Christian Puzzles & Answers

Amos, A Herdsman Called of God to Be a Prophet

Study Scripture: Amos 1:1; 2:11-12; 3:7-8; 7:10-15

Background Scripture: Amos 1, 2, 3, 7

Lesson 4    June 27, 2026

Key Verse

Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the Lord, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked. Amos 2:4

INTRODUCTION

 

Unpleasant, unacceptable, and unpalatable warnings of judgment are often brought by someone who is not of your social class and standing and so rejection of the warnings is practically automatic.

Our Study Lesson will be looking at this often occurring problem in Israel and among us today.

The problem is caused by human beings among believers liking to play the game of favourites even though they claimed to be following the ways and character of God.

But having said that we must also recognize that as Jesus put it

“a prophet is not without honor except in his own country”

.

In this case we will see the reaction to the warning of God by a profane High Priest in the corrupted place of worship in Bethel and a disobedient King who did evil but who in this case protected a man of God, a prophet, who brought warnings of judgment to his nation. But despite this he did not change and his nation did not change their ways.

Bethel was active as a pagan shrine in Amos’ day, nearly 200 years after it was set up. See Amos 3; 14, and 7:13. A spiritual danger was posed by that center of idolatry. The Spiritual danger caused by that center of idolatry, only 11 miles due north of Jerusalem, was immense. The danger was underlined by the fact of Bethel’s association by reputation with Gilgal, another center of idolatry. (4:4; 5:5).

We must consider the issue as to whether or not people who have known something about God, and who proudly state that they know God, will more easily listen to warnings of judgment brought by soothing tongues of professed leaders who elevate themselves and put themselves as more important than others.

In this case, in the face of the evil deeds of the nations, warnings of judgment were delivered to pagans as well as those who had been chosen as the people of God, but who do not “know’ the true God, and did not choose to follow the God they should have known..

Alongside the reaction of Israel and Judah to these prophetic oracles  we have to consider the warnings of Jesus who told His people about the reaction of the pagan nation of Nineveh to the preaching of the prophet Jonah and their repentance as well as the repentance shown by other nations and people to warnings of judgment. These nations or people will Jesus warned, rise up in judgment and testify against the chosen people of God.

We must therefore ask ourselves whether it is harder to witness about judgment to those who profess deep love for God compared to witnessing about judgment and warning to those that have not known or are even hostile to the truths of God.

 

This is a story of unpopular love, a love shown to his people by the famous minor prophet Amos, the most unpopular of all the prophets.

Now, how would God deal with this situation where none of the kings and leaders of the northern Kingdom of Israel were considered good or godly?

This larger portion of the tribes called the Northern Kingdom and separated from the Southern Kingdom had clearly set itself on the path to destruction at the very outset when King Jeroboam 1 set up golden calves to be worshipped at Bethel in the south and Dan in the north. He did so with overriding political motivation to keep his residents of the Northern Kingdom from traveling to Jerusalem, worshipping at the Temple as required by Yahweh, and then possibly reaffirming their allegiance to the house of David. (See 2 Kings 12:26-30).

The Southern kingdom of Judah was also set on the path to destruction just like the path set by the Northern Kingdom.

The Southern kingdom was on the road to destruction just like the kingdom in the North and God had to raise up prophets to minister there and so we see Isaiah and Hosea bringing a message crafted somewhat differently to suit the nature of the rebellions against Him in Judah.

Note that in the prophetic Book of Amos  which is regarded as one of the earliest of the prophets, there are there are analyses of government and leaders which draw the line at what government and leaders should do, and commonly totally condemn their behaviour.

As a result of this confrontation against the immorality of leadership which not only departs from God spiritually, but openly breaks the Second Commandment to love your neighbour however defined as yourself, very few in leadership historically want to pay any attention to Amos’s prophecy then, or nowadays, to this Book.

So how would God deal with this awful orientation  among His people?

God chose a religious layman from outside of the rebellious and idolatrous turncoats of the northern Kingdom of Israel, people who though steeped in iniquity thought they were God’s favorites, to listen to someone who did not approach them with the style of a upfront professional prophet of God who would likely begin by immediately condemning them for their disobedience.

The Lesson today forces us to face what you should do when you are among people of God who might not have any intention of listening to the warnings of God.

