H-L-T Reference Sheet on Obadiah 1
Historical Question – Can Edom and the Edomite people be accounted for prior to Obadiah’s vision in the Hebrew Bible and are there additional findings that can corroborate their existence?
Smith’s Bible Dictionary states, in Genesis 32:3, the name Edom was given to Esau, the first-born son of Isaac and twin brother of Jacob who he sold his birthright to for a meal. The country which the Lord subsequently gave to Esau was called ‘the country of Edom,’ and his descendants were called Edomites. Billy K. Smith and Frank S. Page in The New American Commentary Volume 19 B contends, Edom’s hatred of Israel begins even earlier, citing Genesis 25 where it notes the struggle of Esau and Jacob in Rebekah’s womb and
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Obadiah stands between Amos and Jonah, noted by Smith and Page is that both of whom prophesied in the eighth century B.C. and since Obadiah’s date appears to be early in the sixth century B.C., a catchword or theme may explain the canonical position of the book. The approaching day of the Lord is one such theme.
R. Mason in Micah, Nahum, Obadiah provides another reason for the canonical positioning and its length of this book. He claims citing other scholars, ‘its’ difficulty is in inverse proportion to its length'. He further shares, “One of the central questions addressed by the scholarly research is that of the book’s composition and its development. Opinions on this topic are wide-ranging. Some see the 21 verses of the book as a collection of fragments; others view it as a cohesive work, authored by one hand at one time.” Other research findings suggest and agree with one probability of Mason’s assertion that Obadiah was a construct of three different time periods and placing this book between Amos and Jonah succinctly confirmed what happened, what was happening and what would
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Blake notes, the book of Obadiah deserves careful study in length despite the shortness of this particular text. At first glance the span of the book of Obadiah can be misconstrued of less value and importance of other books of the Bible. What is learned by the brevity of the book of Obadiah encompassing one chapter of twenty-one verses with no chapter division has a directional approach for the reader. The briefness that is used encouragers readers to stay completely focused and engaged on what is being said. With limited information in the book, not much can be said about the author, his home, his family, his origin or how he became to be a prophet even. Only his name and that he is a prophet of God is recorded. Reader’s attention is moved away from Obadiah and navigated directly to the message from
LaHaye, Tim, and Ed Hindson. The Popular Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy. Eugene, OR.: Harvest House Publishers, 2004.
Not only does the book relate to the movement of the Israelites, but also to the legendary man who lead them: Moses. Christians, Jews, and Muslims consider Moses a great prophet. One reference to Moses comes when Uncle John puts Rose of Sharon’s baby in the river. This is much like the life of Moses, when he is sent down the Nile River as a child.
It is the reader and his or her interpretive community who attempts to impose a unified reading on a given text. Such readers may, and probably will, claim that the unity they find is in the text, but this claim is only a mask for the creative process actually going on. Even the most carefully designed text can not be unified; only the reader's attempted taming of it. Therefore, an attempt to use seams and shifts in the biblical text to discover its textual precursors is based on a fundamentally faulty assumption that one might recover a stage of the text that lacked such fractures (Carr 23-4).
Ezekiel is a crazy man that makes no sense, but like Ivar, he has wisdom beyond most people’s Sensor 2 comprehension and his suffering easily makes him more knowledgeable. Ivar’s suffering comes because of other people’s distrust and misunderstanding of the kind man that is Ivar. The Bible is one of the most famous pieces of literature, arguably the most beautifully written, and the best story told in literature. Cather’s use of Biblical motifs gives the reader a sense of grandeur and is a definite story of faith.
Calloway, Mary. Sing O Barren One: A Study in Comparative Midrash. New York: Society of Biblical Literature. 1986.
The book of Jonah is an adventurous story of a prophet chosen by God to go preach denouncement to a heathen nation. With the exception of stating that Jonah is the son of Amittai, the book itself fails to reveal any background information. Nevertheless, a plorthea of scholars have attempted to provide us with some insight to the, who, when, where, and what of the book. This paper will utilize four scholarly commentaries in a quest to determine the author or authors of the book, the time when it was written, the original audience it spoke to, the occasion, the historical, social and cultural context in which it was written. It will also address the historical, social and cultural context of the book and that of the pericope of 3:1 – 10.
