We’ve finally reached the end of our series on the Minor Prophets. It seems that the people of Israel reached the end of their rope. After centuries of waiting to regain their status in the region, after watching Assyria, Babylon, and Persia fall, yet failing to become autonomous much less regain control of their Promised Land, the Israelites decide to …
Nahum: A Prophet for Our Times
Sunday’s discussion was dense and far-flung. Much of it centered on biblical interpretation, but that concern arose as we read Nahum, which is filled with misogyny. It is what we call a “text of terror.” Specifically, it imagines Nineveh, the capitol of fallen Assyria, as a woman being sexually assaulted. Worse, it imagines that God is the agent of this …
We Are the Just Remnant
I’ve said before that the reason it seems like the prophets are predicting the future is that we keep making the same mistakes. It should come as no surprise, then, that the time into which Micah was speaking is very much like our own. Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah, but an outsider, not a professional prophet. He prophesied mainly …
From Rebuke to Repentance
If y’all read last week’s blog, you know I was in a mood. A bad mood. Justice Kennedy’s mic drop after contributing to one terrible decision after another is disheartening, so I ended my introduction to our series on the Minor Prophets by noting that no one ever listens to them. Israel never repents. My fear and my lament is …
Repent, for the End is Near at Hand
In 1976, my parents took me and my brother to the Freedom Train. Amtrak, to celebrate the nation’s bicentennial, launched a rolling museum filled with memorabilia of our nation’s history. I was seven, so I don’t remember a lot of details, except for a lot of red, white, and blue. I remember there were old things, which have always captured …