The message from God in our Lesson Study is that He is impartial and therefore does not play favorites so one writer states  in his warning to us:

“He does not any more do to one than He does to another, in accordance with the promise that He makes.  Any who are willing to fulfill the conditions of the promises will find his blessings poured out upon them regardless of who they are, and anyone who presumes upon these conditions will find him sitting in judgment on them, and his words condemning them no matter who they are. This is the message of Amos..

It’s hard for us to believe that, isn’t it? If you really think that you are in a privileged position, especially with God, this book comes with brutal, shocking, breathtaking force”.

We can regard Amos as a normal blue collar worker doing jobs that we ordinary people normally do. He tells us in Chapter 1:1 and 7:14  he was a cattle farmer who tended a field of sycamore trees. His name meant “burden”. But he uses an unusual word to describe what he did for a living for he used an ancient Hebrew word describing himself as a sheep raiser. The word he used for what he did with sycamore trees indicated that he was a small businessman and not just what we would consider someone working only with sheep. One writer describes what Amos did so that we can relate his work life to ours so that we do not have any excuse in rejecting the call of God to do a particular task:

“The word used describes a man who tended a particular small, rugged, speckled variety of sheep which required less food and could live well in the desert, and which produced a wool of superior quality and of great value

Amos also tells us that he was a cultivator of sycamore figs and we are told “This was the wild fig, each exuded a ball of sap when nipped at the right season, and were each hardened into a sort of edible fruit which the lower classes were able to afford. This tree was found at a lower altitude than Tekoa, so Amos undoubtedly had to do some traveling (perhaps down to the Dead Sea region) to tend these trees”.

So Amos was clearly a tough individual, sturdy, having a personality somewhat like that of Elijah, for his personality was molded in the harsh wilderness of Tekoa.

The word that he used to describe himself does not indicate whether he was a wealthy or poor businessman.

It is clear that his occupation would involve him traveling a great deal to the wool and fig markets of Israel and Judah. In that kind of situation he would have heard quite a bit about the economic conditions in Israel, the practice of the rich, the suffering of the poor, and about the military and social situation.

 His words tell us that he was not really only a shepherd in any basic sense of what he did or in terms of a symbolic spiritual sense.

He had no formal theological training or prophetic training though there were a school of the prophets at that time according to 1 King’s 20  and 2 King’s 2 and 4.

But you can regard him as being among the ordinary people or being a small businessman. Like other people in that situation he sought to bring great reforms among the people of God just as others like William Wilberforce who fought against slavery and the slave trade, William Booth who founded the Salvation Army and who was a layman calling the church to care for the poor in the urban centres, or Rosa Parks an ordinary woman whose boldness provoked many pastors to stand up against the injustices of segregation.

So don’t think that you have an excuse for not standing for God!

But he was called by God to carry his message to the disobedient people.

So are you because the Apostle Peter calls you the Saints of God, separated to be an ambassador for God and to offer spiritual sacrifices.

So though Amos was not a professional prophet and did not have to be one, God called him to go and prophesy to His people in Israel.

If it makes you easy to understand the lifestyle of Amos, you can compare him to a small businessman who is a truck driver by trade or someone in any of the series of normal durations.

We can therefore regard Amos as a unlikely candidate for the prophetic task but yet God sent him to shepherd His wayward people of northern Israel.

Remember that prophets are able to see clearly so that they could communicate truth to the world. The role of a prophet is to be able to look around and see the spiritual needs of the people, to see God at work, recognize and teach that God is sovereign, and communicate this truth to the world

 

 But the language that was used was quite precise and he clearly had a good command of his language.  We are told by scholars and translators of the Hebrew that his speech and writings were very polished and showed a remarkable skill in poetry, composition, and rhetorical principles. This suggests that he was educated and was wise and had some experience in dealing with the elite. But even then he was quite modest and refused to consider himself in the class of the prophets, but he had no difficulty in confronting the authority of the state and accordingly refused to compromise its message.

 

We will therefore have to recap the message of the prophet Amos which raised great hostility but which did not deter the people from their sinning.

Note carefully what Amos did before he attacked Israel for their sins, and Judah for their sins, He condemns the pagan nations that surround them for their sins.

