Micah by Julia M. O'Brien, and: Haggai and Malachi by Stacy Davis

Abstract

Reviewed by: Micah by Julia M. O'Brien, and: Haggai and Malachi by Stacy Davis Anthony R. Petterson julia m. o'brien, Micah (Wisdom Commentary 37; Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2015). Pp. lxii + 141. $39.95. stacy davis, Haggai and Malachi (Wisdom Commentary 39; Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2015). Pp. xlvi + 126. $29.95. The Wisdom Commentary series seeks "to offer detailed feminist interpretation of every book of the Bible" (p. xvii). Its authors adopt a variety of methodological approaches to analyze the biblical text not verse by verse but in blocks of material. These commentaries are not simply concerned with passages that mention or directly concern women but with the whole text, identifying, analyzing, and critiquing issues of gender as well as the intersecting issues of "power, authority, ethnicity, racism, and classism" (from the dust-jacket). Each commentary is interspersed with contributions from other feminist voices on issues related to the interpretation and application of the text, with considerable diversity in points of view (five contributors in the volume on Haggai and Malachi, and eleven contributors for Micah). These two commentaries reflect the diversity of the series. O'Brien is a seasoned commentator on the Minor Prophets and a significant voice in feminist studies of the OT. Davis is less well known, and this seems to be her first commentary. I will review each in turn. In a substantial introduction, O'B. contends that gender is a social construction—"not simply recognition of biological facts but a way to control bodies: when you know who you are, then you know how you have to behave" (p. xl). She seeks to read Micah with a "gender-critical lens," looking at how gender works in the book, and how it might work for people in a variety of contexts today, particularly in view of Micah's concern for social justice. O'Brien provides a useful survey of scholarly approaches to the Book of Micah. She follows Ehud Ben Zvi in placing the composition of the book in the Persian period and interprets it against this background, after the horrors of the Assyrian and Babylonian military actions. Hence, though the book implies that it comes from the Assyrian period (eighth century), it is really addressing issues in the fifth century. (I remain unconvinced of this. See the recent analysis by Kenneth H. Cuffey, The Literary Coherence of the Book of Micah: Remnant, Restoration, and Promise [LHBOTS 611; New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015] 303-14, who concludes that the book is more likely preexilic or exilic). This setting is crucial for her interpretation of Micah as reflecting a community living under empire after the trauma of war (p. 123). O'Brien is interested not in hypothetical stages of the book's composition but rather in its "final form," the "production of an anonymous male scribe writing in Persian-occupied Jerusalem … shaped by the interest of its human author—interests that must be examined and, when necessary, critiqued" (p. 5). In the introduction, O'B. covers conditions in Yehud between 539 and 400 b.c.e., the community responsible for the book, and how this community viewed women. The introduction also includes an outline of the contents of Micah and a discussion of its key literary features, including its use of gendered language. O'Brien treats Micah in three sections: chaps. 1–3 ("Judgments against Female Cities and Male Leaders"); chaps. 4–5 ("Exaltation of Daughter Jerusalem and Her King"); and [End Page 321] chaps. 6–7 ("YHWH's Lawsuit and Daughter Jerusalem's Response"). Each section is subdivided and explained, with particular attention to issues of power dynamics and gender. O'B. often interacts with and critiques other scholars, particularly when there are a variety of feminist points of view. For instance, though some argue that Micah focuses on the urban centers because they are where the rich oppressors live (over against the rural poor), O'B. contends that this divide is anachronistic in Micah—women are compromised in urban and rural contexts (p. 9). In 1:7, Samaria is compared to a prostitute, and O'B. interacts with several different feminist views on the significance of this, urging that readers...