neighbor.

There was another prophet who lived a little later than Amos. Perhaps
as a youth he heard Amos speak. This was Hosea, who probably came from
Gilead east of the Jordan. This man saw even deeper into the truth of
religion than Amos, and his messages wonderfully completed and rounded
out the great true words which the older prophet had so bravely
spoken.


THE GOOD AND THE EVIL IN THE OLD SACRIFICES

The old religion of sacrifices was by no means wholly evil. When a
family in those days sat down to a happy feast and gave some of
everything in gratitude to Jehovah, God really was there, not in the
sacred rock, but in their love for one another and for him. When they
poured out libations and burned fat on the altar, God was indeed glad,
not because of the smell of the smoke or because he enjoyed drinking
the blood, but because his children were grateful.

=Wrong ideas of God.=--On the other hand, these sacrifices, when
misunderstood, tended to give people a wrong idea of God as one who
was greedy for food and gifts. There was the greater danger of this
wrong idea because of the character of the priests who were supposed
to represent Jehovah. Many of them were very greedy indeed. The story
of Eli's sons in 1 Samuel 2. 12-17 is an illustration. The priests
were supposed to receive for their own personal support a part of all
the gifts which were brought to the shrine. But the sons of Eli made
it the rule that whatever came out of the meat kettle on a
three-pronged fork stuck in by the priest should belong to him. Very