The Minor Prophets #4 Amos

I was just another sheepherder and a tender of sycamore fruit... minding my own business. I owned a lovely farm about 12 miles southeast of Jerusalem. The times were good. I loved living in the country of Judah! We loved Yahweh, and so did our king, Uzziah...

Amos, the "Burden Bearer" was called from the country of Judah to prophesy to the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the time of King Jeroboam II along with Jonah and Hosea. He is a little known prophet, most likely because he brought a message of God's charges against the people of Israel and warned of their upcoming judgment. Unlike the people of Ninevah, God's people in the Northern Kingdom did not repent. They were trusting in their material prosperity and military might and ignoring the warnings of Yahweh. Amos records many visions, as well as God's messages for Israel's neighboring countries.

It is hard for us to think of God purposefully destroying a nation. What about the "good" people who live there? What will happen to them? Amos does let us know that God will preserve his "believing remnant." It is the descendants of this same remnant who are living in Israel today!

Jim McMahan does a wonderful job as Amos! Enjoy this 15 min. video as Amos teaches us how to overcome. (15:23)

Click here to download a worksheet. Click here for a copy of Lesson Plan with scriptures and discussion questions.

Scriptures: Amos, 1 Kings 12, 13, 14, 2 Chronicles 26, 1 Cor. 10:12, Ephesians 2:8-9, Isaiah 61:10, Romans 11:5

Questions: (Choose a few)

What was the source of Israel's sin?
How was Amos's message the same as Hosea's? How was it different?
What new things can we learn about God's character from the book of Amos?
Is America today in the same position as Israel was during the reign of JeroboamII? Why or why not?
How can we examine ourselves to see if we may have a false sense of security in material goods and military might rather than God?
How does the 'believing remnant" foreshadow the church today? Why do you think it was important to God for us to understand that he did preserve a believing remnant for Himself? (see help below)
If Jonah, now the senior prophet in the Northern Kingdom, had a conversation with Amos and Hosea, what do you think he might say to them? Why do you think Ninevah repented and Israel did not?
What does Amos 5:13 mean? "Therefore, the prudent keep silent at that time, for it is an evil time."

This 3 minute video shows the actual place of the ancient city of Dan in northern Israel, where the golden calf shrine, set up by King Jeroboam 1, was located. (3:00)

The Watchman Newscast is the best way to keep up with what is going on in the Middle East and Israel. You will love his channel! Check out this video that shows a recent discovery of a seal from the court of King Jeroboam II. (10:00)

You may wish to read additional words from Amos on the "Faithful Remnant: (Answer for Question 6 Above)

The Northern Kingdom of Israel was told she would be destroyed. God had set his eyes on her for harm and not for good. But he also stated through me that Judah would NOT be utterly destroyed. There would be a remnant from all the tribes of Israel. One day, the tabernacle of David would be raised up again, and the captives of Israel would return to the land. They would be planted by God as one united people again.

Remember how my friend, Hosea, had to “act out” the prophecies in his life? Hosea tells us that God teaches us with symbolism, with similes and metaphors.(Hosea 12:10). He uses types and other figures of speech to make his teachings to us more real, to help us understand. In a sense, the entire story of the fall of Israel is a foreshadowing or a “type” too.

The Northern Kingdom of Israel represents the sinful world we live in. At the end of days, we will all be judged. We will be held accountable for our actions, when held up to the standard of the Law of Moses. Many people will be disappointed on judgment day. Just like the people of the Northern Kingdom were “separated” from God, and had chosen the way of the harlot, so too, the world in your day has chosen to go after her many other lovers. God is a God of love, but also a God of justice. His holiness requires he judge sin, because it is his Holy nature. He can only tolerate sin temporarily. Judgment is coming for all of us, too.

But there was a remnant of people from the tribes in the Northern Kingdom who did love Yahweh, and followed him by faith. Those people were called the “faithful” remnant. They were preserved by God himself…(just like we are preserved by our faith in Christ) either in the countries where they were taken, or in the Southern Kingdom of Judah, where they had fled to years earlier. Many of the Levites, who wanted to serve Yahweh, had moved to Judah so that they could serve God in the temple. Other faithful servants of Yahweh from the other tribes, had moved South to Judah to come under his protection as well.

