Amos: The Prophet from Tekoa

Transcription

1 K e y P e r s o n Amos describes himself: Amos: The Prophet from Tekoa I m not a prophet nor the son of a prophet, and I was never trained to be one. I m just a shepherd, and I take care of sycamore-fig trees. But the Lord called me away from my flock and told me, Go and prophesy to my people in Israel. (Amos 7:14-15). K e y P l a c e Samaria Capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, from time of Omri, about 884 BC onward. The city was built on a hill rising 300 feet above the surrounding fields and stood at a crossroads. The name may be derived from shmr, literally a watchtower or watchmountain. Read Amos 4 and 5 Israel s Failure to Learn Listen to me, you fat cows living in Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, and who are always calling to your husbands, Bring us another drink! The Sovereign Lord has sworn this by his holiness: The time will come when you will be led away with hooks in your noses. Every last one of you will be dragged away like a fish on a hook! You will be led out through the ruins of the wall; you will be thrown from your fortresses, says the Lord. Go ahead and offer sacrifices to the idols at Bethel. Keep on disobeying at Gilgal. Offer sacrifices each morning, and bring your tithes every three days. Present your bread made with yeast as an offering of thanksgiving. Then give your extra voluntary offerings so you can brag about it everywhere! This is the kind of thing you Israelites love to do, says the Sovereign Lord. I brought hunger to every city and famine to every town. But still you would not return to me, says the Lord. I kept the rain from falling when your crops needed it the most. I sent rain on one town but withheld it from another. Rain fell on one field, while another field withered away. People staggered from town to town looking for water, but there was never enough. But still you would not return to me, says the Lord. I struck your farms and vineyards with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured all your fig and olive trees. But still you would not return to me, says the Lord. I sent plagues on you like the plagues I sent on Egypt long ago. I killed your young men in war and led all your horses away. The stench of death filled the air! But still you would not return to me, says the Lord. I destroyed some of your cities, as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Those of you who survived were like charred sticks pulled from a fire. But still you would not return to me, says the Lord. Therefore, I will bring upon you all the disasters I have announced. Prepare to meet your God in judgment, you people of Israel! For the Lord is the one who shaped the mountains, stirs up the winds, and reveals his thoughts to mankind. He turns the light of dawn into darkness and treads on the heights of the earth. The Lord God of Heaven s Armies is his name! A Call to Repentance Listen, you people of Israel! Listen to this funeral song I am singing: The virgin Israel has fallen, never to rise again! She lies abandoned on the ground, with no one to help her up. The Sovereign Lord says: When a city sends a thousand men to battle, only a hundred will return. When a town sends a hundred, only ten will come back alive. Now this is what the Lord says to the family of Israel: Come back to me and live! Don t worship at the pagan altars at Bethel; don t go to the shrines at Gilgal or Beersheba. For the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile, and the people of Bethel will be reduced to nothing.

2 K e y P l a c e Bethel Amos: The Prophet from Tekoa ("House of God ) An ancient Israelite town, located about ten miles north of Jerusalem. According to the biblical account, altars were established at Bethel by both Abraham and Jacob, and the latter described it as a place of awesome spiritual power. Bethel also housed the Ark of the Covenant during the period of the judges, when it was also a sacred place to offer sacrifices to God and receive oracles from God. Bethel was an official shrine of the northern Kingdom of Israel, founded by Jeroboam I as a pilgrimage site competing with the southern Temple of Jerusalem. As such, it was the subject of intense criticism by the biblical writers. The prophets condemned its priesthood, and it was accused by writers of Kings and Chronicles of housing an idolatrous statue of a golden calf. Come back to the Lord and live. Otherwise, he will roar through Israel like a fire, devouring you completely. Your gods in Bethel won t be able to quench the flames. You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed. You treat the righteous like dirt. It is the Lord who created the stars, the Pleiades and Orion. He turns darkness into morning and day into night. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The Lord is his name! With blinding speed and power he destroys the strong, crushing all their defenses. How you hate honest judges! How you despise people who tell the truth! You trample the poor, stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent. Therefore, though you build beautiful stone houses, you will never live in them. Though you plant lush vineyards, you will never drink wine from them. For I know the vast number of your sins and the depth of your rebellions. You oppress good people by taking bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. So those who are smart keep their mouths shut, for it is an evil time. Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the Lord God of Heaven s Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed. Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the Lord God of Heaven s Armies will have mercy on the remnant of his people. Therefore, this is what the Lord, the Lord God of Heaven s Armies, says: There will be crying in all the public squares and mourning in every street. Call for the farmers to weep with you, and summon professional mourners to wail. There will be wailing in every vineyard, for I will destroy them all, says the Lord. Warning of Coming Judgment What sorrow awaits you who say, If only the day of the Lord were here! You have no idea what you are wishing for. That day will bring darkness, not light. In that day you will be like a man who runs from a lion only to meet a bear. Escaping from the bear, he leans his hand against a wall in his house and he s bitten by a snake. Yes, the day of the Lord will be dark and hopeless, without a ray of joy or hope. I hate all your show and pretense the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won t even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living. Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, Israel? No, you served your pagan gods Sakkuth your king god and Kaiwan your star god the images you made for yourselves. So I will send you into exile, to a land east of Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of Heaven s Armies.

