AMOS: Prophet of Justice and Righteousness -- Chapter 4

                                                                 

                                                            AMOS 4

                        AMOS:  PROPHET OF JUSTICE and RIGHTEOUSNESS         

What gets you angry?  Have you ever called a person by an animal name?  Read Amos 4, (If you haven't read the previous chapters, do so now.) Who is angry? Bashan was known for raising “fatted” cattle.  Bethel is where Jacob had his dream of a ladder to heaven (Genesis 28:10-22, 35:1).  Gilgal was where the Israelite’s camped after crossing the Jordan River into the “Promised Land.” (Joshua 4:19-24). Amos gives a picturesque reason for God’s anger.  What was the cause of the warnings and plagues (Amos 4:6-11)?   

God through a variety of ways and repeated warnings; of famine, blight, locusts and war, tried getting God’s people’s attention, but they fell on deaf ears.  Therefore, God would bring judgment on His beloved people.  Because they ignored God, they would have to face God’s judgment (v. 12). No longer could they ignore God.  They would face the One whom they rejected and refused to obey. 

What accusations were brought against Israel?  List them.  Do any of those charges apply to us or our nation?  What was the main accusation?  How have we as a nation ignored our history, its foundation and our faith?

The point God, through Amos, was making was:  "Though the wealthy lived in prosperity, sleeping in ivory beds, having both summer and winter homes, and eating feasts; they did not care for the poor nor were people treated fairly and justly.  Though people went through the charade of worship, making melody on their instruments, God would not hear them.  Their worship made God nauseated."                                                          

The essence of Amos’ message was: “Because you have failed to follow God’s plumb line in constructing your society, it will crash.”  History illustrates that when the wealthy exploit and do not care for the poor, the poor become disenchanted, and with nowhere to turn, except God, violence occurs, and societies fall.  This was true from the Mayas, Romans to the French Revolution.    

The slaves God brought from Egyptian slavery to a “Promised Land” now were wealthy but had forgotten or ignored their history, the foundation of their society, and faith.   The result would be they would lose everything and become slaves of foreign leaders.

Prayer:

Write down everything for which you are grateful.  Thank God for each of those persons, items or opportunities.  Too often we take for granted all that God has given to us.  Keep that list and read it on regular basis, especially when you believe God is not responding to your prayers.                                                                                                                                    

AMOS: Prophet of Justice and Righteousness -- Chapter 3

                                                         

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                                                   Amos 3

            AMOS:  PROPHET OF JUSTICE and RIGHTEOUSNESS         

Our Jewish brothers and sisters have just started their New Year, Rosh Hashana and are preparing for The High Holy Days: Yom-Kippur starting this Sunday.  (The Day of Atonement is a time of fasting, penitence and generosity, reflecting on their sins and asking God to for forgiveness.  It is also a time to pray for the nation and its failures). Among the Scriptures read is Amos. 

Levitus 16 explains why and how "The Day of Atonement started.  Two ram goats were selected, one chosen by lot, was for the for sacrifice.  The other on which Aron/Priests would lay their hands on the head of the goat transferring the sins of the people to it.  A scarlet threat was placed around the horns and sent into the wilderness.  This is from which we get "Scape Goat."  (Levitus 16:20-22)

For Christians Ash Wednesday starts a period of preparation for Jesus’ Death and Resurrection called Lent. It is a time of reflecting on Jesus' death and his taking upon himself our and all the sin in of the world.  Thus, it is for us also a time of repenting and receiving God’s Graceful Forgiveness. 

In studying Amos, notice that along with warnings:  Unless a nation is built on and lives by the solid foundation of God’s Law, it will collapse, there is Grace and Hope.  Interwoven throughout Amos is God’s message of forgiveness and fresh beginnings.  I read: “In every rope used the British Navy are woven the silken strands of the National Ensign.  Wherever the rope is cut there is revealed the red, white and blue threads of the Union Jack.” In the Amos there is a reiteration of justice and righteousness which compose the core of God’s message.  

