In the previous chapter we saw how the covenant faith in Israel was very seriously endangered in the ninth century B.C., by syncretism, direct persecution during the time of Ahab, and the failure in the nation to maintain the idea of a theocratic society in which Yahweh was the true king of Israel. The whole way of life which the covenant faith required was also undermined, as the story of Naboth and the seizure of his ancestral land illustrates. The destruction of the family of Ahab by Jehu did lead to some religious reform but the comments which the writer of the book of Kings makes on Jehu in 2 Kings 10:28-36 indicate that the quality of life in Israel during Jehu's reign did not really improve. The historical writer gives his judgement on Jehu and the kings who followed him in words like this, 'But he imitated the. sin of King Jeroboam, who led Israel into the sin of worshipping the gold bulls he set up in Bethel and Dan' (2 Kings 10:29).

In the first half of the eighth century B.C. another king named Jeroboam ruled in Israel, from 786-746 B.C. The brief account of his reign in 2 Kings 14:23-29 indicates that Jeroboam II was a warrior who extended the borders of the northern kingdom and made the country secure against neighbouring nations, but there is no detailed information about religious and social conditions, apart from the writer's comment that Jeroboam II was no better than Jeroboam I because of the continuing practice of idolatry.

It is from the book of the first of the canonical prophets, Amos, that we learn of the wealth, luxury and confident security of the ruling class, contrasted with the poverty and misery of the peasant farmers who were exploited by their rich fellow Israelites. We also learn of the worship that was offered in the name of Israel's God, particularly at the national shrine at Bethel. Amos condemned this worship as totally hypocritical and useless. From the book of Amos a picture emerges of a society in which wealth and power had become concentrated in the hands of the king and his family, his officials and wealthy land-owners. A small number of capitalist land-owners obtained more and more of the land from the poor peasant farmers, while they themselves lived in luxury in the cities such as Samaria and Bethel. Wealth was concentrated in the towns and cities and the Israelite peasant farmers became steadily poorer, victimized and unjustly exploited. The powerful and wealthy elite of the country worshipped ostentatiously at the shrines of Bethel and Dan, offering large sacrifices in the name of the God whose Covenant Law was ignored. The brotherhood of the covenant was no longer upheld. The idea of theocracy had disappeared amongst these people.