Prophets in the Hebrew Bible
Prophets in the Hebrew BibleThe Role and Character of the Prophets in the Hebrew Bible
The characteristics and the roles that link Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Jeremiah are their willingness to denounce the blending and mixing of religions, idol worship, and social perversion. These pivotal prophets of the Old Testament are also alike in their courage in that they are willing to confront establishment figures and denounce them for wrongdoing while the people that they attempt to save dislike them. All in all, the prophets Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Jeremiah base their authority on the position that the Lord sets forth for them, as they condemn the sins of the Israeli people and attempt to guide them back to the Lord and salvation.
Amos was the prophet who set forth the warnings of the Lord to the people of the northern kingdom during the reign of Jeroboam II. Amos lashed out against the specific abuses in the society. One abuse was the large gap between the rich and the poor, “Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor…ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them” (Amos 3:15; 5:11). A second abuse was the perversion of the justice system, “…they (the judges) take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right” (Amos 5:12). Another abuse was that of sexual immorality, “…a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my name” (Amos 2:7). Amos was the mediator of three themes that the Lord wanted the people of Israel to understand. The first was the Lord’s rulership over the universe, “…shall there be evil in the city, and the lord hath not done it?” (Amos 3:6), the second was the Lord’s special relationship with Israel, “Only you have I known of all the families of the earth” (Amos 3:2), and the third was the Lord’s holding Israel responsible for having broken the covenant, “I will punish you for all of your iniquities” (Amos 3:2).
Amos had a loving relationship with the Lord. He was able to speak to the Lord and deliver his message to the people of Israel. He did not have a good relationship with the people of Israel however. He spoke out against their justice system their way of worship their king and told them that they were destined to die outside of the Lords grace. He was a herder and agriculturalist, “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophets son; but I was an herdsman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit” (Amos 7:14). He had a strong courage of character that he used when he went to a whole nation and spoke out against their leader and against their new religious practices. Amos tells the people of the northern kingdom that they are living in evil and that they are heading towards injustice, “Seek good and not evil, that you may live…establish justice in the gate…” (Amos 5:14-15). In order to tell a whole nation that they will perish if they do not fallow the desire of the Lord takes great courage. Amos fallowed the characteristics that these four prophets fallowed. He has great courage; he did not question the Lord when he was called to serve as a prophet of the Lord. He also denounced wrongdoing by the people and their practices of social perversion and the worship of other gods. Amos ends his book with the redemption of the people by the Lord, “I will bring again the captivity of my people” (Amos 9:14).
Amos’s prophesies begin when the kingdom is strong with fairly new and young kings, Hosea’s prophesies begin when Jeroboam II has ruled for four decades and there is a deteriorating condition in Israel. Hosea’s strong character is shown when he speaks out against the princes of Judah, “The princes of Judah were like them that removed the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water” (Hosea 5:10). He also spoke out against the merchants, “He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are I his hand: he loveth to oppress” (Hosea 12:7). He also was required by the Lord to tell the people that if they worship the god Baal they will surely die, “…when he (an Israelite) offended in Baal, he died” (Hosea 13:1). His approach to the moral evils of the Israeli people is to attack Israel’s widespread worship of the pagan god Baal, “they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images” (Hosea 11:2).
Hosea accepts his call by the Lord as a prophet who must warn Israel against their practices and without question does what he is told to do, “…take unto the a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredoom” (Hosea 1:2). There are many metaphors in the book of Hosea. Hosea’s wife and his children are metaphors of the Israelite’s. His children’s names are Lo-ammi “not my people”, and Ammi “my people”. The meaning of these names are that presently the people of Israel are not the Lords people because they are worshiping other gods, but when they realize their wrongdoings and ask for forgiveness they become the Lords people once again. Hosea was blessed with the grace of the Lord and he was able to communicate with the Lord, “The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea…in the days of Uzziah” (Hosea 1:1). Hosea was a man who was in the service of the Lord and he was taken in and accepted by the Lord. Hosea ends his book speaking of the redemption of his people by the Lord, “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him” (Hosea 14:4).
