The people of Israel believe that Hosea is a fool and that his prophecy of their destruction is crazy – “The days of punishment have come; the days of recompense have come. Israel knows! The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is insane, because of the greatness of your iniquity and great enmity.” Therefore, Hosea rebukes them saying it is because of their great sin that they can’t see the truth.

Hosea states four comparisons to Israel:

1. Grapes in the wilderness – Israel had potential, like the first fruits on a fig tree, but spoiled themselves with their idolatry and wickedness; therefore, they will bear no more fruit. Hosea says, “My God will cast them away, because they did not obey Him, and they shall be wanderers among the nations.”
2. A vine that bears fruit for itself – Israel lived by their own rules and standards and not the Lord’s. They used the blessings that the Lord gave them for their own ungodly ways.
3. A trained heifer that loves to thresh grain – God will harness Israel and make it sow righteousness and reap mercy. Hosea says if the people will seek the Lord and sow seeds of righteousness instead of seeds of sin and selfishness, they will receive mercy – “For it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you.”
4. A child – The Lord brought Israel out of Egypt over five hundred years ago, taught them to walk and fed them, but they turned from Him to idolatry like the pagan nations around them – “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. As they called them, so they went from them; they sacrificed to the Baals, and burned incense to carved images.” The statement ‘out of Egypt I called My son’ is also a future prophecy about the life of Jesus, who as a Child will be taken to Egypt to escape the evil King Herod but will be called back once Herod dies (Hosea 11:1, Matthew 2:15).

In the midst of announcing judgment, the Lord’s heart breaks for His people – “My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred. I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, the Holy One in your midst; and I will not come with terror.” Unlike man, the Lord is long-suffering and merciful. However, His mercy demands justice. 

Hosea says the Lord also brings a charge against Judah. God remembers the days of Judah’s forefather, Jacob, when he wrestled with his brother, Esau, in the womb. Jacob prevailed in the womb by taking his brother by the heel, and later Jacob wrestled with the Lord and “he wept and sought favor from Him.” Hosea encourages Jacob’s descendants, God’s chosen people, to seek favor from the Lord like Jacob – “So you, by the help of your God, return; observe mercy and justice, and wait on your God continually.”

Hosea explains that it is by the prophet of the Lord, whom they think is foolish and insane, that God helps His people – “By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved.” But after they were brought out of Egypt by Moses and led into the promised land by Joshua, “They were filled and their heart was exalted; therefore they forgot Me.” So judgment is coming upon Israel like the pain of childbirth comes upon a woman. However, the Lord can redeem anything. He can even redeem death, and He will – “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction!” This victory over death will be accomplished later in the story when the Lord sends the Savior as He promised in the garden to Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:15). Jesus Christ will defeat death when He rises from the grave three days after His sacrificial crucifixion, giving all those who believe in Him assurance that they too will have victory over death.

Hosea ends his book urging the people to repent so that they may be healed – “O Israel, return to the Lord your God… I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely… They shall be revived like grain, and grow like a vine… Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.” 

The Lord desires for His people to turn from their sin, repent, walk in His ways, not their own, and be restored to Him. The wise man will not refuse the Lord’s invitation. Unfortunately, Israel rejects the Lord. Therefore, the Lord is turning them over to their enemies as He said He would while giving the cursings for disobedience which Moses read to the Israelites in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 28). 

Tomorrow the Assyrians invade Israel. Keep reading. (Hosea 9:1-14:9)

God promises that one day He will restore Israel and make her holy – “‘And it shall be, in that day,’ says the Lord, ‘That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer call Me ‘My Master,’… I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.’”

The Lord desires a faith-based relationship built on love like that of a husband, rather than one built on fear and hard obedience like that of a master. To illustrate His love for His unfaithful people, the Lord tells Hosea to go and buy back his cheating wife, Gomer – “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.”

Taking back the cheating wife will be hard and humiliating for Hosea. However, he is able to obey the Lord for two reasons: 

1) Hosea’s relationship with the Lord is more important to him than any other earthly relationship. 

