OT Test #3

Servant poems

4 poems: The LORD Servant Servant God and narrator

When was Exile?

586-583

Syria

Another country around the Israelites.

anti-establishment prophets

peripheral part of society

Sign-Act

Besides speaking the word of God, prophets in the Old Testament sometimes performed symbolic actions to communicate a message. Some of these actions, like Hosea's marriage to a prostitute, are integrated into the prophet's life. Others, like Ezekiel's lying on his side for hundreds of days, are more performance oriented.

Ahaz

Hezekiah's father, but Ahaz did not welcome Isaiah's advice.

Obadiah

Nothing is known about the author of this short book. The name means "the LORD's servant" which may not be a name but instead a title. Parts of this book duplicates sections of the book of Jeremiah. The placement of Obadiah is puzzling because the chronological order does not make sense.

Zeceriah

was the second prophet who helped stir up the people to work on the Temple. His messages were different he death with bread-and-butter issues. That is he saw completing the Temple as a necessary condition for receiving blessings in a practical form. He briefly mentioned the possibility of the messianic age. He unlike other prophets didn't have oracles but visions.

Joel

was the son of Pethuel, nothing personal is known about him. His book contains outstanding featuring such as vivid description of one the most frightening plagues known to ancient peoples-locusts. But the locust plague was only a way for Joel to introduce a bigger and more important idea- the day of the LORD. Used words that seemed to be borrowed from Amos and Joel and spoke of the day of the LORD.

Superscripton

written above the scripture. Ex: - Isaiah the son of Amoz - Appears for the last time one ch39

Babylon

Babylonian empire destroyed the Assyrain Empire in the late sevent century BCE and became the dominant force in the ancient Near Eastern world. Many members of the royalty, the priesthood, and the upper social class of Jerusalem were carried off to Babylon.

Prophetic scrolls contained...

Narrative, oracles, polarity, and sequence of crises

Micah

Preached before the Northern Kingdom had fallen, so part of his sins was directed toward Samaria and its sins. But the main use of Samaria and its sins was to say that Jerusalem was just like it. Micah like other prophets also enjoyed using puns.One of his most famous sayings was the Bethlehem oracle. This was the messianic concept was connected with the Davidic monarchy, therefore making it natural to expect the birth of the future king to be born of David's line.

What was the Restoration Crisis?

Rebuilding of Temple (Political as well) circa 525 BCE

What was the Assyrian Crisis?

Taking and destroyed the northern kingdom (Israel) circa 722 BCE

What was the Babylonian Crisis?

Taking and destroying southern kingdom (Judah) circa 586 BCE

Establishment Prophets

central part of the society

Zedekiah

was put on the trine by the Babylonians. He was the son of Josiah and the uncle of the previous king. The Babylonians seem not to have deported all the leadership in 597 but rather to have left those they thought would be loyal to them. Soon a powerful group pressured Zedekiah to declare his independence from Babylon or switch his loyalties to Egypt. Captured near Jericho and his eyes were punched out and taken to Babylon as prisoner.

Edom

A theme in the book of Obadiah. Its capital was Petra, which was secure that the prophet compared it to an eagle's nest built on a lofty peak. Just as Edom gloated over the rape and pillage of Jerusalem, the Jews had the same opportunity to gloat over there ruin. Since Genesis 25-36 we see the animosity from Israelites and Edomites- they were descendants of Esau.

acrostic

Acrostic means that successive sections of the poem begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Notice that because the Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, chapters 1,2,4,and 5 of Lamentations each have 22 verses.

Yehud

After the Israelites were released from Babylonian captivity by the Persians, they returned to Judah but did not become fully independent nation. Instead, their land became a province of the Persian Empire with limited autonomy. As a Persian province, the Jewish homeland was known as Yehud.

Yehud

After the Israeltes were released from Babylonian captivity by the Persians, they returned to Judah but did not become a fully independent nation. Instead, their land became a province of the Persian Empire with limited autonomy. As a Persian province, the Jewish homeland was known as Yehud.

Exile

Although exile can be used as a general term to describe the removal of a person or group of people from their land, the capitalized term is commonly used in the filed of biblical studies to designate the period of captivity of the Israelites in Babylon.

