Absence or Presence of God? Reading the Laments in Micah 7:10 and Joel 2:17 in Light of Biblical Social Values

“Where is the LORD, your God?” (Mic 7:10) or “Where is their God?” (Joel 2:17) are questions that the enemies or other peoples in the books of the prophets Micah and Joel pose on Israel. Though one may initially read them as asking about the presence or absence of God, the nuances are different from the question “Is there a God?” The inquiry presupposes that there is a God. Thus the question is “Where is the LORD, your God?” and “Where is their God”. It is not just any other deity; it is Israel’s particular deity: the “LORD, your God”, “their God”. Likewise, the question names the particular people, “your God”, i.e., Israel. Seen from the perspectives of the Mediterranean values of honor and shame and patron-client relations, the accusations seem to be directed at Yhwh because of unfulfilled covenant obligation of providing honor, protection, and material benefits. This investigation seeks to answer the following questions: (1) What are the genres and the literary contexts of Micah 7:10 and Joel 2:17? (2) How could we understand these texts in its socio-cultural-theological background? (3) What theological significance does understanding the quoted questions in the lament in its social context present to us? I suggest that the questions on God’s presence are better understood as integral parts of the laments of the feminine figure in Mic 7:8-10 and that of the people and priests in Joel 2:15-17. Within the context of patron-client or suzerain-vassal relations between Yhwh and Israel, these mocking questions serve as a means to exhort Yhwh to restore his honorable relation with Israel in the Book of Micah and a glaring proof of Yhwh’s continued honorable patronage of Israel in Book of Joel.status: accepte