Israel's Prophets and Israel's Past Essays on the Relationship of Prophetic Texts and Israelite History in Honor of John H. Hayes

by Kelle, Brad E.; Moore, Megan Bishop

• ISBN13: 9780567026521
• ISBN10: 0567026523
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-11-01
• Publisher: Bloomsbury T & T Clark

Summary

This volume is an inquiry into the complex relationship of the prophetic texts and Israelite history. Taken as a whole, the book provides a "round-table" discussion that examines the thesis that the study of prophetic literature (i.e., Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve) and the history of Israel are best undertaken in interaction with one another. This topic appropriately honors John Hayes's long-standing scholarly contributions in prophetic interpretation and historical research, as well as his interest in the possibilities of the intersection of these two areas. The volume also promises to contribute to the body of knowledge about prophets and Israel's past in general by affording twenty-four historians and prophetic scholars the opportunity to explore their areas of interest in fresh ways while in dialogue with a central thesis. All twenty-four contributors have engaged John's ideas about prophets and/or history as students, colleagues, or in their research and publications. Thus, the question of what impact the fields of prophetic research and Israelite history can and should have on one another unites the articles. The book's individual parts, however, are contributions of historians and prophetic scholars who enter the discussion from their own perspectives and examine the possibilities and problems of the intersection of these two topics. The articles from historians will focus on questions about the usefulness of prophetic texts for reconstructing Israel's history, and will also branch out and address topics such as the social location of the prophets and the benefits of other ancient texts, as well as archaeology, to understanding the prophets. Scholars coming from the prophetic "side" will offer different perspectives on prophetic identity, experience, and rhetoric, and their possible correlations with historical contexts. These articles will engage broad issues such as how history may form the "context of prophets' thought" (to quote contributor J. Gordon McConville), and will explore specific texts and issues drawn from Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, Zechariah, along with Daniel and Deuteronomy.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	ix
List of Contributors	xiii
INTRODUCTION
Brad E. Kelle and Megan Bishop Moore	1
Part I THE PROPHETS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
ISRAEL'S PAST: OUR "BEST GUESS SCENARIO"
J. Maxwell Miller	9
WRITING ISRAEL'S HISTORY USING THE PROPHETIC BOOKS
Megan Bishop Moore	23
DE-HISTORICIZING AND HISTORICIZING TENDENCIES IN THE TWELVE PROPHETIC BOOKS: A CASE STUDY OF THE HEURISTIC VALUE OF A HISTORICALLY ANCHORED SYSTEMIC APPROACH TO THE CORPUS OF PROPHETIC LITERATURE
Ehud Ben Zvi	37
ANCIENT ISRAELITE PROPHETS AND GREEK POLITICAL ORATORS: ANALOGIES FOR THE PROPHETS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR HISTORICAL RECONSTRUCTION	57
Brad E. Kelle
Part II THE PROPHETS IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT
AMOS THE PROPHET AND AMOS THE BOOK: HISTORICAL FRAMEWORK
Gene M. Tucker	85
REDACTION, HISTORY, AND REDACTION-HISTORY OF AMOS IN RECENT SCHOLARSHIP
Marc Zvi Brettler	103
AMOS, MAN AND BOOK
Philip R. Davies	113
"HOW CAN JACOB STAND? HE IS SO SMALL!" (AMOS 7:2): THE PROPHETIC WORD AND THE RE-IMAGINING OF ISRAEL
J. Gordon McConville	132
THE BIBLICAL : WHAT IS IT?
Oded Borowski	152
RELATING PROPHETS AND HISTORY: AN EXAMPLE FROM HOSEA 13
Stuart A. Irvine	158
A PROSTITUTE UNLIKE WOMEN: WHORING AS METAPHORIC VEHICLE FOR FOREIGN ALLIANCES	167
Peggy L. Day
(E)MASCULINITY IN HOSEA'S POLITICAL RHETORIC
Susan E. Haddox	174
ISAIAH'S EGYPTIAN AND NUBIAN ORACLES
J.J.M. Roberts	201
HERODOTUS' HISTORIES 2.141 AND THE DELIVERANCE OF JERUSALEM: ON PARALLELS, SOURCES, AND HISTORIES OF ANCIENT ISRAEL
Brent A. Strawn	210
THE ROYAL ORACLE IN EZEKIEL 37:15-28: EZEKIEL'S REFLECTION ON JOSIAH'S REFORM
Marvin A. Sweeney	239
NECESSARY ENEMIES: NEBUCHADNEZZAR, YHWH, AND GOG IN EZEKIEL 38-39
Julie Galambush	254
ZERUBBABEL, ZECHARIAH 3-4, AND POST-EXILIC HISTORY
Bob Becking	268
EZEKIEL SPINNING THE WHEELS OF HISTORY
Alice W. Hunt	280
Part III THE PROPHETS IN HISTORICAL TRADITION AND RECEPTION
RHYME AND REASON: THE HISTORICAL RESUME IN ISRAELITE AND EARLY JEWISH THOUGHT
Carol A. Newsom	293
"DIE AMBIGUOUS ROLE OF MOSES AS PROPHET
David L. Petersen	311
THE PLACE OF ISRAELITE PROPHECY IN HUMAN HISTORY
Martin J. Buss	325
A Select Bibliography of John H. Hayes	342
Index of References	346
Index of Authors	357