Prophetic Books (C. Hassell Bullock)

In An Introduction to the Old Testament: Prophetic Books, C. Hassell Bullock provides historical background, cultural context, and message analysis on the 'major' and 'minor' prophetic books in the Old Testament. After a general overview on prophets and Jewish history during this time, he looks at these 16 books in the Bible according to the three main prophetic periods:

• Neo-Assyrian (Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah)
• those who prophesied before the Northern Kingdom's (Israel) fall in 722 B.C. to the Assyrians
• Neo-Babylonian (Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Jeremiah, Nahum, Ezekiel, Obadiah)
• those who prophesied before the Southern Kingdom's (Judah) fall in 586 B.C. to the Babylonians
• Persian (Daniel, Haggai, Zechariah, Joel, Malachi)
• those who prophesied in the Babylonian–Persian period (to include the exile's return to Judah starting in 538 B.C.)

For each book, he includes sections on

• The prophet himself (personal background where known)
• The book's outline and literary forms/structures
• Dating the book (and/or the activity of the prophet)
• The message of the book

-------

This book is a solid introduction to the prophetic books of the Bible. 

• The content is excellent. Bullock presents important historical information and context, and valuable insights into the meaning of the texts. For disputed areas (where scholars disagree on time period, meaning, or other things), Bullock does a good job presenting the different positions fairly. 
• The structure is frustrating. That is the only thing I would change. While Bullock covers the same type of information for each prophet, he does not follow a consistent structure from chapter to chapter. At times, that may make sense based on the nature of the book he is discussing, but it drove me crazy.

Overall, I learned a lot from this book and used it as one of my sources for a study I am currently leading on Habakkuk. I read 16% of this book as a result—the overview sections and select information on each prophetic book as well as the entire chapter on Habakkuk. I would recommend it as a reference.

Rating: A-