 

The way he presented his message was quite smart and we will see that but in addition to that one writer comments on his style of prophesying and warning to the nations:

“He, first of all, uses the formula a kind of graded numeric formula, which is not to be taken literally but just to express the fact that the nations are guilty of a number of transgressions, but one has finally exhausted the patience of God. That’s the meaning of the expression, “for three transgressions of and for four, I will not revoke the punishment”

And as you look at these oracles of judgment after the formula is mentioned, there is an indictment of the particular nation. Then there is the punishment specifically set forth, and finally, as a general rule, at the end of the Oracle there is the little messenger formula, “Thus says the Lord”. And in this way, Amos lays great stress upon the fact that it is God who is speaking through him, and he’s giving God’s word”.

In all of these judgments the actions of the pagan nations and their taking into captivity the people and turning them into slaves was roundly condemned.

The crime of slavery of the captured people which was the normal at the time for commercial profit was wrongly condemned for in many cases these attacking people did not need the slaves but merely sold them for more money.

This condemnation was levied against the people of Israel and Judah for this matter of slavery of the captured people and selling them to others.

First, note his  name means Burden or  Burden bearer. Amos attacked the pagan nations around Israel and Judah. In Chapter 1:3-5 he brought judgments on Damascus and on Syria because they and the Syrians had attacked the people of God and inflicted such complete destruction that it was as if a deep plow had run through the land.

The figure of speech used for iron prongs or teeth and threshing sledges imply extreme cruelty and utter thoroughness in the treatment of those who opposed them, says one writer about the instruments used.

Then Amos spoke of judgment on Gaza a city of the Philistines who would come up again the people of God and captured the people and delivered them up to Edom. Because the practice of the Philistines whose main cities were Ashdod Ashkelon, and Ekron were to capture people and sell them into slavery there was judgment and promised destruction.

Then there was a judgment on Tyre a city of Lebanon. They too like the Philistines sinned against God’s people. They took them into slavery and so their walls which they thought was impregnable would be burnt and the city destroyed.

Then Amos pronounced judgment on Edom, the people descended from Esau the brother of Jacob for they held on to their anger and wrath against Israel their brother forever and made alliances to destroy Israel.

Then Amos pronounced judgment against Ammon, for they when they captured people, ripped open the women with child and they killed babies in the womb and so sinned against the future. God promised judgment against Ammon.

Then Amos turned his oracles against Moab and Judah because Moab desecrated the remains of an Edomite hero.

The judgment formula now was applied against Judah as against the previous six Gentile nations for Judah had piled sins upon sins in the same way as the other nations did.

 But in this case they despise the law of the Lord and disobey the laws of God, using lies which led them astray. As a result of that God would destroy them for going astray, embracing and following lies and rejecting the truth.

 Only then did Amos turn his attention to Israel, for it was to them that the majority of his oracles were directed.

The rich among the people of Israel were taking advantage of the poor, promoting injustice. They continued to practice sexual immorality and perversion with a father and his son going into the same girl, practicing the same ritual idolatrous practice of going into prostitutes at their idol feasts where women prostituted themselves in  worship of Astarte.

The rich were not only worshipping idols but were taking their neighbours garments as a pledge violating the commands of Exodus 22:-26-27.

They were always rejecting the warning of their sons who were prophets, showing ingratitude and telling their prophets not to prophesy.

Those among them that had dedicated themselves to the Lord and taking the vow of the Nazarite were rejected and despised and  attempts were always made to make them reject their vows.

Israel always perverted justice and gave the rich preferential treatment.

They oppressed the poor all the time. They cheated and manipulated, to make money from others in questionable ways, always profiting from the unfortunate.

By oppressing the poor and not helping them this was the most serious sin of injustice. God had always, said that Israel should never oppress widows, orphans foreigners and the poor for they were all vulnerable. God would execute justice for these sins according to Deuteronomy 10:18. 

The rich thought that their riches were to be used only for their own benefit and they did not care about the poor.

Amos also condemned the women of the nation for  spending their days enjoying their husband’s money and pursuing luxury while people were suffering all around them.

They had all of them despised the goodness of the Lord

Amos’ Oracles forces us to look at the issue of whether one should be preaching about social justice as opposed to preaching explicitly only about the Gospel. Some of course are content to deliver a “gospel message” substantially or completely stripped of its teachings about social justice, while others go to the other extreme and preach against social injustices without even a backward glance at the necessity of personal salvation through belief in Christ. There seems to be very little recognition in some circles as to the necessity of preaching in its entirety the good news of salvation in all its aspects, including that of judgment for those that neglect the commandments of God.

