From the exodus to Abraham : intertextuality in Micah 6-7.

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Micah 6-7 contains more than fifteen references to people, places, and events in the narrated history of Israel (e.g., Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Balak, Balaam, Shittim, Gilead, Abraham). This confluence of canonical references is highly unusual, as demonstrated by the fact that Moses and Abraham only appear this close together one other time in the prophets (Isa 63). A study focused on each of the allusions in turn reveals that they follow in chronological order to form an arc of intertextual allusions across Mic 6-7. This arc takes the reader from the time of the exodus to the monarchy, and then back through the exodus to the time of Abraham. However, while recognizing a redacted unity imposed upon these two chapters, Micah scholars generally treat them as at least two separate parts (6:1-7:7; 7:8-20) but rarely address the rhetorical function of these references for that unity. An analysis of the language in Mic 6-7 further reveals intertextual connections with other prophetic texts, which share a similar focus on the events of the Assyrian crisis in the eighth century BCE (Isa 9-12, Hosea, Amos). This dissertation argues that this intertextual arc contributes to an overarching projective typology that unifies the two chapters. This dissertation describes intertextual relationships in Mic 6-7 that together alludes to the events of 701 BCE as a prototype for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. The deliverance from and defeat of the Assyrians in the seventh and eighth centuries BCE became a paradigm for future hope of divine activity during the Babylonian and Persian periods. The arc of allusions brings the past into the rhetorical present in ch. 6 to explain the current crisis typologically, and then uses the past and present typologically to understand the future, including why the reduction to a remnant offers hope.

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Micah. Book of the Twelve. Intertextuality. Persian period.

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