Judaism

The emergence of the literary prophets

By the mid-8th century, one hundred years of chronic warfare between Israel and Aram had finally ended—the Aramaeans having suffered heavy blows from the Assyrians. King Jeroboam II (8th century bce) undertook to restore the imperial sway of the north over its neighbour, and Jonah’s prophecy that Jeroboam would extend Israel’s borders from the Dead Sea to the entrance to Hamath (Syria) was borne out. The well-to-do expressed their relief in lavish attentions to the institutions of worship and to their private mansions. But the strain of the prolonged warfare showed in the polarization of society between the wealthy few who had profited from the war and the masses whom it had ravaged and impoverished. Dismay at the dissolution of Israelite society animated a new breed of prophets—the literary or classical prophets, the first of whom was Amos (8th century bce), a Judahite who went north to Bethel.

The point that apostasy would set God against the community was made in early prophecy; the idea that violation of the social and ethical injunctions of the covenant would have the ... (200 of 86,936 words)