Living in the Language of God: Wise Speaking in the Book of the Twelve

Living in the Language of God

Wise Speaking in the Book of the Twelve

Warner M. Bailey

With a foreword by Thomas W. Currie

Living in the Language of God

Wise Speaking in the Book of the Twelve

Copyright © 2017 Warner M. Bailey. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Pickwick Publications

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paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-1412-5

hardcover isbn: 978-1-5326-1414-9

ebook isbn: 978-1-5326-1413-2

Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Names: Bailey, Warner M. | Currie, Thomas W., foreword writer

Title: Living in the language of God : wise speaking in the Book of the Twelve / Warner M. Bailey, with a foreword by Thomas W. Currie.

Description: Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2017 | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: isbn 978-1-5326-1412-5 (paperback) | isbn 978-1-5326-1414-9 (hardcover) | isbn 978-1-5326-1413-2 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Bible. Minor Prophets—Criticism, interpretations, etc. | Bible—Canonical criticism

Classification: BS1560 B35 2017 (paperback) | BS1560 (ebook)

Manufactured in the U.S.A. 09/17/15

All Scriptural texts, except where noted, are reprinted from the Common Bible: New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Additional citations are reprinted from:

Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures: The New JPS Translation to the Traditional Hebrew Text © 1985 by The Jewish Publication Society; with the permission of the publisher.

The Moffatt Translation of the Bible, 1935, Hodder and Stoughton, with the permission of the publisher.

The New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1981, 1980, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, DC and are used by permission of the copyright owner.

The Complete Bible, 1939, The University of Chicago Press, with permission of the publisher.

New English Bible © Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press 1961, 1970, with permission of the publisher.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Literary Aspect of Embedded Speech in the Book of the Twelve

Chapter 2: What the Others Are Saying in the Book of the Twelve

Chapter 3: A Defense of the Integrity of God’s Word

Chapter 4: The Day of the Lord and Speech—I

Chapter 5: The Day of the Lord and Speech—II

Chapter 6: Theological Reflections

Chapter 7: Theology and History

Chapter 8: Encouragement to Live Faithfully in Hope

Chapter 9: Wise Speaking in Public and Pastoral Settings

Bibliography

To Our Children

Joanna and David

And to Our Grandchildren

Joseph, Miriam, and Jacob

Foreword

Warner Bailey knows that words matter. But that is not the chief import of this remarkable book. Words matter because the God whose Word became flesh speaks people into persons, enabling them to discover their humanity by living into the language God voices.

Living in the Language of God is not a theoretical construct spun out to explain the phenomenon of speech or the origin of human communication. Rather here the reader will find a close analysis of the Book of the Twelve, an attempt to unfold the deep connections and over-arching themes in what in former days was referred to as the Minor Prophets. So, in part, this book is a study in biblical interpretation. The author has listened closely to these texts and heard and overheard the conversations taking place within them. As someone who can claim no expertise in these matters, I must confess that I found this part of the book fascinating, not only for its teasing out of particular passages I thought I knew—and have now heard in a fresh voice—but also for the interpretive unity of recurring themes that the author discerns in these texts. He has listened carefully.

It would be a mistake, however, to consign this book simply to the area of biblical interpretation. It is that, but it is so much more. As careful a reading as this book represents in the field of biblical studies, its interests extend far beyond the academy. The underlying motive is theological. The author believes that these texts matter because they speak to those whom the Holy Spirit has gathered to hear them as scripture. The voice that is articulated in these texts enables voices to respond in gratitude, praise, and even in questions and doubts, but in any case, as the community called forth by that voice to live into that language. The result is not a gabfest or an ancient manuscript only of interest to scholars or even an account of some ancient cultic practice. The result is Israel. And the church. The word creates and shapes a people.

That is a radical thought and one that is counter to much of what our culture, and sometimes even the church believes. This book contends that it is the Word of God that creates and sustains God’s people, most especially in a time of cultural and religious dislocation. Here, demographic studies, strategic planning, social trends, or political arrangements are of little help. When one has lost one’s voice or can only speak of doubts and fears, what is needed is not something we can give ourselves but a word from Another spoken to us from the outside. That voice is what the author hears speaking in the Book of the Twelve, a voice that sustained and gave life to a disconsolate and wavering Israel. In a time of Christian diaspora, a time when the church is struggling to find its way in what appears to be an uncharted cultural wilderness, a time of doubt and fear and uncertainty, the author of this book offers no easy answers, but only the invitation to listen attentively to the word that spoke to Israel and speaks to us, mediating a presence that enables faithful speech and true worship and hope-filled life.

