Listen to God-it shouldn't take two prophets!

As I read both Amos and Hosea together I am struck by a thought.

Just to refresh your memories, Amos and Hosea were both prophets to Israel in around 760BC.  I reading them together I find the message from both is pretty similar.  Israel had become really sinful and God was getting tired of it.  He was warning them that they had gone too far. 

The thought that struck me was how bad do you have to be screwing up that God needs to send two prophets at the same time to try and get you attention?  Listen to God!  It shouldn't take two prophets to get his message across!  :)

Amos vs Hosea

They were both prophesying in 760 BC.  The chart says they were both prophets to Israel.  I find the style of writing a bit hard to understand in the prophets.  But the thing that I do notice is that the prophecies of Amos seem to be more general and the prophecies of Hosea are aimed squarely  at Israel. 

In both cases God is ticked off at the people.  In Amos the grievances include many different nations including Israel and Judah.  In Hosea the focus is entirely on Israel. 

Did you know there were time when Israel had more than on prophet at a time?

I don't then why this surprises me, but it does.  I think maybe it is because you have the books of the prophets and they are all separate books.  You just don't think of them being around at the same time;at least I didn't.  But check this out.

In 760BC Amos and Hosea were prophesying to Israel at the same time.  Now Amos only did it for one year while Hosea did it for 30 years.

Then for a 10 year period Hosea was prophesying to Israel at the same time that Isaiah was prophesying to Judah.  And then for 37 years Isaiah and Micah were prophesying to Judah at the same time.   

You can see the rest of them for yourself in the chart above.  The other thing I find interesting here is that in a little over 300 years God sent 16 prophets to talk to His people.  But then after 433BC God stopped sending prophets. 

So for over 400 years before Jesus God stopped communicating with His people through His prophets.

As I read the prophets this time I am going to try and read the prophets who were alive at the same time together.  It will be interesting to see if I gain any additional insight that way. 

Paul contradicts himself.

Here is what Paul says.

Galatians 2:6(NKJV)

But from those who seemed to be something—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism to no man—for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me. 

And here also is something that Paul said one chapter later.

Galatians 3:26-29(NKJV)

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 

And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

So through our faithful belief in Jesus we are heirs to the promise of Abraham.  And if we are heirs that means we will be treated differently than those who are not heirs does it not?  Therefore God does show favoritism to some men over others doesn't He? 

Does God ever come after us?

There are some in the church who say that God will never move directly against us.  That he will let Satan attack us like He allowed Satan to attack Job, but that God will not move against us directly.

For those who believe that I offer these Scriptures.

Jonah 1:1-12(NKJV)

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 

“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 

But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.

Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.

So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”

And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 

Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”

So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. 

Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous.

And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.”

Here is an example where Jonah didn't want to do as God had told him to do.  Did God sit around waiting for Satan to take notice and do something to Jonah to change his mind?  Nope.  God took care of it Himself! 

I don't see this as being any different than any other father.  Sometimes you have to take action to bring the kids back in line.  Simple as that in my opinion.

A new study adventure

While I continue my readings in the New Testament I am starting something new in the Old Testament.  I'm going to read the prophets in the order in which they appeared in history.  As you may or may not know, the order of the prophets in the Bible is not the order in which they appeared in history.  Take a look.

Here is the order in the Bible.

Isaiah

Jeremiah

Ezekiel

Daniel

Hosea

Joel

Amos

Obadiah

Jonah

Micah

Nahum

Habakkuk

Zephaniah

Haggai

Zechariah

Malachi

But here is the order in history as well as who they were prophesying to.

It will be interesting to see if this brings me any new insights.

Feeling a bit adrift

My walk with God has been feeling a bit stagnant lately.  I've got a couple of ideas for new areas of study and I am just waiting for God to guide me on where to go next.  Stay tuned!  :)