Amos has what I see as a brilliant bait-and-switch in the first chapter of his prophecy. Amos starts by condemning all of Israel’s neighbors. What is interesting to note is that each of Israel’s neighbors are denounced not for their idolatry, but for the way they treat their neighbor (almost as if the whole Law and the Prophets were to hang on such a command — huh, funny).
Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab — they all are chastised for not looking out for other human beings.
Then, as chapter 2 begins, we move into a denouncement of Israel’s brother Judah. You can almost feel the glee of Israel as they hear that God is indeed on their side and against their neighbors and their way of life.
But then the thunderbolt comes. The prophecy shifts toward Israel and will stay there as the eight other chapters will begin to outline the litany of Israel’s offenses and God’s loss of patience.
So let’s see what it is.
Oh, and please read all of Amos for yourself, just to make sure I’m not cherry-picking verses out of the book; please go and find all of those references to idolatry I was told about and get back to me.
Let’s start at the beginning of Israel’s problems:
This is what the Lord says:
“For three sins of Israel,
even for four, I will not relent.
They sell the innocent for silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals.
They trample on the heads of the poor
as on the dust of the ground
and deny justice to the oppressed.
Father and son use the same girl
and so profane my holy name.
They lie down beside every altar
on garments taken in pledge.
In the house of their god
they drink wine taken as fines.
Even the few lines that appear to be about idolatry to begin with turn into judgment upon their lack of hospitality to those in need. They “lie down next to every altar on garments taken in pledge” — a direct violation of Deuteronomy’s call to take care of those in need. They drink wine in the house of their god, but it’s the fact that the wine is taken as a fine that becomes the issue. But let’s not make any hasty judgments; let’s just keep reading.
How about chapter 4?
Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria,
you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy
and say to your husbands, “Bring us some drinks!”
Seems like a justice issue to me. But we need to make sure.
You levy a straw tax on the poor
and impose a tax on their 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 offenses
and how great your sins.
There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes
and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times,
for the times are evil.
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.
Are we preaching yet? One more, just for good measure.
“I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
your assemblies are a stench to me.
Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!
And Amos will travel around with an image that drives his message. In chapter 7, Amos will discuss a vision that God gives him of a plumb line, which is an ancient (and not-so-ancient) architectural instrument. It was used for the same things we use a level for today. A plumb line is essentially a weight on a string, which when held up and assisted by gravity, shows you a straight line — “true to plumb,” they say. It means your wall is straight and not leaning.
And God has made it quite clear what’s wrong with his wall. There is a lack of justice for the poor and needy.
But in the midst of this woe is a point that we will make over and over and over again. God does not forsake His people forever. He does not abandon them. There is never a point where God leaves us without a future. Even in the midst of the greatest of disciplinary action, there is always the bright hope of tomorrow.
“In that day
“I will restore David’s fallen shelter—
I will repair its broken walls
and restore its ruins—
and will rebuild it as it used to be,
so that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations that bear my name,”
declares the Lord, who will do these things.
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman
and the planter by the one treading grapes.
New wine will drip from the mountains
and flow from all the hills,
and I will bring my people Israel back from exile.
“They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
I will plant Israel in their own land,
never again to be uprooted
from the land I have given them,”
says the Lord your God.
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