2) Hosea knows that it isn’t all about him. The Lord is doing something much bigger in and through him. God is using Hosea’s life to warn Israel, His bride, and to further reveal Himself to us by illustrating His love for His people, His grief over their unfaithfulness, and His relentless pursuit of them.

The Lord brings charges against disobedient Israel. He says, “There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land.” And since there is no knowledge of God, there is no true wisdom. Therefore, Israel continues in their rebellion – “They do not direct their deeds toward turning to their God, for the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, and they do not know the Lord.”

The Lord rebukes the leaders of Judah for being corrupt and the leaders of Israel for trusting in man, the Assyrians, instead of the Lord. The Lord says of the Assyrians, “Yet he cannot cure you, nor heal you of your wounds.” Hosea calls the people to repent and turn from their religious and political rebellion back to the One who can heal and restore them – “Come, and let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight.” Hosea is prophesying of the coming Savior, Jesus Christ, who will be torn and stricken for us on the cross and rise from the grave three days later so that anyone who puts their trust in Him will be cleansed and restored to the Lord.

It is difficult to empathize with someone unless you have a similar experience. That is why God is asking Hosea to buy back his cheating wife, Gomer. It’s an illustration of the current situation with the Lord and Israel, but it is also an illustration of a future event. Later in the story, something similar will happen with God and His Son Jesus. The Lord will buy us, His undeserving, unfaithful people who are dead in sin, back to Him at the cost of His Son. Jesus will come into this world as a baby, both fully God and fully man. He will be tempted, slandered, betrayed, denied, humiliated, mocked, stripped naked, beaten, spat upon, hung on a cross and murdered. However, Jesus will ultimately defeat death and ascend to the right hand of His Father in heaven. But while on earth, Jesus will experience everything that you or I will ever experience in this world and then some. Therefore, we have a Savior who understands our pain and to whom we can run for comfort, healing, and strength.

“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Tomorrow we hear the last from Hosea, so keep reading. (Hosea 2:14-8:14)

Today we learn more about the kings; then we meet the prophet Hosea.

Judah – Ahaz, king of Judah, travels to Damascus to meet his new overlord, Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria. Ahaz relies on the king of Assyria for protection instead of trusting the Lord, but the king of Assyria does not help Judah. However, while in Damascus, Ahaz embraces their pagan worship. Ahaz believes that worshiping their false gods will bring him battle success as the Assyrians have had battle success. “But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. So Ahaz gathered the articles of the house of God, cut in pieces the articles of the house of God, shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and made for himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. And in every single city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked to anger the Lord God of his fathers.” King Ahaz is displeasing to the Lord, but one good thing comes from him — his son, Hezekiah, who becomes the next king.

King Hezekiah does what is right in the sight of the Lord. Many commentators credit his mother, Abijah, as the godly influence in Hezekiah’s life. “He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. The Lord was with him; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.”

Northern Israel – Hoshea leads a conspiracy against Pekah, king of Israel. King Pekah is killed, and Hoshea becomes the new king of Israel. “In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel who were before him. Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him; and Hoshea became his vassal, and paid him tribute money. And the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy by Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.”

Hosea – Hosea, a prophet to Northern Israel, begins his ministry when Jeroboam II is king of Israel and ends in the final days of Israel before they are destroyed by the Assyrians. The Lord tells Hosea to marry Gomer, whom God knows is going to be unfaithful since she is a prostitute. Hosea’s marriage to her symbolizes Israel’s unfaithfulness to the Lord through their worship of Baal and other false gods, and through their sexual sin and use of that sexual sin even as a practice of worship. 

