Amos

People probably know more about Amos than about any other minor prophet. Amos lived in the 8th century BC (Before Christ). And he lived in the Southern Kingdom (Judah). He was a shepherd in Judah. This means that his job was to look after sheep. But he received a clear command from God (7:14-15). God told him to go and give prophecies. He was to go to the Northern Kingdom (Israel).

He obeyed God, but it was not easy for him. Some people did not want this missionary from the South. They did not like to hear the truth from him (7:12).

The book of Amos has many very clear word pictures. Its language is grand. And its ideas make the reader notice them. We learn about the strong character of Amos too. But he did not start new things. And he did not make changes. There were big crowds in the busy market towns of the North. And he spoke to them. He just called them to return to the true religion of Moses. (Compare 2:6-7 with Exodus 22:26-27. Also compare 5:12 with Exodus 23:1-3 and 6-7.)

The World that God Controlled (Chapters 1-2)

This section has eight songs. They are called the Punishment Songs. The Songs are about the sins of Israel's near neighbours. The people of these countries were cruel. They were also proud and unjust. And the songs tell us about all this bad behaviour. This pleased the crowds in Israel's markets! They liked to hear about punishment for other nations. But it was different when there was a song about Israel (2:6-16)!

Amos was a very brave prophet. The songs express his beliefs about:

God's ruling power. God is not just God of only one land. He is the God of Israel and Judah. But he is the God of the entire world too. Edom's sins matter to him as much as Israel's sins do.

God's total knowledge. He is not a ‘far away’ God. He cares about events on earth. He knows all about everyone. And nobody can hide anything from him. Some people in the crowd would think about things. As they listened to Amos, they would realize something. God knew that the people of Gaza were unjust. So he must know about his own people too. They cheated in the markets every day (8:5)!

God's sympathy. God did not care only about sins against his own people. He cared about sins against anybody. (An example of this is in 2:1-3. This was about an act of awful cruelty that did not affect the Jews. Then there was 1:6-8 and 1:9-10. These might be sins against other nations. There were people who were slaves. But the passages do not say that the slaves were Jews.)

So, Amos spoke about the sins of the countries that were near the Jews. Then he began to speak against the evil things in both Judah (2:4-5) and Israel (2:6-8). There were many sins:

• They were greedy for more money (2:6).
• They did not care about other people (2:7).
• They practised wrong sex (2:7).
• They did not obey God's laws (2:8).
• They were not grateful to God (2:9-10).
• They refused God's authority (2:11-12).

These are not just problems of the past. There are similar sins today, even among Christians.

The Truth that God Declared (Chapters 3-6)

This section has three special messages. They begin at 3:1, 4:1 and 5:1. And they each begin in the same way. The prophet said: ‘Listen to this message’.

These three messages declare:

The truth about responsibility (3:1-15). The Jews were very happy. They had so many good things (3:1-2). God had said, ‘You are my family. I chose to know you in a special way’ (3:2). To them, this meant that they would always succeed. But this was not the truth. Read what else God said (3:2). They were neglecting their responsibilities. And God showed them the truth. The Jews were refusing to show his love to other people. They were not caring for them. So, there would be punishment for the nation.

The truth about their failure to obey (4:1-13). God repeated some sad words five times (4:6, 8, 9, 10 and 11). He said: ‘But still you did not return to me’. God was using various ways to correct his people. (We saw this in the book of Joel.) God had been warning them again and again. But the people would not listen to God. They completely refused to obey him. And Amos showed the result.

The truth about worship (5:1-6:14). The people thought that their sacrifices pleased God. But this was not so. God wanted them to stop these ceremonies. They did not mean anything. They gave him no pleasure (5:4-6, 21-27). God preferred his people to live in the right way (5:24). He knew that their worship was not sincere. He knew that their wealth came from the poor people (6:3-6). Poor people were poorer because of them.

The Future that God Showed (Chapters 7-9)

This section has five visions. (A vision is like a dream, but the person is often awake. The person sees things happen. But nobody else can see them.)

Locusts (7:1-3). Locusts are insects. Thousands of them fly together. When they land, they soon eat everything that is green. When they fly away again, there are no leaves, plants or grass. In his book, Joel described how terrible this event would be.

Drought (7:4-6). This is a time when there is no rain for many months. And the hot sun burns all the crops.

Plumb-line (7:7-9). This is a string with a weight on one end. When it hangs down, it shows if a wall is straight. God used the plumb-line as a word picture. His judgement was always accurate.

Basket of summer fruit (8:1-2). The Hebrew language word for ‘fruit’ is ‘qayits’. The Hebrew word for ‘end’ is ‘qets’. Here God was saying something. ‘We have reached the harvest, the end’. (Compare 8:9-12.)

God himself (9:1-15). This last vision showed:

• The God from whom there is no escape (9:1-4).
• The God who is all-powerful (9:5-7). He acts in both nature and history.
• The God who is holy (9:8-10). Everything that God does is right.
• The God who always shows mercy (9:11-15).

The book began with great facts about God (1:2).

And it ends with important statements about the only true God.

He is:

• The God who pursues us (9:2-4).
• The God who corrects us (9:8).
• The God who rescues us and who makes us successful again (9:11).

These facts should become part of our experience.

We should know God like this.

We learn something about Amos himself in 7:10-15. There was an argument between the prophet and a priest. Amos obeyed God immediately (7:14-15). But Amaziah, the priest, was proud. And he refused to obey God. He was like so many other people since the 8th century. Amaziah told Amos that he could speak the truth (7:12). But he must speak it to other people, not to him (7:13)!