Amos
5
Amos was not a graduate of the school of the prophets. He was a layman- a contemporary of Hosea, Isaiah and Micah. He’s been charged with an unpopular message – a pronouncement of punishment – not what people living in comfort wish to hear. The idle rich and immoral lounge lizards can hardly fail to catch the gist of what he’s saying.
The date line is around 760 BC. The Israelites wanted a religion that met their needs and never stopped to ask, “What does God want?” It never dawned on them that if they reneged on the covenant, their covenant keeping God would implement the penalties spelt out in that same covenant. Deuteronomy chapter 28 outlines the blessings and curses in explicit detail.
They have forgotten that their God formed the mountains, created the wind, turns dawn to darkness and treads the high places of the earth – He is the Lord God Almighty.
This God ‘reveals His thoughts to man’ and Amos has clearly heard what God is saying. It’s in chapter 4 verse 12: “This is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel.” Is this hell-fire preaching or the last glimmer of hope when Amos says ‘your God’? - The God Israel had covenanted with at Sinai, the God she had now so grievously offended.
Chapter 5 begins on a sombre note. It’s a song of grief. “Hear this word, O house of Israel.” You’ve stopped listening, so now actions will speak louder than words. An invader will waste you – Quick “Seek Me and live” – a remnant could yet escape extreme judgement.
Avoid the idolatrous shrines at all costs. “Do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal. Do not journey to Beersheba.” Going on a pilgrimage to a one-time holy place is no substitute for a relationship with the all time Living God.
They need to reflect that they turn justice into bitter injustice, but the Lord God can turn night into day. Time’s up for casting, ‘righteousness to the ground’. Time’s up for those who ‘despise him who tells the truth’. God says to Israel “You won’t profit from your ill gotten gains won through exploitation and trampling on the poor. You’ll forfeit them all”
Amos is longing for his hearers to make a pilgrimage to God – to set aside time, not to go to Bethel or Gilgal or Beersheba – as if there were any virtue in making the journey – but rather to have a transforming personal encounter with the Lord and have their inner spiritual life renewed.
Isaiah 55 verses 6- and 7 announces the same message: “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.” These pilgrimages to the idol shrines have been likened to Bank Holiday family outings devoid of serious religious or spiritual content.
The people don’t want God to make a difference in their lives. They don’t want change. They like things as they are. Practise their religion at the shrine. The last thing they wanted was for God to speak to them. Perhaps they’d forgotten that it was the speaking God who encountered their ancestor Jacob at Bethel long ago.
Meanwhile, back in the real word, Amos tells us what’s going on:
Chapter 5 verses 11 to 13: “You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. For I know how many are your offences and how great your sins. You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts. Therefore the prudent man keeps quiet in such times, for the times are evil.”
Amos – the prophet who feared no man – is making his words count. Because the tone of voice is not included in a translation, we don’t know if he was ranting and raving or, only with great difficulty, able to hold back the tears. His cry is urgent, a matter of life or death.
Verses 14 and 15 “Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say He is. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.”
Do we presume on God’s grace? – Reckon He’s with us when we live contrary to His commands? Maybe it’s high time we all began to seek Him and live.