Day 193 Amos 6-9

OK, so first we get the description of how the people are, in all their luxury(yikes).  It wasn’t the luxury He is against, He is against how we are when God provides it to us.   Then 6:8 The Lord declares, once again, his hatred for Pride.  We need to think hard about that.  Look it up and think about where that is in our lives!

Amos then gets these VISIONS of the judgement that will come to Israel.  Locusts, Fire and a Plumb Line.    If you are not sure what a plumb line is,  hang wallpaper.  Just kidding.  THE BIBLE is our plumb Line.  The reason God gave it to us so that we know HOW we are supposed to live.  How crooked is our plumb line.

Amaziah the priest of Bethel gets rid of Amos, even though Amos says “Listen, I didn’t ask for this job, I was tending to my sheep just fine, and the Lord has put this on me”. By the way did anyone just STOP when they read 8:10

I will make that time like mourning for an only son
       and the end of it like a bitter day.

For me I thought, He will make them feel as the Lord knows he is going to feel on the day of the Crucifixion.  Then the Lord, through Amos not only describes the destruction of Israel, like grain through a sieve BUT then he reminds us of His Covenant!  His line of Davis will be restored.  As when he sifts us like wheat to get out all our pebbles, He then can restore us to be like His gardens and fruit!  IT is all part of the process.

Amos 1-5

So Amos was from Judah and he goes to Israel and needs to give them a message.  How does he get their attention? By opening his dictation with their enemies announcement of judgement.  Oh I can see it now, the people gathering more and more as he announces the next enemy that will be destructed and then the next.  And for each one he gives a ‘becasue’.

• Damasas (capital of Aram), attacked Israel
• Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Ekron are major cities in the Philistia, thus the verse about the Philistines
• Tyre (Phoenicia) several treaties were made there, as allies, and they broke their word.
• Edom (Edomites, Esau’s descendants) need I say more
• Ammon and Moab.  (Lot’s children with his daughter)  These 3 wicked nations have been the center of idol worship and idolotry.  Even though Israel has followed their culture, they never missed an opportunity to attack them
• Judah (south) for rejecting the Lord and neglecting God’s law

So now that he has their attention, he lays on them a message regarding their own judgement. Ouch.

• Israel (north) for their greed, unjust ways, their fake outward worship to the Lord.

The rest of the reading for me was good only I wish I had more time to look up the cross references.  Israel at the time was at the top of the ‘stock market ‘and completely ignored God’s law on support and provision for the less fortunate and poor (Hmmmmm that sounds familiar).  Amos even compares the woman of Israel to the cows of Bashan. (Cows of Bashan pampered and very well fed to fatten them up…and then slaughtered)

THEN chapter 5.  Hear this Word!  Seek me and Live!!!  Please take all these prophet books as Love books not judgement.  God knows they way His people are living is wrong and a slippery slope.  The rich get richer, the poor are starving, they worship other gods and practice paganism practices.  Violence and greed are at a high and God repeatedly is saying Repent.  Turn from your ways.  SEEK me!  That is all He is asking.  It will get so bad that He will have to intervene to save us from ourselves.  The good thing is when that does not work His love for us is so much so that He sends us Jesus.

Amos Overview

Amos was a prophet from Judah (southern) with a message to Israel(northern) during the reign of Uzziah (south) and Jeroboam (north).  Amos will remind you of David and Gideon in that they were just at work, doing their job when God called them up to do His work. (usually when we least expect).  Amos was not a prophet, a son of a prophet, or even a priest like Samuel.  He was just a sheepherder, however from his writing we can assume he was educated.

The two kingdoms during this time are at an all time high.  Peace with neighbors, Assyria was not as powerful, and prosperity was at an all time high.  Listen, God is not against prosperity, God is against sin.  Unfortunately usually with increased prosperity comes increased sin.

Amos goes to Bethel (Not Jerusalem like it aught to be) because Bethel was the capital of the Northern Kingdom.  Idolatry was everywhere.  As you may recall form reading 2 Kings they were worshipping a golden calf and going through the ‘religious motions’.  Without getting detailed I think many denominations better take stock in who they light a candle to or pray to.  If it is anyone OTHER than the Lord, it is a sin.  Even if the act seems spiritual or religious, God is letting us know right here it is not.

Since the division of the nation into North and South 200 years has passed.  God has already sent Elijah, Elisha, and Jonah.  With not a single degree of the nation turning from their sinful ways, God now sends people like Amos and Hosea at the same time to warn them.  This time the Lord wants the message delivered with courageously and directly, and Amos will do just that.  People who think that God is all about wrath and punishment need to dig into the Prophecy books.  He loves His people so much that He is giving them opportunity after opportunity of warning to repent!  And He is IGNORED.

As we read these prophecy books I ask that you keep at least 2 things in mind.  First, God’s love.  I am overwhelmed with His patience and kindness.  The warnings and instruction for 200 years  to change shows God’s unconditional Love for us.  Jonah the Prophet said about the Lord:

I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. (Jonah 4:2)