When Jesus Christ came to the earth 660 years after my writings, another type of “remnant” was born. Jesus became the Passover Lamb, dying for the sins of mankind, once and for all. The “faithful” ones, the ones who believed he was the son of God, the Messiah predicted by so many of the prophets of old, and chose to live by faith in Him, became the “elect” the “church” the “believers” the “saved.” This new “faithful remnant” made up of Jews and Gentiles would pass out of judgment and into life, because of the shed blood of Jesus.

God did indeed preserve and save a Jewish “remnant”, too. Your great evangelist, Paul, wrote this of the Jews, Even so, then, at this present time, there is a(Jewish) remnant according to the election of grace. There are members of all the 12 (actually 13!) tribes still alive on the earth in your day, today! God’s promise has come true in part, and will again, fully, in the Day of the Lord, as Joel also taught… “I will bring back the captives of my people Israel. I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up…and in that Day, they will be saved…”

Here is the text of the video lesson... Enjoy!

....What an amazing king he was! He was crowned king at age sixteen. His father, Amaziah, who did not follow Yahweh, was overthrown, and Uzziah was put on the throne in his place. He did so much for Judah with the Lord’s hand upon him! He sought the Lord with the help of his mentor, Zechariah the priest, the grandfather of Hezekiah. As long as he sought the Lord, Judah prospered. We had many military victories against the Philistines, the Arabians, and the Ammonites. While he was king, the country had a standing army of 307,500 armed warriors with mighty power, and under his direction, skillful men invented many new devices to shoot arrows and large stones from the top of the wall in Jerusalem. His fame spread far and wide!

In the Northern Kingdom of Israel, that country was also enjoying a period of prosperity. In the capital city of Samaria, Jeroboam II was king. The prophet Jonah had prophesied that Jeroboam would expand the country to the north and they did, with strong military force.

Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Amos, which means “burden bearer.” Little did I realize growing up how appropriate my name would turn out to be! As I said earlier, I was a sheepherder. Life was good. I had a gift. I could “see things” from God’s point of view. Some people called me a “seer.”

We knew things were not going well there, because one of our prophets from Judah, Hosea, had been sent there to warn the people that God was angry. The true followers of Yahweh knew, that a society that tolerated injustice and idol worship would sooner or later face judgment. From all appearances, things “seemed” to be going well—material prosperity, military victory, and a time of peace. But Israel had a misplaced confidence in Yahweh. They were operating in an attitude of pride and false sense of security. They had abandoned the greatness of their nation and they didn’t even know it. They had abandoned their heritage, and spurned the love of the creator of the universe. They thronged to shrines for to worship at places of their own creation and somehow believed they were immune from any disaster.

Right about this time, as I was following my sheep one day out in the fields, I received a call from the Lord. I was also called, like Hosea, to go to the Northern Kingdom with a message from God. When God gives testimony through two witnesses, you know the word has been determined! I immediately obeyed, and joined Hosea in the north.

The message I was to deliver to Israel was not a happy one, certainly it was like carrying a burden! Like a basket of fruit, that is old and rotten, they were ripe for judgment. They certainly did not welcome me in Samaria! Not only was I from Judah, but I brought a very unpopular message that very few people believed and not many wanted to hear.

But I am a bit ahead of myself. My first task was to announce judgment on all the neighboring nations of Israel. I had a message for each of them, and none of them was pleasant. Did you know God judges the nations? He does hold us accountable as individuals, but he also judges us as a nation. So, for my first assignment I gave prophetic words for Damascus in the North, the capital of Syria, also called the Aramans , the Gaza strip, where the Philistines lived, Tyre, a Phonecian city, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and even Judah. In each case, God told them what violent or inhumane thing they had done to anger him, and what their judgement would be. In every case, the judgment was fire. Fire on the wall, or the palaces, for the most part. Even Judah was called on the carpet. They had not been keeping the commandments and had been lying. Judah was also given a judgment of fire! You can read the gorey details in chapters one and two of my book.

But it was Israel, that was in the forefront of God’s mind. Part of my message was directed at the most privileged people of the culture. They had no love for their neighbors, they took advantage of the poor, and only looked out for their own concerns. Many were so rich that they had summer and winter houses and palaces. There was a huge disparity between the rich and the poor. But that was not all. They were selling their brothers into slavery for a pair of shoes. They were engaging in perverted sexual practices, and they had shut the mouths of the prophets of Yahweh that were still in the land. Talk about censorship! God said they had been “storing up” robbery and violence.