Hosea and Gomer have three children. The Lord gives symbolic names to each child: 

1. Jezreel – The name means “scattered”, symbolizing that the people will soon be scattered by the Assyrians. Also, Jezreel is the location where Ahab and Jezebel shed so much blood that the Lord raised up Jehu who destroyed Ahab’s dynasty and Jezebel in Jezreel. Jehu was also a wicked king of Israel, so the Lord says he will bring down his house just as He is going to do the same to the unfaithful Israel – “I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.”
2. Lo-Ruhamah – The translation of this name is “no mercy”, meaning that God would no longer have mercy on Israel. “Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah.” Remember, the Lord is working His plan of salvation for the world through the tribe of Judah. Although the Assyrians will attack Judah, they will not destroy them.
3. Lo-Ammi – This name means “not my people”, symbolizing that the people have broken their covenant with the Lord. Therefore, the Lord will remove His favor from His people, and there will be a separation between God and Israel. 

However, the Lord gives hope for future restoration – “Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and appoint for themselves one head; and they shall come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel! Say to your brethren, ‘My people,’ and to your sisters, ‘Mercy is shown.’” This mercy and restoration will ultimately be accomplished through the life, death and resurrection of the Lord’s Son Jesus Christ and His church.

We end the reading with the Lord laying out charges against the unfaithful, which highlights the shame, humiliation, and consequences that come with adulterous relationships — both for Hosea and Gomer & God and Israel.

Tomorrow Hosea calls the people to repent. Keep reading. (Isaiah 12:1-6, Isaiah 17:1-14, 2 Chronicles 28:16-21, 2 Kings 16:10-18, 2 Chronicles 28:22-25, 2 Kings 18:1-8, 2 Chronicles 29:1-2, 2 Kings 15:30-31, 2 Kings 17:1-4, Hosea 1:1-2:13)

Isaiah says to Ahaz, king of Judah, that the Assyrians will overthrow his enemies, Syria and Israel, and they will also attack Judah, but Judah will not be overthrown. However, Northern Israel will cease to exist as a nation after the Assyrian invasion upon their land. Isaiah states that nothing will stop the Lord’s plans – “Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak the word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.”

Isaiah calls Judah to trust the Lord since they are currently trusting in the Assyrians, who too will come up against them – “Do not say, ‘A conspiracy,’ concerning all that this people call a conspiracy, nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hallow; let Him be your fear.” Isaiah implores Judah to wait on the Lord and His word and hope in Him, not man or wizards or mediums. 

Although there is going to be an invasion on the land of Israel, the Lord gives hope – “He lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more heavily oppressed her, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.” The current wicked land of Northern Israel is where, later in the story, Jesus will do most of his earthly ministry work, thus shining a light on the once dark land. 

Isaiah speaks of Jesus, the coming Messiah – “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” Jesus is coming once to die for the sins of the world, and He will come again one day to rule the earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19).

Isaiah explains why judgment is coming upon Northern Israel – “For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them, nor do they seek the Lord of hosts. Therefore the Lord will cut off head and tail from Israel, palm branch and bulrush in one day. The elder and honorable, he is the head; the prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail. For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed. Therefore the Lord will have no joy in their young men, nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly.”

The Lord will use Assyria to bring judgment against His unrepentant people, but this will lead to the Assyrians becoming arrogant. Then the Lord will bring judgment against the proud Assyrians – “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks. For he says: ‘By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent.’”

Despite the coming invasion, the Lord promises that He will preserve a remnant – “And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, will never again depend on him who defeated them, but will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God.”

The Lord is in control of everything — His people and their enemies. He uses their enemies to bring judgment upon His rebellious people, but nothing is going to stop the Lord’s plan of sending the Messiah through the bloodline of Jacob’s son Judah as prophesied (Genesis 49:10). Isaiah speaks of the coming Messiah through the lineage of Jesse, King David’s dad who is a descendant of Judah – “There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; 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 slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist…and in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people; for the Gentiles shall seek Him, and His resting place shall be glorious.”

God is sending His Son, who will be the ultimate Judge of all in righteousness (Matthew 25:31-46, Acts 17:30-31), and who will save anyone who puts their faith, hope and trust in Him. But first, the Lord is sending in the prophet Hosea. That’s up tomorrow, so keep reading. (Isaiah 8:1-11:16)

After the death of Azariah (Uzziah), his son Jotham becomes the next king of Judah. “And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah had done (although he did not enter the temple of the Lord). But still the people acted corruptly.”

