Spokesmen for God

by Edith Hamilton

The noted author and scholar Edith Hamilton, presents a guide to the prophets of the Old Testament for the modern reader.

Genres: Religion, Christianity, History

260 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1936

About the author

Edith Hamilton, an educator, writer and a historian, was born August 12, 1867 in Dresden, Germany, of American parents and grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A. Her father began teaching her Latin when she was seven years old and soon added Greek, French and German to her curriculum. Hamilton's education continued at Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut and at Bryn Mawr College near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from which she graduated in 1894 with an M.A. degree. The following year, she and her sister Alice went to Germany and were the first women students at the universities of Munich and Leipzich.
Hamilton returned to the United States in 1896 and accepted a position of the headmistress of the Bryn Mawr Preparatory School in Baltimore, Maryland. For the next twenty-six years, she directed the education of about four hundred girls per year. After her retirement in 1922, she started writing and publishing scholarly articles on Greek drama. In 1930, when she was sixty-three years old, she published The Greek Way, in which she presented parallels between life in ancient Greece and in modern times. The book was a critical and popular success. In 1932, she published The Roman Way, which was also very successful. These were followed by The Prophets of Israel (1936), Witness to the Truth: Christ and His Interpreters (1949), Three Greek Plays, translations of Aeschylus and Euripides (1937), Mythology (1942), The Great Age of Greek Literature (1943), Spokesmen for God (1949) and Echo of Greece (1957). Hamilton traveled to Greece in 1957 to be made an honorary citizen of Athens and to see a performance in front of the Acropolis of one of her translations of Greek plays. She was ninety years old at the time. At home, Hamilton was a recipient of many honorary degrees and awards, including election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Edith Hamilton died on May 31, 1963 in Washington, D.C.

Reviews

[Dirk Holzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hamilton succeeds in providing a concise analysis of the Prophets and how their works contributed to the basis of Judaism and Christianity. She keenly analyzes the character and accomplishments of each Prophet, picking at the essence of major sections of the Old Testament. Despite this work being published over 70 years ago, her insights remain well-argued and interesting. For example, she points to Ezekiel as a pioneer in Jewish law that provided the dividing qualities necessary for Judaism to survive millennia, despite strong pressure to assimilate. Hamilton seems to argue that the Prophets are equals to the great Greek philosophers, except while the philosophers focused on facts, the Prophets focused on emotion and the essence of humanity.

Despite her intriguing insights, I have to give this book 4.5 stars because of the style of writing and lack of citations. While Hamilton bears significant ethos, I think any work of historical fact should utilize footnotes or endnotes to assist the reader in understanding the research. As far as I can tell, the book is either composed of Biblical quotes or analysis derived from these passages. Nonetheless, Hamilton’s knowledge undoubtedly came from years studying the literature, and I would’ve liked to see key pieces pointed out, if she referred to any. Since she worked from a translation instead of the Biblical Hebrew, I think it is essential to consider works based on the original language, which can bear important subtleties. Additionally, I found her writing a bit stilted at times, which made her otherwise clear analysis a bit more difficult to pierce. Regardless, she offers an interesting perspective that has made me curious to read other historically-driven Biblical commentary.

[Stuart Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review of the old testament prophets and the times they lived in. Hamilton discusses these prophets and how they influenced their people and religion, and how their circumstances influenced their prophecy. Starting with the likes of Hosea and Mica, where the worship of God begins to change from one based on fear of punishment toward a God of Love. How the priests were corrupted and rich and exploitative and that true worship did not need ceremonies and holy days. This was during a time of relative peace.

Later things changed and Jerusalem was threatened from without. Isaiah preached submission to the Assyrians, pay them off so they won't kill everyone. Jeremiah preached that the Babylonians had won, submit to their power and keep silent. Accept your fate. Ezekiel preached that the Hebrews should stay separate from the foreigners and set down laws so that this would be so. Laws about preparing food. Laws about wearing clothes. Circumcision.

Hamilton follows the path of a fearful and wrathful God to the peace-loving and patient God through the prophets and the world around them. Not as scientifically researched as her other works but good nonetheless.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written and analytical introduction to the Old Testament. As a secular Jew who has never gotten past the first page of the Torah, I found this book enlightening and well argued. Maybe most of the content, such as there were many authors who contributed to the writing of the Torah, is well known. Even so, the book’s conciseness and the women’s perspective seem unusual given the dominance of Judaism by men.

[Lemar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hamilton brings her powerful scholarly eye to bear on the old testament. The fruits are many as she teases apart what she believes to have been written by the Prophets and what was added by subsequent well meaning but fearful scribes.

[Clement Ying · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introduction to Old Testament.