3 Amos, The Prophet Those who critically examine the Bible unanimously agree that Amos wrote the book that bears his name. Scholars judge his use of language as expressive, vivid and forceful. This message was given to Amos, a shepherd from the town of Tekoa in Judah. He received this message in visions two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam II, the son of Jehoash, was king of Israel. Amos 1:1 Amos mention of kings Jeroboam II of Israel ( BC) and Uzziah of Judah ( BC) in 1:1 suggests it was written between 760 and 750 BC. Furthermore, 8:9 seems to indicate that an eclipse occurred during his ministry: In that day," says the Sovereign LORD, I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth while it is still day. Eclipses did occur in 748 and 763 AD. Also in 1:1 Amos states that he preached two years before an earthquake. Archaeological evidence from Hazor, north of the Sea of Galiee, points to a severe earthquake in the mid eighth century BC. His prophecy can be dated before 750 BC, since Uzziah's son, Jotham ( BC), who reigned as co-regent with his father for eleven years, is not mentioned. Amos ministered alongside his contemporary Hosea. Despite being from the southern kingdom of Judah Amos message was aimed at the Northern Kingdom of Israel, particularly the cities of Samaria the capital of Israel and Bethel a major religious center in the southern part of the kingdom. Because of the distrust between the northern and southern kingdoms, it is ironic that God sent a man from Judah to warn the Northern Kingdom of Israel of impending judgment. At first glance Amos lacked the proper credentials. He was uneducated and had no priestly background. But, God called him anyway and obviously picked the best man available. Amos began not with Israel, but by pronouncing judgment upon all the surrounding nations, then upon his own nation of Judah. But he reserved his harshest judgment for Judah s neighbor to the north, Israel, which was experiencing some very good times; peace reigned, business was booming and religion (although idolatrous) was on the rise. But beneath the external signs of prosperity he saw a nation that was corrupt to the core. Amos chastened the people for their extensive sins: neglect of God s Word, idolatry, pagan worship, greed, corrupt leadership and oppression of the poor. His message was emphatic: judgment was near. It was a very unpopular message. But, acceptance didn t matter to him because his job was not in jeopardy. Key Verse: I hate all your show and pretense the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won t even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living. Amos 5:21-24 Amos gave the people of Israel the opportunity to turn back to God: I will bring my exiled people of Israel back from distant lands, and they will rebuild their ruined cities and live in them again. They will plant vineyards and gardens; they will eat their crops and drink their wine. I will firmly plant them there in their own land. They will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them, says the Lord your God. Amos 9:14-15 After preaching at Bethel, where Israel's first king, Jereboam I, erected a golden calf shrine, Amos was ordered to leave the country by the priest Amaziah. His fate is unknown.

4 Geography of Amos Modern Jewish settlement of Takoa, less than 4 miles south of Bethlehem and 8.5 miles south of Jerusalem's Old City. It lies in the shadow of the cone-shaped Herodion, one of a series of fortresses erected by Herod the Great in century before the birth of Jesus. Below, view of Tekoa from Herodion. According to the Book of Samuel, Joab brought a wise woman from Tekoa to induce King David to bring Absalom back to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 14:2-9: So Joab sent someone to Tekoa and had a wise woman brought from there. He said to her, Pretend you are in mourning. Dress in mourning clothes, and don t use any cosmetic lotions. Act like a woman who has spent many days grieving for the dead The village was the birthplace of Ira, the son of Ikkesh, one of King David's warriors. The Bible states that the city was founded by Ephrathites from Bethlehem and It was a fortified city and served as an administrative center. Modern Tekoa or Teqoa was established in 1975 on the top of a hill among ruins of ancient Tekoa.

5 Geography of Amos The hill of Samaria. For 160 years, it was the capital of the northern kingdom, apparently reaching a size of 150 acres (as large as Jerusalem in Hezekiah's time). Apparently it was not significantly inhabited until the time of King Omri (Ahab's father). Samaria is well situated with steep slopes on all sides. This geographical reality is reflected in the history, as Samaria withstood sieges by the Arameans (2 Kings 6), then Assyrians for 3 years (2 Kings 17), later, for 1 year, by the Hasmoneans. What sorrow awaits you who lounge in luxury in Jerusalem, and you who feel secure in Samaria!... You push away every thought of coming disaster, but your actions only bring the day of judgment closer. How terrible for you who sprawl on ivory beds and lounge on your couches, eating the meat of tender lambs from the flock and of choice calves fattened in the stall. You sing trivial songs to the sound of the harp and fancy yourselves to be great musicians like David. You drink wine by the bowlful and perfume yourselves with fragrant lotions. You care nothing about the ruin of your nation. Therefore, you will be the first to be led away as captives. Suddenly, all your parties will end. (from Amos 6) Archaeologists have found many carved ivories that illustrate Amos' reproach that the wealthy of Samaria lived in houses of ivory. They show a variety of floral and animal motifs, which suggest influence from Egypt. They were carved from elephant tusks, difficult to obtain and thus very expensive.

