Isaiah 1-11

Please read again the Amos and Isaiah study questions, and then Chapters 1-11 of Isaiah. What do you find here that suggests that Isaiah's message was a burden? Is there a passage here that particularly well reflects hope, beauty, faith in the triumph of justice, or anything else that would have made this burden worth bearing?

Amos

Please read these study guide questions on Amos and Isaiah and then all nine chapters of Amos. Choose any of the first 13 study guide questions and suggest an answer to that question here.

I would be particularly interested in your comments on Amos' use of imagery. Do you find any of Amos' images particularly effective? Particularly disturbing?

II Kings 18-25

Please read II Kings 18-25 for Tuesday after spring break.  You will probably find these chapters fairly easy going.  With the destruction of the northern kingdom (c. 722 BC), we don't have quite the complicated situation we have earlier in II Kings: no shifting back and forth between Israel and Judah. 

What do you think of these last chapters in terms of genre?  Do they match up best to the criteria we said in class were characteristic of prophecy ("thus saith the Lord voice, people seeking out a divine message, persecution/rejection of the prophet, vindication of the prophet, etc.) the characteristics we said were typical of history (addressing what happened, when it happened, and why questions), tragedy (characters and themes of sufficient magnitude, etc.) or anti-tragedy (things that match the tragic form, but reflecting a situation where break-down has progressed so far that pure tragedy is no longer possible)?  Support your answer by citing specific passage in these chapters that support your view.

II Kings 1-10, 17

Please read Chapters 1-10 of II Kings for Thursday.  Please read also Chapter 17.  We'll be focusing on two themes: whether or not the story of Elisha has the makings of tragedy and whether or not the story of the nation of Israel as a whole has the makings of tragedy.

Greek tragedies stand out, not only for their overall message, but also for the many "gems" of wisdom and beautifully phrased insights into the human condition included in the choral passages.  Please cite here one or two lines from the assigned chapters that seem to you equivalent in function/form to the choral sections of Greek tragedies. If you don't think it particularly useful to view II Kings as tragedy, cite instead a line or two that you consider a good example of historical/biographical insight, or that reflects the prophetic character of the book.