Our family is from West London. We used to live in a 3 bedroom terraced house in Ealing right up to the time I was nearly 9 years old when Mum and Dad took the very bold decision to move to New Zealand.The house had a small narrow garden which the Boys Brigade destroyed with a game of football on the cold November night before we left for New Zealand. The new owner would have loved finding his lovely grass lawn a mud bath and no chance to do anything about it until the Spring.
I am the oldest, I have 2 brothers and 1 sister. There wasn't a lot of space in the house but there were walls to climb and a staircase to slide down so it was quite a lot of fun for 4 kids. One summer the conservatory got filled with a large wasp nest so that we couldn't get to the garden for several days and during that time we drove Mum up the wall.
Because we could hear her coming could usually quieten down quickly enough so that by the time she opened the door of the lounge everything was a picture of peace and harmony. Mum would threaten to whack us all in order to get the right one. Some people have this view of the Lord that he is like some parent shouting from the upstairs room "Don't make me come down there!"
Last weekend at Church Camp we listened to Angus Buchan give an important message for our time about "Being Still" from Psalm 46:10. The world has become such a chaotic place and moves at a frantic pace. Angus recalled the story of a rich businessman from New York going to a mental home for a retreat from the busyness of his life. The rich man was given 3 words by one of the mental patients - "Too Busy" and "Why?".
It's great to hear from God isn't it? Well yes, but we can't always expect a nice message 😬
Let's look at the book of Amos. Just to give a quick background history;
David's son Solomon married foreign wives and led the people into worshipping false gods which brought God's judgement - most of the kingdom would be torn away and given to someone else (1 Kings 11:9-13) . This came to pass when the northern tribes rebelled against the heavy taxes that were imposed to finance the building of the temple under Solomon and were to be increased under his son Rehoboam.
The northern tribes elected Jeroboam, son of Nebat as the first king of the northern kingdoms of Israel. Israel was split into a northern and southern kingdom. Jeroboam was an official in the Jerusalem court, not part of the royal line and God's promise to David. To prevent the Northern Tribes of repenting and returning to the Lord, Jeroboam set up 2 golden calves at Bethel and Dan and told the people that they were the gods that led Israel out of Egypt! What followed in the North was a long line of evil kings after Jeroboam including Ahab and his partner in crime, Jezebel (Jehu was anointed his replacement by Elijah and the only good king). Following Jehu was Jehoahaz (evil) then Joash (evil) then Jeroboam II
Evil because they encouraged idolatry and led the people of Israel into sin.
Jeroboam II was the son of King Joash, and the great grandson of King Jehu. He was the 13th (unlucky for some) king of the northern kingdom of Israel. It is to Jeroboam II that Amos is sent.
2 Kings 14:23-24 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit.
Meanwhile in the South, the royal line of David, the kings were maybe 80% of the time good including Jehoshaphat, Joachim, Amaziah and Uzziah. Uzziah was a good king;
2 Chronicles 26:3-5 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother’s name was Jekoliah; she was from Jerusalem. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.
But he went off the rails a little bit because of his pride. He didn't lead the people into sin by worshiping idols but he assumed the place of the priest in burning incense at the altar which was incorrect (2 Chronicles 26:16-23)
Isn't it interesting that the man elected by the people was evil but the man elected by God was good! So much for democracy 😬
Who was Amos?
Amos 1:1 The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa—the vision he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.
Amos lived in between the time of David and the captivity in Babylon. Amos was living away from the busyness of life working as a shepherd up in the hills of Tekoa when he received his message from God. Tekoa is 12 miles south from Jerusalem and visible from Bethlehem. It lies on an elevated hill, which spreads itself out into an irregular plain of moderate extent. The wilderness next to Tekoa extends down to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on the earth.
Amos was in the perfect place away from the big city to listen to God while he worked. I can guarantee you he was a happy guy living and working in that environment. Until that fateful day when God actually spoke to him!
It was not a nice message! Read Amos 1:3-2:8
Amos 1:3-5 This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not relent. Because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth, I will send fire on the house of Hazael that will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad. I will break down the gate of Damascus; I will destroy the king who is in the Valley of Aven and the one who holds the scepter in Beth Eden. The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir,” says the Lord.
What follows are very similar prophecies against Philistine, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah and Israel. Amos had a very hard task;
- Deliver bad news to the enemy kings - Syria, Philistine, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab. I think I'd throw that scroll over the wall, shout out "Package from God!" and run wouldn't you?
- Deliver bad news to the Kings of Judah and Israel especially
Has the Lord asked you to do anything hard lately? Please spare a thought for Amos...
One thing about being a shepherd, it was not a respected job. Dr. Joachim Jeremias says shepherds were “despised in everyday life.” In general, they were considered second-class and untrustworthy.
Certainly Amos wasn't a certified Prophet from the College. He didn't have a doctorate in prophecy. The King's first question would have been, is this man qualified, he smells like sheep dung!
Amos had to walk the 12 miles to Jerusalem to give the message to King Uzziah, the king of Judah. Then he would have had to walk another 12 miles North to Bethel to deliver the message to King Jeroboam, king of the rebel alliance Israel, the 10 tribes who had rejected the House of David.
The main target for the remaining 7.5 chapters of Amos is Israel, which would have been assumed to be the rebel tribes.
Perhaps Uzziah was sitting there smugly knowing he'd behaved pretty well and listening to the longer list of charges against Jeroboam until in Amos 3, the message takes a nasty turn.
Amos 3:1 Hear this word, people of Israel, the word the Lord has spoken against you—against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt:
Remember that moment when the satisfaction that your brother is getting in trouble turns to horror when you realise you are also going to get a whack?
Did either kingdom repent? Well in fact it overall got worse in both kingdoms if you read the character of each succeeding king. The line of evil kings in the North continued and within a few short decades after Jeroboam's death the Assyrians came and defeated the northern kingdom. There was a little bit more of a delay in the South because 2 of the kings - Hezekiah and Josiah were good and dealt with the shrines and incense burning on the hills. However, within 150 years, the southern kingdom was also defeated, Jerusalem destroyed and a remnant taken back to Babylon in captivity.
It is true that 10 tribes of Israel remain lost. Only Judah, Simeon and Levi can be identified in Israel today. The judgment on Israel is not forever. Amos finishes with a promise that Israel will be restored.
Amos 9:14-15 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.
The Lord will sort out the problem in the Middle East and I don't think any of the family will be spared!
What do we learn from Amos? Don't be surprised when you are still and listen to God if the message isn't always roses. When we bring a message for the Church, it is usually one of encouragement. That is good especially when the Church is suffering. But not always!
And what is needed for New Zealand? Here there is a separation of Church and State. We are like the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. What is God wanting to say to our Prime Minister, the one elected by the people and to the Church elected by God? This is a generation that looks a little like the one Jesus described as the Last one. Bill English is a Christian, we have a good king but he needs wisdom and strength. Will we be still and listen for the message for New Zealand? What will we do with a message like the one given to Amos? Will we be brave like him?
Notes:
1. The prophet Amos is not thought to be the father of the prophet Isaiah even though they both lived at the same time. The name of Amos is spelled differently to the name of Isaiah's father in Hebrew.
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