Article July 10, 1989 Issue

The people of Israel had never been so affluent as...

J. B. Phillips

The Four Prophets

The people of Israel had never been so affluent as they were when Amos attempted rudely to awaken them. But with prosperity had come inhumanity to man... and the worship of the false gods of riches, success, and security. Moral values had slumped and even common honesty and decent neighborliness were being squeezed out by greed and corruption. [Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah] could clearly see this galloping spiritual deterioration, and they not only denounced it but declared in no uncertain terms the consequences of moral and social evil. As prophets they "saw the truth," and as prophets they were constrained to declare what they saw.

J. B. Phillips

Reprinted from The Four Prophets by J. B. Phillips, with permission of William Collins Sons & Co., Ltd.

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