About the Book
Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel share much in common. They address the pivotal times and topics associated with the last stages of the monarchical history of Israel, and with the development of new forms of communal and religious life through exile and beyond. One important structural component of all three books is a substantial section which concerns itself with a range of foreign nations, commonly called the “Oracles against the Nations”, which form the focus of this book.
These chapters together present the most up-to-date scholarship on the oracles - an oft-neglected but significant area in the study of the prophetic literature. The particular characteristics of Isaiah, Jeremiah (both Masoretic Text and Septuagint versions), and Ezekiel, are discussed showcasing the unique issues pertinent to each book and the diverse methods used to address them. These evident differences aside, the Oracles Against the Nations are employed as a springboard in order to begin the work of tracing similarities between the texts. By focusing on these unique yet common sections, a range of interrelated themes and issues of both content and method become noticeable: for example, though not exhaustively, pattern, structure, language, comparative history, archaeology, sociology, politics, literature, imagery, theme, theology, and hermeneutical issues related to today’s context. As a result this collection presents a range of cutting-edge approaches on these key prophetic books, and will provide a basis for further comparative study and reflection.
Table of Contents:
Abbreviations
Contributors
Preface
Isaiah
Foreword: The Oracles concerning the Nations in the Prophetic Literature
Marvin A. Sweeney, Claremont School of Theology, USA.
Isaiah 22: A Crux or a Clue in Isaiah 13–23?
Hyun Chul Paul Kim, Methodist Theological School in Ohio, USA.
Evoking and Evading: The Poetic Presentation of the Moabite Catastrophe in Isaiah 15–16
J. Blake Couey, Gustavus Aldophus College, MN, USA.
Isaiah 19:18: A Textual Variant in Light of the Temple of Onias in Egypt
J. Todd Hibbard, University of Detroit Mercy, USA.
Common and Different Phrases for Babylon’s Fall and Its Aftermath
in Isaiah 13–14 and Jeremiah 50–51
W. A. M. Beuken, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.
Jeremiah
Babylon as Judah’s Doppelgänger: The Identity of Opposites in the Book of Jeremiah (mt)
Rannfrid Thelle, independent scholar, Wichita, USA.
Embodying Moab: The Figuring of Moab in Jeremiah 48 as Reinscription of the Judean Body
Carolyn J. Sharp, Yale University, USA.
“As she did, do to her!”: Jeremiah’s OAN as Revenge Fantasies
Amy Kalmanofsky, Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, USA.
Jeremiah, Sade, and Repetition as Counterpleasure in the Oracle against Edom
Rhiannon Graybill, Rhodes College, USA.
Postcolonialism and Propaganda in Jeremiah’s Oracles against the Nations
Hugh Pyper, University of Sheffield, UK.
Ezekiel
Yhwh and the Kings of Middle Earth: Royal Polemic in Ezekiel’s Oracles against the Nations
Madhavi Nevader, University of St Andrew's, UK.
In Defense of the Great King: Ezekiel’s Oracles against Tyre
John T. Strong, Missouri State University, USA.
A Serpent in the Nile: Egypt in the Book of Ezekiel
Corrine L. Carvalho, University of St Thomas, St Paul MN, USA.
Response
After the Nation: Reading Oracles against the Nations amidst the Fragmenting of the Nation-State
Steed Vernyl Davidson, Graduate Theological Union, CA, USA.
Bibliography
Index of References
Index of Authors
About the Author :
Else K. Holt is Associate Professor in the Department of Culture and Society at the University of Aarhus, Denmark.
Hyun Chul Paul Kim is Professor of Hebrew Bible, Williams Chair of Biblical Studies, at Methodist Theological Seminary in Ohio, USA.
Andrew Mein is Tutor in Old Testament at Wescott House, Cambridge, UK, and series editor of The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies.
Review :
There are some fascinating and stimulating essays in this collection ... [A]n important and suggestive collection for those in the field of the OANs.
