Amos & Hosea

The Prophets of God

Amos and his harsh message

• He is from Judah but was called to preach to Israel

• Amos is angered by Israel’s disregard for God’s law

• Israel has become like other nations: wealth is in the hands of a few, justice has been corrupted, and poor people are oppressed.

The Lion of God • Is known as the prophet who roars like a lion– Because his message is harsh, blunt, and

angry – Criticizes harshly the worshipers’ rich attire• Compares the rich women of Samaria to

fat cattle – Because they eat lamb, drink wine, and

anoint their skins with expensive perfumes at the expense of the poor

– Condemns the unjust and their exploitative actions toward the poor and weak and tells them that God will punish them for that

Empty worship

• Amos says that the Lord dislikes and abominates processions, sacrifices, and hymn singing that do not come from sincere hearts.

Visions Locusts eating the crops• Israel is

helpless to survive the fate it has brought upon itself

Fire ravages the land

• Israel is being destroyed by the people’s sins

The crooked wall • God

measured a crooked wall with a plumb line about to collapse

• Amos pleads for Israel to God • God responds that Israel has chosen evil and he will leave

it to its own destruction

Hosea: God as a betrayed Husband

• Hosea is from the North and preaches in the North: Israel

• His story begins with his unhappy marriage

• He is married to Gomer– He loves her

• Gomer deserted Hosea for other lovers • Hosea uses his own experience of

betrayal to criticize the unfaithful Israel

Betrayal • When Hosea speaks of

himself and Gomer, he is telling Israel a parable of its own betrayal of God

• Hosea loves Gomer as God loves Israel

• Gomer deserted Hosea for other lovers as Israel has deserted God for the Canaanite god Baal

3 children= 3 messages• Hosea and Gomer have three children to whom Hosea is told to

give strange names• The names are symbolic of how God regards the children of the

Covenant with Israel• Jezreel (boy) meaning shameful butchery

– Implying that God will punish and destroy Israel• Loruhamah (girl) meaning not pitied

– God will no longer have pity or forgive Israel for their mistakes• Loammi (boy) meaning not my people

– God rejects the Israelites as God’s chosen people.

The Punishment of Gomer• Hosea takes Gomer to court where he

testifies to her unfaithfulness and ingratitude

• He is angry and his plans for her are harsh

• He gave her everything he had: grain, wine, oil, silver, and gold – Hosea will take those gifts away– She has given some of these away

to her lovers• He will punish her and take away

everything until she returns to him

Reconciliation • Like Hosea desires to be reunited so does God with the Israelites• God will punish them until they repent and come back to God

– Punishment in the form of penance for their sins– God will not wipe out the Israelites even though they deserve it

• Hosea is the first book to feature the relationship between God and Israel as a marriage and uses the language and images of marriage

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

The first Conquerors• Regardless of the warnings by the Prophets, the Israelites did not

listen and were conquered by the Assyrian empire. • The Assyrian emperor forced the many of the Israelites into exile• The Assyrian became the new leaders in the Northern kingdom

and within sometime, began to intermarry with the Israelites that were allowed to stay in Israel.

• Some of the people of Israel sought refuge in the Judah, Southern Kingdom, hoping that their brothers/sisters in faith might welcome them and understand them.