Posts

Micah 1-3

Micah is the first book in this series to definitely originate in the kingdom of Judah, likely in the period after the destruction of Samaria by the Assyrians. The book begins with the punishment of Samaria in a very kinetic scene: “For lo, the Lord is coming out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. Then the mountains will melt under him and the valleys will burst open, like wax near the fire, like waters poured down a steep place.”  - Micah 1:3-4 Micah then echoes other prophets in comparing Israel to a prostitute. Is this a direct influence from Hosea, simple a very common insult at the time, or evidence of ritual prostitution occurring in competing cults? It will be interesting to see when that insult becomes less common. The focus then moves to the impact on Judah. Verse 9 is very suggestive, “her [Israel’s] wound is incurable, it has come to Judah.” This appears to be blaming Israel for the destruction facing Judah, presumably the looming t
Post a Comment
Read more

Hosea 11-14

The next chapter contains a shift in metaphor from Israel as an unfaithful wife to Israel as a wayward child. Verses like “Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love” (Hosea 11:3-4a) are among the most quotable from the book, but are still interspersed with promises of punishment. The shift from a jealous husband to an enraged father still doesn't sit quite right to me. By this point in the book, I’m not reading the prophecies as following a linear order, but as a series of similar oracles with (largely) the same message, as the cycle of unfaithfulness, punishment, and repentance seems to repeat. I don’t think that the end of Chapter 14, for instance, portrays a meaningfully different redemption than the end of Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 11. There are some interesting historical tidbits from these chapters I want to mention. The first is the continued reference
Post a Comment
Read more

Hosea 4-10

The legal metaphor forms the structure of the beginning of Chapter 4, as “the Lord has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land,” followed by a list of charges: No faithfulness No loyalty No knowledge of God Swearing Lying Murder Stealing Adultery Bloodshed The first three charges provide the most contrast to the condemnations of Amos. Hosea is much more considered with the Israelites’ theology: his complaints seem to be that the Israelites are worshiping other gods and believing the wrong things. He lays the blame for this at the feet of the priests, calling them whores and promising to “destroy [their] mother (4:5).” There are poetic details here that are likely references to specific religious practices, but they’re likely nearly impossible to decode. “Wine and new wine take away the understanding. My people consult a piece of wood, and their divining rod gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have played the whore, forsaking their God. T
Post a Comment
Read more

Hosea 1-3

Reading through Hosea is a very different experience than reading through Amos. The book begins with purportedly biographical information about the prophet that is intended as a metaphor about the relationship between the people of Israel and God. And, well, to address the elephant in the room, it’s not great. The central conceit of these chapters is that Hosea marries a WHORE (representing the people of Israel) who cannot stop WHORING (worshiping other gods) and must be punished (killed by famine and war) before she can be remarried (live in a united theocracy). A variation of the word “whore” is used seven times in these three chapters, and it really sets the tone. Passages like the following, addressed to the prophet’s children, leave a really bad taste in my mouth in a way that Amos fulminating against the elite of Israel for oppressing the poor does not. “Plead with your mother, plead - For she is not my wife, And I am not her husband -  That she put away her whoring from her face
Post a Comment
Read more

Amos 7:10-9:15

After several chapters of prophecy, there is a shift to narrative in the form of a confrontation between Amos and Amaziah, a priest of Bethel, the Israelite shrine near the border with Judah. Amaziah reports Amos for treason and tells him to flee to Judah.* This is also an indication that the religion of Israel at the time was explicitly a political tool of their monarchy, which, to be fair, has often been true of many religions throughout history. *Not back to Judah, which is interesting, though I’m hesitant to split such hairs through translation. Amos identifies himself as being outside the normal families of prophets, as “a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees.” This is similar, but not identical to the profession mentioned at the beginning of the book. Amos then curses Amaziah, but we do not receive any information as to whether he then also left for Judah. Perhaps this is when he moved to Tekoa and changed careers, as indicated in 1:1. Amos as an Israelite who then flees to J
Post a Comment
Read more

Amos 2:9-7:9

Much of the rest of the book of Amos is dedicated to a series of recitations of the benevolence of the Lord, the wrongdoing of the people of Israel, and promises of punishments for said wrongdoing. There are a couple of interesting aspects of this part of the book that I want to mention first: geography and religious practice. The geography of these chapters, the bulk of the book, is focused almost entirely on the northern kingdom and Egypt. Let me do a “places mentioned” list, in order. Egypt (2:10, 3:1, 3:9, 4:10) People of Israel (Northern Kingdom; 2:11, 3:1, 3:12, 3:14, 4:12, 5:1, 5:2, 6:1, 7:9) Ashdod (Philistia; 3:9) Mount Samaria (Northern Capital; 3:9, 3:12; 4:1, 6:1) Bethel (Northern Shrine, near the Judahite border; 3:14, 4:4, 5:5, 5:6) Bashan (Northern Jordan, under Israel’s control; 4:1) Gilgal (Northern Kingdom; 4:4, 5:5) Sodom and Gomorrah (4:11) Beersheba (Town in the far south, but a Northern shrine; 5:5) Damascus (Syria; 5:27) Zion (Probably Jerusalem in Southern Kingd
Post a Comment
Read more