Bible Timeline · About 800 to 700 BC

Jonah, Amos, Hosea and the Prophets Before the Fall

In the 700s BC God sent a wave of prophets. Jonah preached to Nineveh, Amos and Hosea warned the northern kingdom of Israel, and Isaiah saw the Lord in the temple and spoke of a coming Child called Immanuel.

Read it in the Bible: Jonah 1-4 Amos 5:24 Hosea 1-3 Isaiah 6:1-8 Isaiah 7:14 2 Kings 14:25 Matthew 12:40-41

In the 700s BC, the two kingdoms of God's people were rich, comfortable and drifting far from Him. So God sent prophets. Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Micah all preached in about the same century, roughly 800 to 700 BC. They warned that judgment was coming, they begged the people to come home to God, and they gave some of the clearest promises of the Messiah in the whole Old Testament. Within a few decades the northern kingdom fell to Assyria, just as they said.

What Was Going On in the 700s BC?

After Solomon, the kingdom split in two. Israel in the north had its capital at Samaria. Judah in the south kept Jerusalem and the line of David. In the early 700s, both kingdoms had long, successful kings. Jeroboam II ruled Israel and Uzziah ruled Judah. Money was flowing, borders were growing, and people felt safe.

But under the surface, things were rotten. The rich crushed the poor. Worship of Baal and other gods mixed with worship of Yahweh. Meanwhile, the great empire of Assyria was waking up in the east. Under Tiglath Pileser III, who began to rule about 745 BC, it became the superpower of the day. The prophets saw the storm coming before anyone else did.

Who Was Jonah and Why Did He Run?

Jonah son of Amittai came from Gath hepher in Galilee. He shows up in 2 Kings 14:25, where he predicts that Jeroboam II would win back land for Israel. TOM places his life in the days of Jeroboam II, about 793 to 753 BC. Tradition says he wrote the book that bears his name. Many scholars think someone wrote it down later.

God told Jonah to go east to Nineveh, a great city of Assyria, Israel's worst enemy. Jonah bought a ticket west instead.

Jonah, however, got up to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa and found a ship bound for Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard to sail for Tarshish, away from the presence of Yahweh. Jonah 1:3

You know the rest. A storm, a toss overboard, a great fish and three days of very bad accommodations. When Jonah finally preached, the whole city repented, from the king down. Jonah was furious. Not because God failed, but because God was kind.

I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion Jonah 4:2

That is the punch line of the book. Jonah knew God would forgive his enemies, and he did not want that. God's last word is a question about whether He should care for a city full of people and animals. The book ends without Jonah's answer, which leaves the reader to answer it.

What Did Amos Preach About Justice?

Amos was not a professional prophet. He was a sheep breeder and fig grower from Tekoa in Judah, and God sent him north to Israel. TOM dates his preaching about 760 to 750 BC, two years before a big earthquake that people still remembered centuries later in Zechariah 14:5.

Amos went after the rich in Samaria who lay on ivory beds while they sold the poor for a pair of sandals. They had busy worship services at Bethel, but God was not impressed. His most famous line has been quoted by preachers for centuries, and Martin Luther King Jr. used it in his speeches.

But let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:24

Amos also warned of a famine worse than hunger, a famine of hearing God's word in Amos 8:11. When a nation stops listening, God may stop talking for a while.

Why Did God Tell Hosea to Marry an Unfaithful Wife?

Hosea preached in Israel about 755 to 715 BC, right up to the end. God gave him one of the hardest assignments in the Bible. He was to marry Gomer, a woman who would be unfaithful to him, so his own marriage would become a living picture of Israel's unfaithfulness to God.

Gomer left. Then God told Hosea to go find her and buy her back.

Then Yahweh said to me, “Go show love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as Yahweh loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols.” Hosea 3:1

Hosea is a broken heart in book form. Israel was chasing other gods, but God would not let her go without a fight. In Hosea 11:8, God asks how He could ever give up His people. Jesus later quoted Hosea 6:6, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, to the religious leaders of His own day in Matthew 9:13.

What Did Isaiah See in the Temple?

Isaiah son of Amoz was a prophet in Jerusalem. TOM dates his ministry from about 740 BC, the year King Uzziah died, until after 700 BC. Many modern scholars think chapters 40 to 66 were added later by his followers, but Jesus and the apostles quote both halves as Isaiah's words.

Isaiah's call is one of the great scenes in Scripture. He saw the Lord on a throne, with seraphim crying out that Yahweh is holy, holy, holy. Isaiah felt ruined. An angel touched his lips with a burning coal, and then God asked a question.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” And I said: “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8

How Does Isaiah 7:14 Point to Jesus?

When King Ahaz of Judah was panicking over an attack from Israel and Syria, Isaiah gave him a sign. A young woman, the virgin, would have a son called Immanuel, which means God with us.

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

Scholars debate how much of this sign was fulfilled in Ahaz's own day. The Hebrew word almah means a young woman of marrying age. The Septuagint, the Greek translation made before Jesus, used the word parthenos, which means virgin, and Matthew 1:23 quotes it about the birth of Jesus. Isaiah kept going too. In Isaiah 9:6 the Child is called Mighty God, and in Isaiah 53 the Servant is pierced for our sins. The Messianic Prophecies list on this site walks through many of these.

Micah, a small town preacher from Moresheth, preached at the same time and named the Messiah's birthplace, Bethlehem, in Micah 5:2.

What Do These Prophets Mean for You Today?

These prophets were not fortune tellers. They were more like God's lawyers, reading the covenant back to people who had forgotten it. Their message was simple: God sees injustice, God hates fake worship, and God still loves you enough to warn you.

They also show the heart of God that came to full view in Jesus. Jesus said He was a sign like Jonah, three days in the heart of the earth, and that One greater than Jonah had come in Matthew 12:40 to 41. Hosea's love that buys back an unfaithful bride is what Jesus did at the cross. And Isaiah's Immanuel is not just an idea. God really did come to be with us.

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Questions People Ask

When did Jonah, Amos and Hosea live?

All three were active in the 700s BC. The Owner's Manual places Jonah in the days of Jeroboam II, about 793 to 753 BC, Amos about 760 to 750 BC, and Hosea about 755 to 715 BC. Isaiah began in Jerusalem about 740 BC.

Was Jonah a real person?

Yes, the Bible treats him as a real prophet. He appears in 2 Kings 14:25 during the reign of Jeroboam II, and Jesus spoke of him as real in Matthew 12:40 to 41. Some scholars read the book as a parable, but the traditional view is that it records real events.

What does Amos 5:24 mean?

Amos 5:24 says let justice roll on like a river. God was telling Israel that worship services mean nothing if people cheat and crush the poor. He wanted fairness and right living to flow through the whole nation like a stream that never dries up.

Why did God tell Hosea to marry a prostitute?

God used Hosea's marriage as a living picture of Israel. Israel had been unfaithful to God by chasing other gods, just as Gomer was unfaithful to Hosea. When Hosea bought his wife back, it showed that God still loved His people and would redeem them.

Is Isaiah 7:14 about Jesus?

Christians have always read Isaiah 7:14 as a prophecy of Jesus, and Matthew 1:23 quotes it that way. The sign also spoke to King Ahaz in his own day. Many Christians see it as a prophecy with a near meaning and a final fulfillment in the virgin birth.

Sources

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