Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals--  7 they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way; father and son go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned;  8 they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink wine bought with fines they imposed.

-          Eighth oracle: against Israel; summarizes the theme of the book

Amos 2:6-8

Hear this word, you cows of Bashan who are on Mount Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, "Bring something to drink!"  2 The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness: The time is surely coming upon you, when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks.  3 Through breaches in the wall you shall leave, each one straight ahead; and you shall be flung out into Harmon, says the LORD.

-          Announcement of judgment

Amos

-          First “Anti-liturgy”

Amos

-          Funeral dirge; conclude the section of Announcements of Judgment; introduce mourning motif and subsequent Woe Oracles

Amos

-          Part of three admonitions

Amos

-          First Woe Oracle

Amos

-          Second “Anti-liturgy” with exhortation to justice

Amos

Concluding Messianic Oracle: future hope lies with House of David

Amos

Hear the word of the LORD, O people of Israel; for the LORD has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or loyalty, and no knowledge of God in the land.  2 Swearing, lying, and murder, and stealing and adultery break out; bloodshed follows bloodshed.  3 Therefore the land mourns, and all who live in it languish; together with the wild animals and the birds of the air, even the fish of the sea are perishing.  4 Yet let no one contend, and let none accuse, for with you is my contention, O priest.  5 You shall stumble by day; the prophet also shall stumble with you by night, and I will destroy your mother.  6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

Accusation of Israel

Hosea

Call for repentance and their is hope

Hosea--God is with us even when we turn away

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.  2 The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Baals, and offering incense to idols.  3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them.  4 I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.  5 They shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me.  6 The sword rages in their cities, it consumes their oracle-priests, and devours because of their schemes.  7 My people are bent on turning away from me. To the Most High they call, but he does not raise them up at all.  8 How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.  9 I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.

Hosea

There is Hope--nomatic ideal return to Egypt

Alas for those who devise wickedness and evil deeds on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in their power.  2 They covet fields, and seize them; houses, and take them away; they oppress householder and house, people and their inheritance.  3 Therefore thus says the LORD: Now, I am devising against this family an evil from which you cannot remove your necks; and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be an evil time.

Woe oracle

Micah

And I said: Listen, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Should you not know justice?--  2 you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin off my people, and the flesh off their bones;  3 who eat the flesh of my people, flay their skin off them, break their bones in pieces, and chop them up like meat in a kettle, like flesh in a caldron.  4 Then they will cry to the LORD, but he will not answer them; he will hide his face from them at that time, because they have acted wickedly.

Announcement of Judgment

Micah

Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who cry "Peace" when they have something to eat, but declare war against those who put nothing into their mouths.  6 Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without revelation. The sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be black over them;  7 the seers shall be disgraced, and the diviners put to shame; they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God.  8 But as for me, I am filled with power, with the spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.

Judgment

Micah

In days to come the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised up above the hills. Peoples shall stream to it,  2 and many nations shall come and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.  3 He shall judge between many peoples, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more;  4 but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.  5 For all the peoples walk, each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever.

-          Descriptions of the righteous reign of Christ over the whole world--Eschatological oracle of hope focused on Zion

Micah

-          Descriptions of the righteous reign of Christ over the whole world--Messianic oracle

Micah

Micah is also the first to point to Bethlehem as the city from which the Messiah would come

Hear what the LORD says: Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.  2 Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the LORD, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.  3 "O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me!  4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.  5 O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised, what Balaam son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving acts of the LORD."

"the lawsuit"

Micah

"With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?  7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"  8 He has told you, O mortal, 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?

Micah

Exhortation to reformed conduct.

-          Exhortation to improved conduct

Isaiah

Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.  2 He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.  3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.  4 What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?  5 And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.  6 I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.  7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!

-          The Song of the Vineyard

Isaiah

Woe Oracle

Isaiah

In the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel went up to attack Jerusalem, but could not mount an attack against it.  2 When the house of David heard that Aram had allied itself with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.  3 Then the LORD said to Isaiah, Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller's Field,  4 and say to him, Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah.  5 Because Aram-- with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah-- has plotted evil against you, saying,  6 Let us go up against Judah and cut off Jerusalem and conquer it for ourselves and make the son of Tabeel king in it;  7 therefore thus says the Lord GOD: It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass.  8 For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. (Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered, no longer a people.)  9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all.