So the Lord came to Micah “in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.” Micah is from a small town in southwest Judah and is a contemporary of the prophet Isaiah. “Micah may have spoken these words of judgment shortly before Israel was captured by Assyria in 722 BC” (OYCB).

Micah begins his prophecy by calling all the people of the earth to listen. He says judgment is coming from the Lord for all the sins of the house of Israel. He specifically calls out Samaria and Jerusalem because they are the capitals of Israel and Judah. Micah is foretelling the destruction of Israel by the Assyrians and the future invasion of Judah by the Babylonians. Micah mourns the thought of his people in exile.

After the death of Jotham, his son Ahaz becomes the next king of Judah, “and he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord, as his father David had done. For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made molded images for the Baals. He burned incense in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and burned his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.” 

During the reign of king Ahaz, King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of Israel join forces, and they attack Judah. The Lord delivers Judah into the hands of their enemies “because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers.” At this time the Assyrian Empire is gaining power, so instead of trusting the Lord, Ahaz sends messengers to the king of Assyria asking him to save him from the hand of the king of Syria and the king of Israel. “And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent it as a present to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria heeded him; for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it, carried its people captive to Kir, and killed Rezin.”

When Israel takes two hundred thousand captives from Judah to Samaria, the Lord rebukes Israel for zealously attacking Judah — “Look, because the Lord God of your fathers was angry with Judah, He has delivered them into your hand; but you have killed them in a rage that reaches up to heaven. And now you propose to force the children of Judah and Jerusalem to be your male and female slaves; but are you not also guilty before the Lord your God? Now hear me, therefore, and return the captives, whom you have taken captive from your brethren, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.” So Israel releases the captives to return home.

The Lord sends Isaiah and his son Shear-Jashub (whose name means ”a remnant shall return”) to Ahaz to tell him not to fear his enemies and to trust the Lord to protect Judah, David’s bloodline. Isaiah says to him, “If you will not believe, you will not be established.” The Lord is going to accomplish His plans no matter what. The Lord said that Jerusalem would not be destroyed at this time and it wasn’t. However, Ahaz does not receive blessings from the Lord because he did not trust in God to deliver, instead he trusted in man, the king of Assyria. 

Isaiah says, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings.” The immediate fulfillment of this prophecy is that the kings of Syria and Israel will be defeated; but the magnificent long term fulfillment is the birth of Jesus by the virgin Mary whom they will call Immanuel, which means “God with us”. (Matthew 1:20-23). 

Isaiah goes on to warn Ahaz of Assyria’s power and the future destruction of the land by the Assyrians, the nation King Ahaz trusts for protection instead of the Lord. More from Isaiah tomorrow, so keep reading. (2 Kings 15:32-38, 2 Chronicles 27:1-9, Micah 1:1-16, 2 Kings 16:1-9, 2 Chronicles 28:1-15, Isaiah 7:1-25)

Today we hear the last of Amos’ prophecy and we meet the prophet Isaiah.

The Lord gives Amos five visions. When He shows Amos the first two (locusts and fire), Amos intercedes for the people and God relents. The third vision is a plumb line, which symbolizes the straight law and ways of the Lord, in contrast to the crooked ways of the people, illustrating that the Lord expects His people to line up with His word and His ways.

The people of Israel didn’t mind Amos’ prophecies when the Lord was directing them at other nations, but they don’t like hearing the truth from God when it applies to them. So Amaziah the priest tells Amos to flee to the land of Judah. But Amos responds that he is doing what the Lord told him to do, and as far as Amaziah and Israel, “You shall die in a defiled land; and Israel shall surely be led away captive from his own land.”

