“Thus saith the Lord,” is a statement that precedes many a command or judgment spoken by the prophets in the Old Testament. These prophets were often feared and hated. After all, no one likes to be told what to do. But, great wisdom and messages of great import can be found in the prophets’ teachings. The prophets, speaking to Israel, warned against idolatry, social injustice, and ritualized religion, and the Church and society of the 21st century would do well to heed these warnings, and follow some simple applications. Idolatry has been at the heart of humanity’s problem since Adam and Eve. Idolatry is simply putting anything before God in importance, or looking to that something to provide peace and security. The first two of the Ten Commandments address this issue. Even so, Israel struggled with this constantly as recorded in the Old Testament. God sent multiple warnings to Israel and Judah. He even used the metaphor of adultery to show Israel how their idolatry affected Him. Hindson and Yates explained, “Gomer’s unfaithfulness to Hosea was a metaphor of Israel’s unfaithfulness to the Lord…” (Hindson and Yates 2012, 372). Israel and Judah …show more content…
The prophets, “have long been understood as champions of social justice” (Boloje and Groenewald 2014, 1). Hindson and Yates reflect on what the prophet Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah, recorded, “The Lord was angry that social injustice became common in Israel and Judah. Through various legal and illegal means, the wealthy and the powerful conspired to steal the land of the needy families ([Micah] 2:1-11) (Hindson and Yates 201, 406). Isaiah’s primary concern was with the plight of widows and orphans, who were the most vulnerable members of society (Stern 2006, 32). Micah takes up this cause, knowing that the society was largely “given to religious cynicism and political skepticism” (Boloje and Groenewald 2014,