In Second Kings, chapter fourteen, verse twenty-five, Israel regained land, and the people attained great material prosperity during the reign of Jeroboam II, as in Amos six, four through six, and Hosea twelve, verse eight, respectively. However, the prophets Amos and Hosea, who ministered to Israel during his reign, saw the rotten foundations on which Israel’s material prosperity came and foretold Israel’s approaching doom in no uncertain terms in reality, the good fortune that occurred during the reign of Jeroboam II contributed to the spiritual complacency, moral degeneracy, social injustice, and religious apostasy that brought Israel’s downfall about twenty-eight years later.
Jonah, the son of Amittai, is a well-known prophet who experienced being swallowed by a great fish and brought forth God’s message of repentance to the Assyrians, as in Jonah one, verse one, seventeen, chapter three, verses one through ten. He lived and prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II and was a contemporary of Hosea and Amos. God raised the prophet Jonah and declared the purpose of his favor to Israel. It is a sign that God has not cast off his people if he continues to faithful minister among them. There are two reasons why God blessed them with those victories: First, because the distress was very great, which made them objects of his compassion. Secondly, the decree had not yet gone forth for their destruction. Many prophets had been in Israel, but none left prophecies in writing till this age, and their prophecies are part of the Bible. Hosea began to prophesy in the reign of this Jeroboam. At the same time, Amos prophesied, then Micah and then Isaiah, in the days of Ahaz and Hezekiah. Therefore, during the darkest and most degenerate ages, God raised them to be burning and shining lights through to their age by their preaching and living, and a few by their writings, to reflect light upon us in the last times.