This commentary spans the Hebrew minor prophets from the seventh century B.C. through the Greek period, covering Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Obadiah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, and Jonah. The author examines these texts not merely as theological documents, but as historical witnesses to the transformation of prophecy into apocalypse, ritualism, and apocalyptic writing. The volume traces how the classic prophetic appeal to contemporary conscience gradually dissolved into alien forms under the pressure of successive empires: Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and Greek.
In the first section, the author sets the historical stage of the seventh century, marked by the reaction under Manasseh and the rise of the Scythian threat, which called forth Zephaniah, Nahum, and Habakkuk. Zephaniah’s austere visions of judgment anticipate the apocalyptic literature of later Judaism, while Nahum and Habakkuk reflect the overwhelming historical crisis of Nineveh's fall and the rising power of the Chaldeans. The moral problems of divine justice raised by Habakkuk initiate the earliest speculations within Israelite religion.
The second major section addresses the post-exilic or Persian period, beginning with the return of the exiles and the rebuilding of the Temple under Zerubbabel and Joshua. Here, Haggai and the first eight chapters of Zechariah emerge to encourage the disheartened colonists through practical tasks and visionary assurance. The prophetic office changes its character, adapting to a community that is no longer an independent kingdom but a humble religious commune awaiting the ultimate triumph of Jehovah.
The book also tackles the complex textual and historical problems surrounding the later prophets, including the authorship of disputed chapters in Zechariah and the obscure historical horizon of Obadiah. Throughout, the commentary maintains that these nine books form a wider view of the development of Israelite religion, illustrating both its dissolution and its recovery of the deepest elements of prophecy, culminating in a spirit close to the New Testament.
