MICAH

MICAH. By Ehud Ben Zvi. FOTL 21B. Pp. xvi + 189. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing, 2000. Paper, $35.00.

Ehud Ben Zvi's contribution to the FOTL series derives from two lines of scholarly tradition: It is a form-critical analysis of a prophetic book and a commentary on the text of that book. In both strands of scholarship it is original and creative. As a form-critical study, the work is unusual; as a commentary, it breaks new ground. The book reflects the growing number of studies of recent years which have focused on the literary issues of the book of Micah. Among these are the studies of J. T. Willis ("The Structure of the Book of Micah," SEÅ 34 [1969]: 5-42), D. Hagstrom (The Coherence of the Book of Micah: A Literary Analysis [SBLDS 89; Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars Press, 1988), L. M. Luker ("Beyond Form Criticism: The Relation of Doom and Hope Oracles in Micah 2-6," HAR 11 [1987]: 285-301), K. H. Cuffey ("The Coherence of Micah: A Review of the Proposals and A New Interpretation" [unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Drew University, 1987; forthcoming in JSOTSup), B. Waltke ("Micah," in The Minor Prophets: An Exegetical and Expository Commentary, vol. 2, ed. T. E. McComiskey [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1993], pp. 591-764), C. S. Shaw (The Speeches of Micah: A Rhetorical-Historical Analysis [JSOTSup 145; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1993), and M. R. Jacobs (The Conceptual Coherence of the Book of Micah [JSOTSup 322; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001). Ben Zvi' s commentary attempts to bring the insights of such studies together with the results of the more traditional methodologies of historicalcritical study, especially redaction criticism.

Rather than beginning with the putative words of the prophet, Ben Zvi defines the "canonical genre" of the book of Micah as it now stands to be a "prophetic book," which consists of a series of "prophetic readings." The choice of this designation reflects his interest in reconstructing the last stages of the process through which he believes the book was produced in its final form. In accord with many redaction-critical studies, Ben Zvi finds the setting of the production of the book in the Achaemenid post-monarchic community. This was a time when the post-exilic literati in urban centers enjoyed social...