What is extremely important for us to  consider is that we are to declare something that actually affects life and is as one writer asks:

“something that actively affects life, and isn’t just some abstract collection of theological premises or philosophical approaches? Is it a concrete, experiential reality that transforms us?”

Are we people or a city set on a hill, shining with a bright light, living as the people of God, reflecting the heart of God, living out God’s calling for us, hunger for spiritual reality which actually changes lives and meets the needs, the deepest needs of the human heart and soul?

The Book of Amos is generally one of the more unpopular and neglected books of the Bible in the more affluent parts of the Christian world. Apparently the conditions in Israel in eighth century B.C. which Amos challenged sound too much like what is happening in our lifetime, in our country and in our churches. The state of affairs in the nation to which Amos spoke, sounds distressingly familiar when we examine what is actually going on in our religious communities.

This Book addresses what God is really like and how the nature of God relates to how His people should behave and how they should treat each other. The heart of God is so significantly different from the heart of most of those who call on His name, that the message of Amos is offensive to many.

THE TEXT

It is interesting to note how Amos approached this task of carrying the word of God to the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah.

He carefully developed a roll call of the nations surrounding Israel and Judah who were under the judgment of God and in this way used great subtlety in presenting his message.

Verse 1. Amos make sure that we know who he was and that he was a relatively ordinary person. He tells us that he was among the herdsmen of Tekoa. But he tells us that God called him and gave him a mission concerning Israel. This message was given to him in the days when Uzziah was king of Judah, and Scripture tells us that Uzziah was a relatively good king who made the mistake of trying to usurp the role of the priests of God and as a result was hit with leprosy and had to live by himself all the days of his remaining life.

He was sent by God to prophesy in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash who ruled over the 10 tribes which constituted the Northern Kingdom. He prophesied in the days of Isaiah and Hosea. Its prophecies mainly were done at Bethel.this was about 800 B.C. when Jeroboam 11 was king. At this time Israel was enjoying a lot of prosperity because of the weakness of the Syrian nation and they became the dominant military power in their area, controlling the trade routes through the Middle East.

Their equivalent of the stock market was good and they were at peace. So we must know that when Amos began to warn about a coming military destruction and financial disaster prophesied in detail in Chapter 2:15 and 3:15, it sounded believable to the people

After thundering that God would roar from Zion and as a result there would be tremendous desolation, Amos condemned first the ancient enemies of Israel Syria and Philistia.

He condemned treaty breakers like Tyre, laid special stress on the atrocities committed by Ammon who had attacked the people of Gilead and ripped up the woman with child in order to increase their territory, the atrocities committed by Moab, and by Edom who had forgotten that they were brothers to Israel, and predicted the perishing of the remnant of the Philistines,

Now it is important to notice what Amos was doing. He was condemning the nations around Israel and Judah for their iniquities promising terrible judgment on them, but was circling the borders around Judah and Israel and in so doing was tightening the noose around Israel and Judah. They never seemed to think that Amos was actually now in a position to focus on them and what they were doing which was in the eyes of God similar to the practices of the pagan nations that surrounded them.

In so doing Amos will give us insight into the argument about whether or not there is divine favouritism. Does God just arbitrarily selects certain people or nations and passes by others, so that it doesn’t make it bit of difference what we do one way or the other?

We will certainly see that there is no divine favouritism for when Israel and Judah did what they should not have done and did not live up to what was expected of them given the fact that they had revelations from God, they too experienced judgment.

Maybe there is a lesson for us professing believers somewhere in all this.

The people were warned that they were not immune from judgment, simply because they were the chosen people. 

If they were guilty of oppression that was probably worse than that suffered under the Philistines and others what would happen to them?

Chapter 2:11-12

Amos now turns to Judah, and the noose is now being tightened against the people of God. Judah is now the focus of the prophet Amos and what they have been doing will be examined.

“For three transgressions of Judah and for four, I will not revoke its punishment”, says Amos.

Note that the formula is applied to all the nations that are being indicted and condemned and it is made clear that it is being made on the basis

 “Thus saith the Lord”.

Note that Judah and Israel were not the best of friends but Amos was speaking first about his own country. He spoke about them before he turned his attention to Israel.

He attacked his own country Judah for rejecting the law of the Lord and not keeping the statutes of God.

They had lived a life of lying and their lies had led them astray. Their fathers had done the same thing, walking after the ways of lies and now they were continuing that practice.