Amos

Amos preached in Israel after Jerboam II had completed his wars of conquest. He was the first prophet whose words became an Old Testament book. Though nothing is known about his family or even if he had one. He was a Judean, a native of Tekoa, 12 miles south of Jerusalem. He was also a shepherd. Many of his messages were likely spoken sometime in the middle of the eighth century BCE.

Acrostic

An alphabetic pattern used in Hebrew poetry. Each line or group of lines in a poem begins with a successive letter of the alphabet. The entire book of Lamentations follows this pattern. Each of the four chapters is an acrostic poem.

Judgement Oracles

An oracle is the form of prophetic speech we now find in literary form in the prophetic books of the Old Testament. A judgement oracle is one with a negative tone, which announces God's pending punishment of either Israel or its enemies.

Restoration

As a general term, restoration is used to describe numerous aspects of Israel's return to the land and rebuilding of its society after the Exile. More formally, Restoration designates the period in Israel's story beginning with the Decree of Cyrus and having an indefinite end point.

Targumin

Because Aramaic replaced Hebrew as the common language of Jews living in Palestine during and after the Restoration, it eventually became necessary to translate the Jewish Scriptures into Aramaic. This unofficial body of Aramaic texts is called the Targumim.

Targumim

Because Aramaic replaced Hebrew as the common languages of Jews living in Palestine during and after the Restoration, it eventually became necessary to translate the Jewish Scriptures into Aramaic. This unofficial body of Aramaic texts is called the Targumim.

Governor

Because Yehud remained a Persian province, the Israelite monarchy was not reestablished. It was ruled by a governor appointed by the Persian Empire. Nehemiah is the best known of these governors who ruled Yehud.

Zepheniah

Before Joshiah's reform made too muh head way, Zepehniah seems to have been active. Little is known about his ancestry other than he was traced back to Hezekiah. It is safe to assume king Hezekiah, which means that he was related to the royal family. He preached during the reign of Josiah. The major idea of his book is the day of the LORD.

Haggai

He challenged the people to get on the with job of rebuilding the Temple. This event takes place in the book of Haggai in the Restoration period along with Zecheriah and Malachi. When the peeps responded and said the time had not come to rebuild the house of the LORD, homeboy reminded them that they did not let anything stop them from building their own homes. He pointed out once more what their lot had been since they returned to Palestine. If they wanted to prosper the Temple had to be completed.

Hezekiah

Hesekiah was one of Judah's best kings according to the writers of both Kings and Chronicles. This was based primarily on Hezekiah's efforts to reform religious practices back in Judah. Isaiah, the prophet, appears in the story of Hezekiah. II Chronicle gives even greater attention to HEzekiah religious reforms, but removes almost all of the references to Isaiah.

Oracles

In the Old Testament this term refers to prophetic speech. Oracles of various types appear in the prophetic books, typically as poetry, but sometimes in prose form. The relationship between he situation in which these oracles may have actually been spoken by the prophets and the literary contexts in which we now find them is uncertain.

What are the four prophetic scrolls?

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and The Twelve

Jehoiachin

Jehoiachin's reign (598-597 BCE) was so brief that Jeremiah said little about him. In an oracle in 22:24-30, he spoke of Jehoiachin (whom he called Coniah) as being like "a despised broken pot" He was to be considered childless, because none of his children would ever succeed him as king of Judah.

Josiah

Josiah was eight years old when he was put on the throne. This was due to his father's assassination. Josiah came to the throne in a time when Assyria was fading as a world power.Hilkiah, the High Priest, influenced Josiah to take strong action early in his reign to destroy the pagan religions that Manasseh had promoted.

Rehoboam

King of Judah who had a notably unsuccessful reign. He dealt with the revolt of the northern tribes and also had war on his southern border. He attacked the south, penetrating the hill country and coastal plain. He extended his conquests all the way to Megiddo. Rehoboam had to pay an enormous bribe to keep Shishak from destroying the city.

Call Narrative

Many prophetic books provide an account of the prophet's initial experience. Some of them are brief reports identifying the prophet, while others are elaborate stories of a thepohanic experience like Isaiah 6.

