CHAPTER 7: THE PROPHETS

PART IIMs. Kenny

Religion 9

March 2014

AMOS AND HOSEA IN THE

NORTHWriting Prophets

AMOS: A CRY AGAINST RICHES GAINED BY INJUSTICE

Amos: a shepherd from Judah who goes north to preach against the sinful kingdom of Israel in about 750 B.C. (during the reign of Jeroboam II)

Amos: harsh, blunt, and angry who is said to roar like a lion

AMOS Shepherd, so dressed in rustic garments

compared to the northerners rich attire Goes to Bethel first to talk to the people,

then Samaria Condemns their unjust exploitative

actions toward the poor and weak, tells that God will punish them for this

In Samaria, he compares the rich women to fat cattle who are waited on hand and foot – and that someday they will be dragged away like dead animals

WHY SO ANGRY AMOS? God’s Law was set up to take care of

everyone – rich and poor, and had been abandoned

By abandoning God’s Law, it has led to the oppression of the poor

NO EMPTY RITUAL: “LET JUSTICE ROLL DOWN” MLK Jr. referred to the prophet Amos in a

famous sermon, when he explained that the Lord hates and abominates celebrating religious rituals with an insincere heart

When we worship, we must process, sacrifice, and sing with hearts that love God “like waters, / and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Amos 5:24

In other words, God condemns empty worship.

AMOS’S VISIONS OF ISRAEL’S FINAL FATE Amos watches Israel burn during dry

season Foresees Israel’s eventual downfall from

so much sin Refers to Israel as “Jacob” and pleads for

Israel to God God eventually lets Israel fall to its own

destruction Eventually gets told to go back to Judah Tells off the high priest before going home

HOSEA: GOD AS A BETRAYED HUSBAND By the end of Israel (786-721 B.C.) – just

before they get conquered by the Assyrians – things are very bad

Hosea – a prophet from the north Hosea is involved in a very unhappy

marriage with Gomer, a wife he loves Gomer has left Hosea for other lovers,

just like Israel has deserted God for the Canaanite god Baal

HOSEA IS A PARABLE OF BETRAYAL Hosea relates his own experience of

betrayal to find the words he needs The first 3 chapters of Hosea deliver this

message, relayed as a parable The remaining 11 chapters are

fragments of oracles condemning Israel’s sin

WHAT IS AN ORACLE?• a : a person (as a priestess of ancient

Greece) through whom a deity is believed to speak

• b : a shrine in which a deity reveals hidden knowledge or the divine purpose through such a person

• c : an answer or decision given by an oracle OR• a : a person giving wise or authoritative

decisions or opinions • b : an authoritative or wise expression or

answer

STRANGE NAMES Hosea is told to give his 3 kids strange

names that literally mean: “shameful butchery” “not pitied” And “not my people”

By the time Hosea says the third name, the people of Israel understand that Hosea is describing them breaking the Covenant.

This is a highly threatening idea. They had always assumed that God’s

Covenant would be there and stave off punishment. (Hosea 1:1-9)

BE EXILED BUT COME BACK TO ME Hosea is the first book of

the Bible to feature the relationship between God and Israel as a marriage and to use the language and images of marriage in describing it (metaphor)

To God, “infidelity” in Israel’s behavior means betrayal of justice, compassion, integrity, true worship

GOMER & ISRAEL AS FOREVER BELOVED

Gomer could be sentenced to death for her infidelity. Instead, Hosea wants to punish her for a little while, then take her back tenderly.

In other words, God is saying that he will not wipe out the people of Israel, even though they deserve it.

Instead, they will be put through a time of exile and abandonment.

This will eventually bring Israel back into its loving relationship with the Lord.

ASSYRIA DEFEATS AND SCATTERS ISRAEL Assyria – the fiercest, most brutal

power in the Ancient Near East It is impossible for Israel to be secure

against them, even if they banded together with other hostile neighbors

Assyrians take down the capital Samaria in about 721 B.C.

Write down the quote from

2 Kings 17:18

2 Kings 17:18

So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left…

A FLIGHT TO THE SOUTH Some people of Israel flee south to

Judah, because of their common identity as Chosen People of God

Many of their stories are integrated/edited into Scripture from this time

SAMARITANS Samaritans – intensely disliked by Jews

during biblical times Samaritans – descendants of the

Israelites who remained in the north after Samaria’s collapse; common people, not leaders, who intermarried with Assyrians and foreign colonists

Samaritans – centuries later, are like distant, lost cousins of people of Judah

Religion was seen as polluted by paganism, so the post-exiled Jews didn’t like them