I Will Surely Multiply Your Offspring: An Old Testament Theology of the Blessing of Progeny with Special Attention to the Latter Prophets

by Jamie Viands, Richard Lee Schultz (Foreword by)

Overview

After creating man and woman, God's first recorded blessing upon them is "be fruitful and multiply." Like the blessings of food and health, the human experience of procreation is so common that we may overlook its importance within the biblical narrative. However, I Will Surely Multiply Your Offspring, a comprehensive examination of the progeny blessing, demonstrates that this motif is both prevalent and significant within the Old Testament by tracing its development throughout the redemptive-historical narrative. Viands identifies different progeny blessing traditions associated with the Abrahamic covenant, the Sinai covenant, and the new covenant, and describes their interrelationships as well as their relationship to the universal blessing first found in Genesis 1. This study lays the foundation for a biblical worldview of human proliferation, contributing to contemporary discussions concerning whether humans are obligated to bear children as well as procreation ethics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781725247789
Publisher:	Pickwick Publications
Publication date:	12/04/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	374
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Jamie Viands (PhD, Wheaton College) is Lecturer in Old Testament at Scott Christian University in Machakos, Kenya, East Africa.

Table of Contents

Foreword Richard Schultz ix

Preface xiii

Acknowledgements xv

Abbreviations xvii

1 Introduction 1

2 The Progeny Blessing in the Old Testament Outside the Latter Prophets 21

3 The Progeny Blessing in the Book of Isaiah 108

4 The Progeny Blessing in the Book of Jeremiah 171

5 The Progeny Blessing in the Book of Ezekiel 204

6 The Progeny Blessing in the Book of the Twelve 232

7 A Synthesis of the Progeny Blessing in the Latter Prophets 270

Appendix A Progeny Blessing Texts 289

Appendix B OT Distribution of the Terminology of the Progeny Blessing 297

Bibliography 299

Ancient Document Index 321

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"In I Will Surely Multiply Your Offspring, Jamie Viands traces a foundational theological theme through the Hebrew Bible, analyzing every pertinent text, considering intertextual relationships and influences, and synthesizing his theological findings. This first comprehensive study of the 'progeny promise' examines its roots in the creational and covenantal blessings of the Pentateuch and its development in the Former Prophets and Writings before highlighting its creative employment by the Latter Prophets."
—Richard Schultz, Blanchard Professor of Old Testament, Wheaton College

Editorial Reviews

"In I Will Surely Multiply Your Offspring, Jamie Viands traces a foundational theological theme through the Hebrew Bible, analyzing every pertinent text, considering intertextual relationships and influences, and synthesizing his theological findings. This first comprehensive study of the 'progeny promise' examines its roots in the creational and covenantal blessings of the Pentateuch and its development in the Former Prophets and Writings before highlighting its creative employment by the Latter Prophets."
—Richard Schultz, Blanchard Professor of Old Testament, Wheaton College

From the Publisher