KJCKorea
Journal Central

The purpose of this paper is to examine the structure and message of the book of Amos, focusing on the judgment of Israel and the sovereignty of Yahweh. To this end, the book of Amos is divided into five paragraphs based on its content and style, and the content, structure, and expression of each paragraph are examined to arrive at the following conclusions. The book of Amos (146 verses in total) focuses on the judgment of Israel (141 verses), and uniquely begins with an oracle of judgment on the nations, lists five visions before concluding, and concludes with an oracle of salvation for Israel, consisting of five verses. This structure and arrangement are unique to Amos. Through this unique structure, the book of Amos develops the judgment of Israel and the sovereignty of Yahweh in five stages. Through this development, the book of Amos gradually asserts the inevitability of the judgment of Israel, while at the same time emphasizing the sovereign power of Yahweh for judgment and salvation. When examining each stage, the first stage emphasizes the seriousness of Israel’s sins and Yahweh’s sovereign power to judge the nations and Israel through comparison with the sins of the nations. The second stage emphasizes the legitimacy of Yahweh’s judgment due to Israel’s sins and Yahweh’s sovereignty related to it. The third stage emphasizes the declaration of judgment that will come upon Israel and Yahweh’s sovereignty related to it. The fourth stage emphasizes the immutability of Yahweh’s judgment on Israel and Yahweh’s sovereignty related to it through a visionary form. Finally, the fifth stage describes the oracle of restoration and salvation for Israel as Yahweh’s sovereign power in order to improve the negative image of Yahweh that arose in the previous four stages. In this way, the structure of the Book of Amos can be divided into five paragraphs, and the message of the Book of Amos can be said to focus on the oracle of Israel’s judgment and Yahweh’s sovereignty.

This study explores the theological and pastoral significance of Psalm 88, often considered the darkest psalm in the Hebrew Psalter. Unlike most individual laments that move from complaint to praise, Psalm 88 concludes without resolution or divine response, presenting a unique case of sustained anguish and divine silence. This paper investigates the literary structure and theological features of Psalm 88, examining its poetic elements, rhetorical flow, and theological implications. Drawing on recent exegetical and theological scholarship, this study highlights its role as a vital witness to the full range of human experience before God- including despair, abandonment, and protest. Psalm 88 exemplifies a God-lament – a raw, honest protest that remains rooted in relationship despite the divine silence. The psalm’s persistent cry in the absence of divine reply reveals a paradoxical expression of ‘unanswered faith,’ one that dares to confront God honestly yet endures even when divine intervention seems absent. The study further reflects on the pastoral relevance of Psalm 88 in the context of the Korean church, where the tradition of lament has largely disappeared from public worship. It argues that reclaiming the language of lament can help faith communities engage more authentically with experiences of suffering and divine silence. The paper proposes practical applications at three levels: personal (spiritual practices of lament), communal (incorporating lament in worship and pastoral care), and social (prophetic lament addressing collective suffering and trauma). Through an exegetical and theological reading of Psalm 88, this study offers a framework for reclaiming lament as a meaningful and necessary expression of biblical faith in the Korean church context.

This study seeks to reinterpret the Book of Job not merely as a traditional work of Israelite wisdom literature, but as a theological response that emerged within the intellectual and cultural milieu of the Hellenistic period. While Job addresses the classic theodic question of “suffering without cause,” its literary structure and conceptual depth suggest a context shaped by philosophical reflection and historical crisis. This paper argues that Job was written in the aftermath of the desecration of the Jerusalem Temple by Antiochus IV Epiphanes in the late second century BCE—a traumatic event that profoundly destabilized the religious identity of the Jewish community. The text is thus read as a reaction to the collapse of the temple-based theological framework and an attempt to reconstruct divine justice from a cosmological and ontological perspective. During this period, Jewish society underwent significant upheaval due to the rise of the Hasmonean dynasty, the politicization of the priesthood, and the penetration of Greco-Roman culture. Against this backdrop, the Book of Job confronts a theological crisis: Where is God in the midst of suffering? Why does God remain silent in the face of injustice? By engaging these questions, the author of Job deconstructs the traditional doctrine of retributive justice and instead presents a vision of God as the transcendent Creator who governs the cosmos beyond human understanding. Job’s deep philosophical reflection resonates with Hellenistic thought, especially in its concern with cosmic order, divine silence, and the limits of human knowledge. The book does not merely seek to justify God but invites a radical shift in the way divine sovereignty is conceived—no longer confined to the temple or covenantal frameworks, but expanded into an ontological and universal domain. Thus, Job emerges as one of the earliest theological texts to articulate divine justice and sovereignty through a synthesis of Jewish faith and Hellenistic cosmology. This study analyzes the structure and thought of the Book of Job to interpret it as a product of the intersection between the crisis of Jewish theology and a creative response during the Hellenistic period, presenting it as an enduring archetype of theological reflection that remains relevant today.