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Nahum, Habakkuk and Malachi

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Nahum, ironically named ‘the compassionate one’, Habakkuk who laments God’s failure to answer his questions about justice and violence, and the eponymous Malachi are the three characters whose record is the focus of this reading.

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Nahum, ironically named ‘the compassionate one’, Habakkuk who laments God’s failure to answer his questions about justice and violence, and the eponymous Malachi are the three characters whose record is the focus of this reading. The commentary offers a close reading of the Hebrew text of each book along with its rhetorical features. The three books are read from within their several ancient contexts, literary, cultural and theological.

Only Habakkuk is specifically identified as a ‘prophet’, while Nahum’s and Malachi’s editors studiously avoid the term, raising a question about why these three books have been honoured with a place in the Scroll of the Twelve rather than somewhere else. Each book is titled a Massa’ by its editor, identifying them as examples of an emerging literary trope that combines both prophetic and wisdom elements in a didactic purpose.

Nahum is identified not as a prophet but as a Visionary. He saw the dire situation of his people and expressed his longing for God’s intervention. The God of whom he spoke was one ‘jealous, and avenging’, one he longed would act against the overwhelming power of the Assyrians that threatened his people.

Habakkuk, though identified as a prophet, shows no evidence of any prophetic activity. He laments the failure of justice and consequent violence as witnessed (1.2-4). The Lament-form used has been torn in two by the editor for the purpose of inserting a Dialogue with God (1.5-2.20), a Dialogue that fails completely to answer Habakkuk’s ‘Why?’ questions in 1.1-2. The concluding portion of the Lament (3.2-19) witnesses to Habakkuk’s continued trust in his God despite the divine failure to resolve his questions.

The eponymous ‘Malachi’ is identified as a Messenger, never as a prophet, as the book reports six different and independent messages covering issues that arose during an extended period in early postexilic Judaean life. Using a frame of six Question-Response forms that feature rhetorical questions, his audiences deny the validity of each negative charge against them.

Graham Ogden has been a United Bible Societies’ Translation Consultant. He lives in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.

Additional information

Table of Contents

NAHUM: A COMMENTARY
Introduction
Contents and Structure
Massa’—an Oracle?
Authorship
Nahum—Who or What Was He?
Date
Literary Features
Assyria in the Old Testament
Nineveh the City
Foreign Nation Oracles
Nahum’s Theological Ideas
Reading Strategy
EXEGESIS
1.1 Title
1.2-6 The Character of YHWH
1.7-11 Plot Against YHWH?
1.12-15 (2.1) Relief for Judah
2.1-13 (2.2-14) Against Assyria
2.1-9 (2-10) Assyria under Threat
2.11-13 (12-14) Against Assyria
3.1-7 Woe to Nineveh
3.8-13 Nineveh Will be Devastated
3.14-19 Assyria’s End

HABAKKUK: A COMMENTARY
Introduction
Outline of Contents
Structure
A Reading Strategy
Authorship and Unity
Historical Setting
Habakkuk’s Place in the Scroll
Relationship to Other Books
Literary Features of Habakkuk
Textual Issues
Theological Basis of Habakkuk
EXEGESIS
1.1 Superscription
1.2-4 Habakkuk’s Lament—Part A
1.5-11 God’s Response?
1.12-17 Habakkuk Challenges God
2.1 Habakkuk Awaits God’s Reply
2.2-5 God’s Reply
2.6-20 ‘Woe to you who…’
2.6-8 First ‘Woe’ Oracle
2.9-11 Second ‘Woe’ Oracle
2.12-14 Third ‘Woe’ Oracle
2.15-17 Fourth ‘Woe’ Oracle
2.18-20 Fifth ‘Woe’ Oracle
3.1-19 Habakkuk’s Lament—Part B
3.1 Title
3.2-15 Confession of Trust
3.16 The Petition
3.17-19 Song of Praise
CONCLUSION
On the Reading Thesis
On Habakkuk 2.4 as the Core Text
On Prophets and Sages
On Violence and Theology
Select Bibliography

PREFACE
MALACHI: A COMMENTARY
Historical Situation
Authorship
Date
From Spoken to Written
Structure and Contents
Literary Characteristics
Malachi’s Concerns
Relationship to Deuteronomy
On Reading Malachi
Access to Malachi the Book
Nature of the Book
Outline
EXEGESIS
1.1 Title
1.2-5 On God’s Love-in-Reverse
1.6–2.9 On Priestly Failures
2.1-9 The Levi Covenant
2.10-16 Opposing Foreign Marriages
2.17–3.5 Refining the Community
3.6-12 Guaranteeing a Land of Plenty
3.13–4.3 Is Serving God of Benefit?
4.4-6 (3.22-24) In Conclusion
POSTSCRIPT
On Translating and Interpreting Malachi
Select Bibliography
CONCLUSIONS
On Prophets and Prophecy
A Final Note on Translation and Interpretation

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Book information

Author
Graham S. Ogden
List Price
£60 / $85 / €70
Series
Readings: A New Biblical Commentary
Scholars' Price
£30 / $42.50 / €35
ISBN 13 hardback
978-1-914490-25-5
Paperback price
£20 / $35 / €25
ISBN 13 Paperback
978-1-914490-26-2
Format
Hardback / Paperback
Page Extent
xviii +194
Publication Date
May 2023
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