Amos Dear Christian Friends: As we continue to learn about the prophets of the O.T., today we learn about the prophet Amos. Amos begins his book telling us that he is a shepherd from Tekoa, which is about 10 miles south of Jerusalem which is in the southern kingdom of Judah, but his prophecies occurred during the reign of King Jeroboam in the northern kingdom of Israel. So Amos was not a professional prophet who lived in the courts of the king, but was rather someone who was called by God, and went on his own to proclaim God s word to the king and the people in the northern kingdom of Israel. We know that King Jeroboam of the northern kingdom of Israel reigned from 786-746B.C. And we know there was a significant earthquake in 760B.C. So, Amos was a prophet who prophecied around 760B.C. That is about 80-90 years after Elijah and Elisha, and about 40 years before the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. Unlike Elisha, there are no miracles associated with Amos. The whole focus of the book of Amos is upon the prophecies God gives him to make. We can tell from the structure of the book of Amos, that Amos is a gifted orator. His prophecies begin with condemnation of all the nations surrounding Israel. Amos pronounces God s judgment against all of Israel s enemies. You can just imagine him, standing in the king s court being encouraged with each new prophecy of condemnation against Israel s enemies. But then, Amos turns the tables on Israel, and most of the book is a scathing condemnation of Israel. Most of the condemnation of Amos is about the unfair treatment of the poor. He begins his condemnation of Israel in 2:6-8. Thus says the Lord: for 3 transgressions of Israel, and for
four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way; father and son go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned; they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink wine bought with fines they imposed. Amos goes on in 4:1-2 (You) who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, Bring something to drink! The Lord God has sworn by his holiness; the time is surely coming upon you when they shall take you away with hooks. Finally, in 5:11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them. Amos is the prophet who makes those of us who have done well in life feel guilty. When I read the words of the prophet Amos, it makes me wonder: Will God hold me accountable for enjoying a nice home, retirement benefits, vacation trips and cruises, when there are so many poor people who don t have enough to eat or don t have any security in their lives? The prophet Amos, and his judgment against those who enjoy prosperity while others suffer from poverty, reminds me of the story Jesus told about the rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus would stand outside the gates of the rich man s house and beg while the rich man enjoyed health, wealth, and security in this life. In the end, the rich man suffers in eternity because he didn t respond to the needs of Lazarus or others around him. The prophet Amos should make us uncomfortable. It should make all of us stop and ask the question: have I done enough to help those in need? Have we as the richest nation in the world: done enough for others in the world. Although we are the richest nation in the world,
only about 1% of our budget goes to foreign aid, and most of our foreign aid goes to supply our allies with military equipment, not food or services for the poor. Yet, poor nutrition is responsible for the deaths of over 3 million children each year. The prophet Amos and Jesus remind us that the way we deal with the poor matters to God. Nowhere in the Bible does it say, God helps those who help themselves. The book of Amos says, there is judgment against those who oppress the poor. The bible does say, religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress. The Bible does say, It is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Legally, we don t have to help the poor: but God tells us it is our moral obligation to care for the poor. The other things which the prophets and Jesus did to convey their message was to use illustrations from common life. Amos takes out a plumb line. It is a basic tool used to determine whether or not a wall is perpendicular and is good enough to build a structure on. Amos says, the plumb line shows that the people have not lived up-right lives, and the nation will be torn down and destroyed in the same way you would tear down a wall that was not properly constructed. Another illustration the Amos uses is a basket of summer fruit. It is the last pick of the harvest, and Amos is saying that the northern kingdom of Israel is about to come to an end. He paints the end in apocalyptic terms, and from history we know that the prophecies of Amos were fulfilled 20-40 years later when the Assyrians conquered Israel and destroyed the country. Finally, Amos talks about the day of the Lord. The popular use of that term was a hopeful term that when the day of the Lord comes, it will be like heaven. God will come and
bless us. Amos and the prophets took that term and used it to warn the people. Before God comes in mercy, God is going to come in judgment for your sins and your lack of compassion on those in need. Sometimes that judgment is severe. Indeed, the nation of Israel was destroyed as a nation. As individuals, a church, and a nation we should always be prepared to answer to God for our actions. Have we cared for the poor, have we implemented systems that promote justice for all people, have we been faithful stewards of this earth which belongs to God? As much as the prophets warned the people against the judgments of God, judgment was never the last word. In the end, God desires mercy. In the end, God loves this world. So even the prophet Amos, with all his harsh words against the nation of Israel, in the end offered up words of hope that God would restore the nation he had destroyed. That same dynamic exists today. We live in a world where we suffer the consequences of our sins. Sometimes we suffer from the actions of others, sometimes we suffer from our own poor decisions, and sometimes there are consequences from God for our sins. But judgment is never God s final desire. The final word is that despite our sins and short-comings, there is forgiveness with God, and we can look forward to that day when we will be with God in eternity. However, until that day, let us be diligent to live as the people of God. To have compassion on the poor, and to work for justice for all, lest we suffer the judgment of God like the people of Israel. AMEN