Read Amos 3, (If you haven't read chapters 1 and 2, do so now), Addressed to Israel:  Your election (chosen people) does not absolve you from guilt.  Judgment is part of the Covenant made with you.  God brings the leaders of the surrounding countries to witness the chaos and oppression in Israel.   My people have forgotten how to do right (3:1-10).   God was saying they were not exempt from judgment.  In fact, they would be held to a higher standard of the surrounding nations. 

Amos uses metaphors (3:8) the pressure of the prophets compared to a roaring lion; (3:12) the narrow escape of a remnant of Israel to a shepherd recovering two leg bones or piece of ear from a lion.  The enemy mentioned, was Assyria which did conquer Israel in 722 B.C. just as Amos had warned.  The people were scattered to foreign lands becoming the “lost tribes of Israel.”   

 Israel no longer knew how to do right.  The more they sinned, the harder it was for them to remember what God wanted.  Is it not the same of us?  The longer we wait to deal with sin, the greater the hold it has on us.  Finally, we forget what is right.  Are you on the verge of forgetting?

Ash Wednesday is a good day, actually any day is good for critically evaluating how we are doing in Reflecting the Heart of Jesus and his love for us demonstrated is his death on the Roman cross.         For God so loved the world that he gave his only beloved Son, that whoever believes in him will have everlasting life. (John 3:16)                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Prayer:

Ash Wednesday, actually every day is good for “cleaning the slate” and beginning afresh.  What is amazing is that God invites us to come and receive forgiveness for anything we think or do that does not reflect the heart of Jesus or love of God.  I encourage you to write down, as specifically as possible, any sin or anything that is leading to strained or broken relationship between you and others or God.  Pray: “In your gracious mercy forgive me for (read what you have written).  Thank you for your promise that if we confess our sins, you will forgive us/me from our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9) It is the Name of Jesus Christ that we are forgiven!" Now burn that list of sins.  Even as the list no longer exists, so our sins no longer exist before God. 

* Hills of Samaria, Northern Israel

AMOS: Prophet of Justice and Righteousness - Chapter 2

                                                                        

                                                     AMOS 2 

              AMOS:  PROPHET OF JUSTICE and RIGHTEOUSNESS                         

Your job may or may not have or caused you to feel important or successful.  It is vital work, if it is where God placed you.  As a pastor, I was challenged to “Reflect the Heart of Jesus" wherever I was, including outside the church.  

As we read last week, Amos was a shepherd and fig grower, when God called and empowered him with extraordinary messages.  If you haven’t read Amos 1 do so.  Then read Amos 2 which continues the messages God gave Amos starting in 1:3.

Amos (burden-bearer) spoke with boldness using picturesque metaphors in denouncing sin.  He began with a circular condemnation of the countries neighboring Israel, the Northern Kingdom.  Place yourself in Israel, hearing: Judgment proclaimed against Damascus, (same city that is the capitol of Syria today, only then the country was named Aram.), Gaza, (v. 6) This is, Tyre, also named Sur today's Lebanon.   Edom, Ammon and Moab (v. 11, 13, 2:1) are in today’s Jordan. Likely, the Israelites thought: “They deserve Judgment for their behavior.”

Notice, God’s judgment was not a failure of worshiping or living by God’s standards, rather a failure to live by their own standards and caring for one another as sisters and brothers.  During war, those nations sold the captives, as to slaves, to each other.  

Amos then addresses the Southern Kingdom, Judah (2:4). Those in Israel may have thought: “Our Southern sisters and brothers deserve that warning.”  Similar feelings may have occurred during our Nation’s (America's) Civil War. 1861-1865). After warning all of Israel’s surrounding countries, Amos uses the harshest words on Israel (2:6-8).  What were the sins listed in these scriptures?

Israel was enjoying peace and economic prosperity.  With comfort and luxury came a false sense of security.  Those who were well off ignored the plight of the poor.  Amos addressed those who exploited, ignored or sold the needy into slavery.  What other sins are addressed?

