The book of Obadiah is a text that claims to record a vision of Obadiah; a vision of the downfall of Edom (the kingdom that is descended from Esau), a mountainous kingdom located just south of Moab and Israel, or Judah. The book is a single chapter lasting twenty-one verses, and is sometimes written as "Abdias". … Continue reading The Reckoning of Edom in Obadiah
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Plague and Drought in Joel
The name Joel can be loosely translated to mean "YHWH is God". The Book of Joel is one of the shorter books of the "minor prophets" (named for their length, not their significance). In it, Joel preaches the "word of the Lord" to the "old men" and "inhabitants of the land" -it is an account that is … Continue reading Plague and Drought in Joel
Notes on Amos
Amos lived during the same epoch as Hosea, as both prophets were active in the Northern Kingdom of Israel ("Samaria"), during the reign of Jeroboam II, though Amos is not explicitly described as a prophet in the text (neither he nor his father are described as prophets). He is believed to have been an older … Continue reading Notes on Amos
Infidelity in Hosea
Hosea is the first book of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible. It is one of the shorter books of the Bible. The text suggests that Hosea was an active prophet during the reign of Jeroboim II, during the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel ("Samaria"), which happened around 721 BC. The Talmud praises Hosea … Continue reading Infidelity in Hosea
Sorrow, Anger, and Hope in Lamentations
The book of Lamentations, sometimes called the "Lamentations of Jeremiah", is one of the shorter and more deeply sorrowful books of the Hebrew Bible. From the text, we imagine a lonely, existential man crying out to deaf-heaven from the depths. The book moves from a lament of the city as it weeps in despair (Chapter 1), … Continue reading Sorrow, Anger, and Hope in Lamentations
Thoughts on Jeremiah
As announced at the outset, the writings of Jeremiah take place during the "eleventh year of Zedekiah", the ruler put in place by Babylon after Babylon conquered Jerusalem. In reading the text of Jeremiah we imagine an elderly prophet, Jeremiah, dictating his life and prophecy to a Jewish scribe. During the first part of the book in the … Continue reading Thoughts on Jeremiah
Notes on the Context of the Tanakh
The ancient national identity of Israel arose as a separate and unique group from the Canaanite and Philistine tribes of the ancient Levant (French meaning "rising" coming from the Arabic phrase for the 'rising sun in the east'). Today the Levant roughly comprises Cyprus, Jordan, Israel, Syria, Palestine (the territories), and Lebanon. In the late … Continue reading Notes on the Context of the Tanakh
Thoughts on Ezra-Nehemiah
As with other books of the Bible, such as Chronicles, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were once read as a single scroll by ancient eyes. In the third century AD, Origen, a Christian scholar from Alexandria, proposed dividing the scroll into Ezra I and II (or in Greek "Esdras"), however this never transpired, and even Jerome rejected this proposal in his … Continue reading Thoughts on Ezra-Nehemiah
Thoughts on Chronicles
In (re)reading the Books of Chronicles, I was reminded of the significant amount of time Homer spends listing the various kingdoms composing the Achaean armies in Troy, an its similarity to the genealogical record listed by the author of Chronicles. Both texts provide extensive lists as a matter of record. What is added to the text … Continue reading Thoughts on Chronicles
The Persian Fantasy of Esther
The Scroll of Esther is an unusual text for a variety of reasons. First, because the story is an odd burlesque tale of the ancient Israelites in Persia, and it makes no mention of God -one of only two Biblical texts (the other being Song of Solomon). Instead, Haman (the brutal Persian oppressor of the Jews) notes the … Continue reading The Persian Fantasy of Esther
