“In part one I venture an exegesis of the book of Amos in order to show how one can discern the original words of the prophet himself, the words of later editors, and the text’s intended message. [...]Parts two, three, and four examine the rest of the prophets and divide them into three periods: pre-exilic, exilic, and post-exilic. The goal here is to cover what I consider to be the specific input of each of the subsequent prophets, thereby sparing the reader the tediousness of going time and again over elements common to more than one prophet. And on the positive side, discussing in more detail the particular contribution of each prophet will help illuminate the lengthy and, at times, meandering path of God’s ‘prophetic word’ over the centuries. My hope is that such an endeavor will help the reader to see this prophetic word ‘at work.’” —“Foreword”
Summary Chronology of the Prophets Abbreviations Foreword Introduction The Prophets as Public Speakers The Aggressiveness of God The Coming End God Himself Causes the End God Acting Here and Now One Universal God Condemnation of Secularism The Call to Repentance Pictures vs. Words The “Pregnant” Word I—The Book of Amos 1 Introductory Material (1:1-2) Layers of Traditon (1:1a) Beginning and Ending Dates (1:1b) A Preface (1:2) 2 Oracles Against the Nations (1:3-2:16) Editorial Additions (1:9-12; 2:4-5) The Oracles Against Neighboring Nations (1:3-8; 1:13-2:3) The Oracle Against Israel (2:6, 13-16) An Editor’s Comments (2:7-12) 3 The Three “Words” (3:1-5:6, 5:8-9) Announcement of Punishment (3:1-2) Warnings Against Heedlessness (3:3-8) Excursus: The Heavenly Council The Lord’s Lawsuit (3:9-11) Emphasis on the Completeness of Destruction (3:12) God Will Abandon His Sanctuary (3:13-15) The Cows of Bashan (4:1-3) God Rejects the Israelites’ Sacrifices (4:4-5) Repeated Warnings Ignored (4:6-13) A Proleptic Lament (5:1-3) God Cannot be Found in Israel’s Sanctuaries (5:4-5) A Cultic Hymn (5:8-9) 4 The Three “Woes” (5:7, 10-25; 6:1-14) A Call to Repentance (5:6) The Orphaned Beginning of the First Woe (5:7) The Continuation of the First Woe (5:10) Editorial Embellishments (5:11-12a) A Fragment of the Original “Woe” (5:12b) Advice and Exhortation (5:13-15) God’s Retribution Illustrated (5:16-17) Warnings Against Vain Hopes (5:18-20, 27) Worship Without Justice is Worthless (5:21-24) Israel’s Apostasy Began Long Ago (5:25-26) The Third “Woe” (6:1-7) Oracles against Samaria (6:8-14) 5 The Five Visions: Amos’ Call (7:1-9:6) The Structure and Message of 7:1-8:3 The First Three Visions (7:1-9) The Prophetic Word Rejected (7:10-13) “I am no prophet” (7:14-15) An Oracle Against Amaziah (7:16-17) Fourth Vision and Attached Oracles (8:1-14) The Fifth Vision and a Concluding Hymn (9:1-6) 6 An Epilogue (9:7-15) A Transition (9:7-8) Less Than Total Destruction (9:9-10) Future Restoration (9:11-15) 7 The Book of Amos and its Message II—The Pre-Exilic Period 8 Hosea Hosea’s Marriage The First Child: Punishment Decreed for the King (1:4-6) The Second Child: Punishment Decreed for the Nation (1:6-8) The Third Child: The Punishment is Irrevocable (1:8-9) A Digression (1:10-2:1) The Sin of Israel (2:2-13) A Message of Hope (2:14-23) Another Introduction (3:1-5) 9 Isaiah An Introduction to the Book of Isaiah (ch.1) An Introduction to Chs.6-39 (chs.2-5) The Call of Isaiah (ch.6) The Sign of Immanuel (ch.7) The Sign of Maher-šalal-haš-baz (ch.8) Messianic Oracles (chs.9-12) 10 Jeremiah Jeremiah’s Call (ch.1) God Rejects His Chosen City (ch.7) The Book of Consolation (chs.30-33) The New Covenant (31:31-34) The Book of Jeremiah The books of Nahum, Zephaniah, and Habakkuk III—The Exilic Period 11 Ezekiel God’s Universality A Radically New Reading of the Past A New (Kind of) Exodus A New (Kind of) Israel A New (Kind of) Order The Influence of Ezekiel 12 Second Isaiah Characteristics of Second Isaiah’s Message The First Poem (Is 42:1-4) The Second Poem (Is 49:1-6) Excursus: “Israel” in Is 49:3 The Third Servant Poem (Is 50:4-9) The Fourth Servant Poem (52:13-53:12) The Identity of the Servant of the Poems IV—The Post-Exilic Period 13 The Second Scripture Haggai and Zechariah Joel and Obadiah Jonah “God’s Rule/Kingdom” and Apocalypticism Third Isaiah The Book of Isaiah Micah Second Zechariah and Malachi The Prophetic Literature and the “Second Scripture” 14 Daniel The Structure of Daniel The Septuagint Book of Daniel The Influence of Daniel Epilogue Selected Bibliography General Commentaries Index Index of Scriptural References
Item Number: BKV752 Publication data: Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1994 Format: softcover Number of pages: xiv + 233 Dimensions (l × w × h): 21.5 cm × 14.1 cm × 1.8 cm ISBN: 0‒88141‒106-X