Two final points about this book. We live in a culture that is drenched with words: with texts, emails, ads, commercials, slogans, signs, imperatives of various sorts. As a result, words seem diminished things to us. They hardly seem strong enough or trustworthy enough to shape and sustain a community. Or if they do, they can only do so virtually. But what this book maintains is that some words are not just read but are voiced; they speak. So much so, that listening to that voice becomes a life-giving and community-forming event. Accordingly, there is no task more urgent for the community than to listen. That is not a new thought but it is and remains a radical thought, and one that requires and enables love for and careful attention to the word that sustains life.

Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, this book knows that the voice that enables our voices to speak, is a voice that seeks and creates fellowship with us, a voice rooted in the triune love of God, a voice that rejoices in the joy that is ours in the Word made flesh. The faithfulness of such a voice enables faith.

Warner Bailey has written a book that seeks to offer wise ways of listening to that wisdom that foolishly makes itself known in our all too human words. In so doing, he has offered a gift to the church that depends upon hearing such wisdom for its life, and even more for its joyful service in the world that God loves.

Thomas W. Currie

Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Austin, Texas

Preface

Twenty-first-century Christians live in diaspora, merely one voice among many, without enjoying their once privileged place in society. Particularly is this the case for those who struggle to be a church that mirrors the capaciousness of God’s grace. Every day we are reminded how commonplace is the crassness and coarseness of our culture. We are assaulted by the venting of pent-up furies which are stoked by profound anxieties over loss of one world view and fear against an unacceptable but unstoppable future. Frequently, we struggle to speak an authentic word of God amidst the cross-talk of many voices. Fortunately, we can look for guidance to biblical models of faithful speaking under similar circumstances. This book describes one such model (a piety) which is drawn from a canonical study of Hosea through Malachi which will be called collectively as The Book of the Twelve, or simply the Twelve (XII).

This book will be read at a critical time in the life of the church. We are in the throes of discerning our way forward in rapidly changing circumstances. Frequently, we labor under the perception of the diminishing importance of the church’s witness. Reaction to this loss takes many forms, ranging from a proliferation of religious groups jockeying for position to examining carefully large-scale church drop-outs to intense engagement with Scripture and theology to sense again the meaning of speaking what is at the heart of faith.

Similarly, when the Book of the Twelve took final shape in post-exilic Israel, God’s people were coming to grips with a long history of the erosion of their political, economic, and religious independence, beginning in the eighth century. The realization that theirs was merely one option among many, without enjoying its once privileged place in society is evident in the pages of the Twelve in the form of a wealth of anecdotal comments. The conclusions of this book are drawn from an examination of over seventy texts in the Twelve in which quoted speeches provide a window into understanding the complex struggles to be faithful in diaspora.

One would think that modern people of faith would be studying deeply this early witness to an effort to discern faithfulness. At least two reasons account for why the fruits of such study have not materialized. First, unfortunately aside from a few well-worn nuggets for sermons, the Book of the Twelve remains a largely unknown entity in the church. Take but one example. In a three-year cycle of a widely used lectionary sixty-one citations from Isaiah appear as compared to eighteen from the Twelve, and both books are roughly comparable in length. With such limited opportunities, congregations living in diaspora will have less of an opportunity to reflect on the witness of those struggling like they are. This book is offered in the hope that those who are responsible for leading communities can come away with a fresh grasp of the power of the good news of the Twelve to aid their task of forming believers who are coping with the challenges of changed circumstances.

Second, exploiting the potential of the Twelve for nurturing a piety for the twenty-first century has been impeded by the impasse that has grown up in how best to understand the collection literarily. One position associated with Ehud Ben Zvi is that the twelve books are to be read as a collection of independent prophetic works. The Twelve is an anthology in which particular voices may converse with each other. Another view, led by James Nogalski and Aaron Schart, is impressed with the rich network of intertextual allusions or associations within the texts. This points to a program of shaping the texts into a unified whole.

