Monday, June 1, 2020

Amos Bible Study : Chapter one Plus Questions


The Book of
Amos

          In the Bible, Amos the prophet saw the Day of Judgment fast approaching for Israel. He warned the people to prepare to meet God. Truth is, the word preparedness should be a key word for everyone. It is strange that we prepare for everything except meeting God. We prepare for marriage. We prepare for a career. We prepare for education. But we do not prepare to meet God. Even though most Americans see the storm clouds gathering on the horizon, by and large, we are making few preparations to meet God. This is a time for repentance and faith. It is a time for soul-searching, to see if our anchor holds.” — Billy Graham

            Amos was the first Hebrew prophet to write his prophecy so it would remain for generations to come. Later prophets would use his techniques in their writings. Amos was not a professional prophet or trained to be a prophet but was given a message by God and told to proclaim it to Israel in Bethel. It is as relevant for today as it was when Amos wrote it. He wrote oracles against the surrounding countries and then reprimanded Israel. His prophecy brings to bear God’s concern for justice for the poor and the weak. Amos was decidedly monotheistic. There was one God, and He was God overall. After God’s passionate dismissal of Israel’s empty worship (Amos 5:21-24), we read the much-quoted words, “But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream” (Amos 5:24). God required their absolute worship, and they persisted, through time, in the worship of gods made by the hand of man. God would send them into exile to places where these false gods were worshipped.
Summary of Chapter 1
             Amos’s book begins with an introduction to Amos, a Judean, and a sheepherder who lived in Tekoa about ten miles south of Jerusalem. It was about five or six miles southeast of Bethlehem which, would become important as the birthplace of the Messiah. Amos 7:14 tells us that Amos was a sheepherder and the tender of sycamore fruit. The fruit had to be pierced to ripen properly. This could be done while watching the grazing sheep. Tekoa and the surrounding area was a wilderness suitable for raising sheep. It was of little importance. Tekoa was probably not more than a “wide place in the road”. God so often chooses “the foolish things of the world to confound the wise” (1 Cor. 1:27).
 Amaziah, a priest in Bethel, told the king in 7:1, “that the land is not able to bear all his words.”  He presents Amos as a man who was trying to turn the people against the king. His prophecy concerned Israel in the time when Uzziah was king of Judah, and Jeroboam, the son of Joash, was king of Israel (Amos 1:1). It was a prosperous time.
Amos states it was two years before the earthquake. Zech. 14:5 mentions an earthquake the people fled from in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, which may have been a reference to the same earthquake mentioned by Amos. This cannot be said with assurance.
            One might ask why a prophet out of Judah? Israel had prophets that they refused to listen to and did with them as they liked. “God had raised them up prophets among themselves (ch 2:11) but they regarded them not; therefore God sends them one from Tekoa, in the land of Judah, that, coming from another country, he might be the more valued, and perhaps he was…”[1]Judah was the location of Jerusalem and Mount Zion. Jeroboam was concerned that if the people went to Jerusalem to worship their God they would return to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, the son of David.
            Jeroboam had two golden calves made with one in Bethel in the south and one in Dan on the northern border. He did not want to lose political control.  His appeal to the people was that traveling to Jerusalem to worship was unnecessary and inconvenient. They could worship the golden calves, which were the gods of their ancestors. He caused the people to stumble and caused confusion and apostasy which would bring about the destruction of the Northern Kingdom in 722 B. C. (1 Kings 12: 22-33).[2] 2 Kings 17: 21-23 says, “For he tore Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam, son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made the people commit a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; and they did not depart from them until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as he had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day.”
            Even today, as Christians, we need to be careful because the government has power and influence on the hearts and minds of the people. We need to be aware and conscience of the will of God. We must walk in his way, and not allow outward influences to pull us away from the one God and Savior.
            “And he said: “The LORD roars out of Zion, and utters His voice from Jerusalem; The pastures of the shepherds mourn, And the top of Carmel withers” (Amos 1:2). When the Lord roars the nations experience the intensity of His castigation. Every living thing will react. Carmel which was lush and flourished year-round would dry up. Thus, begins the oracles against the nations. “God gives warning before he strikes.”[3]
            Each oracle will begin with these words, “For three transgressions and for four:” This is a stylistic device used to denote God’s exasperation with their actions. They may not worship Him as God, but they will face His judgement as God. There is one God, and he is God overall. Whether one chooses to acknowledge this fact is beside the point, because each individual and nation will stand before him in judgement. He is long-suffering and gives chance upon chance. It is his compassion and his pity that stays the judgement. One does not want to hear him say, “Your iniquity is full.” This stylistic device is used to let them know that their iniquity is full and now the judgment.
Chapter One Oracles
            Thus says the Lord: Against all My evil neighbors who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit -behold, I will pluck them out of their land and pluck out of the house of Judah from among them” (Jeremiah 12:14). Although Jeremiah was written later than Amos the consequences of touching God’s people continues to remain unchanged. God does not change. For I am the Lord; I change not: therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6 KJV).
            The first judgment is against Damascus which was north of Israel. They are accused of innumerable transgressions, in other words, “their iniquity is full.” God brings the indictment and then the sentence. Persecution is the primary offense. If there is one thing we know about God, he takes the way his people are treated very personally. We can go to the Old and New Testament to find this. In Matthew, we are told, “And the king will answer and say unto them, “Assuredly, I say to you,  inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, My brethren, you did it to me” (Matt. 25:44 NKJV). Verse 3 God tells them there is no reprieve. He has turned away judgment before, but now there will be no more turning. The sentence is immutable. Damascus had cruelly treated the inhabitance of Gilead. In 2 Kings 8:12, Elisha weeps when God shows him the evil that Hazael will do to Gilead. He will burn their cities, kill their young men in battle, dash their children, and rip their women with child to try to make certain there will be no future generations.  Fifty years after the prophecy in Amos, the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took the people into captivity (2 Kings 16:9).
            Gaza was a city of the Philistines, and they had come against God’s people and sought to wipe their name from the earth. Violence was their tool, and their conscience did not bother them as they attempted to enlarge their borders at the expense of the lives of God’s people. “Ashdod (or Azotus), Ashkelon, and Ekron, shall be cut off, and God will make a thorough work with them in their ruin as they would have made with God’s people when they carried away the whole captivity; for even the remnant of them shall perish.”[4]
Tyre delivered the captivity up to Edom. Hiram and Solomon had a treaty and were as brothers. They broke the covenant and would receive punishment for it.
It was the pronouncement upon Edom that was bitter. It brings back into focus the issues between Jacob and Esau. “Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever” (Amos 1: 11). “Cursed be such cruel wrath, and anger so fierce, so outrageous, which makes men like the devil, who continually seek to devour, and unlike God, who keeps not his anger forever. Edom’s malice was unnatural, for thus he pursued his brother whom he should have protected….”[5] Israel’s conduct towards Edom was brotherly (Duet.23:7) , but the bitterness was so engrained in Edom that their cruelty was insatiable. “The fire of our anger against our brethren kindles the fire of God against us.”[6]
Ammons violence against God’s people was equal to that of the violence of Damascus against them. Their kings and princes were taken into captivity.