Habukkuk

Must be called the philosopher due to his questions to the LORD. There is nothing personal known about him. There is no mention of his family or his birthplace. Other than what was a short reference in the Apocrypha. What can be learned of him was the way he approached his work as the LORD's spokesman.

Malachi

None of Israelites' historical material mentions him nor does any book give some sort of bio info. he was anonymous like Obadiah. His name means "my messenger". The content of the book suggests a time not far removed from that of Ezra and Nehemiah. The nature of the book is dialogue. The LORD through the prophet made a statement the statement provoked a question that in turn was answered by the LORD.

Retribution Theology

Obedience to God--> Divine blessing Disobedience to God --> Divine curses

Baruch

One of the disciples of Jeremiah who played a significant role in writing down and preserving some of the oracles and sermons of Jeremiah and stories about him is identified and made as Baruch the son of Neriah, first mentioned in Heremiah 32:12 & 36:4. It specifically reports that he wrote the words of Jeremiah on a scroll and this would have happened sixth century B.C.E., and such an event may represent the beginning of the production of the book of Jeremiah.

Sukkoth

One of the festivals celebrated by Israel involved going out into the fields in small booths, or sukkoth. This was the festival of harvest in gathering celebrated at the end of the growing season. Instructions for this festival appear in several places, Including Deuteronomy 16:13-15. This festival is celebrated by the restored community in Nehemiah 8.

Tribute

Smaller nations often paid money and other materials to the kings of powerful empires to be left alone. Likewise, the subjects of a king would pay a portion of their produce or income for the benefit of his protection.

Nebuchadnezzer

The Babylonian King. He lessened the pressure on Jerusalem after its capture. Two things led to this situation 1)a revolt in Babylon involving some of Nebuchadnezzer's army and some of the Jews were exiled 2) the ascension of a New king to the throne of Egypt. Finally took over all of Judah.

Wordplay

The Hebrew prophets sometimes paired words that sounded alike to communicate a symbolic message. Amos, for example, reports seeing a vision of a basket of fruit. The accompanying message from God is that the end is approaching for Israel.

Deportation

The carrying of many of the residents of Judah to Babylon happened in at least two acts of deportation. These deportations and the resulting captivity are collectively called the Exile.

Deportation

The carrying of many of the residents of Judah to Babylon happened in at least two acts of deportations. Theses deportations and the resulting captivity are collectively called the Exile.

Personification

The former possibility perhaps incites the reader to consider her or his own personal experience in introspective fashion. The latter view provides a more dramatic scene, as the city that has been addressed in the first two poems steps forward to speak.

Aramaic

The language of the Babylonians. Aramaic was the most widely spoken language in the Near East. It was similar to Hebrew, so that the change was not difficult to make. Hebrew continued to be used to some extent, especially in religious services. The bilingual nature of their existence is reelected in the two bilingual books of the Old Testament, Ezra and Daniel, both of which contain significant amounts of aramaic mixed with Biblical Hebrew.

Suffering Servant

The suffering servant is a term that has become a common designation for the servant figure or figures portrayed in the four servant songs in Isaiah. The second of these songs, Isaiah 49 identifies the servant as Israel, but it is unclear whether this means the entire nation or certain representatives of it.

Salvation Oracle

The various forms of prophetic speech in the Old Testament are often labeled oracles. The oracles that have a mostly positive tone about how God will come to deliver Israel from its suffering and difficulties are called Salvation Oracles.

Vision

The word vision is used to describe a variety of religious experiences in the prophetic literature. In Isaiah 1:1, the whole book of Isaiah, or a large part of it, is labeled a vision. Jeremiah and Amos have visions of fairly simple images that convey meaning through wordplay. Ezekiel has the most elaborate visions, such as the vision of God's glory in Ezekiel.

Jonah

There are parallels between Jonah and Israel. Jonah was called by God to go to Nineveh, but he was was stubborn and rebellious. He tried to do things his ways and went on a ship going the opposite way. There was a storm tossing the ship and knocked Jonah into the sea and a great fish swallowed him. He spent three days in the belly and went to Ninevah and preached God's word and they repented.

