In their eyes Jahveh was the one God, compared with Whom the pagan deities were no gods at all, and could not even be said to exist. He might, had He so willed it, have bestowed His protection on any one of the numerous races whom He had planted on the earth: but as a special favour, which He was under no obligation to confer, He had chosen Israel to be His own people, and had promised them that they should occupy Canaan so long as they kept free from sin. But Israel had sinned, Israel had followed after idols; its misfortunes were, therefore, but the just penalty of its unfaithfulness. Thus conceived, Jahveh ceased to be merely the god of a nation—He became the God of the whole world; and it is in the guise of a universal Deity that some, at any rate, of the prophets begin to represent Him from the time of Jeroboam II. onwards.
This change of view in regard to the Being of Jahveh coincided with a no less marked alteration in the character of His prophets. At first they had taken an active part in public affairs; they had thrown themselves into the political movements of the time, and had often directed their course,* by persuasion when persuasion sufficed, by violence when violence was the only means that was left to them of enforcing the decrees of the Most High. Not long before this, we find Elisha secretly conspiring against the successors of Ahab, and taking a decisive part in the revolution which set the house of Jehu on the throne in place of that of Omri; but during the half-century which had elapsed since his death, the revival in the fortunes of Israel and its growing prosperity under the rule of an energetic king had furnished the prophets with but few pretexts for interfering in the conduct of state affairs.
* Cf. the part taken by Nathan in the conspiracy which
raised Solomon to the throne (1 Kings i. 8, et seq.), and
previous to this in the story of David’s amour with
Bathsheba (2 Sam. xii. 1-25). Similarly, we find prophets
such as Ahijah in the reign of Jeroboam I. (1 Kings xi. 29-
39; cf. xiv. 1-18; xv. 29, 30), and Shemaîah in the reign of
Rehoboam (1 Kings xii. 22-24), Jehu son of Hananiah under
Baasha (1 Kings xvi. 1-4, 7, 12, 13), Micaiah son of Imla,
and Zedekiah under Ahab (1 Kings xxii. 5-28), not to speak
of those mentioned in the Chronicles, e.g. Azariah son of
Oded (2 Ghron. xv. 1-8), and Hanani under Asa (2 Ghron. xvi.
7-10), Jahaziel (2 Ghron. xx. 14-19), and Eliezer, son of
Dodavahu (2 Ghron. xx. 37), in the time of Johoshaphat. No
trace of any writings composed by these prophets is found
until a very late date; but in Chronicles, in addition to a
letter from Elijah to Jehoram of Juda (2 Ghron. xxi. 12-15),
we find a reference to the commentary of the prophet Iddo in
the time of Abijah (2 Ghron. xiii. 22), and to the “History
of Jehu the son of Hanani, which is inserted in the book of
the kings of Israel” (2 Chron. xx. 34), in the time of
Jehoshaphat.
They no longer occupied themselves in resisting the king, but addressed themselves to the people, pointed out the heinousness of their sins, and threatened them with the wrath of Jahveh if they persisted in their unfaithfulness: they came to be spiritual advisers rather than political partisans, and orators rather than men of action like their predecessors. Their discourses were carefully prepared beforehand, and were written down either by themselves or by some of their disciples for the benefit of posterity, in the hope that future generations would understand the dangers or witness the catastrophes which their contemporaries might not live to see. About 760 B.C., Amos of Tekôa,* a native of Judaea, suddenly made his appearance at Bethel, in the midst of the festivals which pilgrims had flocked to celebrate in the ancient temple erected to Jahveh in one of His animal forms.
* The title of the Book of Amos fixes the date as being “in
the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of
Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel” (i. 1), and the
state of affairs described by him corresponds pretty closely
with what we know of this period. Most critics fix the date
somewhere between 760 and 750 B.C., but nearer 760 than 750.
His opening words filled the listening crowd with wonder: “The high places of Isaac shall be desolate,” he proclaimed, “and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.” *
* Amos vii. 9.
Yet Jeroboam had by this time gained all his victories, and never before had the King of Samaria appeared to be more firmly seated on the throne: what, then, did this intruder mean by introducing himself as a messenger of wrath in the name of Jahveh, at the very moment when Jahveh was furnishing His worshippers with abundant signs of His favour? Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, interrupted him as he went on to declare that “Jeroboam should die by the sword, and Israel should surely be led away captive out of his land.” The king, informed of what was going on, ordered Amos into exile, and Amaziah undertook to communicate this sentence to him: “O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: but prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a royal house.” And Amos replied, “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdman, and a dresser of sycomore trees: and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto My people Israel. Now therefore hear thou the word of the Lord: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac: therefore thus saith the Lord: Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou thyself shalt die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.” *
* Amos vii. 9-17.
This prophecy, first expanded, and then written down with a purity of diction and loftiness of thought which prove Amos to have been a master of literary art,* was widely circulated, and gradually gained authority as portents indicative of the divine wrath began to accumulate, such as an earthquake which occurred two years after the incident at Bethel,* an eclipse of the sun, drought, famine, and pestilence.*** It foretold, in the first place, the downfall of all the surrounding countries—Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and Judah; then, denouncing Israel itself, condemned it to the same penalties for the same iniquities. In vain did the latter plead its privileges as the chosen people of Jahveh, and seek to atone for its guilt by endless sacrifices. “I hate, I despise your feasts,” declared Jahveh, “and I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Yea, though ye offer Me your burnt offerings and meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from Me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.” ****