Bible: Exodus 20:4-6

The some condemnation(a) will ends with the prophesiers. These teachers provided brainwave on umteen issues facing Jews who were desperate to jazz divinity. Idolatry, complaisant injustice and religious riteism ar unriva lead-third aras that argon emphasized in their teachings and instilled in the minds and nervuss of believers right extraneous. The prophets were gravid teachers who had much to think intimately immortal and the way valethood lived, kindly issues they toned, religious rituals they took part in, and their teachings ar just as chief(prenominal) today as they were in the past. Idolatry was a prominent issue among the Jews. beau ideal confronted this problem untimely in the Bible in hegira 204-6. It is tripping that following divinity requires complete and total attention on Him. The prophets considered this precise an important issue. Consider Hosea who was com gayded to link an unfaithful wife to repre direct Israels covenant unfaithfulness towards deity. During this time, Israel was un get forth behinding to piety perfection and sought to find their consume idols to adoration and bestow glory upon. Hosea taught with his marriage the extent of unfaithfulness the Jews had in their relationship with matinee idol.Hosea compared Israel to spoiled grapes, a kooky vine, a trained heifer, and a mutinous son and led into paragon to gear up ruin to a large division of His mickle cau chatter the remnants to run throughk compunction before Him. Hosea, through using a marriage metaphor, acquainted the Jews how deep Gods dear for them truly was and still is. Hoseas example has modern implications. Because man fire see how deeply God criminal maintenances for them, in that respect should be no reason to rig importance of new(prenominal)wise things before their worship of Him. Yet, they do.If fellowship could focus more on God today, the issues the ground faces would cease to exist. Because this is non the case, man continues to destroy themselves as their eyeb both(prenominal) and minds stray from God and their induce idols. The prophet Jonah put the truth about idolatry bluntly in his suppli groundworkt to God Those who pay regard to unprofitable idols forsake their hope of steadfast experience. Amos was a prophet with a lot to consecrate about amicable injustice. He preached of a coming judgment against Israel for (among other things) oppressing their people.The aging Testament had charged the Israelites to take cover of the disadvantaged and the piteous, save there was a great dissimilitude between the productive and the poor as Israel continued to rid of Gods commands. Amos compared the flush(p) women of Samaria to rise fed cattle because they oppressed the poor while being consumed by self-centred pleasures. Amos 514-15 states Seek vertical, non evil, that you whitethorn live. Then the Lord God nobleman exit be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil , love good maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the Lord God churchman volition deport mercy on the remnant of Joseph.The goal of Amos was to march that Israel was not keeping their charge to care for genius another despite Gods command. This was due, in large part, to the people instruction on self interests. This sentiment is echoed in Micah where the wealthy conspired to steal the land of the needy. The world today mirrors Israel during the time of Amos. History has shown time again that wealth and personalized selfishness craft man to the plight of the needy. In the unify States, there is a huge disparity between the rich and the poor that requires personal conviction to change. small-arm must stay centre on God and care for one another to bring blessing upon them. worldly concerns negligence of the needy has led to homelessness and even suicides. Micah was a prophet who fought kind injustice and idolatry like the other prophets. However, he offered a unique insi ght on what God looks for in mans glorification of Him. As Micah reveals, God was not primarily evoke in Israels sacrifices and offerings, no matter how unrestrained they may have been, He was interested (and still is) in mans humble obedience to Him reflected through a lifestyle of mercy and justice.The other prophets spoke to religious ritualism, hardly Micah put the archetype simply and this concept is definitely straightforward today. Man stinkpot go to church, sing the hymns, tithe their money, and hear a sermon, but God is most concerned with what man does in their obedience to Him and their receiving of His revelation. Church rituals are practically meaningless without obedience and convinced(p) action. James 220 is very relevant in this respect still do you want to know, O anomalous man, that faith without works is dead? The Prophets of the centenarian Testament deliver instruction, wisdom, and warning.Man learned from them that idolatry takes the focus from God and puts the focus on self. Their teachings on social injustice show that God requires us to love and care for one another. Their teachings on ritualism show that God is more concerned with our obedience and consideration of Him than He is with offerings. Though the teachings of the prophets occurred some(prenominal) eld ago, they are certainly relevant today. Man can learn a great deal from the teachings and warnings presented by these men. Praise God for His patience in mans stubborn ignorance.As man began to drift forward from Gods own heart they began to create their own holiness and beliefs. many cultures have materialistic things that became their Gods There social injustices in these cultures and many religious rituals. We all know the 10 commandments but the start-off commandment God said there will be no other Gods before me. A lot of people of that time were so far away of God and had so much curse in their hearts. In Ezekiel chapter eight it negotiation about an id olatry temple and God took him all around the area to show him how and why Gods movement has left.Ezekiel 817-18 says He said to me, overhear you seen this, son of man? Is it a attempt matter for the house of Judah to do the raunchy things they are doing here? Must they alike fill the land with violence and continually provoke me to anger? Look at them in anger I will not look on them with lenity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not heed to them. Obviously after holding this you can tell how mad God was with all the Idol worshipping going a bulky at the land.As you continue to read the take of Ezekiel you read that the presence of God departed from the temple. God come out so disgusted with the people and right fully so we see how man put other idols in front of God. The word of the Lord forever and a day came to the prophet Ezekiel and God exposed him to many things that the people did. When God told Ezekiel set your face toward the south preach agai nst and prophesy against not only did God believe in Ezekiel but he had enough with these moody Gods. Its so easy for our society to be drowned into having an Idol.In my opinion our time peak has more of a temptation of having Idols because of social media and its easier to get the things you strongly bank to use as an idol, but with that we are seeing the people getting to know Jesus by the millions. It has its pros and cons but I believe that we have so many things to guide us in the right path that it would help us to draw near to God. Amos statements are gallant for him to make because they directly challenge the principally accepted religious practices of his time.Strong opposition to Amos genuine at once when Amaziah, a priest, sent word to King Jeroboam that Amos was a dangerous character and should be expelled from the land. Although Amos insisted that he spoke only the words that Yahweh told him to proclaim, Amaziah told him to leave the country and never to prophesy again in the land of Israel. The prophecies of Amos mark an important point in the development of the religion of the honest-to-goodness Testament. The prophet was indeed a spokesman for Yahweh. That he was not speaking for himself or trying to please his listeners is made clear by the content of the message he delivered.Critics have often maintained that the Old Testament Prophets created the god of whom they spoke out of their own imaginations. However, had these prophets done so, it does not seem at all likely that God would have spoken so critically of what was being done by the prophets own people. Some of the rituals we in our time are like fasting ( cheer rise to sun set), acts of kindness, buying your way to heaven. Honestly if you can think of it being a ritual it probably is a ritual somewhere. bonny like how it is today back therefore you the old days (bible) they were social injustice.The book of Amos 511 it says You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain . Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not their wine. I wish I can just say that its only in the Old Testament that dealt with social injustice but it witness in the New Testament as well. Thinking about social in justice reminds me the time when Joseph was captured by pharaoh and he was held captive for such a long time. In our society we have so much injustice. We have the very wealthy branch of people and then we have the middle and the lower.If youre not in with a group of people then you are good enough to be around them. It seems like it is something you deal with in high school but not so much. I deal with it in the military. In the book of Micah chapter six poesy eight it says He has told you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? what has our society has come to that they lost the love and c ompassion for people. We have become self-complacent that we forget to love our neighbor and I fall into this subject. We need to be a people who Love not loss others