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This new commentary questions whether Obadiah's 'vision' is a prophetic book in the traditional sense, or a communal appeal to God to deal with Edom, similar to the cry in Psalm 137.7-9. Ogden suggests an editorial structure for the document built around the numerically central v. 11 that provides a focus for the appeal, one which seeks an immediate response from God. The conclusion is that this is fundamentally an appeal for God to act, rather than a promise of a future possibility. The Haggai commentary argues that the document is a collection of loosely related stories about the prophet Haggai's encounters with Zerubbabel and Joshua, Judaean leaders who did not share the prophet's sense o...
Verse-by-verse analysis of Ecclesiastes with commentary by recognized biblical translation experts. Focuses on critical words and phrases, explaining accepted interpretations, noting how various translations have handled passages, and explaining the nuances of the Hebrew original text.
Enthält: Joel / Graham S. Ogden. Malachi / Richard R. Deutsch.
Amos denied being a prophet, for he was a Visionary, one who 'saw' and assessed what was happening around him. Micah condemned all prophets as corrupt liars, ensuring that he should not be mistaken for one. He too was a Visionary who 'saw' the state of affairs in that same eighth century BCE Israelite society. The fact that neither of these men is identified in the text as a prophet is vitally important, for it indicates how one must read their edited works. The traditional view that these men spoke what Yahweh their God revealed to them is not applicable; both spoke about what they themselves 'saw' in the social and religious context within Israel at the time. Both books, Amos and Micah, ar...
The book of Joel is one of the Old Testament prophetic books, but it also has a clear and close association with lament literature. Graham Ogden takes seriously the book's lament setting, exegeting it entirely from within that framework. In his commentary on the book of Malachi, Richard Deutsch examines the religious, moral, and social aspects of the early postexilic Jewish community that the prophet was addressing in this brief book.
Nahum, Habakkuk, and the eponymous Malachi are the three characters whose record is the focus of this reading
The book of Joel is one of the Old Testament prophetic books, but it also has a clear and close association with lament literature. Graham Ogden takes seriously the book's lament setting, exegeting it entirely from within that framework. In his commentary on the book of Malachi, Richard Deutsch examines the religious, moral, and social aspects of the early postexilic Jewish community that the prophet was addressing in this brief book.
Qoheleth's driving question, according to Ogden, is posed in the opening lines of his book. It is the question, What lasting advantage (yithron) results from the multitude of activities in which humans find themselves engaged? In a word, the answer is, None; but the supplementary question remains, How shall we then live? Qoheleth is no pessimist. Even though he believes that nothing survives from the activities of life, he encourages his readers to live life to the full, to 'eat, drink and enjoy what God provides'. Wisdom is one of those enjoyable benefits of life, but even it has its limitations: it can never produce an understanding of the totality. What of the classic term hebel (traditionally translated 'vanity') in Qoheleth's thought? It is much better understood, argues Ogden, as 'enigma' or 'mystery', and the mystery it points to is the mystery of the yithron: how is joy the proper goal of human life when we know it must inevitably come to an end without leaving any surplus?
Verse-by-verse analysis of the Song of Songs with commentary by recognized biblical translation experts. Focuses on critical words and phrases, explaining accepted interpretations, noting how various translations have handled passages, and explaining the nuances of the Hebrew original text.