An
Exegetical
Commentary
—
Joel,
Amos,
Obadiah

Thomas J. Finley
Chairman, Department of Old Testament and Semitics
Talbot School of Theology

About the Author

Thomas J. Finley (B.A., Biola University; M.Div., Talbot School of Theology; M.A., University of California at Los Angeles; Ph.D., University of California at Los Angeles) chairs the Department of Old Testament and Semitics at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California. He has written both technical and popular articles for various publications.

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Copyright © 2003 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. and the author. All rights reserved.

Scripture Quotations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from
The NET Bible®, New English Translation,
Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C.

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Preface

For several years it has been my privilege to ponder the prophecies of Joel, Amos, and Obadiah. Though it is an awesome responsibility to comment on God’s holy Word, it is also necessary for each generation to find fresh answers from the pages of the inspired Scriptures to the questions that are troubling it.

The cultural and historical distance between the Old Testament prophets and their modern readers makes close study difficult. While these individuals spoke from God and therefore left a message that will always be relevant, God delivered His words through the vehicle of the prophets and their own situation in life. I have tried here to use the tools of language and history to help the reader grasp the meaning of each prophetic book in its original context as far as possible.

It is also my conviction that the individual books as they are known from the Hebrew Bible reflect accurately the prophet’s own age. Some minor problems may have arisen through the process of textual transmission, but these are not so serious as to undermine the doctrine of an inspired (and inerrant) book. Where significant issues arise about whether or not a passage belongs to the prophet whose name is attached to the book, they are discussed. I have also attempted to be fair and courteous to those whose convictions on these matters differ from mine.

In my seminary training I was taught that good translation is the first step to good exegesis. Consequently, I have tried to interact frequently with modern translations, especially the NASB and the NIV. The process of making my own translations forced me to consider fine nuances of the text that I otherwise might have missed, though my own renderings seldom differ significantly from either of these fine versions. Great value is also to be gained, I discovered, from studying ...