Am, Hos, Joel, Mic, Is, & Jon

We were blessed to hear about the early prophets from our very own leaders. Ella Zuccone spoke on Isaiah, Renan Gomes spoke on Jonah/Micah/Hosea, and Rob Sperber on Joel/Amos. Amoz (with a z) was Isaiah’s father who was brother to, Amaziah, King Uzziah’s father making Isaiah and Uzziah cousins. We can read the book of Isaiah as if it's a miniature bible. Ch 1-39 is under the oppression of Assyria during the 8th century BC. It covers judgment, sin, and suffering which is parallel with the Old Testament of the Bible with 39 books. Ch 40-66 is under the oppression of Babylon during the 6th century BC and focuses on redemption, salvation, and hope comparable to the New Testament with 27 books.

Isaiah plays a huge role in why scholars chose the books they chose for today’s Bible. The Dead Sea Scrolls found in 1947 and 1956 consisted of the full book of Isaiah along with parts of other books except for the book of Esther because that is the only book in the Bible that never mentions God. The shepherd boy who found the scrolls was let down by his discovery yet they were later sold for 5 million to a museum. Every year Jews will read the book of Jonah for Yom Kippur in a fashion of repentance. Ninevah is in modern-day Iraq. Jonah hopped a boat off the coast of Israel that was headed to Tarshish which in modern day would be in Italy, but God had a different plan. Jonah fell off the boat in a storm and got rescued by the whale because God spoke to the fish. Jonah was there for three days as the whale swam up the big rivers and then the whale hurled Jonah up onto the dry land of Ninevah where God initially called Jonah to go. Jonah ends up bringing revival to the land of Ninevah just as God wanted.

My takeaway from this is that we shouldn’t worry so much if we are following God’s calling. If you are listening to the Holy Spirit inside you unlike Jonah then God will get you to where He wants you to go and even if you are stubborn, God will still fight for you because that is how He shows His love. At the end of the story we see the event between God, Jonah, and the tree, therefore we have to ask ourselves are we doing the mission for the right reasons or are we running from something? We see Jonah fulfill his calling and see real repentance in Ninevah, but in the end, does Jonah repent? Where is his heart? Are you going to witness God’s works and not let it transform you? This is such a reminder to me not to be stubborn before the Lord.

The book of Micah is generally about justice. Micah is a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea, which means they all happened at the same time. Micah and Isaiah were in Jerusalem which was in Judah down south and Hosea was in Israel up north. Micah is structured like a court case. Say you get to be ahead just because and others are behind just because. Now you might say "That’s fair", but they would say "That’s not fair". This is why you have to put yourself in their shoes. If you were behind do you think you would say "that's fair" as everyone around you is still saying it’s not fair? I don’t think so which is why I think even when we are ahead we should admit it’s not fair, to give recognition to the problem so it can be solved and we can have shalom. Just a thought as we learn about the book of Micah and that when we have Jesus in our hearts we have access to shalom.

Joel was a prophet of Judah who most likely witnessed the godly reign of Jehosaphat, then wrote this book during the transition to Jehoram who ended up bad and Jeol witnessed Israel’s decline because of it, and finally the reign of Joash who was godly. (2 Kings 11, 2 Chr 22-23) explaining the background of kings during Joel’s time. God’s heart repeatedly breaks for His people in the Old Testament because it’s not His will to pass judgment but He wants His people to have free will. We see the love for His people as He prepares a savior for them so that He no longer has to bring down judgment. Joel is summarized in a way where God is going to bring judgment so that His people will turn back to Him yet He knows they won’t which is why He still plans to bring a savior. Amos would be summarized as a reminder that His people may have turned away again and again but God never left them and never will.

(refer to my next post for more on these prophets :))