Ancient prophecy was not confined to Israel, yet the phenomenon of prophetic poetry as it developed there was unique. The impact of this poetry on civilisation is incalculable, though its origins and motives largely remain mysterious. Imperialism and Biblical Prophecy shows that this poetry is inseparable from the empires which determined the history of the ancient Near East and the fate of Israel and Judah from the late 8th century to the end of the 6th century BCE - first Assyria, then Babylonia, and finally Persia. Each empire had its own characters and motives and stimulated a distinct wave of prophecy, led in turn by Isaiah ben Amos, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and the Second Isaiah. Imperialism and Biblical Prophecy is an historical interpretation and an anthology of prophetic poetry which uses recent research on imperialism and creativity to produce a radically new interpretation of the biblical prophets. Over 3 dozen outstanding poems and fragments in new translation from the Hebrew Bible are arranged in a running narrative starting from the late 8th century BCE, until the late 6th century BCE.
Among the highlights are Song of a Vineyard, Nahum on the fall of Nineveh and poems n the suffering servant. Imperialism and Biblical Prophecy is an exciting, kaleidoscopic presentation of biblical prophecy showing the inextricability of the poetry from the political and military upheavals which occurred at the same time in the ancient Near East.