-          First sign: Isaiah’s son Shear-yashuv (ambiguous)

Second sign: Ahaz’s son Immanu-el (Hezekiah) (hopeful)

Isaiah

Then the LORD said to me, Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, "Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz,"  2 and have it attested for me by reliable witnesses, the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.  3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz;  4 for before the child knows how to call "My father" or "My mother," the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.

-          Third sign: Isaiah’s son Maher-shalal-hash-baz (judgment)

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness-- on them light has shined.  3 You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder.  4 For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.  5 For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire.  6 For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  7 His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

Isaiah-          Messianic oracle (hope): originally the coronation hymn for King Hezekiah when Isaiah hoped that he would rule over a united Judah and Israel and restore the kingdom to the glory days of David and Solomon.  Of course this did not happen because, in Isaiah’s view, neither Ahaz nor Hezekiah would trust God alone but persisted in putting their trust in military alliances.  In the final redaction of this section 6:1-9:7, the identity of this messiah, Immanu-el, is left open… to be fulfilled in the future.

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.  2 The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.  3 His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;  4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.  5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins.  6 The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.  7 The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.  8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den.  9 They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah-          Messianic Oracle: with the forest of Assyria cut down, the messianic shoot will sprout from the stump of Jesse.  This will bring a new age because this ideal messiah will incarnate God’s rule rather than trusting in his human power.

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:  2 Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah, you that enter these gates to worship the LORD.  3 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you in this place.  4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD."  5 For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another,  6 if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt,  7 then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors forever and ever.  8 Here you are, trusting in deceptive words to no avail.  9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known,  10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, "We are safe!"-- only to go on doing all these abominations?  11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? You know, I too am watching, says the LORD.  12 Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.  13 And now, because you have done all these things, says the LORD, and when I spoke to you persistently, you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer,  14 therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your ancestors, just what I did to Shiloh.  15 And I will cast you out of my sight, just as I cast out all your kinsfolk, all the offspring of Ephraim.

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:  2 Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.  3 You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Cursed be anyone who does not heed the words of this covenant,  4 which I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron-smelter, saying, Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God,  5 that I may perform the oath that I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day. Then I answered, "So be it, LORD."

Jeremiah

-          Judah has broken the Covenant (in part)

-          (role of the Covenant in Jeremiah, how different, how related to Deuteronomy, Josiah, and the Levites?)

The LORD showed me two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the LORD. This was after King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, together with the officials of Judah, the artisans, and the smiths, and had brought them to Babylon.  2 One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten.  3 And the LORD said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I said, "Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten."  4 Then the word of the LORD came to me:  5 Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.  6 I will set my eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not pluck them up.  7 I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD; and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.  8 But thus says the LORD: Like the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who live in the land of Egypt.  9 I will make them a horror, an evil thing, to all the kingdoms of the earth-- a disgrace, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them.  10 And I will send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they are utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their ancestors.

-          Vision of the two baskets of figs

Jeremiah

The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt-- a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD.  33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Jeremiah

-          Portion of the Book of Consolation

-          Promise of a new covenant

Five personal laments of Jeremiah

1)  11:18-12:6 people want to kill Jeremiah and Jeremiah mourns that the wicked have the upper hand

2)  15:10-21 mourns his birth, decries his persecutors and calls God a “deceitful wadi”

3)  17:14-18 implores God for healing, notes that e was pulled from shepherding into prophetic work, asks God to save him and punish his persecutors

4)  18:18-23 calls on God to deliver the people into famine and death for they do not heed Jeremiah but rather seek to harm him he calls on God to deal with them in God anger

5)  20:7-18 Jeremiah cannot stop declaring the message God gives even at his own expense, even though he curses the day he is born

Seven prophetic actions of Jeremiah

1)  13:1-11  “the dirty underwear”

2)  16:1-13  “Jeremiah may not marry, attend funerals, or attend parties

3)  19:1-20:6  “breaking the earthen flask; and Jeremiah’s subsequent arrest”

4)  27-28  “the yoke”

5)  32  “Jeremiah buys land in Anatot”

6)  35  “dialogue with the Rechabites”

7)  43:8-13  “the large stones in Egypt”

Amos: five call visions, they are basically visions of doom; oracle genre: visions and foreign nation; concluding Messianic Oracle (9:11-15) future hope with House of David

-          7:1-3 locusts- Locusts in Palestine were uncontrollable and considered "an act of God." Amos saw in them as the threat of God's punishment and by pleading for the land was able to convince God to relent.

-          7:4-6 great fire devouring the land- Some see this as a famine or drought. Again, the prophet pleads with the Lord, and He relents.

