Nancy: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 200 and 44
Prophets
introduction to Prophets.
The Bible tells the story of how God chose the people of Israel for the
sake of restoring the whole world.
He entered into a series of covenants with Abraham and his descendants
in order to move them closer and closer to this goal of being a
life-giving blessing to all peoples.
But over and over again, the ancient Israelites failed to honor
their covenant obligations to God.
The law of Moses insisted that they give the Lord their exclusive allegiance.
But they repeatedly turned to worship other gods.
The law provided numerous safeguards for the poor and vulnerable, but
the people frequently exploited the weakest of their citizens.
In short, Israel failed to be the light to the nations that
God was calling them to be.
But God was determined to keep working with this imperfect
nation to achieve his goal.
So God sent special messengers, the prophets to call the people back to him.
The messages of many of these prophets have been collected and preserved for
us, and they now comprise nearly a third of the Bible's First testament.
The prophets play the role of covenant mediators calling the people to be
loyal to their covenant with the Lord.
Many of the prophets framed their arguments as covenant
lawsuits against the people.
The prophet Micah, for example, announces at one point, listen
to the Lord's complaint.
He has a case against his people.
The prophets established in their arguments that the people have
become unfaithful to God by failing to keep their covenant commitments.
This is why the prophets typically begin their messages with warnings,
followed by the announcement of necessary consequences for disobedience.
But judgment is never the lord's final word for Israel.
Difficult messages of correction and judgment transform into visions of
restoration and flourishing life.
The prophets see a new future for Israel and the world.
Based solely on God's good promises and his covenant faithfulness.
The prophets themselves were more street preachers than the authors of books
normally proclaiming the Lord's messages at the gates of Jerusalem and the temple
they normally spoke in Oracles, which were recorded and serve as the basic literary
unit for most of the prophetic books.
Prophetic Oracles are poems that convey a single idea through several strategies.
The prophets often use visual metaphors from the natural world
to help their listeners imagine or picture their messages.
Sometimes the metaphors come directly from the prophets, dramatic
visions from God, which cannot easily be described in human terms.
At other times, the metaphors are drawn from the prophet's own
circumstances or experiences.
Some oracles are based on the repetition of key ideas, litanies, or lists
that drive home an essential point.
Amos, for example, describes five different misfortunes that God has brought
upon his people and says, after each one, but still, you would not return to me.
Prophetic language is typically strong and evokes powerful emotions
because so much was at stake in these interventions with Israel.
Some of the prophets set their oracles to music.
This was another way they could ensure that their message
would spread and be remembered.
Isaiah, for example, introduces one oracle with, I will sing for the one I love.
A song about his vineyard.
This particular Oracle presents an extended metaphor describing Israel as
a well tended vineyard that failed to produce the fruit the keeper wanted,
the justice and righteousness that God had been cultivating in them.
We present these books of the prophets in an order that follows
their general historical sequence.
As Israel journeys from the time of the Empire of Assyria, through the period of
the rule of Babylon and then Persia to the return of the people to their homeland.
The prophets are present to speak into Israel's various historical situations.
The collections cannot all be dated precisely.
Jonah and Joel are particularly difficult to locate historically.
They are placed last and can be read in view of the larger prophetic tradition.
As Israel's wayfaring continues through the centuries, the prophets relentlessly
remind the people of their true calling, even through the dark abyss
of exile and the loss of land and home.
Their hope for the future remains.
This story is God's, and at the end of the day, he will act to
save his people and his world.
Immersed in Amos
in the first half of the eighth century bc, the Northern Kingdom of
Israel reached its greatest heights of prosperity and strength under
the long reign of Jira Boem ii.
Israel's leaders and nobles reveled in the glory and power of their
economic success and military prowess.
They believed that this reflected God's favor and blessings upon them.
After all, didn't they bring lavish offerings to their gods at the temple in
Bethel, which was the king's sanctuary and a national place of worship, as well as
at other shrines such as Gilgal and Dan.
Their self-satisfaction was disturbed by the words of a shepherd from a
small town in the southern kingdom.
The temples of Israel will be destroyed.
I will bring the dynasty of King Jira Boem to a sudden end.
Why did the prophet Amos bring these dire words to the people in the
midst of their comfort and wealth?
The Lord had seen the truth.
They trample helpless people in the dust and shove the oppressed out of the way.
Israel's brash self-assurance was built on idolatrous worship, gross
injustice, and mistreatment of the poor.
So God sent his messenger to warn the northern kingdom of
their coming judgment and demise.
The leaders of Israel gave Amos's warning all the attention they felt it deserved.
They threw him out of the kingdom and told him to peal his message
back in Judah, where he'd come from.
So Amos left, but his prophecies were written down to preserve them as an
ongoing witness against the injustices that would doom the northern kingdom.
He became the earliest of the writing prophets whose words have
been collected for us in the Bible.
The book of Amos begins by establishing the credibility of his warnings.
Its superscription specifies that he received his message
two years before the earthquake.
Amos had predicted this, the earth will tremble for your
deeds and everyone will mourn.
The ground will rise like the Nile River at flood time.
It will heve up then sink again.
And when this earthquake came, it was devastating.
Geologists have found evidence of multiple sites of widespread and sudden
destruction consistent with a massive earthquake late in the rain of Jira.
Bo ii.
After this opening assertion that God truly is speaking through Amos, the book
relays a cycle of Oracles against the nations that immediately surround Israel.
The prophet first announces judgment against these nations, and then in
the seventh, Oracle turns to speak against the southern kingdom of Judah.
The listeners in the Northern Kingdom likely would've expected
this to be the final oracle.
