{"title":"The Psalms","authors":"E. Davis","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780190260545.003.0032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780190260545.003.0032","url":null,"abstract":"Through prayer and poetry, the psalmists seek to situate themselves simultaneously in the world and in relation to God. The language of praise is grounded in recognition of divine generosity; God is both the subject and source of praise. The first-person psalms openly express vulnerability, awareness of a social world that is complex and often dangerous. Although the book bears the title Tehilim, “Praisings,” the first half is dominated by lament psalms. Genuine lament is a learned skill involving exacting theological work. The psalms offer emergency language to deal with fear and loss, anger toward enemies and the tension between faith and despair.","PeriodicalId":325838,"journal":{"name":"Opening Israel's Scriptures","volume":"467 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124378950","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Minor Prophets","authors":"E. Davis","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780190260545.003.0022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780190260545.003.0022","url":null,"abstract":"The prophets of the eighth and seventh centuries were social critics and also poets of great power who responded to internal social pressures and external military threats. Amos, Micah, and Hosea convict Israel and Judah of sin through carefully structured oracles and metaphors that fit the contours of particular social situations—and may be misunderstood by readers who do not know the prophet’s social context. Amos pioneers the language of exile. Micah exposes the corruption of Jerusalem’s elite, who stripped peasant farmers of their land, although he also finds hope for the city in YHWH’s vision of faithfulness in Zion. Hosea is the first to use the language of extreme intimacy—sexuality and marriage—to characterize the covenant between God and Israel. The books of Nahum and Jonah take opposing perspectives on the threatened destruction of Nineveh (Assyria); together they attest to the prophetic task of discovering a public voice for reckoning honestly with the hatred of national enemies.","PeriodicalId":325838,"journal":{"name":"Opening Israel's Scriptures","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126387994","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}