It struck me recently that I’ve spent a lot of my life in the 8th century BC. It was quite the 100 years.
Near the beginning of the century, Jeroboam II became ruler of the Northern Kingdom and he reigned for 41 years (793-753). My earliest intensive acquaintance with the 8th century was courtesy of Jeroboam, as I wrote a thesis on this period in the early 90s. That wasn’t the last I’d see of that guy, as I “had the opportunity” to update and expand the thesis in the early 00s. (I heard a few months ago that it’s the longest thesis written at that school.)
The great kingdom that Jeroboam II and his southern counterpart Uzziah presided over came to a crashing halt with the resurgence of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. If you have hung out with me much, then you ‘re probably familiar with the names Tiglath-pileser III, Shalmaneser V, Sargon II, and Sennacherib. I wrote a major paper on these guys about ten years ago.
Jonah, of course, is to blame for Assyria’s rise and Israel’s fall, humanly speaking. If he had just taken a different ship, everything might have turned out differently. I’ve spent time thinking about him over the years, in conjunction with the above-mentioned thesis and otherwise.
Amos and Hosea were working the other end of the Fertile Crescent, warning the northern kingdom that they were wicked and were about to be destroyed. But both also offered words of future hope.
Isaiah and Micah followed in their footsteps, but their focus was directed to the Southern Kingdom. They predicted a fate similar to that of the Northern Kingdom, but they expanded on the words of hope in significant and profound ways.
Because I’m now doing my arguments in chronological order (more or less), I had the privilege of studying four of these five prophets in quick succession last month. The fifth, Isaiah, is the subject of a weekly study that I teach.
This coming weekend I’m the teacher at our church’s men’s retreat. (Pray for me; I feel very inadequate.) I’m giving four messages on the life of Hezekiah (ruled 727-686) from 2 Chronicles.
I suppose the perfect dissertation topic for me would be on the reign of Uzziah (792-740). But I’ve already been approved for a study related to the reign of Jehu (841-814), which is going to require me to spend a lot of time in the late 9th century. I guess this is what scholars would call “broadening my horizons.”