One of the standard features in the OT prophetic literature is the oracles against the nations (OAN) in which Israel's neighbors are judged by God for their sinful behavior. P.M. Cook states that “it may be safe to say that oracles about other nations play such a prominent role in the prophetic literature because they ultimately concern Israel and Judah. Above all, the rich deposit of oracles regarding foreign nations witnesses to belief in the sovereignty of Yahweh, who is not simply the God of the Israelites, but is Lord of all nations.”
Often these oracles target individual people groups, but sometimes oracles against several countries are grouped together. When that happens, the question always arises to why the various nations, which sometimes even include Israel and Judah, are listed in the particular order in which they are mentioned. Some of the reasoning is literary in nature and involves the pairing (generally symmetrically) of the oracles through common language or themes. These cases are explained in my posts on the “Introduction to the Literary Structure” of the appropriate books. But it is also possible to see a geographical scheme behind some of these listings.
Isaiah 13-23
The Structure of Isaiah 1-35
I. Indictment (chs. 1-35)
A. Jerusalem (Isaiah 1-12)
1. Indictment (chs.1-5)
2. Historical Interlude (chs. 6-8)
a. message to Judah
b. message to the king
c. Judah's future
3. Promise (chs. 9-12)
B. The Nations (Isaiah 13-27)
1. Indictment (chs.13-23)
2. Promise (chs. 24-27)
A'. Jerusalem (Isaiah 28-35)
1. Indictment (chs. 28-33)
2. Promise (chs. 34-35)
These OAN are spread out over eleven chapters with other material interspersed. My own cursory reading of these chapters resulting in the following order to the various nations mentioned: Babylon (ch. 13:1-14:27), Philistia (14:28-32), Moab (15:1-16:14), Damascus (17:1-14), Egypt (18:1-20:6), Babylon (21:1-10), Edom (21:11-16), Judah (22:1-25), and Tyre (23:1-18).
However, we must admit with others that these divisions are not nearly as clear-cut as in other OAN. Thus, Kidner treats 14:24-27 as a separate oracle against Assyria; 18:1-7 is broken out as an prophecy against Ethiopia; 20:1-6 is assigned to Ashod, representing Philistia; and Arabia is addressed in 21:13-17.
Looking through various commentaries, it appears that no one that I know of has proposed a single method of organization to explain the order of these oracles. For that reason, Blenkinsopp, for example, proposes a three-step process of editing for the series beginning with four original oracles to which the two Babylon passages have been used to cap them off, followed by later prophecies being added. This process resulted in “the somewhat confusing sequence in the text before us.”
Wolf sees the present series as beginning with the major world powers of Babylon and Assyria; moving on to Israel's neighbors; then back to the nations further away to the south; on to the desert regions of Babylon, Edom and Arabia. “The final oracle against the nations is fittingly reserved for Tyre, the queen of the seas.” This explanation falls far short of a coherent unity.
So, we may have to just be content with Payne's summary of Isaiah's OAN – “Although the precise purpose of the individual oracles in this section may differ somewhat, together they present two lessons in particular: foreign oppression will cease, and foreign (potential) allies will fail. There is thus a message of hope for God's people when oppressed by foreign powers, and a message of warning that their reliance should be placed only in God, not in political intrigues and alliances.”
