The Unity of the Twelve Minor Prophets
Brian Sanderson
OT 520
Dr. Brian Russell
Spring 2011
Research Paper: The Unity of the Twelve
‘The Unity of the Twelve’ The Book of the twelve Minor Prophets is more than a collection of miscellaneous prophetic materials. The twelve books of the Minor Prophets function as a unified literary work. The trend in modern biblical scholarship is to treat the Book of the Twelve as twelve distinct prophetic compositions that have relatively little to do with each other apart from having been placed in the same collection. Despite these claims, the literary work of the twelve Minor Prophets remains a multifaceted composition that functions in concert in all Jewish and Christian versions of the Bible. The unity of the book plays out simultaneously as a single prophetic book and as a collection of twelve individual prophetic books revealing overriding elements of unity that if carefully examined would lead to a better understanding of the Old Testament. The Book of the Twelve is counted as one book in the Hebrew canon. Some scholars say, “The purpose of placing all of this material in one scroll is to make a balance in the Hebrew prophetic canon between the four books of the former prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings), and the four books of the latter prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve).” People need balance in their lives but there is a much larger message throughout the grand narrative of scripture that regardless of the balancing of material must find its way into the communities of Yahweh’s people and that message finds its way regardless of the arrangement of books. Many others knew of the book of the Twelve as one book. In the Jewish tradition the Book of the Twelve was identified as tere asar, Aramaic for “The Twelve,” and in Christian tradition as oi dodeka prohetai, or ton dodekaprophton, Greek for the “Twelve Prophets.” The apocryphal Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, “Ecclesiasticus” in the 2nd century B.C.E refers
OT 520
Dr. Brian Russell
Spring 2011
Research Paper: The Unity of the Twelve
‘The Unity of the Twelve’ The Book of the twelve Minor Prophets is more than a collection of miscellaneous prophetic materials. The twelve books of the Minor Prophets function as a unified literary work. The trend in modern biblical scholarship is to treat the Book of the Twelve as twelve distinct prophetic compositions that have relatively little to do with each other apart from having been placed in the same collection. Despite these claims, the literary work of the twelve Minor Prophets remains a multifaceted composition that functions in concert in all Jewish and Christian versions of the Bible. The unity of the book plays out simultaneously as a single prophetic book and as a collection of twelve individual prophetic books revealing overriding elements of unity that if carefully examined would lead to a better understanding of the Old Testament. The Book of the Twelve is counted as one book in the Hebrew canon. Some scholars say, “The purpose of placing all of this material in one scroll is to make a balance in the Hebrew prophetic canon between the four books of the former prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings), and the four books of the latter prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve).” People need balance in their lives but there is a much larger message throughout the grand narrative of scripture that regardless of the balancing of material must find its way into the communities of Yahweh’s people and that message finds its way regardless of the arrangement of books. Many others knew of the book of the Twelve as one book. In the Jewish tradition the Book of the Twelve was identified as tere asar, Aramaic for “The Twelve,” and in Christian tradition as oi dodeka prohetai, or ton dodekaprophton, Greek for the “Twelve Prophets.” The apocryphal Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, “Ecclesiasticus” in the 2nd century B.C.E refers