They would've cheered the condemnation of their neighbors
and closest rivals in Judah.
But Amos has been drawing a target with Israel at the center, and he
delivers his longest denunciation against the northern kingdom of Israel.
Because of their wanton luxury oppression of the poor and idolatry,
they will be defeated and destroyed.
The rest of the book reinforces this message.
It consists of loosely organized and sometimes interwoven short
oracles that take up the same themes, idolatry, injustice, oppression, and
debauchery will bring God's judgment no matter how strong Israel's army or
enthusiastic it's religious services.
As part of this message of judgment, Amos also relays a series of visions
given to him by God that metaphorically depict the coming punishment.
These visions are juxtaposed with an account of the expulsion of Amos from
the Northern Kingdom, showing that the people have rejected both God's
message and God's genuine messenger.
The final oracle is the most devastating of all in it.
God dismisses the Israelites as his covenant people saying that the
Exodus should not make them feel more special than any other nation.
Are you Israelites more important to me than the Ethiopians?
Asks the Lord.
I brought Israel out of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from
Crete and led the Ians out of Kiir.
I, the sovereign Lord, am watching the sinful nation of Israel.
I will destroy it from the face of the earth, but then in a pattern,
we will see again and again.
The epilogue expresses renewed hope for the future.
Amos, the earliest of the prophets.
Sets a template that God's later messengers will also follow.
There will be judgment on God's people because of injustice and unfaithfulness,
but then a promised restoration will come through the mercy and love of God.
The covenant will prevail.
God will reinstitute himself as king and heal his land.
The Prophet Amos.
This message was given to Amos, a shepherd from the town of Coah and Judah.
He received this message, envisions two years before the earthquake when
Isaiah was king of Judah and Rebo.
The second, the son of Jehovah was king of Israel.
This is what he saw and heard.
The Lord's voice will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem.
The lush pastures of the shepherds will dry up The grass on Mount
Carmel will wither and die.
This is what the Lord says.
The people of Damascus have sinned again and again, and I
will not let them go unpunished.
They beat down my people in Gilead as grain is threshed with iron ledges,
so I will send down fire on King Hazel's palace and the fortresses
of King Bin Hayed will be destroyed.
I will break down the gates of Damascus and slaughter the
people in the Valley of Aven.
I will destroy the ruler in Beth Eden and the people of
Arum will go as captives to ki.
Says the Lord.
This is what the Lord says.
The people of Gaza have sinned again and again, and I will
not let them go unpunished.
They sent whole villages into exile, selling them as slaves to em.
So I will send down fire on the walls of Gaza and all its
fortresses will be destroyed.
I will slaughter the people of Ashdod and destroy the king of Ash kalon.
Then I will turn to attack Akron and the few Philistines still
left, will be killed, says the ign.
Lord, this is what the Lord says.
The people of tire have sinned again and again, and I will
not let them go unpunished.
They broke their treaty of Brotherhood with Israel selling
whole villages as slaves to Edam.
So I will send down fire on the walls of tire and all its
fortresses will be destroyed.
This is what the Lord says.
The people of Edam have sinned again and again, and I will
not let them go unpunished.
They chased down their relatives, the Israelites, with swords showing
them no mercy in their rage.
They slashed them continually and were unrelenting in their anger.
So I will send down fire on Teman, and the fortresses of Basra will be destroyed.
This is what the Lord says.
The people of Ammon have sinned again and again, and I will
not let them go unpunished.
When they attacked Gilead to extend their borders, they ripped open
pregnant women with their swords.
So I'll send down fire on the walls of Rabbi and all its
fortresses will be destroyed.
The battle will come upon them with shouts like a whirlwind in a mighty storm.
And their king and his princes will go into exile together, says the Lord.
This is what the Lord says.
The people of Moab have sinned again and again, and I will
not let them go unpunished.
They desecrated the bones of Eden's king, burning them to ashes.
So I will send down fire on the land of Moab, and all the fortresses
and carry off will be destroyed.
The people will fall in the noise of battle as the warriors shout in
the ram's horn sounds and I will destroy their king and slaughter
all their princes, says the Lord.
This is what the Lord says.
The people of Judah have sinned again and again.
And I will not let them go unpunished.
They have rejected the instruction of the Lord refusing to obey his decrees.
They have been led astray by the same lies that deceived their ancestors.
So I will send down fire on Judah and all the fortresses
of Jerusalem will be destroyed.
This is what the Lord says.
The people of Israel have sinned again and again.
And I will not let them go.
Unpunished, they sell honorable people for silver and poor
people for a pair of sandals.
They trample helpless people in the dust and shove the oppressed out of the way.
Both father and son sleep with the same woman corrupting my holy
name at their religious festivals.
They lounge in clothing, their debtors put up as security.
The house of their gods.
They drink wine bought with unjust fines.
But as my people watched, I destroyed the Emirates, though they were as
tall as cedars and as strong as oaks.
I destroyed the fruit on their branches and dug out their roots.
It was I who rescued you from Egypt and led you through the
desert for 40 years so you could possess the land of the Amorites.
I chose some of your sons to be prophets and others to be nazarites.
Can you deny this?
My people of Israel asks the Lord, but you caused the nazarites to
sin by making them drink wine and you commanded the prophets Shut up.
So I will make you groan like a wagon loaded down with sheaves of grain.
Your fastest runners will not get away.
The strongest among you will become weak.
Even mighty warriors will be unable to save themselves.
The archers will not stand their ground.
The swiftest runners won't be fast enough to escape.
Even those riding horses won't be able to save themselves on that day.
The most courageous of your fighting men will drop their
weapons and run for their lives.
Says the Lord.
This concludes today's immerse reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.