Minor Prophets

Abstract

Minor Prophets Christopher T. Begg, Fred W. Guyette, and Richard A. Taylor 738. [Spirit, Kingship, and Inner-Biblical Allusion in the Book of the Twelve and the NT] Beth M. Stovell, "Spirit, Kingship, and Inner-Biblical Allusion in the Book of the Twelve and the New Testament," The Spirit Says, 39-60 [see #910]. This chapter has explored how conceptions of God's spirit and presence join with conceptions of God's kingship in the Twelve and continue into the NT via use of inner-biblical allusion. A few key insights have emerged from this analysis. First, the depictions of the spirit as water and the spirit as oil serve key roles in joining the depictions of God's spirit in Joel and Zechariah to their interpretations in Acts and John. … Second, the conceptual understanding of the spirit in relation to God's kingship is based repeatedly on iterations of inner-biblical allusion. Such allusion may come in the form of direct or indirect citation, but in both cases, the purpose is to draw the hearer back [End Page 250] to earlier events and experiences of the spirit that shed light on the conceptualizations of the spirit and kingship. Joel and Zechariah did not come to their understandings of God's spirit and kingship entirely on their own, but are grounded in their predecessors' conceptions of God's spirit and kingship. Joel uses the Exodus account to draw links between the spirit's revelation given to all peoples with the experience of God as Divine Warrior who calls out from Zion. Joel's linking of God as king and the spirit's outpouring upon the people are picked up in the NT by Acts to illustrate the actions of the Holy Spirit in relation to the Father and to Jesus the Son who is Lord and Messiah, the anointed king. Besides the Divine Warrior-king metaphor linked with the spirit in the Twelve, the shepherd king metaphor is also linked with depictions of God's spirit and presence in the Twelve in passages such as Zechariah 9–12. Building on allusions to the Psalter and Ezekiel, Zechariah 9–12 depicts God's recurring presence to protect and fight for his people as their king and the spirit's outpouring on David's house. The interplay of spirit and kingship in these texts enables John the Evangelist … to incorporate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as oil and as water into his depictions of Jesus' kingship in John 12 and 19. … [Adapted from author's conclusion, pp. 59-60—C.T.B.] *739. [Weather Imagery in Hosea] Szabolcs Ferencz Kato, "Rain, Dew, Flourishing Plants as Images of Monolatry and Righteousness: The Weather Imagery and Its Meaning in Hosea," HTS 77 (4, 2021) 1-7 [see Editor's Notes, p. 367]. Weather imagery plays a major role in the Book of Hosea. The prophet wants us to see an interconnectedness between faithfulness and the fruitfulness of the land. Since Israel has been unfaithful to God, the land is suffering from drought and agriculture is failing (Hosea 2). There is no bread or water, no wool, no flax, and no cooking oil. Hos 4:2-3 describes the withering of the land. In 6:3; 10:12; 14:6, several types of precipitation serve to draw attention to the utterances of Yhwh and the need for righteousness. In 9:10, 13, 16; 10:1; 13:5; and 14:6, 8, Israel is symbolized by different plants that blossom and wither, depending on their relation to Yhwh. Hosea also uses weather imagery to describe the political consequences of idolatry and injustice. Those behaviors cause drought and famine in a literal sense, but they also cause the withering of Israel in a figurative sense. The remedy for the land and for God's people?: Genuine repentance and renewed trust in Yhwh.—F.W.G. 740. [Hosea 7] Kurtis Peters, "Theology in Knead of Language: Bread, Ovens, and the Politics of Hosea 7," From Words to Meanings, 107-17 [see #911]. Hosea 7 contains two separate but related enigmatic cooking images. The first is that of a heated oven...