So God had tried to get their attention by bringing correction. But they did not return to Him. He sent them lack of food, drought, blight, locusts, and bloody battles. Because of their refusal to return to him, God compares his anger to a roaring lion, crouched and ready to pounce on his prey!

I gave three sermons to plead God’s case.

While in Hosea’s prophecies you sense the sorrow of God, in my book, you sense his justice and anger. His tone is sarcastic at times, and also takes a tone of giving a final warning. He lays out their offenses against himself and their fellow man one by one. I urge you to read them. Do any of these things apply to you today? As he lays them out, he warns of his coming judgments. Not only is he going to destroy the shrines at Bethel and Dan, he is going to wipe out the great houses of the wealthy… and the judgments kept coming. Finally, he said it.Quote-- “I abhor the pride of Jacob…and hate his palaces, therefore I will deliver up the city (Samaria) and all that is in it. I will raise up a nation against you, oh house of Israel, says the lord God of hosts, and they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath, to the Valley of Arabah.” In other words, the entire country would be destroyed from head to toe. Further, God himself declares, “Though Israel shall go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword and it shall slay them. I will set my eyes on them for harm and not for good… I will destroy this kingdom from the face of the earth. “ You can now see why I was not the most popular guy in town. I was banned from Samaria and preaching anywhere near the king.

I was then charged to sing a lament for the country of Israel. So mournful, so sad! Here are some of the words. “ The virgin of Israel has fallen and she will rise no more. She lies forsaken on her land and there is no one to raise her up!” So many would be slain or go into captivity! Seeing into the future, I could barely comprehend the thought. This lament would be echoed by the entire country about 40 years later. In 732 BC the northern parts of Israel began to be conquered by the Assyrians, and in 722 Samaria fell to King Sargon II. He destroyed the city and took 27, 290 captives and dispersed them throughout his empire. Israel as a nation was gone. God cried out five times in my book for Israel to return to him! But they did not. They made their choice.

In the remainder of my word to Israel, I was given 5 visions. There is more, so much more in these visions, but my book is too long to tell you it all! But in conclusion, I would like to give a word of encouragement.

First of all, God does not judge a nation without warnings. He gave them warnings that they ignored, as I listed above. The warnings can be physical or political disasters.

Warnings can also come through the prophets. In my book, Amos, Yahweh declared this,

“ Surely the Lord does nothing unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.”

Be listening to your pastors and teachers. What are they saying? What are your national leaders saying. Do they agree with the word of God? Are they issuing warnings? Are you willing to hear words of correction?

So how does my message relate to your life, today? What I am seeing, is that many believers of Jesus have a false sense of security. They believe their salvation is all they need for a ticket to heaven and that their actions, and the stability of their country, gives them ultimate protection from all dangers here on the earth. This is so wrong! Pride was one of the ultimate sins of Israel, and it is still your biggest enemy today. When there is no more fear of the Lord , Be careful! Calamities that come against a nation can be from the Lord himself!

Israel was told she would be destroyed. God had set his eyes on them for harm and not for good. But he also stated that Judah would NOT utterly be destroyed. There would be a remnant from all the tribes of Israel. One day, the tabernacle of David would be raised up again, and the captives of Israel would return to the land. They would be planted by God as one united people, and no longer be pulled up!

So, God’s remedy for the individuals living in Israel, a judged nation, a nation he had set out to utterly destroy? And for you?

Seek God, and live. Seek good, and not evil that you may live, so that the Lord will be with you. Hate evil, love good. Establish justice in your courts, and maybe God will be gracious to you, and he will preserve a remnant. He does not need your routine sacrifices and songs. He requires justice and righteousness.

And remember what my colleague Hosea penned:

Those who dwell under his shadow shall return. They shall be revived like grain, and grow like a vine. They will say, “ I am like a green cypress tree. Your fruit is found in me.”

Yes, we who dwell in the shelter of Almighty God through the blood of Jesus, have nothing to fear. It is HIS righteousness that we are given as a free gift to cover us! We will pass out of judgment into life! Just as God protected for himself and delivered a believing remnant from the country of Israel, so too he will cover and deliver us into his kingdom.

The Minor Prophets #4 Amos

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