Monotheism
Review of the previous post
The previous post, post number 10 of 22,was post number 1 of 4 posts discussing the prophets and their relation to monotheism.
Preview of this post
This post, post number 11 of 22, is post number 2 of 4 posts discussing the prophets and their relation to monotheism, and discusses Amos as a first specific example.
Amos
For example, with regard to the just-discussed approach to monotheism, it might be interesting to observe that the prophet Amos is one of the prophets featured by the authors and is believed to haveinitially written (many scholars believe he was literate, unlike many of his era) around eighth-century B.C.E. It is hypothesized that Amos moved from trusting that the northern Kingdom (where he lived) would respond to his warnings and avoid destruction to the conviction that the Northern Kingdom was doomed to fall to the Assyrian Empire and Aram/Syria which were the neighbor of the Northern Kingdom. Syria had been a principal foe in the second half of the ninth century, but it suffered a series of reverses that extended from the Assyrian King Abbad-Nirari III’s campaigns of 805-803 into the first quarter of the eighth century. Assyria had entered into a period of decline after the death of this king in 783. Due to internal problems, the empire did not reassert itself in the region until after Tiglath-pileser III assumed the throne in 745. During this time, the Northern Kingdom retook territory and revitalized its economic and military strength. Amos is characterized as recognizing that this was merely a temporary state of affairs due to the apparent strength of the Assyrian empire and tried to balance the ebbs and flows of strength with the imminent defeat of God’s chosen people at the hands of the pagan Assyrians. The later authors drafted their book so that Amos predicted the fall of the Northern Kingdom in Amos 3:11 and 6:14, and this prediction was fulfilled in 722 when Assyria defeated the Northern Kingdom and made it a part of Assyria. It appears that the authors have Amos using the evils he saw in society (primarily social justice, but also idolatry) as reasons for God punishing the citizens using the tool of the Assyrians, whom He would get around to in due course.
Preview of the next post
The next post, post number 12 of 22, is post number 3 of 4 posts discussing the prophets and their relation to monotheism, and discusses Isaiah as a second specific example.