Jeremiah 45-51
Literary Structure
A. “To Baruch the son of Neriah” (prose) (45:1-5)
B. Egypt (46:1-28)
C. Philistines (47:1-7)
D. “Concerning” (48:1-49:33)
1. Moab (48:1-47)
2. Ammon (49:1-6)
3. Edom (49:7-22)
4. Damascus (49:23-27)
5. Kedar / Hazor (49:28-33)
C'. Elam (49:34-39)
B'. Babylon (50:1-51:58)
A'. “To Seraiah the son of Neriah” (prose) (51:59-64a)
There are a number of parallels between A and A' of Fig. 5: they are both prose passages bracketing a large block of poetry; they deal with two brothers who are loyal to God and to Jeremiah; and they contain in common the phrases “in the fourth year,” “king of Judah” and “wrote these words in a book.” Their placement at the start and conclusion of a series of oracles against the pagan nations is not accidental. The word concerning Baruch, whose fate will be captivity in Egypt, directly precedes the prophecies concerning Egypt. By contrast, Seraiah will accompany the captives to Babylon, and thus his section follows directly after the prophecies concerning that nation. These two brothers typify the loyal Jews that Jeremiah addresses elsewhere in the book, and sections A and A' show what is in store for them in captivity. Their lives will be preserved if they accept their fate, and they will be given opportunities for God's service even in a foreign land.
Arrangement in the above manner is mainly informed by the similarly chiastic order of the corresponding opening phrases of these sections. At the same time, there is a rough geographical movement from the southwest to the east in this series. (Chisholm, Jr., Robert B., Handbook on the Prophets, Baker Academic, 2002, p. 208.) These understandings are contra that of L.C. Allen, who feels that these headings appear “erratically” within these chapters. The one exception to the pattern is that the opening to a sub-section of B is included in place of the introductory phrase in 46:1, which applies to all the nations (not just Egypt) and may have been added to bring the total references to “the word of the LORD” up to seven.
Bright and Thompson both see similarities in the oracles addressing Moab and Hazor with the prophecy concerning Edom. If so, this would suggest another example of symmetry within Section D with its center (and thus the center of Section II' itself) as the Edom prophecy. The center of this prophecy, in turn, contains the key image of the nation being forced to drink the cup of God's wrath, an image which will appear elsewhere at key junctures of the book.
Ezekiel 25-32
Literary Structure
1. The Nations (ch. 25)
2. Tyre and Sidon (26:1-28:23)
3. God's Overall Purpose (28:24-26)
2'. Egypt (29:1-32:16)
1'. The Nations (32:17-32)
Within Ezekiel 25, the order of the nations listed is as follows: Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistine. P.M. Cook discerns a clockwise geographical movement to this overall listing. However, the position of the Egypt oracles disrupts that pattern, causing him to propose that “any deliberate initial arrangement of a collection of oracles is likely to be obscured by expansion or reorganization of the collection over time.” Block, on the other hand, skips over the Egypt oracles because of “their own distinctive style and structure” to extend the clockwise pattern from Ammon to Sidon (28:20-23).
My own analysis differs from both those above. I think that it is best to simply include Sidon in with Tyre, as Greenberg does in light of Ezekiel 27:8. And, in addition, the messages to Tyre and Egypt obviously are much more detailed oracles than any of the others and deserve to be set apart from the earlier shorter oracles in chapter 25. Block even gives a rationale for the prophet's fixation on these two superpowers when he states that “the inordinate attention given to Tyre and Egypt” was because they “represented the principal obstacles to the fulfillment of the Babylonians' mission” to execute God's judgment on Judah.”
In 32:17-32, the description of the Gentile dead in the Underworld references Edom (which first appeared in chapter 25) and the Phoenicians (see references to Tyre and Sidon in chapters 26-28), “indicates an intention to sum up the topic as a whole, not only with regard to Egypt.” (Greenberg)
And in 32:17-32, the list continues with Assyria, Elam, Meshech and Tubal, Edom, Phoenicia and Syria (“princes of the north”), and Sidon. Block notes, “the names divide formally and geographically into two groups of three and two respectively. The entries in the first triad [Assyia, Elam, and Meshech-Tubal] identify great powers to the north of the Fertile Crescent...the final pair [Edom and Phoenicia] are both nearer neighbors of Israel and Egypt.”