Then Amos describes the fourth vision as being a basket of fruit, meaning that the time is right for Israel’s judgment. The fifth and final vision is God at the altar, illustrating that no one will escape God’s sovereign judgment unless they repent. Although the Lord is going to bring judgment upon the sinful nation, He always leaves a remnant – “I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob.”

Amos speaks of a time to come when there will be silence from God’s word (the Silent Era) – “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord God, ‘That I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it.’” 

Later in the story, the prophet Malachi will prophesy of the silence coming to an end when the Lord will send John the Baptist, who is a prophet like Elijah (Malachi 4:5). The Lord will break the silence approximately four hundred years after the Return Era when an angel of the Lord will appear before the priest Zacharias. The angel will tell Zacharias that he is going to have a son, and that boy will grow up to be John the Baptist – “He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord’” (Luke 1:17). A people ready for the coming Son of God, Jesus Christ. 

Amos ends his prophecy with a word of hope. After the Lord sifts His people during their captivity, He will restore them and bring the Gentiles into His Kingdom through His Son, Jesus Christ – “‘On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old; That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name,’ says the Lord who does this thing.”

After reading the Book of Amos, we meet several more wicked kings of Israel including Menahem, who is so evil that he rips open the wombs of women with children. Menahem reigns jointly with his wicked son Pekah from 752 BC. Pekah began to solely reign in 740 BC as the second to the last king of Israel. Pekah reigns during the year that Uzziah, king of Judah, dies. Remember, the Lord struck King Uzziah with leprosy for trying to perform the duties reserved for the priests – “So Uzziah rested with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of burial which belonged to the kings, for they said, ‘He is a leper.’ Then Jotham his son reigned in his place” (2 Chronicles 26:23). This is when the prophet Isaiah enters the scene — Pekah is king of Israel, and Jotham is king of Judah.

Isaiah sees a vision from the Lord, which overwhelms him with God’s holiness and his own sinfulness. So Isaiah says, “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” Then a seraphim touched Isaiah’s lips with coal, washing him from his sin. Now Isaiah is standing clean before the Lord. So when the Lord asks who shall He send to warn the disobedient people of Judah, Isaiah says “Here am I! Send me!” Then God tells Isaiah to go and preach to people who will not respond because their eyes and ears are closed. Isaiah asks how long he will have to speak to people who will not hear his message, and the Lord says until they are destroyed and sent off to captivity. However, some will return because the Lord always saves a remnant, but they will still be under judgment. The people will still be in need of the coming Savior.

Tomorrow the Lord sends in another prophet, Micah. Keep reading. (Amos 7:1-9:15, 2 Kings 14:28-29, 2 Kings 15:8-29, 6-7, 2 Chronicles 26:22-23, Isaiah 6:1-13)

The prophet Amos, a sheep breeder and tender of sycamore fruit from the Judean village of Tekoa, is sent by the Lord to Northern Israel. Some commentaries refer to Amos as the social justice judge, as he pronounces judgment against nations for various social injustices. He begins prophesying against eight nations. He starts each prophecy with “For three transgressions…and for four”. This statement represents the excessiveness of their sin and that God will no longer be gracious to these wicked nations. The Lord in His mercy sends prophet after prophet to warn the people of the coming judgment if they don’t repent of their sins and turn to Him. However, the people are wicked and stubborn in their rebellion, and since His mercy demands justice, judgment is coming. 

The first three prophecies are against:

1) Damascus, for their brutal attacks on Gilead, land occupied by the tribes Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh.

2) Gaza, for taking the Israelites captive and sending them to Edom.

3) Tyre, who had good relations with Israel when David and Solomon were on the throne, for turning on the Israelites and selling them as slaves to Edom.

The next three prophecies are against Israel’s blood relatives: 

1) Edom, Esau’s descendants, for making war against Israel and showing no mercy.

2) Ammon, Lot’s descendants, for being so vicious that they even kill babies in their mothers’ wombs.

3) Moab, Lot’s descendants, for burning the bones of the king of Edom instead of providing a proper burial.

Amos then prophesies against his own people in Judah for hating the law of the Lord and not keeping His commandments.

