Artscroll Tanach Series: Trei Asar I- The Twelve Prophets Vol. 1

Trei Asar, the Twelve Prophets, is a panorama of Jewish history. Volume I, containing Hosea, Joel, Amos and Obadia, has a message for all generations, and the commentaries by Rabbi Matis Roberts and overview by Rabbi Joseph Elias, sheds lights on that connection, making these messages real to us today. <br><br>The books of The Twelve Prophets contain the prophecies, injunctions, etc. of the minor prophets whose works are recorded (Hosea and Amos) through Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, who prophesied at the close of the First Temple and the beginning of the Second Temple era. <br><br> The intervening years were a time of strife and disappointment, as prophet after prophet begged and warned, foretold and chastised about the impending doom. <br><br> Comparatively speaking, these books are short -- some as short as only a single chapter -- but we should not be deceived by brevity. Like all prophecies recorded in Scripture, they have a message for all generations. And Hosea, the first of the prophets in this Book, was greater than Isaiah, the most quoted of all the prophets. <br><br> Hosea s prophecy is perhaps the starkest, for he condemns his people as God s estranged wife, and for so doing incurs God s wrath upon himself. To demonstrate the eternal truth that Israel remains the Chosen People, Hosea is commanded to undergo one of Scripture s most inexplicable ordeals, a personal torture that mirrors God s own anguish and loyalty -- an experience that demonstrated the immutable nature of the relationship between Creator and His Nation. <br><br> The anthologized commentary by Rabbi Matis Roberts in this volume sheds light on some of the most sublime prophecies in Israel s history. The Overview is by Rabbi Joseph Elias, one of this generation s treasures of Torah elucidation. The result is a shining jewel in the crown of commentary that has made the ArtScroll Series a major source of enlightenment to everyone who seeks to understand the Torah as our Sages and teachers have understood it throughout the centuries.