Essay on Mercy and Righteousness

Submitted By jopatt30
Words: 780
Pages: 4

Mercy and Righteousness

Prophets by all definition are spokesman for God and are often called into His service. They are also advisors, leaders, preachers, teachers, visionaries and spiritual commentators. God often used prophets of biblical times to warn His people of punishments that will happen when they disobey His word. Three of the offenses the prophets addressed were idolatry, Spiritual ritualism, and social injustice. Idolatry is the act of holding something or someone to a higher standard than God. Spiritual ritualism is being caught up in the ceremony of the worship and not putting God as the center of the praise. Social injustice is the unkindness toward the society that is not held in a higher standard than the rich. All of these are looked down upon when following the Lords word. Hosea was a prophet who married a prostitute by the name of Gomer. He was well aware of the laws of the commandments. Her unfaithfulness caused Hosea to have to buy her out of slavery. This was compassion and love on his part. Israel was in the practice of worshipping the gods of Baals and the act of committing spiritual idolatry. Hosea ends with a call to Gods’ people. “O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.” (Hosea 14:1 KJV) Amos addresses the problem of social injustice when The King Tiglath-Pileser III wants Palestine and Syria to part of his kingdom. Soon the northern kingdom is destroyed and the people are carried into exile. Amos is called to address Israel in the faith showing itself in social injustice. “This saith the Lord; for three transgressions of Israel, and four, I will not turn away the punishment there of; Because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes; That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: And a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name.”(Amos 2:6-7 KJV) Micah faced close to the same thing that Amos did. In the southern kingdom, dishonesty and oppression was done by those in power and taking advantage of those who could not defend themselves. “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”(Micah 6:8 KJV) Micah rejected the extravagant way rituals were being performed and wanted the people to become more aware of the spiritual basis and not the show of it all. Many of the prophets had a job to perform in which that did not want to necessarily want to pursue. God called Jonah to preach to the people of Nineveh and to repent of their wicked ways. Jonah was in fear of the city of Nineveh because of their cruelness and sinful ways. He ran