they were often believed only posthumously. The “classical” or “literary”
prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve “minor” prophets) differed
from their earlier “pre-classical” predecessors in their more elaborate and
widely preserved orations and in their ostensibly less frequent involvement in
political conflicts. In fact, the literary prophets of the eighth century often
entered the fray of political life.
More than anything else, the prophets railed against three types of crimes.
First, they condemned acts of treason or heresy, in which they included not
only the worship of foreign deities but also treaties with foreign governments
as acts of faithlessness. Such condemnations were delivered succinctly by
Isaiah (“How the faithful community has become a harlot”) and Amos
(“Assyria will not save you ... ”) and more elaborately in the prophetic career
of Hosea. Second, the prophets accused the priesthood of corrupting the
Temple service, rendering the sacrificial cult an increasingly anemic form of
prayer. Echoing Samuel’s early criticism of rote sacrificial worship, Isaiah
reported that Yahweh had tired of meaningless sacrifices (“What do I need
with all of these sacrifices?”). Finally, the prophets spoke out against acts of
immorality, specifically the ways in which the wealthy and powerful mis-
treated the powerless elements of Israelite society: the widow, the orphan,
the poor, and the stranger.
The earliest of the classical prophets, Hosea and Amos, directed their crit-
icism primarily at the Northern Kingdom during its final decades. The death
of Jeroboam II, last great leader of the Northern Kingdom, in 746-745 coin-
cided with the ascendancy of Tiglath Pileser III to the throne of Assyria. This
posed a dilemma for Israelite kings: submit to the Assyrians or resist and
fight. Amos and Hosea, for the most part, demanded faith in God, which
meant no alliances with any neighboring kingdoms. Instead, the Northern
Kingdom attempted to ally with smaller neighbors, ending tragically with
defeat at the hands of Assyria in 722. At this point, the Assyrians, consistent
with their method of dealing with conquered peoples, exiled much of the
population of the Northern Kingdom to other parts of the Assyrian Empire.
Thus, the ten tribes became the lost ten tribes.
The Assyrian conquest of the Land of Israel continued after the defeat of
the Northern Kingdom. By 701, Assyria had conquered and destroyed all of
the Southern Kingdom except Jerusalem, and had laid siege to the Israelite
capital. This was the background to the emergence of Isaiah of Jerusalem to
prophetic greatness. Although his call to prophecy, as described in Isaiah 6,
had taken place nearly two decades earlier, his role during the siege of
Jerusalem was his crowning moment.
This episode, described in Isaiah 36–38, and in II Kings 19, represented
the ultimate test of God’s unconditional promise of the Land of Israel.
The conquest of Jerusalem, the last remaining piece of the Promised Land
still in Israelite hands, would mark the nullification of this divine promise.
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