Comparison of Prophetic Literature: Hosea and Amos

Running head: PROPHETIC LITERATURE
Prophetic Literature
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Author Note

1PROPHETIC LITERATURE
Prophecy is one of the most important aspects and features of the religious traditions
from the old times. The religious traditions of Israel are not an exception of this as well. The
prophets like Amos and Hosea have been the stalwart prophets of the Israelite religious traditions
and Judaism. Both these prophets have expressed their opinions on some of the major themes of
religion over the ages. Their viewpoints will be compared and contrasted along with some minor
prophets of Israel. Some of the major themes of religion that will be looked upon in this paper
are like temples, secret places, priesthood and many other aspects. Both Amos and Hosea have
discussed over this factor in many ways since people believed in their prophecies and they were
unaware of the actual happenings within the society. The Book of Twelve scholarship is another
aspect that will have to be kept in mind while discussing about this issue. The twelve prophets
are Hosea, Joel, Micah, Jonah, Amos, Obadiah, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Zechariah, Malachi and
Haggai.1 The teachings and preaching messages about the Hebrew Bible are very important to
understand the concepts of Judaism in a better manner. The above mentioned themes will be
highlighted here as well.
Thesis statement: This essay will look up to compare and contrast between the preaching of
the Israelite prophets Hosea and Amos and their viewpoints about some religious traditions.
These twelve prophets are sometimes being addressed as the twelve Minor Prophets.
Both Hosea and Amos had developed their ideas on the different perspectives in the Book of
Twelve. In the preface of the Book of Amos, he could be identified as one of the shepherds from
Tekoa. The time of his prophecy dates back to the time of King jeroboam who was the son of
Joash. The message delivered by Amos was not only for the followers of Judaism and Israel.
1 Joseph, Morris. Judaism as Creed and Life. Routledge, 2018.

2PROPHETIC LITERATURE
Rather his messages were for the entire world. The messages delivered by Amos are still
significant in the current times. This message of one Gos is very much relevant and it is deeply
profound from several parts indeed. The probable message of Amos was individuals could
achieve eternal life if they could gain the favor of God.2 The penitent people could only reach the
abode of God and they could gain all the favors from god. People should always be penitent and
obedient in order to gain that favor. On the other hand, they will never be able to be favored by
God if they are impenitent. Several critics have supported this issue since theu have observed the
grace of God in some extents. People who would become impenitent would always face death in
place of life and face sadness instead of happiness. Amos was of the belief that God is just and
He is a sovereign figure from almost all the aspects. This is why He has ensured the well being
and justice for everyone. The temples were considered the houses of the God. Therefore, this was
the holiest of all places. It was the responsibility of the priests to maintain the sacredness of those
temples.3 If the priests were not able to retain the sanctity of the temples and only thought about
their profits, it would cause bad things for the country. This is the reason Amos predicted that a
huge massacre will take place within the country since the priests thought only about the things
that were good for them.
On the other hand Hosea has also presented some principles and ideologies abour life that
should be followed. There are some features of work that are very useful to differentiate the
2 Kostenberger, Andreas J., and Peter T. O'Brien. "Salvation to the Ends of the Earth." Salvation to the ends of the
Earth (2017).
3 Peters, Francis E. The Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Vol. 34. Princeton University Press,
2018.

3PROPHETIC LITERATURE
works of Hosea and Amos. Some critics have questioned over the matter if Amos had a
consistent approach towards the religious cult. Two sorts of views arise within this matter. One is
the matter that Amos was a cultic prophet and other one discusses over the fact that Amos was
against the rituals of the contemporary times. The practices of religion were very much different
among the two prophets named Hosea and Amos. The belief of Amos was ingrained within the
fact that the practice of religion should be done in terms of ethics. This meant the oppressed
people within the society should be treated properly and they should always be given the aid to
deal with the hardships of their lives. On the contrary, the belief of Hosea was on the fact that
religion should be practiced based on the beliefs and practices. These beliefs are very much same
to the practices of wilderness when it was done in the time of Moses. Surely this is a kind of
Judaism theology. This is completely opposed to the fertility religions and worshipping the Baal
(Lord).
On the other hand, some other differences could be found between the preaching of
Hosea and Amos as well. Amos was of the opinion that the judgments of the Lord were mainly
based on some decisions that could not be avoided. This can be interpreted by the fact God or
Lord has already made some decisions on certain things.4 These decisions cannot be overturned.
Therefore these decisions will have to be obeyed by all the means. Once he mentioned the fact
that the day of the Lord was somehow dull, dark and hopeless by some means. On the contrary,
the viewpoint of Hosea was somewhat different from the others.5 He was of the opinion that the
4 Kostenberger, Andreas J., and Peter T. O'Brien. "Salvation to the Ends of the Earth." Salvation to the ends of the
Earth (2017).
5 Kostenberger, Andreas J., and Peter T. O'Brien. "Salvation to the Ends of the Earth." Salvation to the ends of the
Earth (2017).