Lecture #8: The 8th Century Prophets

Course: Old Testament

Lecture #8: The 8th Century Prophets

• During the long & peaceful reign of Jeroboam Israel obtained military & economic security which Israelites saw as God's favor to them & they deserved because of support for the official shrines.
• Denounced Israel for reliance on military might and its grave injustice in social dealings, immorality and shallow, meaningless piety.

Amos

• Amos (prophesying between 760-750 BCE) During reign of Jeroboam (786-746 BCE)
• He was a southerner who went to the northern shrine which was established to take the place of the temple at Beth-el.
• He gave a prophecy of the destruction of Israel which caused him to be thrown out of the shrine.

• Israel very strong, relied on military might - but supported shrines extravagantly

• He went back south to Tekoa, where he was a shepherd, wrote his words down after being expelled from Bethel.
• He said that certain acts are unjust and irreligious and lead inevitably to the dissolution of the society practicing them--the premise is (for all the 8th century prophets) that God controls history.
• For the 8th cent. prophets, the Exodus and wilderness experience are emphasized.
• a society is a society because it has projected an idea of what it should be, when that is violated then decay follows.
• myths of origin are important as they give a vision of what the society should be.
• society destroys itself to be destroyed when expediency, pragmatism, etc. overcome the mythological ideal of origin.
• Society is maintained through its religious truth (mythology) and depends on its inaugural vision of itself--it survives because of its depth structure, when that is lost, a society will decay.
• Thus, society brings on its own destruction if it fails in humanitarian attitudes.
  
  
• the prophet, therefore, doesn't change history or foretell it but is a witness to something happening.
• Their essential function is to say something about the truth and convey understanding of the ways of God in the world. For Amos (and Hosea) the ways of God are not incomprehensible.
  
  
• Amos (and Hosea) is saying that the whole attitude towards history is ir-religious and that separation of economic, political and culture are wrong.

• Amos’ most famous verse is 5:24

• But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.

Hosea

• Native of Israel – in 733 Assyria conquered Damascus and Israel was told to fall in line.
• Within 14 years there were 4 kings assassinated after the death of Jeroboam II (reigned 786-746 BCE) with pro and con Assyrian groups vying for power.
• Finally, Samaria was besieged and conquered in 721. after Jeroboam II (746) died.
• It was during this turmoil that Hosea, a northerner himself, wrote.
• Hosea's ministry was to his own people suffering anarchy and war with Assyria
• Not all aspects of his life are clear but the first three chapters, dealing with his life with Gomar, a "wife of harlotry" – give some personal insight.
• Hosea comes to see that the way he has been told by the Lord to deal with Gomar (who had three children, none by him), is the way the Lord deals with Israel.
• The prophet's personal life is an incarnation of God's redeeming love.
• Hosea kept bringing her back publicly and loved her.
• Hosea's ministry dramatizes his message. Though the book presents some textual problems, it is thoroughly unified by the dominant theme of divine compassion and the love that will not let Israel go. Of all the prophets, his is the preaching of a gospel of redeeming love.
  
  

• His theme of "re-virginizing" Israel is unique.
• Hosea felt that Israel would have to return to the good old days in the wilderness

• Hosea 2:16-20 – how do you "re-virginize" a woman.
• you seclude her so you know that the child she carries is yours

• How do you re-virginize a people? (2:16-20)
• Problem of Israel's leadership is they think they have power. So Israel must be put in limbo so the leaders, the prophets, priests and kings see that history continues without them, then they will recognize its nationhood apart from its institutions.
  
  
• Marriage metaphor he uses is to say that just as love is out of our control, so is politics.
• Apply the same logic to politics as to sex: if love is disappointed, then re-virginize.
• The ultimate concern of both is progeny in the future.
  
  
• Thus, the 8th century prophets are arguing for the covenant religion over/against the cultic religion.
• Basically, they are saying that the leadership is at fault because they were seduced away.
• Hosea uses a covenant lawsuit to chastise Israel in chap 4 {read}
• This is made up of four parts:

A call "come here" which indicates that listening is essential, i.e., a court summons (4:1)

Accusation, no faithfulness, loyalty or knowledge of God (4:1)

you have broken the covenant treaty

based upon prophetic assumption that Israel constituted as a nation by obligations to God then

Develop accusations: "you trust in oppression" and harlot says "let me go after my lovers. (2:5)

Judgment: Therefore, the judgment is as follows: the court decides the punishment. (2:9 & 4:9)

• Using this form, Hosea says that since Israel has played the harlot, she must be taken into the wilderness again and realize that YHWH is her husband, not Baal (2:16)
• They played the harlot by taking economic advantage of people, which was Hosea's point.
• Israel strayed because they thought they could control their own destiny.
  
  
• This means that hope or despair are both irrelevant since God is in control.
• What is important is the individual's attitude.
• Since hope and despair are both irrelevant, then you must be involved in life which are both personal and public.
• Humans are moved by forces not of themselves, so they are moved, not self-moving.
• To exist means to be caused to exist.
• Thus, you must affirm life in living since God causes it then life is HIS life so you can never say its MY life. This includes sexuality and all attitudes.
• Form is a human decision. You can give structure to your life just as a marriage contract gives a framework but doesn't control.
  