In other words, Amos accused Judah of silencing the voice of revelation. They had received the great privilege of divine revelation and because of rejecting the revelation of God they were now in a state of peril.

In Ezekiel 2 the prophets were similarly condemned for speaking their own lying words and leading a rebellious people to their destruction.

It is now therefore brought before us to consider where truth is to be found. Some think that truth is to be found by listening to older people and by looking at what previous generations have accepted. Sometimes people accept the authority of men that are on the top as containing truth that must be followed.

But note that Christians believe that Scripture is the ultimate source by which truth is to be measured. Scripture is the ultimate guide to what is true.

In the case of Judah they had rejected the law of the Lord, the revelation of God and had not kept His statues. Automatically lies had led them astray for they had abandoned the criterion by which truth must be judged. They stand in a position that is opposed to the word of God.

The warning to us therefore is that when you do not follow the word of God you’re not in neutral territory but have taken a stand against the truth of God and therefore you are in the realm of lies.

Whenever any time a church or a people or a nation departs from the explicit word of God they are automatically creating lies and therefore judgment is inevitable.

We are to remember that according to the Apostle Paul the church is the safeguard of the truth. It is the pillar and ground of the truth. One writer puts it this way:

“The true church is the depository of the divine revelation, and it is the responsibility of the church of God to guard that truth. That’s why it is such a great sin for the church to depart from the word of God. And when we think about the pulpit as the place where the church lets its voice be heard, when the voice that comes from behind the pulpit is not in harmony with the word of God, then we have violated the apostle’s instruction by which the church is the pillar and ground of the truth.

But at the same time, while it is the duty of the church to safeguard the truth, the truth is the safeguard of the church. So that the truth is really that which is to govern us in all of our activities, in our preaching, in our living, and if we depart from it then we can expect error to result.

Notice that expression, their lies also have led them astray. Why did they go astray? Because they have abandoned the truth.

The most practical kind of Christian living is the product of the knowledge of truth, of adherence to the truth. It is that that keeps individual Christians and a body of Christians from being led astray. We say this over and over again, but the Bible says it over and over again. Their lies have led them astray”.

Note in all this that the essence of sin is unbelief. Unbelief leads ultimately to immorality. The essence of sin therefore is selfishness and this leads to lies and being led astray.

Note that when there is lying it means that there is abandonment of the personal relationship with the Lord God for the statutes of God tell us that this is how God looks at the world and this is what is best for people.

In Verses 6-8 Amos turns his attention to Israel where the people were very likely gleeful at the condemnation of the nations and Judah not understanding that the prophet had been honing in on them. They would have been feeling that it was wonderful that the prophet was saying that their theology was quite right after all, and so the wicked heathen countries and even Judah were under the judgment of God.

But now horror upon horror, and the prophet started lengthy, and more detailed accusation than had been made against the other nations.

These would be rough accusations and charges, indicting them for sins against others, sins against divine revelation, and sins against the grace of God.

The crimes that Israel was accused of really reads like the crimes that are written about and praised in the business section of our newspapers, for they are all done today. Our newspapers today are filled with the slickest of criminal escapades which had been condemned by God through the mouth of Amos.

It is most important to note that what was being done was quite legal. The leaders had established the rules of iniquity. We can note the list as follows.

-The economic exploitation of the poor and innocent was overwhelming

-The justice system was so corrupt that the people were being sold into slavery for small debts or pledges (See Chapter 2:6-7). 

-Even the women had become so insensitive that they were described unflatteringly as “cows of Bashan”. They pressured their husbands for luxuries to such an extent, that the husbands could meet their demands only by oppressing the poor. (See Chapter 4:1-3).

-They were engaging in pagan religious practices.

-There was no respect for the servants of God and the people were even encouraging the Nazarites, who had taken a vow not to drink alcohol, to break their pledge.

-There was such intense religious hypocrisy and sham worship, that Amos called on the people to come to Bethel and Gilgal not to worship but to sin.

There were obvious sins of greed, injustice, sexual abuse, and profaning worship and the civil order of the day. Trivial debts allowed the authorities to oppress the people. Judges were bribed to allow some to gain their way. Payments were made so that the righteous and the poor were really denied justice because of avarice.

Justice was denied and the system was so constructed that there was a deliberate turning aside of the way of the meek and humble folk, and strenuous efforts were made that even the slightest possession of the poor, even the dust on their head, would be taken away.. There was a failure to show the normal kinds of social justice.

