWH is near. As destruction from Shaddai it comes. (1:15)
Here Joel uses the priestly designation for the God of the Ancestors, (El) Shaddai. But the God of the Ancestors has turned against Israel. The notion of the Day of Yahweh appears to come out of the conquest tradition. It was Yahweh’s day, the day when he demonstrated his power by destroying Israel’s enemies. Times have changed. Now his power will be unleashed against Israel. But if the people take warning and repent, disaster can be averted.
The occasion for Joel’s core prophecy most likely was the devastating locust plague described in 1:4. The only way to avert disaster is though a communal fast. The coming destruction is described as a locust plague, which became a metaphor for the devastating army that would do the actual work of punishing Israel.
Joel also foresaw the coming of a new age, a time of salvation.
28 “Then afterward, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. 29 I will even pour out my spirit on male and female slaves in those days.” (2:28-29)
The pouring out of God’s spirit seems to continue the spirit theme expressed in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. In those books, God would give the people a new heart and a new spirit. Here, if we are dealing with the same general expectation, this new spirit would have its source in God.
The pouring out of the spirit in Joel has associations with prophetic anointing. The spirit would inspire dreams and visions. The remarkable aspect of the outpouring is its democratic scope. Everyone, young and old, male and female, slave and free, would receive the prophetic gift in the latter days.
Joel’s interest in the future has been read as having apocalyptic characteristics.
30 “I will show portents in the heavens and on earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.” (2:30-31)
The Day of Yahweh, in Joel’s description, has cosmic associations. The fire and smoke we associate with an appearance of God, a theophany. The blood could connote many things, including the taking of life. The celestial imagery here in Joel has an apocalyptic flavor. This, combined with Joel’s “end of the world,” or eschatological, interest, shows he has affinities with the full-fledged apocalyptic literature which proliferates in the late postexilic period (see Chapter 17).
Table 13.K Outline of Joel
Locust Plague (1:1-2:27)
Day of Yahweh (2:28-3:21)
E. Jonah
The book of Jonah is quite unlike any other book of the Twelve–in fact, quite unlike any other book in the Hebrew Bible. For one thing, it is a tale about a prophet, rather than a collection of utterances by him. No one really knows for sure when it was written, or where. And then, of course, there is this business of a fish swallowing the prophet, who survives and is vomited onto the shore. This is so wild, could it really have happened?
To address this and other issues we need to wrestle with the nature of the book. In particular, what is its genre, or literary type? Scholars have made many suggestions. Some authorities tend to argue for the historicity of the record, finding reasons to affirm that a fish could swallow a person live. Many others have read it as fiction, regarding it as didactic narrative, or a novella, a short story, or even a satire of Jewish piety.
The main character in the book is Jonah. He is attested as a real figure by 2 Kings 14:25, which tells us that he was from Gath-hepher and that he was a prophet during the reign of the Israelite king Jeroboam II in the eighth century B.C.E. That would have made Jonah a contemporary of Amos, probably accounting for the juxtaposition of the two books in the Twelve. The book’s date of composition, however, is uncertain. Many scholars place it in the postexilic period.
This is the story line. Yahweh directed Jonah to go the Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian empire. Jonah went by boat in the opposite direction, so Yahweh sent a storm to stop him. The sailors determined that Jonah was the cause of the storm. After considerable moral anguish, they threw Jonah overboard and the seas calmed.
Jonah was swallowed by a large fish. From the innards of the fish he addressed God with a hymn of thanksgiving for deliverance. The fish deposited Jonah on the Mediterranean coast. From there he proceeded to Nineveh, where he declared its doom. The people repented, and God withdrew the destruction he had devised for the city. Then Jonah became very angry. He resented God’s mercy and left the city to pout and see if the city would really be spared.
There in the desert God created a bush for Jonah, who was overjoyed to have the shade. God removed it the next day, and Jonah was absolutely distraught that it had died. Hidden somewhere in this was a lesson about grace and mercy. Jonah should have been happy that all Nineveh’s inhabitants had not been destroyed; instead he was disappointed.
The book of Jonah has been interpreted in a variety of different ways. The following are some of the interpretive angles that have been proposed.
It is a satire with snide commentary on prophetic calling, using Jonah as a caricature to portray the reluctance of professional prophets to follow the leading of God.
It is a criticism of Israelite prophets, exposing their insincerity at preaching repentance, without really wanting to see it, and being disappointed (and taking it as personal failure) when destructive judgment is not meted out by God.
It is an implicit criticism of the Jewish community, which was generally unwilling to respond to prophetic calls to repentance, in contrast with the willingness of Nineveh, including king, people and even cattle, who responded immediately in faith.
It is a criticism of an exclusionary Jewish belief in divine election, the belief that God was only concerned about his chosen people and no one else.
It asserts God’s freedom to change his mind, overagainst prophets and theologians who would limit that freedom.
It explores the dilemma of true and false prophecy, showing that the words of true prophets (Jonah in this case) do not always come true.
It is an allegory of Israel in exile, both Jonah and Judah looking to God for the destruction of an evil empire.
The point of the story is difficult to determine (if, in fact, there is only one intended point), especially in light of the indeterminate way the book ends–with a rhetorical question.
9 God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” He replied, “It is right for me to be angry, to death.” 10 YHWH said, “You cared about the bush over which you did not labor or cause to grow, which between a night and a night came up and died. 11 Should I not care about the great city Nineveh, in which there are more than 120,000 people who do not know their right hand from their left, and many animals?” (4:9-11)
In light of the prophetic preoccupation with cursing foreign nations, God’s concern for those notoriously nasty Assyrians is especially remarkable. Perhaps among other things, the book of Jonah is at least saying that God has the freedom to show mercy to the foreign nations if he wants to. The people of God have no right to be self-righteous or to hold on to the love of God selfishly.
Drawing on the remarkable “God is slow to anger and abounding in love” tradition of the Torah (see Numbers 14:18), Jonah angrily threw back into the face of God the divine reputation for showing compassion.
2 “Is this not what I said while I was still back home? That is why I fled to Tarshish in the first place. I know that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, and abounding in love, and ready to relent from punishing.” (4:2)
Jonah’s sarcasm exposed his own pettiness and self-absorption, in contrast to God’s unbounded love and concern for all people. This lesson seems to have been needed by the Jewish community of the postexilic period, when it was natural to be resentful of its neighbors and self-absorbed. The self-criticism implicit in the book of Jonah makes its inclusion in the canon especially remarkable.
Table 13.L Outline of Jonah
Jonah’s First Call to Preach to Nineveh; the Storm; Jonah Swallowed by a Fish (1)
Jonah’s Prayer From the Belly of the Fish (2)
Jonah’s Second Call to Preach to Nineveh; Nineveh Repents (3)