Questions: Chapter 1

1. Who was Amos, and in what years did he prophesy?
2. By whose authority did he prophecy?
3. What kings were in power over Judah and Israel?
4. What was significant about each king’s reign?
5. What is known about the earthquake?
6.Using an exhaustive concordance discuss Amos’s use of the word roar in verse 2.
7. Why do you think God roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem?
8. What does the stylistic device “For three…and for four transgressions” indicate?
9. Look for some history on:
    Damascus:
    Gaza:
    Tyre:
    Edom:
    Ammon:
10. What were their offenses?

           


[1] Henry, Matthew. Matthew Henry’s Commentary, Vol 4, Isaiah to Malachi. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 1991. 963.
[2] Bible History. Copyright 2020: https://www.bible-history.com/destruction_of_Israel/.
[3] Ibid., 963.
[4] Ibid., 965.
[5] Ibid., 965.
[6] Ibid., 965.

Saturday, April 25, 2020

Coping with Quarantine Imposed Isolation

     This has been a very difficult time for the population not just of the United States, but of the world. The fear of exposure to Covid-19 and the issues that could arise with one of the worst being death causes distress. It leaves us feeling vulnerable and alone. I was considering how this should be approached. How do we deal with such a  difficult situations? I was reminded of Paul and Silas when they were imprisoned. They had been imprisoned in the inner dungeon and their feet were in stocks. They had been beaten, and this would be a demoralizing situation for most people. There would be the lose of hope and confidence. Would things ever come right again? For them this was a very real experience, but there are times when it is a figurative experience. At this time we have been placed in a situation where our lives feel turned upside down. Our normal routines have been discontinued and we find ourselves trying to cope in a beneficial way to circumstances that we have no control over. It is disheartening.
     Paul and Silas showed us a positive way to deal with this. Acts 16:25 tells us "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God: And the prisoners heard them." In the midst of the darkest night we can find relief in praying and singing praises unto God, because it is through Him that we have victory. Prayer and praise is the only way to gain victory over Covid-19.  "When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him" (Isaiah 59:19b).
     Praise God because we have the victory. As they prayed and praised there was an earthquake that shook the prison releasing the prisoners. Not just Paul and Silas but all the prisoners, and as a result people came to know Christ as their Savior. That is always the goal to be a light in a darkened world, and to be this light we must trust the Lord and praise Him for the victory. In this dark hour we need to stand. "Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day. and having done all to stand. Stand therefore...." ( Ephesians 6: 13-14a).
     We must stand in prayer and praise to gain the victory. We serve a miracle working God! Is anything to hard for God? There is nothing to hard for him if we stand in faith and trust. He can do all things and he can drive out Covid-19.