The message of the prophets

by Gerhard von Rad

A concise presentation to thh quintessence of the prophetic message, by one of the greatest Old Testament scholars of our time. The message of each prophet is examined individually, against the background of his time and with regard to his significance for ours. Present volume is a translation to the German revision.

Genres: Theology, Reference, Biblical, Old Testament

289 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Gerhard von Rad was Professor of Old Testament at the University of Heidelberg in Germany until his death in 1971. He is the author of several books, including Wisdom in Israel and Holy War in Ancient Israel.

Reviews

[Jacob O'connor · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was as dense as you could want in a book about the Old Testament prophets. I was disappointed. Von Rad spent the bulk of his time discussing documentary theories on how the books came together rather than expositing what they mean. His presuppositions were on full display when treating the messianic passages in Isaiah. It's as if the church never interpreted these as applying to Jesus. I'll never get these hours back.

[Susan Card · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not being a scholar, I skimmed most of this but the concept of time and view of history in the ancient world was interesting. He helpfully addresses historical context and he shares my love of Isaiah. However, in my opinion, his analysis isn’t filtered by a Christian heart. And he persists in identifying the children of Israel as a cult.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I have to agree with other reviewers that this book filters out or presupposes that Jesus is not the legit Messiah, and while it does refer to Israelite religion as "the cult of Yahweh" without explanation, this was a timely and fascinating book to me. But I am not in seminary nor have I read a great deal of commentary regarding the prophets, so much of it was new to me. If you're interested in the prophets at all and willing to filter through jargon, I would recommend this book despite its flaws.

[Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

The evidence of a great mind is there. Deep thoughts, complex thinking are all on display. However, I could not agree with many if not most of his conclusions. Sometimes he would take up contradictory positions. Other times he would state aims and presuppositions that I don't find any basis to hold. Still other times he would state things as "obvious" then move on without explaining how he knows they are obvious, belittling the reader. Is this his style? His translator's style? Is it just what happens when German is translated into English? I don't know. Still, I did learn some from this text, so it was not without purpose.