Isaiah’s prophecies begin with the rise of Assyria and it’s expansion westward attempting to conquer Egypt. Perhaps the most important part of the book of Isaiah is the explanation of the way in which the prophets are treated by the people that they are trying to save, “He (the prophets) are despised and rejected of man; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). This allows us to better understand the role and character of the prophets in The Bible. Isaiah teaches that the trust in the Lord and the state of the nation are the main concerns not the foreign policy. Like Amos and Hosea, Isaiah challenges the king for his practices and gives the king a sign of the Lord, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son…the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings” (Isaiah 7:13-16). Isaiah also speaks out against the princes of the land, “Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and falloweth after rewards” (Isaiah 1:23). He also speaks out against the women for their selfishness, “…the daughters of Zion are haughty” (Isaiah 3:16). Isaiah was able to communicate with the Lord through visions, “The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem” (Isaiah 1:1). After his people are taken away from their home Isaiah spends his second book with the theme of hope and promise for the future, “Comfort, O comfort my people…Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid…” (Isaiah 40:1-2).
Chronologically Jeremiah comes after Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah, Jeremiah is the weeping prophet because his prophecies are all sad. He is the son of the priest Hilkiah and comes from the land of Benjamin in the village of Anatoth. He begins his prophesies when the Assyrian strength dwindles and the Babylonians come into power. The Torah or books of Deuteronomy were found most likely during the reign of the King Josiah and the prophetic times of Jeremiah by Hilkiah Jeremiah’s father who believed that the land and people had lost their law and had begun to be corrupt, “I (Hilkiah) have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord” (2 Kings 22:8). As Jeremiah grows his courage grows with him. This is shown in the book when he confronts the King Zedekiah knowing that it means imprisonment for him, “Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison” (Jeremiah 38:6). Jeremiah speaks out against false prophets and corrupt priests informing the people of Israel that their lives have not been lived in the path of the Lord, “From the least of them even unto the greatest of them everyone is given to covetnous; and from the prophet even unto the priest everyone dealeth falsly” (Jeremiah 6:13). Jeremiah also speaks out against his people because they are, “…all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men” (Jeremiah 9:2).
When the Lord calls Jeremiah to commission Jeremiah is reluctant to prophesies to the people of Israel because he fears that he is unable to speak with the clarity of that needed in a prophet because he is young position much as Mosses did, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child” (Jeremiah 1:6). When Jeremiah understands that he has the blessing of the Lord he begins his prophecies. He feels confident because he knows the Lord is with him guiding him and putting words into his mouth. The end of the book of Jeremiah is different from the other prophet’s books. He does not have any encouraging words for the people of Israel this is why he is called the weeping prophet. In Jeremiah’s book of Lamentation he shows the love and the sorrow that the Lord has for the people of Israel. The Israelite people did not like Jeremiah because he spoke of doom and disaster that was to come. He gives the people only a small sense of redemption in his book of lamentation. The Lord protected Jeremiah and helped him words and thought and in return Jeremiah did all that the Lord asked of him. Jeremiah’s job required him to tell his people of all the things that they did that were wrong and he was only to give them a small sense of hope in the end.
The prophets of the books of Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Jeremiah demonstrate the role and the character of the prophets in the Hebrew Bible. Together they are a symbol of God’s relationship with His prophets and His use for them in His relationship with the Israelites. The prophets of the Hebrew Bible were not afraid to denounce the wrongdoings of the Israelites. Each exhibited great courage by speaking out against the false prophets, and the religious prostitution of the people that had preempted a rapid decline in the morality of the nation. The people’s perception of the prophets can be seen through Isaiah’s explanation that the prophets were not well liked by the people and often faced social persecution for the commission that the Lord had set forth for them. They all did so without more than a question of whether or not they were worthy. When the prophets had finished speaking out against the evils of the Israelites they would tell the people that the Lord was going to save when they fallowed his ways again. The life of a prophet was not the most fun but they all did their job and kept their heads up because they were helping the Lord save His people and the people that they loved.