Nahum

There is almost nothing known of him other than he is called Nahum of Elkosh. Thoughts that Elkosh was located in Galilee. The book dates from about 612 BCE. It also mentions the plunder of Thebes which took place in 663 BCE and thus could not be earlier than that date. The book starts of with an ancient poem of the LORD as an avenging God. Nahum describes the fate of Ninevah.

Jehoiakim

There was conflict between Jeremiah. Jeremiah went to the banks of the Euphrates River in a symbolic action, Jeremiah buried a linen waist cloth and criticized for submitting to the Babylonians. Once he dug it back up the linen was soiled. Judah's relations to Babylon would cause it to be soiled and useless as the waist cloth. Jehoiakim also practiced child Baal sacrifice.

Torah

This Hebrew word means "law" or "instruction". It eventually came to designate the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures. Genesis- Deuteronomy, also called the Pentateuch. In Nehemiah 8:1, Ezra reads the book of the law of Moses to the gathered people of Israel. This may be the first time in the Bible that this word is used in a phrase that designates something like the form of the Pentateuch we have today.

Memoir

This general term usually refers to a person's writings about the events of his life; thus, memoirs are typically written in first-perosn form. Most of the narrative in the Bible is written in third-person form by anonymous authors; however, Ezra- Nehemiah contains portions of first-person narrative from the perspectives of both Ezra and Nehemiah. These passages are often referred to as the Ezra Memoir and the Nehemiah Memoir.

Parallelism

This is a literary device commonly used in Hebrew poetry both in the prophetic books and in poetic books like Psalms and Proverbs. It consists of pairs, or sometimes triplets, of lines that are closely associated with one another. The relationship between the paired lines may vary from repetition of the same idea to posing of contrasting ideas.

High Places

This is a pejorative term the Old Testament often uses for unauthorized worship sites. These may be places devoted to the worship of foreign gods, like Baal, or to Israel's God. The kings designated as reformers in Israel, like Hezekiah and Josiah, often destroyed these worship sites.

Day of the LORD

This is a phrase used frequently in the Book of Twelve and may be its central theme. It can represent the coming of God either in judgment or salvation.

Pagan

This is somewhat subjective term used to describe the practices and beliefs of other religion. From a Western Christian perspective, of course, pagan refers to any religious practice outside of the Jewish and Christian traditions. Within the study of the Old Testament, it refers to the religions of those around the Israelites, particularly the Canaanites.

Megiddo

This is the name of a large plain in the north central region of Israel. Because it is a vast, flat area, it has often been used throughout history as a battlefield. This is where Josiah confronted the Egyptians and was killed. This battlefield has taken on mythic proportions in the idea of a battle of Armageddon in which God will defeat the armies of evil.

Second Temple

This term distinguishes the rebuilt temple that replaced Solomon's temple. The Second Temple was completed by the restored Jerusalem community in 515 BCE. It remained until it was replaced by Herod's temple five centuries later. The Jewish religion of this period is sometimes referred to as Second Temple Judiasm.

Hosea

Was a native of the Northern Kingdom, whose judgement were severe, but they were spoken with a tone of tearful pleading. One of the most difficult Old Testament books to translate from Hebrew. May have possibly married a prostitute to represent Israel's unfaithfulness to God. As well as had three children and each represented something about Israel's relationship with God.

Assyria

When Tiglath-pileser III came to the throne in Assyria, Judah had ideas of rebellion, but soon decided that this was not the wisest choice. Judah under Uzziah had led a coalition of western states in opposition to Assyria, but it was unsuccessful in its attempts to stop Tiglath-pileser III.When Ahaz came to the throne, he faced a more immediate threat from Israel, led by Pekah and Syria. `

Confessions

a series of six or seven poems appears throughout Jeremiah 11-20, in which the prophet protests to God about his burdensome task and the way he is being treated. These poems are usually called either Jeremiah's Laments or Jeremiah's Confessions.

Siege

a siege is a military strategy that was often used against walled cities in the ancient world. The attacking army would surround the city, not allowing anything or anybody to move in or out of it. Eventually, starvation and disease would weaken the inhabitants until they surrendered or were unable to defend themselves.

Allegory

an allegory is a complex story in which multiple imaginative elements represent real persons, places, or events. The story of the two sisters in Ezekiel 23 is a clear example of allegory.