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Chapter 7: The Prophets Part II

Chapter 7: The Prophets Part II. Ms . Kenny Religion 9 March 2014. Amos and Hosea in the North. Writing Prophets. Amos: A Cry Against Riches Gained by Injustice.

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Chapter 7: The Prophets Part II

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  1. Chapter 7: The ProphetsPart II Ms. Kenny Religion 9 March 2014

  2. Amos and Hosea in the North Writing Prophets

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. 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.

  7. 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

  8. 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

  9. 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

  10. 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

  11. 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)

  12. 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

  13. 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.

  14. 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.

  15. Write down the quote from 2 Kings 17:18

  16. 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…

  17. 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

  18. 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

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