The disagreement on such a fundamental matter is confusing enough. Yet, the impression left by both sides is that the Twelve, under any literary construction, leaves the reader with a negative conclusion regarding Israel’s being able to hold a voice of faith in a situation of living in a subordinate status. A recent summary states succinctly, Most commentators have identified the literary and thematic parallels between [Hosea and Malachi] and have observed that Malachi provides a sort of ‘answer’ to Hosea: the latter informs us that YHWH calls to his people who have broken the covenant, and the former demonstrates that they have not answered their divine sovereign.¹ A reader of the Twelve who is seeking guidance for living faithfully in diaspora will be disappointed these interpreters seem to imply.

However, another reader saw in the Twelve another voice. Sirach 49:10, written early in the second century BCE eulogizes, May the bones of the Twelve Prophets send forth new life from where they lie, for they comforted the people of Jacob and delivered them with confident hope. While my book is not a full length commentary on each of the writings in the collection, it is a sustained investigation into the shape of that message of hope across the pages of the Twelve. The framework that interprets these writings as a unit is built out of a particular conception of wise speaking as the enactment of a faithful piety in diaspora. The message of hope is that God gives us the language to use as a pathway to covenant faithfulness which stands the test of faithfulness in diasporitic circumstances. Placing the origin of that message of hope in a particular post-exilic party in Judah does not concern me as much as reflecting on how that message might resound in communities of diaspora who gather around the text today.

This book traverses the arc of exegesis through constructive proposals which are reflected on theologically for their implications for pastoral leadership. I have been taught by many interpreters in the process of writing—too many to name completely. However, I do want to express appreciation to Christopher Seitz for his penetrating exegesis of Joel’s message of hope and to David Kelsey for his insightful comments on language. I am also indebted to Timothy Sandoval for the gift of his time and suggestions for research. I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Thomas Currie and David Gouwens for their careful reading of the manuscript. Their comments offered encouragement, and their critique has improved the clarity of my argument.

1. Leuchter, Another Look,

2

.

Introduction

The attentive reader of the book of Hosea, having reached the end of the book, is quick to grasp that chapter 14 differs markedly in tone and purpose from the previous chapters. The focus of the preceding material has been to lay out God’s response, largely in judgment, to Israel’s irretrievable apostasy. Startlingly, the book concludes in chapter 14 with a passionate plea to this same Israel to show repentance, a plea founded in God’s spontaneous intention to heal.¹ Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take words with you and return to the Lord; say to him, ‘Take away all guilt; accept our speech, and we will offer the fruit of our lips.² Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; we will say no more, our God, to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy’ (Hos 14:1–3 [Eng.]).³ The last chapter of Hosea begins with this final invitation to the people of God to make use of their language (to take words and return) as the pathway to their reuniting with God.

Take words with you and return to the Lord. As the reader of chapters 1–13 has already grasped, Hosea has prepared us in chapters 1–13 not to think that his audience can make good on a communication of God’s desire for them to repent and return. The suggestion in chapter 14 that words could be the medium of return is striking and presents the reader with a challenge to account for the sudden change in approach.⁴ This book meets this challenge and establishes that the place of words, both as a medium of restoration and as context of faithfulness, is a major piece of understanding the entire corpus of Hosea through Malachi.

This sense of asymmetry between chapter 14 and what precedes intensifies with the concluding verses of this final chapter which stress the theme of wise speaking. Those who are wise understand these things; those who are discerning know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them (Hos 14:10 [Eng. 9]). While wisdom motifs permeate Hosea, the explicit reference to someone who speaks wise words is intriguing because it is completely new to the Hosea material.⁵ Hosea characterizes Israel as being most unwise. He likens the nation to a stubborn heifer (4:16–17), an easily deceived (literally without mind) dove (7:10), or a wild donkey wandering alone (8:8). They called the prophet ‘a fool,’ (9:7), but they did not realize that they themselves were the real fools!⁶ Israel is an unborn child without the wisdom to come out of the womb (13:13).⁷ It acts in an inverse ratio to the positive ways God tries to engage it (4:6–7; 8:11; 10:1; 11:1).⁸

This appeal to the wise comes suddenly, unexpectedly. Interpreters have explained its presence in various ways. For example, Wolff comments, The gift of wisdom is necessary to discern and understand [the written Hosean traditions].⁹ However, a new avenue of approach has been opened through the application of canonical criticism, that is, the study of the final