Varför säger Herren så? Profeterna, kontexterna, retoriken. En jämförelse mellan Amos och Malaki

Sammanfattning: Why does the Lord say thus? Prophets, Contexts, Rhetoric A Comparison Between Amos and Malachi When the prophets preached their messages they authorized their words by the old messenger formula "Thus says the Lord". The import of these words was to emphasize that the prophet was only the mouthpiece of the Lord. However, the prophetic literature of the Old Testament is highly varied in its scope and nature. It was of course natural that the content of the prophecies changed over time, but this is also true of their form. It also appears that the prophets changed the way in which they related to the people they were addressing. For a number of reasons it is therefore natural to ask: "Why does the Lord say thus?" This question is the main focus of this thesis. In the first part of the thesis a survey is given firstly about prophecy and the prophetical message, secondly about classical rhetoric and the rhetorical analysis. The main part of the thesis is a comparison between the first writing prophet, Amos, and one of the last, Malachi. The investigation comprises three steps: Firstly the shape of the text is discussed, its genres, when it, presumably, was written and by whom. Secondly a historical perspective with sociological circumstances is sketched. In this connection the rhetorical situation is defined and discussed. Finally the rhetorical analysis is realized. At the same time a survey of it constitutes a working programme with six points: 1. The rhetorical unit. - 2. Linguistic particularities. - 3. Rhetorical figures. - 4. Pragmatism. - 5. Argumentation. - 6. Rhetorical strategy. Connected with the presentation of the different steps of the investigation, fundamental problems are discussed and accounts for the author´s personal considerations and positions are given. Through the analysis is shown an obvious connection between the prophets´ respective rhetoric and the contextual conditions. Each one of the two, Amos and Malachi, was in his own way, in proportion to his ability, the Lord´s servant. However, they were, in thier service, also children of thier time. Herein we probably have the answer to the question "Why does the Lord say thus?"