Literary Structure
Source * Indictment Punishment*** Confirmation****
Length Type**
Syria yes brief a lengthy yes
(1:3-5)
Philistia yes brief a lengthy yes
(1:6-8)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tyre yes lengthy a brief no
(1:9-10)
Edom yes lengthy b brief no
(1:11-12)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ammon yes brief a lengthy yes
(1:13-15)
Moab yes brief b lengthy yes
(2:1-3)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Judah yes lengthy a brief no
(2:4-5)
Israel yes lengthy a displaced twice
(2:6-16)
* “Thus says the LORD”
** “For three transgressions of...and for four, I will not revoke the punishment because...(a) they, or (b) he...”
*** “So I will send (kindle) a fire...”
**** “says the LORD”
Three additional ordering patterns are described by Carroll:
1. The oracles start with nations having no ties to Israel (first three in the series) and then move to those who do (next three nations) before arriving at Israel's sister nation, Judah.
2. The first group of three nations are city-states while the following three are identified as nations.
3. There is an alternating geographical pattern between countries bordering Israel and those bordering Judah.
Zephaniah 2
The nations which are marked out for God's wrath in this chapter appear to follow a rather erratic geographical path. The oracles are first directed against the coastline of Philistia, with mention of Gaza, Askelon, Ashdod, and Ekron (vv. 4-7); then the trans-Jordan countries of Moab and Ammon get their due in vv. 8-11; followed by the Ethiopians (v. 12) and the Assyrians (vv. 13-15). But if you look at a map of the region at that time, you will see an interesting pattern emerging.
One can picture God's angel of death destroying the cities of Philistia and flying directly over Judah to punish the trans-Jordan kingdoms. Then it turns around to the southwest, again passing right over Jerusalem to hit Ethiopia. And still not done with the judgment on the nations, it finally flies northeast up to Assyria. The effect is to give the Israelites a sigh of relief each time it passes over without hurting them. But this is just to lull them into a sense of false security since Zephaniah turns straight to Judah and Jerusalem to deliver his last blistering condemnation on them (Zephaniah 3:1-7)
Revelation 2-3
These letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor are the closest equivalent to the OAN that exists in the New Testament. You can easily see the similarities in the criticisms and threatened punishments delivered to these congregations. The major difference is that since Christians are being addressed instead of unbelievers, there are also commendations and promised rewards given to them.
As with the OAN, the intended arrangement of these messages is widely debated. An older view, which is still found in popular teachings, is that the seven churches stand for seven eras in church history listed chronologically. The results of such analyses lead to rather laughable conclusions and, of course, each propounder feels that he or she is living in the final, or Laodicean, era.
A much more likely key to the arrangement is to organize the letters in a chiastic manner:
1. Ephesus
2. Smyrna
3. Pergamum
4. Thyatira
5. Sardis
6. Philadelphia
7. Laodicea
The threat/warning component in each of the letters displays the clearest chiastic pattern, moving from threats of utter rejection for churches 1 and 7, to warnings of religious persecution for believers in 2 and 6, to opposition by Christ himself in 3 and 5. The letter to Thyatira in the center is unique in that its threat/warning is almost exclusively directed towards a false prophetess, not the church itself. This particular letter is also the only one in the series that uses the phrase “all the churches.”
Other evidence of chiastic pairings within these letters includes: (a) the similar condemnations of Ephesus and Laodicea, both including the word “love,” (b) promises to these same churches that both involving eating, (c) mention of a crown and a lack of a condemnation for churches 2 and 6, (d) the phrase “those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan” in letter 2 with the same two clauses chiastically reversed in letter 6, (e) promises involving new names and including the word “white” for churches 3 and 5, and (f) the identical opening phrase “The words of him who has” found only in letters 3 and 5.
But an even more likely scheme recommends itself: a geographical one. Keep in mind that John wrote his vision down to be circulated to the churches in Asia Minor, with the seven letters functioning as opening words to be read to the appropriate congregation. Thus, a courier sailing from the Isle of Patmos with John's letter would have probably landed at Ephesus and then proceeded from there by a clockwise land route to hit the remaining six churches in succession. His route would have encountered the seven churches in the exact order in which the letters appear in Revelation 2-3.
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