Power and privilege was so misused that when a poor person owed money to someone and their cloak was given as security that they would be able to repay the debt as they were able to, the rule that the garment would be given back each evening so that the poor person would not be cold during the night was ignored. The rich lenders seemed to have been hanging onto the cloak, and wearing it to church instead of returning it to the poor for the night.

We are told that it was common under certain circumstances for civil fines to be paid with wine and the city would keep it and distribute it as needed. But here the unjust judges were keeping the wine for their personal use or for offerings.

This was rampant exploitation of others by the people who are in control. Israel was thus accused of gross sins and neglecting their responsibilities given to them by God.

Amos’ reference in verse 7 about a man and his father going into the same woman is felt by some to refer to sins of incest. One writer however has a different view and explains as follows:

“Now, he turns to sexual questions. Is Amos talking about the 8th century before Christ, or is he talking about the 1980s? Listen to what he says,

“And a man and his father resort to the girl”.

That is, the same kinds of sins that fathers commit, the sons are committing, adultery, fornication characterized by the society of Israel in Amos’ day, and he has a word for it. I don’t think he is talking about perversions specifically here, though no doubt there was that, but every man, in Amos’s day, as he puts it forth here, is inclined to what we called womanizing. They were womanizers. A man and his father resort to the female, womanizers.

Now, if you don’t think our society is not like that, you haven’t been acquainted with the society about you very much at all. And when one thinks about this in the situation, it’s even worse, because, you see, in those days Baal worship was very common.

Amos has that in the background for the northern kingdom is involved in this. Baal worship was the worship of a fertility god. So since the Baals was a fertility god, in the worship of Baal in the temple, it was characteristic of the temples to have attached to temples female prostitutes. Since Baal was a fertility god, then the association of intercourse, the means of fertility, and so a fertility god would bless their agricultural endeavors , the linkage is obvious.

So in order to induce Baal to bless your farm plot, what do you do? You go to the temple and you engage in intercourse illicitly with the temple prostitutes in order to give the idea to Baal that you want him to bless your little farm. So what we have here is the lowest kind of attitude toward God…..

And further, did you notice that purpose clause in verse 7. In the Hebrew text that is a purpose clause. It is not a result clause. It’s not that the man and his father resort to the girl so that they profane my holy name. It’s that they resort to the girl in order to profane my holy name. In other words, that’s their purpose. They are so rebellious, so wicked, that they do this in order to make angry and profane the name of the God of heaven. We have a great deal of that in our society today too”.

Verses 11-12.  God gave Israel the great privilege of raising up some of their sons as prophets. The people were engaged by God in working together with God and this was a great honor. But the people had so rejected the ways of God that they were prepared to encourage those chosen by God to despise the commandments of God.

Some of these young men were men who took the vow of a Nazarite and this was a special vow of dedication to God. With this vow they were in a close walk with God.

The people of Israel knew this and they knew the life that the Nazarites were to live for they all read Numbers Chapter 6. With this vow as a Nazarite a man could not eat or drink wine or liquor, could not cut his hair, and could not go any dead carcasses.

But instead of supporting the vows of these Nazarites they were encouraging them to drink and to break their vows.

What was also abominable was that they were commanding the prophets, “Do not prophesy”.

Because of this God regarded the people of Israel as a weary burden. They were burdening God by their cheating and abominable ways and so God would have to deal with the situation.  Charles Spurgeon helps us out in this matter as to how God is affected by the actions of men as follows:

“Now, it is to be understood, dear friends, before we proceed further, that our text is but a figure, since God is not to be oppressed by a man; all the sins that man can commit can never disturb the serenity of his perfections, nor cause so much as a wave upon the sea of his everlasting calm.

He doth but speak to us after the manner of man… so the Lord says that under the load of human guilt he is pressed down, until he crieth out, because he can  bear no longer  the iniquity of those that offend against him”.

So we should be warned that our lives will be ruined if we do not live according to the standards set forth in the word of God. Idolatry in all its forms will lead to terrible results of ruination.

Chapter 3:7-8

The stress in this section is on the grace of God and the time of God’s grace. We live in a time of affluence and so we have to be careful not to think that we live in a place filled with the trappings of religion, and that this religion is real religion.

