Micah

by Francis I. Andersen and David Noel Freedman

Published 19 September 2006

One of the twelve Minor Prophets, Micah unwaveringly spoke God's message to Israel-a message filled with judgment but also laced with the promise of redemption. Micah combined poetic complexity and literary sophistication to compel his audience to respond. And now, through an exacting linguistic and literary analysis of the biblical text, coauthors Francis I. Andersen and David Noel Freedman explain what Micah meant to his contemporaries, as well as what his message means to readers today.

What sets Micah apart is the attention it pays to the details of the prophet's original text. The commentary is descriptive rather than speculative, philological rather than theological. With unusual care, the authors-two of the world's leading Bible scholars-examine the features of Micah's biblical Hebrew and prophetic discourse. They discover the use of a special kind of language, which, in its poetic composition, differs significantly from the language of classical Hebrew prose.

At the zenith of their careers, masters of all relevant disciplines, Andersen and Freedman are the perfect duo to unlock the words of this challenging prophet.


Habakkuk

by Francis I. Andersen

Published 14 August 2001
The book of Habakkuk (one of the twelve Minor Prophets) is an intensely personal testimony played out against a highly political backdrop. Writing as his land and his fellow Israelites were being invaded and plundered by the Chaldeans, Habakkuk questions God's actions with a passion equal to Job's. Habakkuk wonders, how can a God who is just and compassionate allow his people to be slaughtered? In trying to punish the Israelites and right the wrongs of his people, why did God choose the savage, infinitely more wicked Chaldeans as his instrument? The puzzles Habakkuk contemplates will stir the hearts and minds of anyone who has ever wrestled with the evils of existence. Francis I. Andersen, a well-known authority on the Minor Prophets and acclaimed for his pioneering work in the study of biblical Hebrew, examines Habakkuk both as a work of sophisticated theological inquiry and as an artistic creation. The result is a book that illuminates the nuances of the text and brings to life the culture and values of the ancient Israelites through a compelling portrait of one the Bible's most fascinating and most elusive prophets.