Fall 2025 · Vol. 54 No. 2 · pp. 305–306
Book Review
Joel, Obadiah, Micah
Believers Church Bible Commentary. Harrisonburg, VA: Herald, 2022. 349 pages.
Daniel Epp-Tiessen, who taught for more than twenty-five years at Canadian Mennonite University (Winnipeg, MB), has made a terrific addition to the now almost complete Believers Church Bible Commentary series. His commentary on Joel, Obadiah, and Micah draws us into the troubled world of these ancient prophets with a strong conviction that they have enduring relevance for us and that in listening carefully to them we may very well hear God speaking anew.
In keeping with the series, Epp-Tiessen’s work is intended as a resource for those who serve in the church as teachers and pastors. His exegetical and interpretive commentary for each section of these prophetic books is clear and informative, engaging difficult and critical issues honestly and, generally, in helpful ways. The real value of this resource, however, is in the two sections concluding each unit of commentary: “The Text in Biblical Context” and “The Text in the Life of the Church.” Particularly in the latter we witness the move from text to contemporary life that every prophetic book demands. Epp-Tiessen makes this move naturally and skillfully, moving persistently into conversations about economic greed, ecology, racism, violence, demonization of enemies, inclusion, land claims, and other matters of justice. These sections are worth the price of the book. They carefully and thoughtfully draw these texts into important modern conversations and in doing so offer a valuable resource for those who may feel the courage to teach or preach them.
Epp-Tiessen spends considerable time discussing not only what the prophets said but how they were heard by the community of faith and how we might hear them in our own. While Joel, Obadiah, and Micah each arose in distinct historical moments ranging from the eighth through the fifth centuries BCE, Epp-Tiessen understands each of these books to have had a compositional history and life in the community well beyond the prophets themselves. Following the work of Stulman and Kim, he argues that the final form of these books each served the exilic community as “survival literature,” helping them to navigate the traumatic impact of centuries of foreign domination when the spiritual, cultural, and political structures of the community were no longer functioning (134). In this space the prophets called the community to repent, reform, and hold onto the promises of God, offering to them a vision of justice that embodies human thriving and wellbeing (301–2). Framing the prophets in this way evokes p. 306 insightful conversations throughout the commentary about spiritual, cultural, and political matters.
One of the strengths of Epp-Tiessen’s work is his attention to what he identifies as “dangerous” and “problematic” texts that envision the salvation of God’s people in terms of a violent and destructive conquering of their enemies (e.g., Obadiah). These texts, he argues, have a history of nurturing hostility and fueling European colonial enterprises and as such must be named and heard in a way that is socially responsible. Doing so requires that we keep victims in mind and realize that these texts may land very differently today for people in places of power and privilege than for a disempowered people suffering under foreign domination. Our Anabaptist commitment to Jesus, he argues, calls us to push these texts into the background so we can envision an alternative victory of God’s “healing sovereignty” over evil and wickedness in our world (127). When we read these texts, he suggests, we may see less than flattering images of ourselves as in a mirror (126), images that expose “the dark side of our individual and collective lives” (173). While I suspect some readers may wrestle with Epp-Tiessen’s understanding of the human aspects of Scripture (309) and his call for us to confront these dangerous pieces in it, his willingness to name and identify the difficult issues and the skill and clarity he brings to navigating them (cf. 308-317) are a valuable offering to the Anabaptist community and a strength of the commentary.
In keeping with the work of prophets, Epp-Tiessen is persistent in connecting the Word of God with large issues that confront God’s people. It is filled with conversations about healing and restoration and fueled by a conviction that in these texts God continues to speak words that are both convicting and hopeful. Both are clearly as needed today as then. This is a terrific commentary that does justice to navigating and hearing these prophetic voices today. I will surely return to it in my own teaching and preaching of these books.
