mon loyalty to the religion of Jehovah, so that later the bitter persecutions of their enemies could not destroy them as a race. Moreover, the larger part of the Old Testament, if we omit the poetry and Wisdom literature, was written by prophets.

The first Hebrew prophets. It is in the time of Saul that we first find prophets as a class mentioned in the Old Testament. The prophets of that day "moved about the country devoting themselves to a rather extravagant type of religious life. They carried musical instruments with them, and by means of music and song seem to have worked themselves up into a state of frenzy." It will be recalled that after Samuel had secretly anointed Saul he said to him: "It shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery and a timbrel, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they will be prophesying: and the Spirit of Jehovah will come mightily upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them." It was as Samuel had said, and Saul astonished his neighbors by joining the band of prophets and "prophesying" (1 Sam. 10. 10-13). These prophets were narrow and fanatical but patriotic, and the people stood in awe of them because of the supernatural power which it was believed they possessed. They were very zealous in behalf of Jehovah, and from the beginning they were always a party of protest against the evils of their day.

There were among the Hebrews, from very early times, communities of prophets which were partly training schools for religious purposes. The members wore a garb distinctive of their order, ate at a

1 Beacon Lights of Prophecy, Knudson, p. 2.

common table (with their wives and children), and were supported partly by agriculture and partly by charity. Whether or not these communities originated with Samuel we do not know, but he exercised a commanding influence over them. Samuel himself is usually referred to as a seer, and the explanation is given that in those days a prophet was known as a seer.

The development of prophecy. As we follow the prophets for the next two hundred years we find them increasing both in influence with the masses and in prestige in national affairs. They rebuke David, they warn Rehoboam, and incite Jeroboam to revolt. As in the case of Elijah, they take up the cause of the oppressed against the king himself. In the time of Elisha their power has become so great that they can make and unmake dynasties. In Samuel's time they do no more than vaguely protest against the existing order of things; in Elisha's time they have a definite program -the extermination of Baalism.

The early prophets were characterized by extreme eccentricity. To some extent this remained true to the end; but there is a vast difference between the prophets of Saul's time and an Isaiah. There was one thing, however, that was common to them all. Every one of Israel's true prophets regarded himself as the mouthpiece of Jehovah.

It was only about one hundred years from the time of Elisha to that of Amos, with whom begins a new era, that of the writing prophets. Up to this time none of the prophets committed their ideas to writing, so far as we know. Amos ushers in the Golden Age of prophecy, which reaches its climax in Isaiah and Jeremiah.

In the English Bible there are sixteen so-called

prophetical books: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, known as the "major prophets"; and twelve "minor prophets"-Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The book of Daniel, however, is not a prophetic book, as will be shown in a later lesson, nor is the book of Jonah. Many other parts of the Old Testament were written by prophets, as will be explained.

SOURCES: Cornill's The Prophets of Israel, "The Meaning of Prophecy" pp. 1–15.

QUESTIONS

I. What is a prophet in the Hebrew sense?

2. What was the mission of the prophets? What can you say of their importance? During what period of time did they flourish? 3. Give a description of the earliest prophets we know of among the Hebrews. In what period did they appear?

4. Trace the progress of prophecy from the earliest prophets to Amos. What was common to them all?

5. How do you account for the appearance of false prophets (as in the time of Ahab)? Is it an attempt to commercialize prophecy?

NOTE.—While in this book an entire chapter is given to each of the most important prophets, space forbids more than the bare mention of some of the less important. The teacher may think it best to omit them entirely, therefore few questions upon them have been given.

LESSON XXXI

AMOS, THE PROPHET OF GOD'S

RIGHTEOUSNESS

AMOS was the first of the Writing Prophets, a term used to designate those prophets for whom we have writings that purport to be their utterance, in distinction from those who left no written record, such as Elijah and Elisha. In the words

Cornill, Amos

of

is

Photo by Ismar J. Peritz

A JUDEAN SHEPHERD

brief (1) the corruption of the northern kingdom, and (2) the Assyrian menace.

Though Amos was a native of Judah, his work was

1 The Prophets of Israel, p. 46.

done in Israel. In order to get the setting for the remarkable, almost phenomenal appearance of this man at Bethel, with his startling message, we must know something of the conditions that called him forth.

From the writings of Amos and Hosea we have a vivid idea of the evils of the times. A great social transformation had been taking place. In the years

that followed the fall of the house of Omri, Israel's fortunes were at low ebb. About 785, however, there came to the throne an able king, Jeroboam II, whose reign of forty years was the most brilliant as well as the longest in the history of the northern kingdom. His success was partly due to the crippling of Damascus and the neighboring states by Assyria. The tribute exacted from subjugated states in addition to the