Subtitled, 'A comparative analysis of Tree imagery in Israel's prophetic tradition and the Ancient Near East', one recognises instantly this is an academic book. However, at 169 pages it is a small book - especially in the light of the significant price tag.
Osborne writes well and is clearly a thoughtful Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) scholar. He states early on that the purpose of this book is to examine tree metaphors in Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The opening chapter is around methodology and background information to the study, and I must confess, to being fascinated with this section of the book. Osborne states his aims:
'The goal of this study is to answer this important question [why the metaphor of the tree in the prophetic literature] by comparing and contrasting tree metaphors in much of the prophetic literature of the Old Testament with the tree imagery and metaphors encountered from the ANE.' p.3
The issue at stake here is hermeneutical - not apologetic. Osborne is not trying to argue the Bible's uniqueness or inspiration, rather, he is placing the text in the literary framework of the ANE and assuming a methodological approach. Osborne declares, and rightly I think, that the '...religion, social structure, ethical system, and culture of Israel [is] ... distinct in several significant ways from the surrounding nations.' p.14 Osborne doesn't endeavor to prove this - and that's okay. However, he does give reasons outlining his decision. You have to start somewhere and you cannot defend everything. Moreover, this, I am persuaded is the correct set of presuppositions to build upon, and the fourth reason that he gives, '... the prophetic literature of the Old Testament should be recognized (sic) as sui generis [emphasis in original] because of its status as scripture...', is again a solid reason to proceed in such manner.
The next, and genuinely fascinating part of the introduction, is the discussion around metaphor. Is the use of metaphor in the tree is a king passages, merely a rhetorical flourish? Or , do they convey some truth, or set of truths, that constitutes important knowledge of the world in which thy reference? Osborne delves into this issue of metaphor and references Lakoff & Johnson's seminal work 'Metaphors We Live By', and recognises that there is a strong link between the linguistic expressions and the conceptual framework in which the metaphor is nested within. This was so very interesting. As a result I have the Lakoff & Johnson book on my bedside table, as I am certain that more insight into the use and role of metaphor is going to change my approach to Biblical hermeneutics. It seems to me that there is a very good chance that one understands linguistic expressions metaphorically prior to literally. This suspicion is going to be a helpful tool in interpretation. Definitely it is interesting in the context of the Tree is a King metaphor - and if Lakoff is correct when he says, 'The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another" p.19, then who can deny the necessity of placing this metaphor usage in the context of the ANE.
The next chapters provide some in depth analysis of tree metaphors (and tree personification) in the ancient world. This ranges from text to iconography and is so interesting. My favourite example of the use of the tree metaphor is from the Summarian classic, 'The Epic of Gilgamesh'. Gilgamesh battles Humababa - the guardian of the forrest. Humbaba refers to Gilgamesh as an 'offshoot' or a 'branch' and when Gilgamesh defeats the giant, he begins cutting down the trees.
'"My friend, we have cut down a lofty cedar,
Whose top abutted the heavens."'
p.61 - nested quotation from George, The Babylonian Gilgamesh epic 1:163
Osborne then goes on to say that, '[d]efeating Humbaba nd cutting down the cedar trees of the forest portrayed Gilgamesh as the rightful king who exercised authority over the mountains and the divine powers that reside there. The story seems to serve as an etiological [causal] justification for the latter kings making their westward journey to cut down trees. p61
This context provides a conceptual metaphor which exists in the prophetic literature of the Old testament. Take Jeremiah 22:6-7:
For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:
“‘You are like Gilead to me,
like the summit of Lebanon,
yet surely I will make you a desert,
I will prepare destroyers against you,
and they shall cut down your choicest cedars
and cast them into the fire.
The King of Judah is compared to the cedar of Lebanon, then the '...felling of the trees of the land by the hands of the enemy, again demonstrating how trees and forests serve as a localized (sic) metonymies for the entire political nation, of which the king is the foremost representative.' p.143
Osborne elucidates that the conceptual metaphors at work here are: A King is a tree; A Nation/Region is a tree; giving rise to a new conceptual metaphor, namely that Divine Judgement is a fire.
Tracking back to the Gilgamesh epic, and the guardian giant Humbaba's declaration that Gilgamesh is a branch or offshoot, one is instantly recalling that these are figures of the Messiah in Isaiah. Chapter 11 and 53 of Isaiah use the branch/root imagery to describe Jesus as a descendant of David, but a future King. Osborne states, '...that YHWH will judge the great trees of the earth and bring forth a new tree to establish his own order over the cosmos. Unlike the height and arrogance associated with the leaders of foreign nations ... YHWH's royal scion will be small and young.' p.133
There is a certain grace and beauty with this imagery - the Messiah will be King, but humble and new. Osborne shows the imagery in a new light for me.
Small book at 200 pages - some sections are quite scholarly, but a doable read.
5 Stars
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