Amos was stressing that God had chosen Israel by His grace but God would certainly punish them for their iniquities for as the Apostle Peter tells us judgment begins at the house of God. So do not think that God is an unfair God and that He will allow those that He has chosen to do whatever they want for that would be unfair favouritism.

So despite the hostility  that Amos faced he would make it clear that the lion has roared and will not be silent. The hostile encounter between the prophets and the people were not a surprise.

So he had blown the trumpet and the people should be afraid. And if there is evil in the city God will do what He has said He would do.

God would however do nothing before revealing His secrets unto His servants the prophets

The prophets understood the secret councils of the Lord God and God therefore had given them instructions ahead of time for the things that were going to happen. The heavenly councils guaranteed that actions would follow the words of God and the words of the prophets.

In this matter we refer to the story of the prophet Micaiah when he met the wicked King Ahab and the foolish King of Judah.

Verse 8.  The fact is that the lion has roared and therefore who will not fear? The people knew the significance of the fact that the prophet was right there with them and so they knew that Amos and the other prophets were with them and was speaking the words of God.

Chapter 7:10-15

After his vision about the plumb lines Amos begged God for mercy for he knew that Yahweh would bring a violent end to the house of Jeroboam. But now in his third vision he showed no signs of making a plea for he knew that Yahweh would not relent for His judgment would be righteous. Amos would not have the heart to protest the coming punishment of Israel.

Verse 10.  Clearly Amos had been telling the people what God had told him to say warning them of the judgment to come.

The priest Amaziah was aware that Amos was preaching to the people and interpreted what Amos was saying as sedition against Jeroboam who had appointed Amaziah to his priestly position. 

This corrupt priest of Bethel who was not appointed by God would not interpret the prophecies of Amos as a prophecy from God

So he went to the king Jeroboam and told him that Amos was a traitor from Judah.

Note that the nation was going through the motions of worship but they did not live for the glory of God and their worship had no positive impact on how they treated their fellow citizens. The priests King Jeroboam, the nobility, and the wealthy wanted to keep on conspiring together to oppress the poor and cloaking what they were doing with their religiosity.

So the false and wicked priest Amaziah told the king  Amos hath conspired against thee…

Now note carefully that Amaziah the priest is no servant of God according to 1 Kings: 12 26-33,  and neither was Jeroboam the king of Israel. These two men share a vested interest in the town of Bethel, described by Amaziah as “the King’s chapel” and “the King’s court”.

If Amos’s prophecy about the town and its altars came through, both the king and the priests would be out of a job according to Amos 3:14; 5:5,6.

So Amaziah was telling Jeroboam that Amos was fermenting a conspiracy against him among the people. This was political treason. This was serious for near eastern Kings were conscious of their prophet’s words and popularity among the populace and feared any negative prediction.  Amaziah therefore would send this report to Jeroboam only after Amos prophesied against Jeroboam by name in Amos Chapter 7:9.

Verse 11, “For Amos says, “ Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land”.

This is exactly what God had told Amos to say to the  House of Jeroboam and to the people of Israel, and for the first time the people of Israel were told that they were going to go into exile.

The king was told that  the land was not able to bear all his words.. and so we know that Amos’s message was effective and causing unease among the people. He was not compromising the Lord’s righteous standards or watering down its content just to curry favour with leaders such as Jeroboam and Amaziah.

He was definitely getting people’s attention but for someone like Amaziah Amos was nothing but a troublemaker.

When Amaziah said that Amos was saying this and that the idea was to give the impression that the Prophet’s message was not from God but were simply the Prophet’s own words. Amaziah had no respect for them as messages from Israel’s God but viewed them only as a challenge to the status quo.

Verse 12. .. You seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there”.

Amaziah confronted Amos and bluntly ordered him to get out of the sanctuary, the city and the country! Amos was from Judah and the Northern Kingdom had no use for this interloper. If Amos wanted to make the people’s life miserable then let him do it to his own countrymen

Verse 13.   Amaziah was clearly was saying that the Temple in Bethel was the King’s sanctuary and the town of Bethel was a royal house and so it belonged to King Jeroboam and if there was religious work to be done Amaziah was the one that would do that there.

So Amos is viewed as having no business whatsoever trespassing on the king’s domain. Bethel of all places was an inappropriate town in which Amos should utter messages of doom against Israel as far as Amaziah was concerned. Clearly Amos had become an embarrassment to the political and religious establishment of Israel.

