Comparing Prophetic Views: Amos and Hosea on Religious Themes

This essay provides a comparative analysis of the prophetic literature of Amos and Hosea, two significant figures in the Israelite religious tradition. The paper examines their perspectives on key religious themes such as temples, priesthood, and social justice, drawing on the Book of Twelve scholarship. It highlights the contrasting viewpoints of Amos, who emphasized the finality of God's judgment and the importance of ethical practices, and Hosea, who offered a message of hope and emphasized the role of belief and practice. The essay also explores the forms of speech used by the prophets, including Judgment Oracles and Call Narratives, and contrasts their views on the decline of the Jews. It concludes by underscoring the significance of both prophets in shaping the moral and religious landscape of their time, and their relevance to understanding the complexities of religious faith and social justice. The essay also includes a brief discussion of other prophets like Isaiah and their similar discussions on the wrath of God.

Running head: PROPHETIC LITERATURE
Prophetic Literature
Name of the Student
Name of the University
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).

4PROPHETIC LITERATURE
decision of the Lord might be a strict one but there will always be a hope beyond the final
judgment of the Lord. Hosea had also stated that God was not sure what he would do about the
anguish he has for the people.6
The forms of speech used by the prophets are really very interesting from all the manners.
Therefore, these things will have to be kept in mind about the use by both Amos and Hosea.
Other prophets in the Book of Twelve have used some important forms of speech as well.7 Some
of the forms of speech that could be associated with these prophets are Judgment Oracles and
Call Narratives.8 The importance of these forms of speech is highly crucial. Both Amos and
Hosea have seen the perspective of judgment in different ways. The prophets of the Hebrew
order have also seen the sins and the judgments from different viewpoints. Hosea has stressed on
hope beyond the final decision of the Lord. These two prophets have been contrasted several
times. This is why the viewpoints of these two prophets should be viewed side by side. Amos is
the speaker of the cut dependent waywardness where Hosea has always talked about the social
justice.9 The society of Israel had been largely affected by the spontaneous changes regarding
6 Deshen, Shlomo. Israeli Judaism: The sociology of religion in Israel. Routledge, 2018.
7 Crafer, Thomas Wilfrid, ed. The Book of Hosea. Cambridge University Press, 2014.
8 Eidevall, Göran. Amos: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Yale University Press, 2017.
9 Deshen, Shlomo. Israeli Judaism: The sociology of religion in Israel. Routledge, 2018.

5PROPHETIC LITERATURE
politics and religion. The significance of both these Minor Prophets in the Book of Twelve is
huge indeed.
Both Amos and Hosea are prophets in their moral sense. In their views, they have
explained the decline of the Jews through the cosmic viewpoints. Both these persons belong to
the overall prophetic tradition of the Hebrews. Both Amos and Hosea have stated that the lack of
faith on religion is probably the main reason for the decline of the Jews. In the text of Hosea, the
ways of getting saved from the ultimate punishment by the Lord has been discussed. Both the
prophets have looked to build up an environment in which social justice could be served. In the
words of Hosea, temples should be treated as the religious institutions where people should go to
preach their beliefs and religious practices.10 Along with these two prophets, the context of Isaiah
should be discussed in line as well.
All of these prophets have gone on to discuss about the wrath of God and the intention of
the God to destroy the lives of the Israelites. This is all because of the infidelity of the human
beings. Amos has also discussed on the fact unlike Hosea on the sinfulness of human beings in
all the countries of the world. Therefore, Amos predicted that the entire world along with Israel
will be punished for its treatment of the poor people. In the five oracles of Amos, he has spoken
against his own neighbors because they were indulged in the war crimes.11 In the sixth oracle, he
has made accusations against Judah because he went against the laws of the Gods. According to
the view of Amos, Israel will always be punished for the ways how they had treated the poor and
helpless people. Amos has described the secret places where the bribes are taken and poor people
10 Linville, James R. Amos and the Cosmic Imagination. Routledge, 2017
11 Römer, Thomas, and Philip Davies. "From prophet to scribe: Jeremiah, Huldah and the invention of the book."
In Writing the Bible, pp. 96-106. Routledge, 2016.

