Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Amos 3: 1-11

Amos prophesied to both kingdoms, Israel and Judah. In this passage, the warnings of God’s punishment for sin are familiar and predictable. The images he uses however are fascinating and in many ways very modern.

He begins in Verses 1 and 2 to make it very clear he is speaking to the whole family, to Israel and to Judah, indeed to all the twelve tribes. And to put a very sharp point on it, he describes them as those God rescued from slavery in Egypt. It’s like saying, “Hey, you. I saved your life, remember? Well pay attention. I have something to tell you.

 In the next verses – 3 to 5 the prophet asks a series of questions to which the answer is always “NO”.

He asks if two can walk together unless they are in agreement. This opening question is critical. It underlines the relationship God has with his people. They used to be able to walk together. But since the people have taken a path of unrighteousness, God can no longer walk with them. He must punish them until they repent and return to him.

Lions do not roar when they have no prey. And God does not speak out unless he has something to tell us. He roars his displeasure at our sin. In Amos time, God roared through his prophets and through enemies who attacked the people of Israel as punishment for their transgressions.

Birds do not swoop down into traps when there is no bait. Traps do not leap up and catch prey that has not triggered the spring. So too, God does not remove the disciplines he has sent to steer the people back into spiritual health. In Amos time, the Assyrians were the snares and traps God sent to chastise his people. These signs were supposed to be God’s plain warnings that the people had wandered off the path. But they were utterly ignored. In fact, In Amos’ time, the people had slipped back into the worship of golden idols. They had rigged the laws so the rich could bankrupt those who had debts. They had forced the poor to suffer so the rich could become richer.

Amos’ imagery becomes more obvious and less poetic. He asks if a trumpet sounds in the city, do the people not tremble in fear. Of course they do. A trumpet means an enemy is about to attack.

In Verse 6 Amos brings it all together:

“When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?”

His point is that suffering and disasters are never random: they are signs of God’s displeasure. He also explains that the Sovereign Lord does nothing that he does not reveal to his prophets.  So when the prophets speak and the people do not listen, who then is responsible for the punishment that comes?

“The Lion has roared – who will not fear?

The Sovereign Lord has spoken – who can but prophesy?”

Verse 9 seems almost sarcastic in tone. The kingdoms of Egypt and Ashdod (meaning all the Philistine lands) are invited to sit like an audience upon the mountains of Samaria to watch as God punishes the whole of Israel and Judah.

Verse 10 contains the saddest statement of condemnation in the whole passage. The Lord declares:

“They do not know how to do right, who store up in their fortresses
what they have plundered and looted.”

Quite justly, the punishment matches the crime. An enemy will invade, pull down all their strongholds and plunder their fortresses, as they have done to the weak, the marginalized and the poor. Amos says this is what happens to those who forget their Covenant with God.

Is there a lesson here for us in our society? Can we say because we have Jesus we are able to walk with God? Or is more asked of us? If so, will our house of cards come crashing down and be taken away, while our enemies laugh at us from the hills around? Or will we finally hear the lion roar?

Peter Mansell           First Snowstorm, November 2014