Lastly Amos addresses Israel’s wickedness. They are judged for only being concerned about their own personal gain, for mistreating the poor, for being involved in all kinds of sexual sin, for drinking wine while worshiping in their pagan temples, for the rich women neglecting the poor and indulging themselves, and so forth. He reminds Israel that He was the One who brought them out of Egypt and provided for them. He blessed them above all the other nations, which makes them more responsible for their disobedience – “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” He says He will also destroy the altars where Jeroboam, the first king of Northern Israel, set up those golden calves which led the nation into idolatry. The Lord tells them how He sent famine, drought, and plagues to get Israel’s attention so they would turn back to Him, but they never repented.

Then Amos says a lamentation, a song of mourning, against Israel to call the people to repent so they may live:

• “Seek the Lord and live, lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, with no one to quench it in Bethel— You who turn justice to wormwood, and lay righteousness to rest in the earth!”
• “Seek good and not evil, that you may live; so the Lord God of hosts will be with you, as you have spoken. Hate evil, love good; establish justice in the gate. It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

Amos warns Israel that because the people are so persistent in their rebellion, the Lord is sending a nation to conquer them:

• “The Lord God has sworn by Himself, The Lord God of hosts says: ‘I abhor the pride of Jacob, and hate his palaces; therefore I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.’” 
• “For behold, the Lord gives a command: He will break the great house into bits, and the little house into pieces. Do horses run on rocks? Does one plow there with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood.”

Israel can’t expect to have a positive outcome when they have turned justice into gall and righteousness into wormwood, just as you wouldn’t expect a positive outcome trying to run a horse on rocks. When you neglect justice, the stability of the nation turns to chaos. However, the people continue to ignore the word of God and go about behaving however they deem right in their own sight — which never ends well. We will hear more from Amos tomorrow, so keep reading. (Amos 1:1-6:14)

Today we take a quick look at the kings of Judah and Israel; then we meet the prophet Jonah.

Judah – Amaziah defeats Edom, but he takes their gods back with him and worships them. So the Lord sends a prophet to question Amaziah, and the prophet says, “Why have you sought the gods of the people, which could not rescue their own people from your hand?” However Amaziah ignores the prophet, so the prophet responds, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not heeded my advice.” Therefore, the Lord delivers Judah into the hand of Israel because they sought the gods of Edom. Amaziah is later killed by his own men due to his turning from the Lord. Then his son Azariah (Uzziah) becomes king of Judah. Azariah follows the Lord, defeats Judah’s enemies, and builds up Judah. However, out of pride he goes to the house of the Lord and burns incense, a job solely reserved for the Levite priests who are descendants of Aaron. So the Lord strikes King Uzziah with leprosy as a punishment for his disobedience. Then his son, Jotham, becomes the next king of Judah.

Israel – Jehoash dies and Jeroboam II becomes the next king of Israel – “And he did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin.”

Jonah – The Lord tells Jonah to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, and warn the lost people that they are in danger of destruction by the judgment of the Lord because of their wickedness. So Jonah, uninterested in the salvation of the disgusting pagans, gets in a boat and heads in the totally opposite direction. However, you can’t outrun God as Jonah finds out the hard way. When the Lord sends a powerful storm on the sea that is breaking up the boat Jonah is in, Jonah confesses to the sailors that the storm is from his God. Then he tells them to throw him overboard so that the storm will cease. 

The sailors “cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.’ So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.” The Lord uses everything to accomplish His plans and purposes. He even uses stubborn Jonah to display His power to the sailors on the boat and draw them to Him. 

A fish swallowed Jonah, and while he is in the fish belly for three days, a now humbled Jonah prays to the Lord— “I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.” The Lord is teaching Jonah that He will accomplish the plans that He has for Jonah. It was up to Jonah to obey and go the easy way, or resist and go the hard way. Jonah chose the hard way. After three days in the belly of the fish, he is vomited out onto dry land. Then a half-hearted Jonah goes to Nineveh and delivers a one liner – “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” However, that is all it took for the people of Nineveh to repent and turn to the Lord – “So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.”

