Do Not Oppress! ( Zechariah 7:10) : The Widow, the Orphan, the Sojourner and the Poor in Post-Exilic Israel / Shabu Joseph Thottumkal

includes index and biblioraphy

1. The state of the widow, The orphan and the sojourner in the ancient near East-Background for the Old Testament study Situating the anciety near east ...........32 The protection of the underprivileged in the ancient near eastern cultures ...........34 Widows......39 The widowin urgaritic culture .........................54 The sojourner in the ancient near east...............58 Orphans in the Ancient near eastern tradition ..................65 2. The widow, the Orphan, the Alien and the poor in the Old Testament Situating the widow, the orphan the Alien and the poor in the bible .........72 The situation of the widow in the bible ............72 Situation of the orphan In the bible ........79 Situation of the alien in the bible .................83 Situation of the poor in the bible ............91 3. Zechariah: Situating the person, the book and his times Zechariah - the person ...........106 Political and social milieu of the prophet .....117 The preaching of Zechariah : The immediate context ...133 Zechariah`s Response to the Context ............135 The structure of zechariah in its major sections ...........136 The place of Zechariah among the prophetic books .....137 A summary of the prophetic teaching of Zechariah .....138 4. An exegetical study of Zechariah The context of Zechariah ..........142 Relationship of Zechariah ...........145 Delimitation of the text ............149 The text in Reference to the whole book - exegesis ......152 5. Theological Consideration emerging from zechariah Situating the issue ..........198 The context of Zechariah and the ensuing challenges ............206 The response of Zechariah ..............210 The centrality of Transformatie praxis .......235