The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah (The New International Commentary on the Old Testament)

Drawing on insights from a wide variety of disciplines — theological, historical, and literary — Professor Allen presents a careful and imaginative effort to reconstruct the stage on which the message of these four books was conveyed to their Hebrew hearers. Its own literary and historical context must be known in order for a book to be fully understood; then it must be placed against the general background of the Old Testament; finally against the setting of the total revelation of Holy Scripture with its diverse theological patterns reaching fulfillment in the New Testament.The commentary of Mucah is the basic one of these four in the sense of treating at greater length some of the forms and motifs that appear in Joel, Obadiah, and Jonah as well. The introductory material for the commentary on Joel iuncludes discussions of canonicity and textual criticism which apply to the entire volume.