But the people of Nineveh weren’t the only ones mourning. So was Jonah. Jonah doesn’t understand that salvation is by grace, including his own salvation. He is angry that the Lord spared Nineveh. God teaches Jonah a lesson by removing a plant that was giving Jonah relief from the sun. Then the Lord says to Jonah, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty-thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”

The Lord has a heart for the lost. He wants everyone to know of Him, not just Israel but also the Assyrians, as we see here in the story of Jonah. That is why later in the story, Jesus will tell his disciples to go and make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:19). The Lord is sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for the sins of the world so “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). After Jesus comes to earth as a man and lives a perfect life that we can’t live, dies a death that we deserve, and rises from the grave defeating death so that we too may have eternal life, the Lord is going to reveal to Peter, a disciple of Jesus, in a vision that He desires salvation for all, both Jews and Gentiles. Then Peter will say, “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him… And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:34-43).

Tomorrow, the Lord is sending in another prophet, Amos, to warn Northern Israel of the coming judgment, so keep reading. (2 Kings 14:1-14, 2 Chronicles 25:1-24, 2 Kings 13:12-13, 2 Kings 14:15-16, 23-27, 2 Chronicles 25:25-28, 2 Kings 14:17-22, 2 Kings 15:1-5, 2 Chronicles 26:1-21, Jonah 1:1-4:11)

The Lord promised Jehu that his descendants would sit on the throne of Israel till the fourth generation because he destroyed the wicked as the Lord had commanded (2 Kings 10:30). We see the beginning of that promise from the Lord being fulfilled today as Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, is the new king of Israel. Jehoahaz does evil in the sight of the Lord, so God delivers Israel into the hands of the Syrians. Hazael, the king of Syria, decimates Israel’s army, but when King Jehoahaz pleads with the Lord, the Lord delivers Israel from the hand of the Syrians. Although Jehoahaz never repents from evil and genuinely turns to the Lord, God listens to the prayer of Jehoahaz because the Lord is merciful.

The king of Syria then turns toward Judah, so King Joash gives Hazael all the sacred items from his home and the house of the Lord. The Syrians take the goods and return home, but judgment still comes upon Joash and the leaders of the people of Judah who caused the king’s heart to turn from the Lord and kill the prophet Zechariah (2 Chron. 24:17-22; Matt. 23:35). King Joash is killed by his servants and his son, Amaziah, becomes the next king of Judah.

The reading ends with Elisha’s final prophecy. When Elisha is deathly ill, the current king of Israel, Jehoahaz’s son Jehoash, comes and weeps over Elisha. Several commentaries said his mourning was likely due to the fact that Israel was losing a great resource. Remember that Elisha was the one who would inform the king of Israel of the plans of the Syrians (2 Kings 6:12). Therefore, Elisha tells the king to shoot arrows as an illustration that the Lord would still be with him and give him deliverance from the Syrians if he shot the arrows in faith. Then Elisha instructs the king to strike the ground with the arrows. Jehoash half heartedly hits the ground three times. So Elisha says to him – “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times.” Jehoahaz’ mourning shows that his faith is in man and horses and chariots, and not in the living God. Although the man of God, Elisha, is going to die, the Lord is always alive and seated on the throne. We see this is true after Elisha dies and when a  dead man is thrown on his bone,  the Lord brings that man back to life.

God desires for His people to be bold and persistent in their pursuit of Him because the flesh, the world, and Satan are persistent against us. We must forcefully engage in the battle against sin and in maintaining intimacy with the Lord through prayer and time spent meditating on His word. We never know what huge plans the Lord has behind our seemingly small acts of faith. Therefore, we should live intentional lives, giving our best in everything we do and trusting the Lord with the outcome, regardless whether or not we think it is a menial task. 

