Companion to the Bible

by E. P. Barrows

4. Hosea's style is very concise and sententious, and his diction impresses even the casual reader as original and peculiar. A remarkable feature of his book is the constancy with which he sets forth the relation of Israel to Jehovah under the figure of the marriage-covenant; thus making unfaithfulness to God, and especially idolatry and idolatrous alliances, to be spiritual adultery and whoredom. This fact affords a key to the interpretation of the first three chapters, where the nature of the transactions requires that we understand them not as historic events, but as prophetic symbols occurring only in vision. The remaining eleven chapters contain perhaps a summary of the prophet's discourses to the people, written by himself near the close of his ministry. The prophecies of Hosea are repeatedly referred to in the New Testament as a part of the oracles of God. Matt. 2:15; 9:13; 12:7; Rom. 9:25, 26; and an allusion in 1 Cor. 15:55. The prophet brings his book to a close with a delightful and refreshing view of the future prosperity and peace of the true Israel, chap. 14.

II. JOEL.

5. The prophecies of Joel, the son of Pethuel, give no specifications of place or time. But all the internal indications of the book point to Judea—probably Jerusalem, with its temple, altar, priesthood, and solemn assemblies—as the sphere of his labors, and to the date as among the earliest of those belonging to written prophecy. The coincidences between Joel and Amos cannot well be regarded as accidental. Compare Joel 3:16 with Amos 1:2; Joel 3:18 with Amos 9:13; and notice the striking similarity in the close of the two prophecies. If we may assume that one of these prophets borrowed expressions from the other, the priority will naturally be given to Joel, from whose closing address (3:16) Amos takes the opening words of his prophecies. He must then be placed as early, at least, as the reign of Uzziah, and perhaps earlier.

From the fact that Joel does not mention as among the enemies of Judah the Syrians who invaded Judah in the reign of Joash, the grandfather of Uzziah, some have placed him as early as the reign of Joash before this Syrian invasion. There is no ground for placing him after Uzziah; for his writings contain no allusion to the Assyrian power, which became so formidable soon after Uzziah's time.

6. The writings of Joel bear the full impress of culture in a prophetic school. His Hebrew is of the purest kind; his style is easy, flowing, elegant, and adorned with magnificent imagery; and for vividness and power of description he is not surpassed by any of the prophets. The immediate occasion of his prophecies is a double plague of drought and locusts, which has already invaded the land, and whose desolating progress he describes in poetic strains of matchless elegance and power. He summons the people of all classes to repentance, and promises, upon this condition, not only the restoration of the land to its former fruitfulness, but also the outpouring of God's Spirit upon all flesh, the triumph of the covenant people over all their foes, and an era of universal holiness and peace. In this respect he is a model for all the prophets that come after him. They all with one accord look forward beyond the calamities of the present time, and the heavier impending calamities which they are commissioned to foretell in the near future, to the glory of the latter days, when Zion shall be made triumphant over all her foes, and the whole earth shall be given her for her inheritance. The apostle Peter, in his address on the day of Pentecost, quotes a remarkable prophecy of Joel (2:28-32, compared with Acts 2:16-21).

The opinion of some commentators, that under the figure of locusts are represented simply hostile armies, must be regarded as forced and unnatural. More probable is the opinion of Henderson and others, that the prophet uses an actual invasion of the land by locusts as the type of a more formidable invasion of foreign foes. But there does not seem to be any valid reason for departing from the simple interpretation above given.

III. AMOS.

7. Amos prophesied "concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake" (1:1). The time of this earthquake, which is simply mentioned by Zechariah (14:5) as occurring in Uzziah's reign, cannot be determined. We only know that Amos must have prophesied somewhere during the last part of the reign of Jeroboam II., when he was contemporary with Uzziah. Amos was thus contemporary with Hosea, and was a considerable number of years earlier than Isaiah, who began to prophesy near the close of Uzziah's long reign of fifty-two years. The very specific date "two years before the earthquake" indicates that his whole mission to Israel was executed within a single year, perhaps within a few months. It seems to have been after his return to Judah, when at least two years had elapsed, that he collected his prophecies and put them into their present form.

Amos describes himself as one of "the herdmen of Tekoa," a small town southeast of Bethlehem on the border of the wilderness of Judah. 2 Chron. 20:20. It belonged to Judah, whence we infer that Amos was himself a Jew, a supposition which agrees well with the advice of Amaziah: "O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there" (7:12). He speaks of himself as "no prophet, neither a prophet's son" (7:14); which means that he had not been trained up for the prophetical office in any school of the prophets, as were "the sons of the prophets." 1 Kings 20:35; 2 Kings 2:3, etc. God took him from following the herd, and gave him a commission to prophesy to His people Israel, an office which he executed at Bethel, where one of the golden calves erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat was worshipped (7:10-17 compared with 1 Kings 12:29). In entire harmony with this historical notice is the character of his prophecies. His style has not the flowing fulness of Joel, but charms the reader by its freshness and simplicity. His writings abound in images taken from rural scenes and employments, some of which are very unique and striking in their character. See chaps. 2:13; 3:12; 5:19; 6:12; 9:2, 3, 9. He opens his prophecies by a solemn annunciation of the approaching judgments of heaven upon the nations bordering on Israel, specifying in each case the sin which has provoked God's wrath. The storm passes, without pausing in its course, over Syria, Philistia, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah, till at last it reaches Israel. Here it rests, gathers blackness, and thunders long and loud. The reign of Jeroboam II was one of much outward prosperity. 2 Kings 14:25-28. The vices which Amos rebukes are those which belong to such a period—avarice, violence, oppression of the poor, perversion of justice, luxury, lewdness—all these joined with the idolatrous worship established by Jeroboam the son of Nebat. For such multiplied transgressions God will cause the sun to go down at noon, and darken the earth in the clear day. Their feasts shall be turned into mourning, their songs into lamentation, and they shall go into captivity beyond Damascus. But while all the sinners among God's people thus perish by the sword, he will remember his true Israel for good. He will rear up again the fallen tabernacle of David, bring again the captivity of his people of Israel, and plant them for ever in their own land in peace and prosperity. Thus do the visions of Amos, like those of Hosea and Joel, close with a cheering view of the future glory of Zion. Amos is twice quoted in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 7:42, 43; 15:16, 17).