Proverbs – Katherine
The proverbs are a collection of stories promoting wisdom and to teach a specific goal or lesson. In these messages, wisdom is symbolized as a woman, lady wisdom. She represents Israelite women as a whole and the roles they play as teachers and mothers. Katherine also said that lady wisdom could be a symbol of the israelite goddess Astarte. I found this last part to be very interesting, simply because I had never heard of this goddess. I was under the impression that Jews only believed in one God. This idea of having a goddess seems very greek to me.
Lamentations – Tom
Lamentations are poems expressing sorrow over the loss of Jerusalem. Some say the author was Jeremiah, but most likely they were written by survivors writing about anger and sorrow. To me, the latter seems more likely, because only the people who went through the strife of losing Jerusalem would be able to write about it in such a way. Tom also mentioned that the main theme of the proverbs is that the Jews are asking God for forgiveness and why he did it. This reminds me of the cycle of sin in Judges, and how there is first peace, then Israel does something bad, is then punished, then israel cries out and gets a new judge. Similarly, in Lamentations, the people of Jerusalem brought it upon themselves, and then the babylonians were sent by God to punish those who had sinned.
Daniel – Nick A
During the time of Daniel, Israel was under the control of Antiochus (which no one could pronounce haha). Daniel was taken into babylonian captivity by king Nezer, and helps to interpret Nezer’s dreams. this reminds me a lot of Joseph and how he was taken into captivity by the Egyptians, but found favor through Pharaoh by interpreting his dreams.
Esther – Redgina
I love the book of Esther, and during eighth grade, my class and I had to put on a play of the story of Purim. We did ours based on the broadway show, hairspray. Anyways, I really love this book, mainly because of the character of Esther. Unlike many of the other women in the Bible, Esther is an amazing role model and helps to save her people, without any regard to her own life. She, like Ruth (who I did my short book presentation on) is an amazing role model, and definitely overlooked.
Micah – Nicollette
Micah was an advocator for world peace and was against the gap between the rich and the poor. he was a preacher of truth and offered salvation. He was told that there would be doom coming to the cities of Judah, so he deicided he would keep justice so as to keep the people together. He spoke on behalf of God’s complaint. Micah also believed that even though there are a lot of evil people, the do gooders should continue being faithful and god will forgive the evils they have done. This reminds me of Abraham, when he argued with god to save Sodom, because he believed that there were still some good people living there. Like Abraham, Micah also believes that there is internal good in everybody.