October PIC
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Day: October 27, 2019
Reading from Amos
“…let justice surge like waters, and righteousness like an unfailing stream” (Amos 5:24)
Book of Isaiah – the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament
Image: Simone Martini, “Maesta: Isaiah,” detail from the frame, 1315. Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy.
The historic Isaiah ben Amoz lived in the Kingdom of Judah during the reigns of four kings from the mid to late 8th-century BCE. He was also a contemporary of the prophets of social justice: Amos, Hosea, and Micah.
The 66 chapters of Isaiah consist primarily of prophecies of the judgments awaiting nations that are persecuting Judah. These nations include Babylon, Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Syria, Israel (the northern kingdom), Ethiopia, Egypt, Arabia, and Phoenicia. The prophecies concerning them can be summarized as saying that God is the God of the whole earth, and that nations which think of themselves as secure in their own power might well be conquered by other nations, at God’s command.
Isaiah was one of the most popular works among Jews in the Second Temple period (c. 515 BCE – 70 CE). In Christian circles, it was held in such high regard as to be called “the Fifth Gospel”, and its influence extends beyond Christianity to English literature and to Western culture in general, from the libretto of Handel’s Messiah to a host of such everyday phrases as “swords into ploughshares” and “voice in the wilderness”.
Reading from Isaiah
“…cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow” (Isaiah 1:16-17).
Sunday reading from Matthew
“Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you” (Mathew 7:1). “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock …
Twelve Minor Prophets
Book of Hosea, Book of Joel, Book of Amos, Book of Obadiah, Book of Jonah, Book of Micah, Book of Nahum, Book of Habakkuk, Book of Zephaniah, Book of Haggai, Book of Zechariah, and Book of Malachi.
It is a collection of twelve individual books in the Christian Old Testament, one for each of the prophets. The terms “minor prophets” and “twelve prophets” can also refer to the twelve traditional authors of these works. The term “Minor” relates to the length of each book (ranging from a single chapter to fourteen); even the longest is short compared to the three major prophets: Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah.
In general, each book includes three types of material:
- Autobiographical material in the first person, some of which may go back to the prophet in question;
- Biographical materials about the prophet in the third person – which incidentally demonstrate that the collection and editing of the books was completed by persons other than the prophets themselves;
- Oracles or speeches by the prophets, usually in poetic form, and drawing on a wide variety of genres, including covenant lawsuit, oracles against the nations, judgment oracles, messenger speeches, songs, hymns, narrative, lament, law, proverb, symbolic gesture, prayer, wisdom saying, and vision.
Book of Amos – the third of the Twelve Minor Prophets
Image: detail of a fresco by Melozzo da Forlì, 15th century; in Santa Casa, or Holy House of the Virgin, Loreto, Italy. Photo by Peter Geymayer The Book of Amos is the third of the Twelve Minor Prophets in the Old Testament. Amos, who flourished during the reigns of King …
