Joel, Obadiah, Micah (Believers Church Bible Commentary)

Although each is quite different, the books of Joel, Obadiah, and Micah are all survival literature. All three address the community that survived the crushing Babylonian destruction of Judah in 586 BCE. And all three seek to help this community cope by giving voice to its disorientation, trauma, anxiety, and rage. Each book insists that God will wrestle a positive future out of catastrophe, granting both physical and spiritual renewal. No matter how dire the circumstances, Israel can trust in the gracious God who will never abandon the faith community. In this thirty-fifth volume in the Believers Church Bible Commentary series, Old Testament scholar Daniel Epp-Tiessen explores the diverse, yet related content of these three prophetic books, always paying attention to how they might speak words of grace and healing into the disorientation, exile, and challenges of our own time. He also confronts the theologically problematic features of these books, especially their conviction that the salvation of God's people requires that God obliterate their enemies. This volume explores how we might read Joel, Obadiah, and Micah in light of the larger biblical story of God's saving purposes that reach their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Intro -- Half Title Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication Page -- Abbreviations -- Pronunciation Guide -- Contents -- Series Foreword -- Author's Preface -- Joel -- Introduction to Joel -- Overview of the Book and Its Message -- Structure -- Historical Context -- Composition -- The Prophet Joel -- Joel and the Book of the Twelve -- Heading and Prologue, 1:1-3 -- PART 1 (1:4-2:17): PRESENT AND FUTURE CATASTROPHES CALL FOR LAMENT AND TURNING TO GOD -- Calls to Lament the Current Disaster, 1:4-20 -- Multiple Calls to Lament, 1:4-14 -- Lamenting the Day of the Lord, 1:15-20 -- Imminent Day of the Lord Disasters Require Turning to God, 2:1-17 -- God's Unstoppable Day of the Lord Army, 2:1-11 -- Turn to God, Who May Relent, 2:12-17 -- * The Saving Drama That Joel Enacts -- * Joel's Confession of God's Gracious Character -- * God's Relenting -- + Rituals Keep Us -- + The "What Will the Neighbors Say?" Argument -- + God's Involvement in Disasters -- + Reading Joel on Ash Wednesday -- PART 2 (2:18-3:21): IMAGES OF GOD'S DELIVERANCE -- Near Future: God Will Reverse Earlier Devastations, 2:18-27 -- Distant Future: Signs of God's Future Intervention, 2:28-32 -- Distant Future: God Will Protect Judah/Jerusalem, 3:1-21 -- God Will Judge Enemy Nations, 3:1-15 -- Blessings from God's Presence on Zion, 3:16-21 -- * Joel 2:28-32 in the New Testament -- * The End-Times Attack on Zion/Jerusalem -- + Reading Joel in the Face of Ecological Crisis -- + God as Our Source of Security -- Outline of Joel -- Obadiah -- Introduction to Obadiah -- Overview of the Book and Its Message -- The Prophet and His Historical Context -- Composition -- Structure -- The Challenge of Reading Obadiah as Christian Scripture -- Heading, 1a -- EDOM IS DOOMED WHILE ISRAEL WILL BE DELIVERED, 1b-21 -- Edom Is Doomed, 1b-14 -- God Will Humble Edom, 1b-4.… (more)