2005 Bible Reading

This page is not a commentary, nor an outline. It is something to bear in mind in this kind of reading. These materials I learnt from two books by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart (How to Read the Bible for All Its worth; How to Read the Bible Book By Book). You could consult these books if you are interested.

(Pastor Raymond)

Amos

If in the reading of the Book of Amos, we have chills down our spines at times, do not worry; it is normal. The society Amos prophesized against had much in common with the one we are so familiar with.

According to Amos, the time (around 760 B.C.) when he ministered as a prophet was one of the best times in the history of both the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom (cf. 2 Kings 14:23-15:7). Jeroboam II in the North was able to build a strong country when the neighboring power of Assyria was weak. From the face of it, there was absolutely no need for any prophet in this period. People thought it must be the blessings of Yahweh that they were having such a secure time. But the word of God through Amos told us that the people had two fatal flaws: worshipping idols as Yahweh, and social injustice.

The Book of Amos has a very well organized structure. Although the primary message was directed towards the Northern Kingdom (that is Israel, as opposed to Judah in the South), in the first two chapters Amos began with pronouncements of judgment firstly against the surrounding nations, making a loop around Israel before finally homing in on to Samaria (the capital of the Northern Kingdom). Chapters 3-5 each begins with “hear this word” setting out the announcements against Israel. Two woes against false security in religion and in worldly successes follow, beginning in 5:18 and in 6:1. Three vision reports in chapter 7 are followed by two more explanatory vision reports in chapter 8 and part of chapter 9. Finally a message of hope is registered in 9:11-15. Amos repeatedly pointed out that the security the people enjoyed would be short-lived. History showed that one generation after Jeroboam II, Samaria fell in 722 B.C.

What did the people of Israel do wrong? Just recall what an earlier king, Jeroboam I, did that was labeled as “sin” in 1 Kings 12:28-30:“After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, ‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin; the people went even as far as Dan to worship the one there.” In Amos’ time, Jeroboam II repeated it. Look for the name of Bethel and that should alert us to 1 Kings 12:28-30. Notice how in 4:1 Amos mocked them as “cows” on Mount Samaria. Calling some images and likeness of creatures as Yahweh was explicitly prohibited in the 10 Commandments. The Northern Kingdom did just that. It was not a case that they were atheists. They thought they had “faith” when they worshipped the golden calf in Bethel. Sadly, they also saw the riches they robbed from the poor as evidence of blessings from their “god.”

Worshipping a replacement instead of the true God led to a failure to truly know His character. In addition to replacing Yahweh with a creature, greed took over the people of the Northern Kingdom to such an extent that justice was perverted for gains. In the process, the poor, the weak and the powerless were oppressed. Those who had continued to accumulate at the expense of those who had not. The righteousness, kindness and grace of the true God were nowhere to be found. One of the most forceful accusations is found in chapter 5 where Yahweh says in 5:21 “I hate, I despise your religious feasts,” and then in 5:24 “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!”

But has the LORD given up all His people? Amos proclaims in 9:8 that Yahweh “will not totally destroy the house of Jacob.” This passage is not just for the Jews but is also very significant for Gentile Christians because in Acts 15:16-17, the apostle Paul effectively pointed to the “raising up” of Jesus as a fulfillment of the “raising up” of “the booth of David” (Amos 9:11), “so that all other peoples may seek the Lord.” This last sentence, on the basis of which Paul justified his Gentile mission, was a Greek version of the original Hebrew in Amos 9:12. Thus Paul boldly proclaimed “the day” mentioned in Amos had arrived.