The Book of Nahum is a prophetic book concerned with pronouncing judgment upon the Assyrian capital of Nineveh, and with detailing its coming destruction at the hands of Yahweh. In light of this concern, it is not surprising that the primary image and expression of Yahweh in this piece is one of a vengeful and wrathful deity, expressing judgment in the form of destruction and desolation. These images combine to portray the character of Yahweh within the book of Nahum as a angry and judgmental God, bent on the destruction of all those who stand against Israel, a reality that readers struggle to comprehend in light of other texts, especially among the prophets, which depict Yahweh as gracious and merciful. What this essay will argue is that it is this larger textual context of the exploration of divine character, especially among the Twelve, through which Nahum should be understood, as well as through comprehension of the mythical allusions made by the author in Yahweh’s theophany. To show this, we will focus in on Nahum 1:2-3, exploring how it describes Yahweh, especially in relation to its use of Exodus 34:6-7, as well as how this compares to other prophetic texts and Jonah in particular. We will then explore the mythic qualities of Yahweh, particularly in Nahum 1:4, and how they relate to our reading of Nahum.
Before beginning our exploration of the character of Yahweh in the Book of Nahum, it is important that we first consider the literary context in which it is placed, that is, its place as a book within the ‘Scroll of the Twelve’. The Scroll of the Twelve is so named as it constitutes a collection of twelve smaller prophetic writings, each attributed to different prophets. Traditionally it has been argued that this ...
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The Book of Job is one of the three books in the Hebrew bible whose genre is described as wisdom literature.1 Certainly the Book of Job satisfies the literary conventions that qualify a biblical book for such status. 2 Yet Job may be associated with wisdom in a much more literal sense. The Book of Job attempts to deal with a problematic question that confronts suffering humanity: why do bad things happen to good people? The variety and vehemence of commentators' contemporary responses to this chapter of the Bible is testament to the continued relevance of the Book of Job's wisdom thousands of years after it was written. Although the commentators examined herein arrive at differing and sometimes conflicting conclusions after reading the story of "the holy Arab"3, none are left indifferent.
Although the Jewish Scriptures evaluated the book of Daniel differently from the Christian Old Testament, by placing it in the Writings instead of with the major prophets, it remains a book of apocalyptic visions. Chapter nine begins with Daniel grappling with the prophetic prediction in Jeremiah 25:11-12, which declares that the Jews would serve the king of Babylon in captivity for seventy years. Now that the seventy years were almost at the end Daniel, in penitential prayer and confession, is petitioning Yahweh on behalf of his people. While in prayer, the angel Gabriel approaches Daniel to give him understanding concerning the future history of the Jewish nation under the illustration of seventy weeks. In Daniel 9:24-27, the account of the seventy weeks is unfolded. This discourse of Gabriel’s interpretation to Daniel concerning these four verses remains one of the most controversial topics among scholars. For, if Daniel 9:24-27 is misunderstood then any exegetical effort will be made to bend all other prophetic Scripture passages in order to compensate for that misinterpretation. However, if these verses are correctly understood, then all prophecy will fall into place without any contextual gymnastics. Therefore, an accurate interpretation of these seventy weeks is fundamental to building a solid understanding to the fulfillment of prophecy in the Bible. This paper will examine from a dispensational view the details of the seventy weeks prophecy, the start and end times of the seventy weeks, the division within the seventy weeks, and the divine purpose intended to provide a basis for building a solid foundation.
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When studying the twelve books of the prophets, the information covers a significant span of time, the duration of several centuries (Wilcox, 2014). Whereas each book tells its own story from a varied perspective, the majority specifically connects to the three-main crisis the Jews faced. The books of Hosea, Joel, and Amos serves as an introduction to the narrative, while Obadiah through Nahum references the Assyrian crisis (Tullock, & McEntire, 2012). Meanwhile, Habakkuk and Zephaniah tells the story of the Babylonian crisis they Jews faced. Finally, the books Haggai through Malachi display Jerusalem and the Temples restoration. Moreover, the Book of the Twelve tends to mirror the narratives of the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel in
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