6PROPHETIC LITERATURE
are not given the proper attention.12 This implies to the fact of infidelity within the society. The
upper society lives in a majestic gait where the poor people suffer their plight badly.
This is how the society has been portrayed by both Amos and Hosea. The primary
contrast lies in the fact that that Amos feels that the decision of the God is final and He will
surely destroy and pounce upon the righteous people for the infidelity being practiced. On the
other hand,13 Hosea shows the hope that the society can be cured of the righteous practices. The
question arises about the aversion of the doom and Amos states to “Seek God and live” (3:5).14
This is why it has been one of the most debatable issues regarding the Book of Twelve. Amos
has also shown his views on the priesthood where he has explained that the priests get wealthier
day by day as they teach these things to people only. On the contrary, Hosea has focused on the
importance of the priesthood in his prophetic messages.15 He has given the priests a status by
which they can make atonements the guilt of all the individuals.
12 McLaughlin, John L. "Is Amos (Still) among the Wise?." Journal of Biblical Literature 133, no. 2 (2014): 281-
303.
13 Römer, Thomas, and Philip Davies. "From prophet to scribe: Jeremiah, Huldah and the invention of the book."
In Writing the Bible, pp. 96-106. Routledge, 2016.
14 Gruber, Mayer I. Hosea: A Textual Commentary. Vol. 653. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017.
15 Peters, Francis E. The Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Vol. 34. Princeton University Press,
2018.

7PROPHETIC LITERATURE
In contrast to Amos, Hosea had developed his prophecy on the basis of delivering the
social justice.16 The lawlessness of the country of Israel and the lack of justice has been discussed
in his prophecy. The messages provided by Hosea in his predictions are very much dark and it is
quite different from the perspective of the messages of Amos.17 While Amos delivered his
messages based on the decline of the Jews, Hosea had also discussed about the weakening of the
foundations of the country. He also predicted that the violence in Israel would devour all the
good things.18 Therefore, the role of priesthood became very important in his messages. Amos
stressed on the fact that the concept of God could be evolved through the idea of the priest.
Therefore, it became a central part of the discussion indeed. Amos always stressed on seeking
the God to be saved from His wrath.19
Amos was considered as a discoverer. He used to discover several new concepts about
the Deity every single time. Amos always envisioned the omnipotent God as the just one. He
wanted the God to punish the wrongdoing people of Israel in the same way as He punished the
people of all other countries.20 Hosea made the continuous progress on all the moral warnings
that Amos had given earlier. This suggests that the basic messages and interpretations of both
16 Gruber, Mayer I. Hosea: A Textual Commentary. Vol. 653. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017
17 Edelman, Diana V., Philip R. Davies, Christophe Nihan, and Thomas Romer. Opening the books of Moses.
Routledge, 2016.
18 Butterfield, Herbert. The origins of history. Routledge, 2016
19 Stuart, Douglas. Hosea-Jonah. Vol. 31. Zondervan, 2017.
20 Crafer, Thomas Wilfrid, ed. The Book of Hosea. Cambridge University Press, 2014.

8PROPHETIC LITERATURE
Hosea and Amos were almost similar despite some stark differences in their approaches to
temples, meaning of priesthood and approach of God.21
On a concluding note it could be said that the two minor prophets of Israel Amos and
Hosea had been very important characters of the ancient Hebrew world. Both of them had
delivered their messages regarding different issues of the world order. The prophetic messages
have proven to be true in different contexts. Therefore, it is a matter of high significance that
both of them wanted to highlight the different issues of the declining world. They pined that the
world was declining through the lawlessness and violence. So, some important steps were
needed to be taken in this matter. The intention of God is needed to be thought about in this
section. Many similarities and differences have been found regarding the messages of both Amos
and Hosea. These messages are worthy of taking into account the changing course of the world.
21 McLaughlin, John L. "Is Amos (Still) among the Wise?." Journal of Biblical Literature 133, no. 2 (2014): 281-
303.

9PROPHETIC LITERATURE
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of Moses. Routledge, 2016.
Eidevall, Göran. Amos: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Yale University
Press, 2017.
Gruber, Mayer I. Hosea: A Textual Commentary. Vol. 653. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017.
Joseph, Morris. Judaism as Creed and Life. Routledge, 2018.
Kostenberger, Andreas J., and Peter T. O'Brien. "Salvation to the Ends of the Earth." Salvation to
the ends of the Earth (2017).
Linville, James R. Amos and the Cosmic Imagination. Routledge, 2017.
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10PROPHETIC LITERATURE
McLaughlin, John L. "Is Amos (Still) among the Wise?." Journal of Biblical Literature 133, no.
2 (2014): 281-303.
Peters, Francis E. The Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Vol. 34. Princeton
University Press, 2018.
Römer, Thomas, and Philip Davies. "From prophet to scribe: Jeremiah, Huldah and the invention
of the book." In Writing the Bible, pp. 96-106. Routledge, 2016.
Stuart, Douglas. Hosea-Jonah. Vol. 31. Zondervan, 2017.