A song of joy
Zephaniah 3:14-17 – ‘A song of joy’
Whilst covering all aspects of good exegesis, with the exception of application, Osborne has written mainly on the “technical” characteristics relating to this passage. Approximately 60% of his commentary relates to variation in translations, grammatical and syntactical insights, historical context, genre, word study and the obvious use of tools such as lexicons and commentaries by other scholars. Osborne devotes the remaining 40% of his exegesis to providing theological insight, literary context and outlining his own conclusion regarding the genre of the passage.
In so doing he has provided a wealth of information which enables us to better understand the place of this passage in the canon of scripture. It also helps us understand its significance to those Israelites who had remained loyal to God and who were hearing that they would receive God’s favour.
By beginning and ending with literary context Osborne ensures that this exegesis flows naturally. The introductory paragraph provides the background to the passage namely Zephaniah’s prophecy that God will pour out his wrath against those who had worshipped Baal and taken part in other pagan practices such as child sacrifice. We are told of how God will extend his mercy to the righteous for which they express their joy with the words of verses 14-17. By concluding with comment on the last 3 verses of Zephaniah Osborne shows how they summarise the key emphases of this song of joy and thus reinforces his comments in the body of the exegesis.
I could find no evidence of application to the present day and in this area this exegesis is deficient. Including application as well as greater evidence of his own conclusions would strengthen this exegesis even further.
Ephesians 3:16-19 ‘Prayer for the Readers’
In contrast to his exegesis of the Zephaniah passage, Osborne focuses more on the literary context and theological insights in his exegesis of this passage in Ephesians. Approximately half of the work covers these characteristics. He also applies it to today and there is greater evidence of his own thinking and conclusions.
In doing so he gives us a very good insight into Paul’s thinking and wishes for his readers. He also helps us see more clearly how this can apply to us today. The place of the passage within Paul’s writings, the New Testament, and indeed the whole Biblical story, is also outlined clearly. There is a good level of application and overall this work is well balanced in terms of its coverage of the characteristics of good exegesis.
Our reading and understanding of this exegesis is facilitated by the way Osborne integrates the various exegetical characteristics. There is a natural flow to the way he has written this exegesis e.g. the first 2 paragraphs under ‘2. Prayer for Insight (3:17b-19a)’ where he starts with grammatical insight from v17, provides theological context, and outlines an application before following a similar process with verse 18 having provided syntactical insights to link the last clause of v17 with the first clause of v18.
This is the better exegesis of the two because of its greater balance between the characteristics of good exegesis as well as the inclusion of application and Osborne’s own conclusions.