Will Vaus

Today we come to the end of our study of the Old Testament before continuing with the New. Lawrence Boadt’s Reading the Old Testament has been our companion for much of this journey. Therefore, we will listen to some final words from him before moving on…. The prophet Malachi is the last book in the canon of the Old Testament. It is not dated, and the author is unknown. Its present title comes from the opening words of chapter 3, “My messenger” (in Hebrew, malachi ). It is certainly post-exilic and may come from almost any period between the rebuilding of the temple in 516 B.C. and the end of the Persian period about 330 B.C. From its contents, it can probably be best placed just about the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. Malachi roundly condemns many abuses in Israel that Ezra worked to reform. The priests perform imperfect and careless service in this temple. The people are marrying pagans with ease and taking divorce lightly. They fail to pay the tithes and offer...

Here is what Lawrence Boadt has to say about these chapters…. Second Zechariah in chapters 9-14 reveals an entirely different spirit. There are no visions, no concern for the temple, no further hopes for Zerubbabel, and no Davidic restoration dreams. It is poetry instead of prose, and stresses God as a divine warrior who will fight to deliver Jerusalem from the power of foreign nations. It especially develops several themes found in Ezekiel, especially those of God as the true shepherd of his people, and the coming day of the Lord. Second Zechariah treats the theme of the shepherd in Zechariah 9:16-17, 11:1-17, and 13:7-9. In the final passage he proclaims that God will shepherd Israel…. Compare this with the great climax of Ezekiel’s oracle on God as the good shepherd… in Ezekiel 34:30-31. He also intensifies the hopes of a great day of the Lord. God will not only restore Israel but transform the people and the land into a new paradise…. (Zec 14:6-...

Zechariah preached in the same period as did Haggai. But the present Book of Zechariah combines Zechariah’s own words in chapters 1-8 with a series of later oracles in chapters 9-14 which were delivered by an unknown prophet against the Greeks about one hundred and fifty years later. Just as most scholars now refer to a First Isaiah as well as a Second and Third Isaiah, they often speak of First Zechariah and Second Zechariah to describe these two parts. Zechariah delivered his prophetic words between November 520 and November or December 518 B.C. These include at least three sets of oracles (Zec 1:1-6, 7:1-14, 8:1-23) and eight visions (Zec 1:7-6:15). He shares Haggai’s concerns for rebuilding the temple, creating a purified community, and predicting the coming of a new messianic age centered on Zerubbabel. One of the differences between the two prophets is the greater attention to priestly matters in Zechariah. He is himself the son of a priest (Ezr 5:1), and...

Here is Boadt’s introduction to Haggai…. The major event of the first years after the return was the attempt to rebuild the temple. The effort had never gotten beyond laying the foundations when Haggai and Zechariah took up the cause with a series of oracles urging the people to renew their efforts. Haggai is one of the shortest books among the Old Testament prophets—only two chapters, containing four oracles, all dated between August and December of 520 B.C. He addressed his oracles to Zerubbabel, the governor, and to Joshua, the high priest. His message was simple. The land is suffering from drought and hunger, poverty and failure, because the people think only of their own houses and fortunes, and have neglected the house of Yahweh. The land has been defiled and needs to be purified and consecrated by the presence of God in his temple. Until this is done, there would be no blessing in the new community. In this message Hagggai stands in the tradition of Ezekiel,...

I am back from a wonderful trip to California and ready to jump back into blogging through the Bible. While on my trip, someone asked me, “So what have you learned while blogging through the Bible this year?” My answer was, “That the Bible is one book with many voices.” I would add to that the fact that if the Bible is one book with many voices, perhaps then there is room in the Church of Jesus Christ for many different voices—including my voice, and your voice. The book of Zephaniah reminds us of the diversity represented in the books of the Bible no less than the other 65 books contained therein. Here is Lawrence Boadt’s introduction to this prophetic book…. About the time of Josiah’s crowning, the Book of Zephaniah records for us the voice of reaction against the false worship idolatry of Manasseh’s years. Zephaniah was a fiery preacher whose wrath against pagan practices and hatred of Assyria were matched only by his devotion to Yahweh. The book und...

Here is Boadt’s commentary on Habakkuk…. Habakkuk lived shortly after Nahum and describes a time when Babylon was taking over the Near East from the fallen Assyrians. Habakkuk 1:6-11 describes Babylon as the scourge of God causing terror everywhere. God declares that the Babylonians will be his instruments of punishment: “For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if I told it” (Hb 1:5). But Habakkuk also complains how the wicked continue to persecute those who seek justice and how idolatry abounds (Hb 2:6-11). Who are these wicked? Perhaps the people of Judah themselves, fallen back into evil after the death of Josiah. But also they are the Babylonians. God may use them, but that doesn’t mean Habakkuk thought of them as saints. God’s plan must be carried out, but he will punish the evil and the idolatry of the Babylonians just as much as that of his own people (see Hb 1:11; 2:5). Chapter 3 is a hymn in honor of Yahweh as the divine warri...

Here is Lawrence Boadt’s introduction to the book of Nahum…. Zephaniah had lived before Josiah’s reform and focused his zeal mostly against the evils of idolatry and faithlessness in Judah itself. Nahum provides a different view taken from within the time of reform and directed mostly against the evil of Assyria. This is one of the most colorful and dramatic books in the Old Testament with its ferocious description of the Babylonian siege of Neneveh. A short book of three chapters, it contains mostly angry and impassioned hatred against Assyria. The first chapter pictures Yahweh coming as a divine warrior to punish idolators and deliver Judah from its enemies. The second chapter describes the battle for Nineveh, and the third mixes battle scenes with reasons for God’s wrath. While it can be counted among the most stirring sections of the Bible, Nahum remains somewhat of a mystery book. We know nothing about the author except his name; he gives us no persona...

Here is Boadt’s introduction to Micah…. If Isaiah seemed to be totally concerned with the behavior and life of Jerusalem the capital city, and with the presence of the holy God that dwelled in its midst, Micah seems nearly the opposite. Except for the long poem on Zion that fills chapter 4 of his book and which many scholars doubt is original to Micah, hardly a mention of Jerusalem or the temple occurs anywhere. Instead, he talks of the villages and small towns, the tribal territories and the border cities of the Philistines to the west. The label that heads the book in Micah 1:1 tells us that he preached his message at the same time as did Isaiah, but the two prophets must have been very different types of people. Micah’s town of Moresheth-gath was probably quite small and more concerned with the agricultural year and the weather than with the affairs of state. Where Isaiah might cry out against injustice in urban vocabulary, “How the faithful city has become...

Here is Boadt’s introduction to Jonah…. Jonah is found among the prophetic books, but it is totally unlike any other prophetic book. It contains no oracles at all, except the report of Jonah’s words to Neneveh in Jonah 3:5. It is the story about a prophet, and right from the beginning we are warned to take this prophet with a grain of salt. The author has a great sense of literary style, full of abrupt changes of direction in thought, humorous touches, and unexpected twists in the plot. Verse 3 in chapter 1 must have made Israelites of the post-exilic period roar with laughter. The word of the Lord had come very solemnly to Jonah to go preach to Neneveh but instead “he rose to flee to Tarshish”—i.e. in the exact opposite direction! We are next treated to a scene of great comedy despite the danger that it describes about the ship in peril. Jonah seems to be asleep in the midst of a huge storm, while the sailors implore their gods in vain. When they accuse him o...