The Lost Letters to the Twelve Prophets
Imagining the Minor Prophets' World
- Biblical Studies & Commentaries
- Publisher: Zondervan Academic (Zondervan)
- Published: 2022
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Publisher's Description
Understand the Prophets Like Never Before with Amazing Insights from One of Today's Foremost Old Testament Scholars For many Christians reading the Old Testament, trying to understand Israel's prophets is like listening to just one side of a phone conversation--you only get half the idea of it. You hear the answer, but how do you know what question the prophet is answering? In The Lost Letters to the Twelve Prophets, John Goldingay uncovers the questions behind the prophets' answers that make their meaning and relevance intelligible to us. Written as a series of imaginary letters to the twelve Minor Prophets, The Lost Letters to the Twelve Prophets asks the kinds of questions that Hosea, Micah, Zechariah, and others were answering. The letters make clear the issues these prophets of Israel were dealing with or deliver the news they were responding to in their Old Testament writings. For example, To Hosea: Why did you marry someone you knew might be unfaithful? To Joel: It looks as if a locust epidemic is on the way: what should we do? To Amos: What should we do about the war crimes of peoples around us? To Obadiah: The Edomites have occupied our land and pushed us out: what's up with that? To Jonah: When is God going to fulfill his undertaking to destroy Nineveh? To Micah: Will God always be angry with us as a people? To Nahum: When is God going to fulfill his undertaking to destroy Nineveh? To Habakkuk: When is God going to do something about injustice in Judah? To Zephaniah: What do you mean by "the day of the Lord"? To Haggai: When is God going to fulfill his promises about rebuilding the temple? To Zechariah: Should Jeshua be High Priest when he has been in an unclean land? To Malachi: Why does serving God seem pointless? These and other questions help readers peer behind the veil of Minor Prophets' utterances and unlock their significance for today's Christians. Each chapter: begins with a brief paragraph of background about the prophet recounts questions or reports that have been addressed to the prophet in the form of a letter sums up message of the prophet responding to that question offers a brief comment or explanation after each passage The Lost Letters to the Twelve Prophets offers an imaginative, fun, and engaging way for students, pastors, and all serious Bible readers get a better grip on what is happening in these often misunderstood biblical books and get more out of their Bible reading and study.
Endorsements (3)
“What a brilliant idea! We know that the prophets of Israel were constantly engaged in argument and controversy, sometimes challenging the complacent, sometimes encouraging the despairing. So why not bring to life those who engaged with them, royalty and peasants, religious professionals and political conspirators. Disciplined imagination is a powerful tool in bringing the Scriptures to life and John Goldingay puts his well-informed imagination to work here in ways that entertain and educate in equal measure, both in the service of hearing the living voice of these spokesmen of the God of Israel.”
“Goldingay takes the often-overlooked Minor Prophets and brings clarity not only to their message but also to the tensions they provoked. Rather than making strawmen of the prophets’ audience, Goldingay gives them caring hearts and persuasive causes. In so doing he helps us see the relevance of their messages for life today. A fabulous tool for intuitively engaging these less accessible biblical texts.”
“Today we need to reintroduce people to the prophetic word. No one is more equipped to do that in a creative mode than John Goldingay! By presenting excerpts from the Twelve Prophets as responses to letters from citizens, officials, and religious leaders, he reminds us that these (uncomfortable) divine words were delivered within and for concrete settings. Timely, yet timeless as Scripture, these prophets continue to speak into real life to challenge God’s people.”
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