6 Geography of Amos Modern Palestinian city of Beitin identified with ancient Bethel in the mid s by American scholar Edward Robinson, who based this assessment on its fitting the location described in earlier texts, and on the similarities between the modern and ancient names, arguing that the replacement of the Hebrew el with the Arabic in was not unusual. His identification has recently come into question, however. The book of 2 Kings describes how Jeroboam, first king of Israel, set up centers for his Golden Calf cult at Bethel on the southern boundary of his kingdom and Dan on the northern boundary in the hopes of keeping the people from going to the Temple in Jerusalem. Jeroboam dismissed the priestly tribe of Levi and appointed his own priests (1 Kings 12:25 33). This caused many Levites to defect to Jerusalem. Bethel twice drew the ire of Amos: Don t worship at the pagan altars at Bethel; don t go to the shrines at Gilgal or Beersheba. For the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile, and the people of Bethel will be reduced to nothing. (Amos 5:5) Don t bother us with your prophecies here in Bethel. This is the king s sanctuary and the national place of worship! (Amos 7:13)

7 Sycamore Fig Tree I was neither a prophet nor a prophet s son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycomore-fig trees. Amos 7: 14 The sycamore fig, or Ficus Sycamorus, is native to the middle east and parts of Africa. The name sycomorus came from the Greek syca-morus meaning mulberry fig. The leaves are similar in shape to mulberry and the fruit looks similar to the common fig, except smaller. The fruit grows on clusters attached to the bark. It has a very sweet smell and is little sweeter than the common fig. But, it is not grown commercially. The prophet Amos occupied the most humble position in the society of his day. Only the poorest cultivated sycomore figs for it was hard labor.

8 Some things to think about What does it mean to seek good? Read Amos 7:9. What are the "high places" that are going to be destroyed? Read Amos 7: Does the High Priest agree with Amos' vision from God? Why would the High Priest describe God's words about the destruction of idols as treason? What is a prophet? How does one become a prophet? How is a prophet different from a pastor? How do you tell if someone was truly a prophet of God? Amos is called to prophesy in Israel rather than his native Judah. Would this make his job easier or harder? Why? Why did Amos begin his message with a series of warnings to people around Israel: the Syrians, the Philistines, the Phoenicians, etc.? What are the specific sins Amos warns against? What images does Amos use to get his message across? Are any of these images disturbing? Are any of them effective? Does Amos enjoy giving his message? If you could change jobs for a week, what would you like to try? What job do you especially dislike? When were you asked to do something which would be unpopular or that could inconvenience your family? When have you felt unqualified to do something for God? Where does God speak to you most clearly? In nature? In the Bible? In art? In worship? Elsewhere?

9 For Kids D iscussion point: We should do things God s way instead of our way. Vocabulary: Prophet: a person chosen to speak for God. Questions: If you could spend one day with a relative, who would it be? What is the thing that makes you the most upset? What is a promise that you can make to God this week? Does God seem close to you or far away? How do we determine the right way to do things? Snack Idea: Have glass of milk and some dried figs or fig bars. Word Search: W S A M A R I A T I R T Y U O I V U C C H R Q D D D W W E P B E T H E L C N H O G A L E P H M E W S A H E D L G P O O R M I H D A R K N E S S V V N E A S N T E F R D J F S F E M S E R B L W S A C R I F I C E S F A M I N E L T G B I Z T H N B E J U M E K H P A G A N Y D S L G G N K L A R E O D O F E D I S H B A K E A S E R N T P T T R B V R L O C U S T S F R G E X I L E T V S I S A A C I N S B R A P L A G U E S Y U V A H B V C S D G J U S T I C E SAMARIA OPPRESS POOR IDOLS BETHEL SACRIFICES ISRAELITES FAMINE SEEK LOCUSTS FIG PLAGUES DARKNESS PAGAN EXILE JUSTICE DEPRIVE LOVE Memory Verse: Seek good, not evil, that you may live. (Amos 5:14)

10 Amos was one of the shepherds of Tekoa A good activity for children is to make a cotton ball sheep. You ll need a bottle of white glue and a bag of cotton balls. Simply glue the cotton balls to the drawing below. If the balls are too large, tear off smaller pieces to fit small areas.