-          7:7-9 plumb line- The doom of the house of Jeroboam is announced. Amos pleads no further.

-          8:1-3 summer fruit/end- Prophets frequently convey their message by puns not intended to be humorous. From the similarity of summer (qayits) and end (qets) in Hebrew, the Lord teaches Amos that the end is at hand. "The end has come for My people Israel"

-          9:1-4 destruction of palace and temple/Lord standing beside the alter- The command is given to smite the Sanctuary and to destroy the sinful people of the land. "The point of this last vision is that when God finally sends the Assyrians to overthrow Israel, that there will be no way for sinners to escape punishment, no matter how hard they try"

Amos: Day of the Lord is negative/day of judgment; 1-2 has seven oracles against the nations (number of perfection)

Hosea: no visions; call through marriage

-          marriage of Hosea: chapters 1-3

o   various interpretations

-          historical traditions of the Exodus play a central role

-          God, His nature and character: There is but ONE God! He is omnipotent... He is righteous... He is love! He is pictured as both a loving husband, and a loving father. One of the favorite expressions of this prophet is: Lovingkindness.

-          The covenant between God & Israel: Hosea views Israel as the "chosen ones" of God; God had entered into a union with them.

o   The intimacy of this relationship is described under two figures --- a marriage relationship, and a father/son relationship. Hosea emphasizes that a covenant always involves mutual obligations.

o   Doom of the nation is inevitable Because of the faithlessness of the nation, Hosea prepares the people for impending punishment.  The Righteous Husband demands that the unfaithful wife be put away from Him, but the Loving Husband looks hopefully to a time of restored relationship.

Their faithlessness was manifested in two major ways:

1. Rebellion against all constituted authority.

2. Dependence upon human defenses and foreign alliances, rather than  upon the power of Jehovah.

The cause for this widespread immorality and faithlessness toward God was two-fold:

1. Corruption of the priests, with whom the false prophets were in league.

2. Corruption of worship.

Micah: first to predict destruction of Jerusalem, (Micah 3:12) the first prophet to specifically threaten Judah with the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple; (Micah 5:2) Micah is also the first to point to Bethlehem as the city from which the Messiah would come

-          1:2-9 theophany (appearance of God) functions as the prophet’s call vision; the Divine Warrior descends with resulting lamentation

-          "Stemming from the poorer, working class, Micah was acutely aware of the injustices and avarice of the rich. While he was interested in the political affairs of his nation, it was only as they were connected with the religious and moral situation that Micah spoke to them."  Micah wants the people to realize that true faith in God results in personal holiness and social justice.  He "emphasizes the integral relationship between true spirituality and social ethics."  "Worship and morality cannot be divorced from each other.  They are two sides of the same coin."

-          God does not tolerate unjust behavior; should strive for mercy, justice, and kindness towards all

Micah: Day of the Lord- God coming to fight the enemy (Israel and Judah); punishment because of sins of Jacob; first to predict destruction of Jerusalem

Isaiah of Jerusalem:

-          6:1-13 call vision; the land will be devastated, the only hope is stated in the final line “The holy seed is its stump” (the messiah)

o   v.1 human kings die, but the Lord does not

o   v.2 seraph

o   v.9&10 possibly written at the end of Isaiah’s career

-          foreign nation oracle

-          hope in the messiah

-          The vision (probably in the Jerusalem Temple) that made him a prophet is described in a first-person narrative. According to this account he “saw” God and was overwhelmed by his contact with the divine glory and holiness. He became agonizingly aware of God’s need for a messenger to the people of Israel, and, despite his own sense of inadequacy, he offered himself for God’s service: “Here am I! Send me.” He was thus commissioned to give voice to the divine word. It was no light undertaking; he was to condemn his own people and watch the nation crumble and perish. As he tells it, he was only too aware that, coming with such a message, he would experience bitter opposition, willful disbelief, and ridicule, to withstand which he would have to be inwardly fortified. All this came to him in the form of a vision and ended as a sudden, firm, and lifelong resolve.

Jeremiah: genre of lament

-          1:4-10 first call vision: called before he was born; fights his call (too young), God touches his mouth/enables him;

o   God speaks to his fears and weaknesses. Jeremiah says he can’t speak: God touches his mouth… saying I will put words in your mouth. It’s a vision specifically for Jeremiah, to deal with his objection and to help him move forward.

-          1:11-12 second call vision: watchful

-          1:13-19 third call vision: boiling pot