The Syrians continue to oppress Israel as the Lord said, “But the Lord was gracious to them, had compassion on them, and regarded them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not yet destroy them or cast them from His presence.” Yet. The Lord is long suffering and desires for the people of Israel to turn to Him, repent, and be saved by grace through faith. However, there will come a day when it will be too late. 

Tomorrow we meet a prophet named Jonah who is in for a great adventure. Keep reading! (2 Kings 13:1-11, 2 Kings 12:17-21, 2 Chronicles 24:23-27, 2 Kings 13:14-25)

Today Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel and the mother of Ahaziah who was murdered by Jehu, tries to eliminate the house of David in retaliation for Jehu’s destruction of the house of Ahab. However, the Lord is not going to let someone wipe out the heirs of David because He is working His plan of sending the Messiah through David’s bloodline. So as Athaliah is killing all the royal heirs, Ahaziah’s sister, Jehosheba, steals away her nephew Joash. Jehosheba and her husband, Jehoiada the priest, hide Joash for six years; and when Joash is seven years old, his uncle organizes a revolt. 

Jehoiada takes Joash to the temple and declares him the new king of Judah – “And he brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, and gave him the Testimony; they made him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, ‘Long live the king!’” Afterwards, Jehoiada has the wicked Athaliah killed, and he leads Judah in a religious reform – “Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord, the king, and the people, that they should be the Lord’s people, and also between the king and the people.” 

Jehoiada rids the land of the worship of Baal. “Also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the Lord to the hand of the priests, the Levites, whom David had assigned in the house of the Lord, to offer the burnt offerings of the Lord, as it is written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, as it was established by David.” When Joash is older, he collects funds to repair the temple of the Lord. Joash walks in obedience to the Lord all the days that the priest Jehoiada is alive, but when Jehoiada dies, Joash begins listening to the wrong voices. He listens to the advice from the wicked leaders of Judah who all have their own agendas, separate from the Lord, which leads Joash away from God and leads Judah back into idolatry – “Therefore they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served wooden images and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their trespass. Yet He sent prophets to them, to bring them back to the Lord, and they testified against them, but they would not listen.”

Then Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, pronounces judgment on the people for turning from the Lord. “So they conspired against him, and at the command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him but killed his son; and as he died, he said, ‘The Lord look on it, and repay!’” The Lord is looking upon it and He will repay just as He promised His children in the wilderness – “It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them” (Deuteronomy 32:35).

The Lord sees all the evil and injustice in the world, and He will serve justice in His own way and in His own timing. When Jesus arrives on the scene and He is standing before the unbelieving religious leaders, He will say to them – “Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary” (Luke 11:47-51).

God has seen the injustice that has occurred since the beginning of time in the Creation Era when wicked Cain killed his righteous brother Abel. He has seen all the injustice in the Old Testament, all the way to the murder of Zechariah, the last martyr mentioned in chronology of the Hebrew Bible, just as He sees the injustice in the world today. And as much as the Lord desires for people to repent and to turn to him so that He may show them mercy, His mercy demands justice. Therefore, we can trust that the day is coming when He will make all things right, in His way and in His timing. Jesus will return one day and destroy all sin, suffering, and death, but the righteous will be saved. So we can live in this fallen world with hopeful anticipation of the day when final justice will be served. However, this should also compel Christians to be the hands and feet of Christ here on earth by showing compassion and love toward others, and by sharing the Gospel with them while there is still time for repentance – “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

We end the reading with the Lord beginning to cut off Israel by the hand of Hazael, the new king of Syria, due to their rebellion against Him. Tomorrow Hazael attacks both Israel and Judah, and we hear Elisha’s final prophecy. Keep reading. (2 Kings 11:1-3, 2 Chronicles 22:10–12, 2 Kings 11:4-12, 2 Chronicles 23:1-11, 2 Kings 11:13-16, 2 Chronicles 23:12-15, 2 Kings 11:17-21, 2 Chronicles 23:16-21, 2 Kings 12:1-16, 2 Chronicles 24:1-22, 2 Kings 10:32-36)