Questions for Thought:
1. Is God a God of mercy or of judgment or of both?
2. Why did some people believe the prophets and repent while others continued in sin?
3. How are the people today like the people of these prophecies in their acceptance of God’s word?
Both Elijah and Elisha were prophets to the northern kingdom or what we commonly refer to as Israel. While they were prophesying, Joel was prophesying to the southern kingdom or Judah. Then during the time of Elisha, Obadiah was a prophet for Edom. After Elisha’s time, Amos was a prophet for Israel and Jonah was a prophet for Assyria. In this blog, we will look at some of their prophesies and more of the history of the divided kingdom.
Joel’s prophecy is one of the shorter books of the Old Testament with only three chapters. According to Joel 1:1-15 just after the devastating plague of locusts, Joel was giving the people the word of the Lord concerning a day of destruction that was to come upon them. Just as we have seen in other places, not only were the people to think of what was happening, but they were to tell their children and their children were to tell the next generation. That’s the way the word of God has spread from generation to generation. Faithful parents have taught their children and then those children have continued the work by telling their children. What is so sad today is the lack of knowledge shown by so many concerning the word of God. It is obvious many people have fallen down here and the only solution is to pick up the word of God again, read it and share it with others.
Joel told the people the awfulness of their current situation. Their fields were ruined. They had no harvest coming. They had no joy or gladness. Even their herds were suffering from no pasture and no water. The people were being punished for not following the Lord. Their punishments were going to continue unless as Joel said in Joel 2:12 they would turn back to the Lord with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Joel told them the Lord was gracious and merciful and slow to anger. He told them to gather the people and let the priests weep before the Lord and the Lord would be zealous of His land and have pity on His people. The Lord would once again bless the people and restore to them what they had lost.
Then in Joel 2:28-32 we have a great prophecy concerning the beginning of the Lord’s church. While some consider this to be a future prophecy concerning Israel, we know it was concerned with the Day of Pentecost when Peter and the other apostles preached the first gospel sermon because in Acts 2:16-21, Peter not only quotes the prophecy but says what was happening on the Day of Pentecost was what Joel had prophesied would come to pass in the last days.
Obadiah’s prophecy is a strong condemnation of the descendants of Esau known as the Edomites. If you remember, Esau and Jacob, sons of Isaac and Rebekah, did not get along. God had said before they were born there were two nations in Rebekah’s womb and the older one would serve the younger one. More than once, Jacob was successful in taking what was supposed to have been Esau’s. The Nation of Israel came through the seed of Jacob. When the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land, they wanted to go through the Land of Edom, but Edom refused to give them passage. At other time, Edom would not help Israel. So in this book of only one chapter, God through Obadiah condemned the Edomites and said there would not be any of the house of Esau left.
Amos who was the prophet to Israel after Elisha, did not start out to be a prophet. In his response to Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, who had asked Amos not to prophesy any more in Bethel, Amos said in Amos 7:14-15 that he was not a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but he has been a herdsman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit. He said the Lord had taken him as he was following the flock and had told him to go prophesy unto Israel. The prophecy of Amos came at a time when Israel seemed to be very satisfied with herself, but she had no true worship for God.
The book of Amos begins with judgments on the other nations of Damascus, Gaza, Tyrus, Edom, and Moab for their offenses against God. Many of these nations had tried to harm God’s chosen people and God was promising his own judgment upon them. But we see beginning in Chapter 2 God is also sending judgment on Judah and Israel. In the case of Judah, the Lord said through Amos, He would not turn away their punishment because they had despised His law and not kept His commandments. The Lord would send fire upon them and destroy the palaces of Jerusalem. Then upon Israel Amos prophesied punishment because they had sold the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes. Amos went on to tell how the Lord had delivered Israel from Egypt and given them the land of the Amorites. Then in Chapters 3-5 Amos explained why Israel’s punishment was deserved. Woes of Judgment are pronounced upon Israel through Chapter 6 and then in Chapters 7-9 Amos gave several visions concerning the end of Israel. Finally at the end of the book, Amos gave promises for the restoration of an Israel in which even the Gentiles will be involved. This prophecy was fulfilled in Acts 15:15-17 where James quoted Amos 9:11-12 and said the Gentiles being part of the kingdom was that prophesied by Amos.
The last prophet we will look at in this blog is Jonah. In the book of Jonah, which is actually a favorite for many children, we have the account of one of God’s prophets who did not at first obey what God said for him to do, but after feeling the effects of God’s power, chose to go and obey God. In the beginning of the book, God sent Jonah to preach to the people of Nineveh and cry against them. Jonah did not want to go because he knew how merciful God was and he knew if the people listened to his preaching and repented, God would not punish them. Instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah got on a ship that was headed to Tarshish. He told the sailors he was fleeing from the face of the Lord, but they let him on anyway.
As they were sailing to Tarshish, the Lord sent a great storm upon the sea and it appeared to the sailors the ship was about to be broken up. Jonah had gone to sleep and was not aware of the storm. The sailors tried to lighten the ship by throwing the cargo over board and they were each calling upon their gods to help them. The master of the ship went to Jonah and woke him up and told him to call upon God. The sailors decided to cast lots to see whose fault the evil had come upon them. Of course, the lot fell upon Jonah and they started asking him a lot of questions. He told them he was a Hebrew and the feared the Lord, the God of heaven who had made the sea and the dry land. The men were then very afraid and asked him what they could do to calm the sea. He told them to cast him overboard and sea would be clam. They did not want to do that so they kept trying to bring the ship to land, but when they could not prevail, they cast Jonah overboard and the sea ceased from raging. The men were very fearful of the Lord and offered Him sacrifices.
That could have been the end of Jonah, but the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. In Matthew 12:40 Jesus is recorded in the King James Bible as saying Jonas was in the whale’s belly but the literal translation of the Greek word there is the belly of the great fish. Whatever this fish was, Jonah prayed to God from its belly where he remained three days and three nights. God heard the prayer of Jonah and caused the fish to vomit him upon the dry land. Then the Lord again spoke to Jonah and told him to go preach to Nineveh. Jonah obeyed this time and went and preached to the people. He told them in 40 days they would be overthrown. The people did just as Jonah knew they would and repented. God saw their works and chose not to destroy them at that time.
Jonah was very upset and even angry. He prayed to God saying it would be better for him to die than to live. Jonah went outside the city and sat down where he could watch the city. The Lord prepared a gourd vine to shade Jonah’s head and Jonah was pleased but then the Lord prepared a worm to damage the vine so it withered and the sun beat upon Jonah. Again Jonah wished himself to be dead. The book of Jonah does not have a pleasant ending as Jonah is left there with the words of the Lord to think about. The Lord asked him why he had pity on the gourd for which he had not labored at all but did not want God to spare a city of more than 120,000 people who could not tell the difference between their right and left hand. Pretty sad commentary on Jonah.
The next prophet whose prophecy we will discuss will be Hosea. He was a prophet to Israel during the time of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Jeroboam II. He prophesied around 752.
Christian Women's Responsibility in Sharing God's Word 