...istory/faith-history of Israel” occurred (Fries 66). God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and sent him to save the Israelites from their suffering. God plagued the Egyptians with a series of ten plagues of increasing severity. The Israelites were then led to the Red Sea where Moses, by God’s grace, parted the waters allowing them to cross on dry land. The Egyptian army was drowned behind them. The Israelites had escaped.
As Esau matured, married, and had children, he made critical alliances with other people in the regions. In (Genesis 36) NIV), Moses took the effort to include an entire chapter on the Edomite’s alone, and he carefully incorporate details about each child's genealogical line along with who ruled which area; we are told this on many occasions. (Deuteronomy 2:12 NIV) shows us how the Edomites drove the Horites out of Seir, took the land just as the Israelites had done in the land the Lord gave them (Aharoni, 1967). All this demonstrates to us how to close the ties were between the Edomite, the Hittites, the Hivites, and the Ishmaelites, as they were all related by marriage and blood (p. 186).
Contained in the many intricate and poetic Surahs of the Qur’an are retellings of a number of famous stories of the Hebrew Bible, known to Jews as the Torah, Prophets, and Writings. However, the Qur’an’s account of the lives of certain biblical characters often differs in significant ways from the Jewish version. While a believer in the divine nature of the Qur’an may claim that differences in facts stem from distortions of G-d’s message as recorded in Jewish holy books, both Muslims and non-Muslims might agree that the differences in emphasis are intentional. A more cynical observer might claim that the Qur’an changed the known Bible stories to suit its purposes. By choosing to include certain parts of a famous story and leaving out others, the story itself takes on a very different significance. Occasionally, the Qur’an will also discuss parts of the story which are entirely left out of the Torah, in which case a Muslim may claim the Torah did not deem those facts important for its own reasons. A cynical observer would claim the Qur’an made these additions to make its own message clearer.
Later around 792 BCE, the writing prophets come about with the powerful speaker Amos. Amos says a bunch of things that no one wants to hear such as the downfall of Israel’s Northern Kingdom and the death of the King. Then he really upsets everyone by saying that Israel will be sent into exile.
Ezekiel lived in a time of international crisis and conflict. Assyria was the world power in the area under the rule of Tiglath-pilesar III. In 724 B.C Israel raged war upon Assyria, and Israel was no match for Assyria. In 627 B.C the last of the able Assyrian ruler, Ashurbanipal died. Right after the death of Ashurbanipal, Babylon under Nabopolassar wanted independence from Assyria. In 612 B.C the Assyrians under Nineveh surrendered to the rising Babylonians. In 605 B.C the Babylonians were at war against the Egyptians. The Babylonians won and they established themselves as the leading power in the area. During all of this Judea allied with the Babylonians and with this Judea kept her independence. During the last century before Judea was destroyed it was ruled by four rulers and of those rulers, all but Josiah were wicked. Josiah was committed to God and led Judea to him. All the others did not heed the warnings of Ezekiel and Jeremiah from God, and the rulers of Judea chose to rebel against God. God punished Judea by sending Nebuchadnezzar’s army to crush the nation of Judea and flatten the city of Jerusalem.
Works Cited Chisholm, Robert B., Jr. Interpreting The Minor Prophets. Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1990. Brown, William P. Westminster Bible Companion: Obadiah Through Malachi. Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996. Holy Bible New Living Translation. Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. 1996. Meyers, Carol L., and Eric M. Meyers. The Anchor Bible: Zechariah 9-14.New York: Doubleday. 1993.
LaHaye, Tim F., and Edward E. Hindson. The Popular Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy. Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2004.
The Book of Jonah is dated between 783 and 745 B.C. and takes place in an ancient Assyrian city, Nineveh. During this particular time, the Assyrians were aggressive and often had internal conflicts which had a bit of a change in its rulers. However time after time, the Assyrians nevertheless “retrenched itself in its old evil ways” (Judisch 154). The Assyrians would intimidate and fear the Israelites, making it easier for Jonah to not care about the city of Nineveh when God instructed him to help preach to the Assyrians. Nineveh was accused of evils and the Ninevites were ...
The book Isaiah contains mostly oracles from various authors, however the authentic oracles of Isaiah are found in the first part of the book. Chapters 6-12 are considered the oldest collection in the book. It includes the account of the vocation and mission of the prophet, the oracles concerning the Syro-Ephraimite War, oracles referring to the crisis of 701B.C.E., and other salvation passages (Obstat, p.278).