  
• Similarly, the "Day of YHWH doesn't change history but it’s a framework within which history is understood. the most often quoted verse is Hosea 6:6
• For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice.
• the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings.

Isaiah

• Isaiah, son of Amoz, prophesied between 742-687 in that critical period when Israel fell and Judah was living in fear.
• Nothing is known about the early life of the prophet, though it is conjectured from Isaiah 6:1-8 (his call) that he may have been a priest.

• Only chapters 1-39 belong to Isaiah's time. It is generally accepted that chap. 40-66 come from the time of Cyrus (539 and later) when the exiles were about to be allowed to go home.
• In the tradition of Amos, Hosea, and Micah, all of whose work he seems to know, Isaiah attacks social injustice as that which is most indicative of Judah's tenuous relationship with God.
• He exhorts his listeners to place their confidence in God and lead public and private lives which show this.
• Thus, justice and righteousness, and the assurance of divine blessing upon the faithful and punishment upon the faithless are recurrent themes in his writing.

• Isaiah has two ways of looking at the Day of YHWH or the "Yam YHWH."
• He sees tradition as mythology rather than history.
• The Yam YHWH is the day when God will triumph.
• However, it could mean destruction if Judah doesn't repent and return.
• this "Day of YHWH" is the day God judges his enemies and manifests his glory and is a recurring prophetic theme (Amos, Jerimiah, Ezekial).
• He preaches that the people will come to Zion by freewill based upon desire to learn God" ways. This is the consequence of human humility, not of war.
  
  
• Idolatry is a primary symbol for the prophets.
• It is basically worshiping the work of our own hands because of pride and rebelliousness.
• worshiping the self, which includes not worshiping God.
• Both views of the "Day of YHWH" are to bring the people to humility before YHWH.
• 3 ways of showing people that God is in control of history.

• 1. show what happened in the past
• 2. show what will happen in the future
• 3. tell a story, which Isaiah does in chap 5.

• The Song of the Vineyard (Read Isaiah 5:1-7) is an allegory in which Judah is asked to pass judgment on herself, much as Nathan made David pass judgment on himself by a story.

• Isaiah 7:18-17 – in the years 734-33, Isaiah gives a prophecy of a birth of Emanuel, ie., God with us, to try to convince Ahaz that Jerusalem would be spared from the Assyrians.
• this prophecy was meant for right then for he says:

• "For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted. the Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah--the king of Assyria.

• This has been used to prophesy the birth of Christ and one of the biggest bones of contention is the translation of the word "young woman" for "virgin". The translation is young woman or maiden, not virgin and, unfortunately this has caused much grief between Jews and Christians.
• the prophecy came true, though Jerusalem was surrounded by the Assyrians they ended up decimated by, what appears to be Bubonic plague.
• Jerusalem was spared, the problem was this was interpreted to the Assyrians went on to capture Egypt and, in the process, weakened the Philistines sufficiently that they were no longer a problem.
• from 710-650 Assyria was the greatest empire the world had ever seen.

Micah

• Is the last prophet of the 8th century
• He is a younger contemporary of Isaiah but rather than living in Jerusalem, he came from a small village, Moresheth in the Judean foothills.
• the anti-Assyrian policies of King Hezekiah brought Sennacherib of Assyria to Judah in 701 and Judah was left a weak vassal state.
• He stands solidly with Amos, Hosea and Isaiah as a fierce champion of pure worship of YHWH and shares with them both the world of judgment against his people and the promise of divine forgiveness.
• His preaching in a nutshell is Micah 6:8

• He has shown you, O man, what is good: and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

• Chapters 4 and 5 most scholars agree, likely date from after the exile and foresee the glory of the restored Jerusalem.
• Micah 5:2 – predicates Bethlehem as birthplace of "one who is to rule in Israel"
• Micah's predictions differ from Isaiah in that he sees that because of corruption which permeates all of its rulers, Jerusalem and the temple itself shall be destroyed. (Micah 3:9-12)

The End of Israel

• When Israel fell in 721, the Assyrian policy was to deport all people of any major consequence and re-populate the area with other people.
• This policy was meant to prevent revolt.
• As a result, the ten northern tribes disappear forever.
• There have been all kinds of speculation as to where and who the ten lost tribes are.

• The Mormons claim they are North American Indians.
  
  
• There is a group living near Kashmir in Afghanistan who claim to be part of the tribes. They call themselves Bene Yisrael" the Children of Israel but who knows.
  
  
• Assyria had a quick and spectacular collapse.
• It was a big shock in the known world when they disappeared for, they had existed as an empire for about 1000 years.
• In 675 BCE they controlled all the non-Greek world worth having by
• 609 BCE they were gone from the face of the earth, along with their language.
• This shook the thinkers of the world and may be the beginnings of apocalyptic thought, i.e.., the idea that things can end and suddenly.