Verse 14. Amos’ rebuttal was quite controversial for it is pointed out he said that he was no prophet.  This obviously meant that he was not a prophet by his own choosing and did not decide to pursue prophesying as a career. He was not a professional prophet.

Neither was he a prophet’s son and that meant that he was not trained in one of the school of the prophets under the tutelage of a fatherly mentor.  We see that reference to the school of the prophets in 2 Kings 2:1-15; 4:1, 38; 5:22; 6:1-7; 9:1.

So Amos saidhe was a herdsmen, and a gatherer of Sycamore fruit… so clearly rather Amos previously earned his living in a totally unrelated occupation. He had been a herdsman and a fig farmer. Note that the term “herdsmen” refers to someone who bred livestock, not just a shepherd who looked after animals.

The fact is that Amos had a respectable agricultural business background before he moved to Israel to prophesy. He was not a “ professional” prophet like many of the false prophets. He had not always made his living by being a prophet but only functioned as a “called” prophet.

 Verse 15.  The Lord took me.. Amos was obviously a man who stuck to the facts and here he let Amaziah know the source of his ministry. Amos was in Israel because Yahweh sent him there to prophesy.

God gave him a definite commission and he obeyed the divine call.

Amos was not intimidated; the prophet from Judah answered to no earthly priest or king, only to the Lord God who took him from his accustomed life on the farm to be a proclaimer of His Word.

 So note the direct impact of our ministry today. One writer notes:

“You see, Authority does not come from our position, which is the way the world often looks at authority, and the way we look at it even in the church.

Authority comes from the calling of God and the message of God. In the authority of his calling from God and the power and the authority of his message, Amos speaks the truth in a very dangerous situation, for Amaziah has the power to take Amos’s life.  Amos could go back home to his business and his comfortable life.

But God has placed His call on Amos and commissioned him to speak His truth, and Amos says that just what he’s going to do.

CONCLUSION

Are we going to follow the ways of the world?  Are we going to simply pray and praise without righteousness and justice? 

Are we going to pay no attention to the evil that is happening around us? 

Are we going to leave the fight against oppression to others and live in our little corner, enjoying the fruits of our labours? 

Just remember that if we have not done what God wants ‘to the least of these the brethren’ we would not have done it to Him’.

Remember the Parable of the Good Samaritan which teaches us who our neighbour is.

God wants spiritual integrity.  It is in very short supply in this world.  So sadly people can without fear of contradiction say many times that Christians do not behave better than the world.  They fight, they steal, they rob and they oppress.

We must warn ourselves that these people condemned by Amos were people that God loved and to whom He had given covenant promises. He had warned them however that they may perish.

So when God sets His love upon a nation or upon an individual, that nation and that individual has responsibilities. When God says that He “knows” your nation or you among all the families of the earth, and has set His love upon you, He is also warning that He will punish you for your iniquities. When a person has great advantages and privileges, that person has great responsibilities. One writer describes courage for us:

“Courage is not the absence of fear; rather, it is the willingness to trust God and do the right thing, to live out your calling. Amos looks at the threat of persecution, and he remains faithful to the message and to the calling that God has given him, trust in God whatever might happen to him.

Courage is looking into the fear, into the persecution, into the difficulty, and stepping out in faith, saying, “ I am God’s person, called to this place to speak His truth to these particular people.

While I have compassion for them and do not want them to die, I also know I have to speak the truth that God has given me”.

God has given people, us, and our nations much divine revelation. He has poured out His light on us, and when we hear the word of God proclaimed and we do not respond, the only conclusion we can come to is that we must fear for our souls. We must fear. It is proper for every believing Christian to as the Apostle Paul said, work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

So God wants to discipline us and to purify His people, for He has desires about what we should be. His warnings and admonitions are really a threat for us.

But He also wants to test those that profess to believe in Him. So if you’re a professor of belief in Jesus Christ the Lord, make sure that the salvation that you have is the kind of salvation that makes you different.

May we encourage each other, and remind each other to turn to the Lord God and ask Him to keep and to preserve us.

May it not be said of us that we have strayed away from and have rejected the law of the Lord, have resorted to creating and living in lies, are idolaters, oppressors of the poor, supporters of injustice to the meek and helpless, prone to enrich ourselves at the expense of others.

May we live lives of righteousness and justice, so that both will flow as a mighty stream.