Tag Archives: 4/18

4/20 short books

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Hosea, A prophetic Book – Andrew

Hosea is the first of 12 minor prophetic books. Unlike many of the other books we have looked at, I found it very interesting that Hosea is actually the author of this one. God tells Hosea that he wants to destroy israel, so he asks them to repent. This has been seen over and over in the Bible, and can be referred back to sues presentation on the cycle of sin. What is different about this case is that god eventually has compassion and decided that he will not destroy them. I found this to be very interesting, because it is almost as if God is learning from his mistakes, sucha s when he destroyed sodom and the world with the flood.

Jonah – Kia

I thought it was interesting how most of the other prophetic books focused on israel and Judah, but the book of Jonah only focuses on a prophet who is sent to the assyrians in nenevah. In addition, while most of the other names in the bible are very strong, Jonah, meaning dove, is unlike the others. In this book, God asks Jonah to make a prophecy in Nenevah, but Jonah refuses. This is unlike anythign we have seen before in the bible. Instead of arguing with God, or just agreeing, Jonah flat out says no. In response, the lord throws jonah into the belly of a whale, where jonah repents and finally preaches gods word in nenevah. Overall, the message from this story is that when god sends you to do something, you do it, because if you dont, you could become fish food.

Amos – Anne

Amos is the first of the prophetic books. It begins with god promising to revoke punishments for the transgressions of a bunch of nations. God declares that samaria is corrupt and will be surrounded and defeated by enemies. The women of samaria will also be punished for social injustice and arrogance. Amos then has a bunch of visions in which god is destructive. When Amos tells God to stop, God actually does! Unlike Abraham, who had to argue continuously with god, Amos was able to get god  to not bring locusts upon the crops and not bring a shower of fire. However, when god orders a total destruction of israel, he does not stop, but instead says that after the jews have been exiled, he will promise to restore david’s kingdom.

 

4/18 Short Books

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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.