After King Solomon died, the Unified Kingdom was divided, 10 tribes in Israel (Northern) and 2 tribes, Benjamin and Judah (Southern).   God had punished the other countries for their actions and atrocities.  Now came the warning to Judah and Israel for ignoring God’s revealed Law.  The other nations were ignorant, but God’s people knew what God wanted, yet they ignored it.  Do any of the accusations against Judah and Israel apply to our nation? If we know God’s Word and do not obey it, are we not like Israel and Judah?  (Last week we saw God's Law as a "Plumb Line.")  Imagine trying to construct a building and not following the Plumb Line/Level.  Likely, the result will be something like that is not only not secure but may collapse. 

Believing in God means following God's Laws, Jesus summarized them to:  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind... and Your Neighbor as yourself."  (Matthew 22:37, 39).  When we follow these laws/teachings, We Reflect the Heart of Jesus.

Prayer:

Reflect on how God is calling you to Reflect the Heart of Jesus in your daily life.  Pray that God will empower you to live and reflect God’s law and love.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

 

AMOS: Prophet of Justice and Righteousness - Chapter 1/23

                                                                   

AMOS:  PROPHET OF JUSTICE and RIGHTEOUSNESS                      
                                                               
                                                                    AMOS 1

“It was a time of peace and prosperity.”  Does that sound like our time?  That was the description of the period recorded in Amos, which is the book we will read and discuss through these blogs. Why read and study Amos?  Don't we focus on what Jesus taught, as recorded in the New Testament?   What does Amos have to do with Jesus, let alone us?  Don’t we live in a “time of relative peace and prosperity?”  True 2023 hasn't been a great year.  Return of investments are down.  There have been horrific killings all over the world.  Fires, record heat, drought and hurricanes are occurring all over the world. There is the ongoing war in Ukraine. All these remind us we live a volatile world.  Not everyone in the USA is prosperous.  Yet, overall, we are doing OK.  So, why study a book addressing events about 750 years before Jesus Christ?  That question will be answered as we study this prophetic book. 

To find Amos in the Bible, look in the front of your Bible for Contents.  Likely near the top of the third column you find Amos and the number of the parge.  Turn there and read Amos chapter 1.  

Notice Amos was a shepherd and fig grower, not religiously trained.  He was going about his business, when God broke into his life with messages delivered through visions.  Verse 2 gives a warning message. Verse 1 sets the historical context, placing the events in time and space:  Two years before the earthquake when Uzziah was King of Judah (792-742 B.C.) and Jeroboam II (793-753 B.C.) ... was king of Israel.  (The United Nation under King David and King Solmon had splintered approximately 200 years earlier.) 

Although Amos lived in a picturesque hill town* in the Southern Kingdom, Judah, he was called to speak to the Northern Kingdom, Israel, which was at the height of its political power and prosperous economy.  The message: (Remember, we are in a time of drought.)  The lush pastures of the shepherds will dry up; the grass on Mount Carmel will wither and die.  Why the warning?  We will learn that Israel was spiritually corrupt, and idols were worshiped.  God sent Amos to denounce social and religious corruption.

The overall message of Amos is: “Unless a Nation is built and lives by God’s law, plumbline, it will collapse.” What’s a plumbline and what's its use?  Today we may use a level when framing the structure of a building.  A plumbline is a cord with a heavy weight attached.  Gravity pulls the weight straight down.  A line can be drawn following the cord, It will be plumb/straight. ensuring walls, doorjambs, windows are straight.     

As you read Amos notice how God measures his people.  How is your life reflecting God’s law illustrated through The Teachings of Jesus?   

PRAYER:

Prayer is conversation with God.  In light of Amos 1, what do want to say to God?                               What is God saying to you? 

* "Tekoa was Amos' hometown, in the rugged sheep country of Judah (Southern Kingdom) about 10 miles south of Jerusalem. (Life Application Bible, p. 1536)