Amos, the Doomsday Prophet

Amos was a shepherd who lived in the region of Tekoa, not many miles from the city of Jerusalem. He earned his living by raising sheep and taking care of sycamore trees. As a wool grower, Amos must have had his yearly journey among the markets of the land which is probably why he was familiar with northern Israel and her great sanctuaries. According to the Cambridge Bible:

One hour westward from Tekoa would bring him (Amos) to the high road between Hebron and the north, with its troop of pilgrims passing to Beer-sheba. It was but a half-hour more to the watershed and an open view of the Philistine plain. Bethlehem was only six and Jerusalem twelve miles from Tekoa. Ten miles further, across the border of Israel, lay Bethel with its temple, seven miles further was Gilga and twenty miles further still Samaria the capital. These had markets as well as shrines; their annual festivals would be also great fairs. It is certain that Amos visited them; it is even possible that he went to Damascus, in which the Israelites had at the time their own quarters for trading... By road and market he would meet with men of other lands…Amos was not a citizen of the northern kingdom to which he almost exclusively refers; but it was because he went up and down in it, using those eyes which the desert air had sharpened, that he so thoroughly learned the wickedness of its people, the corruption of Israel's life in every strand and class of society.

Amos was not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet. He was not a priest nor a member of the prophets school. He was an ordinary man chosen by God for a specific purpose: to prophesy to Israel. God called him, shepherd’s staff in hand, and sent him forth to warn His straying people.

Background

Amos’ message was to an age of unprecedented post-war prosperity in the middle of the eighth century. Assyrian invasions of the preceeding century had ceased because of that empires internal struggles. As Cowins points out,

The Assyrians had reduced the Syrians of Damascus to a state of vassalage. The earlier kings of Israel and Judah had decisively defeated the Moabites and Edomites. Assyria herself was too busy checking the inroads of the barbaric Armenians to interfere with the progress of events in the west. Indeed, the Assyrian policy of conquest had so far exhausted the manhood and resources of its people that Assyria was no longer to be feared.

The concurrent reigns of Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam of Israel were marked by a period of peace and prosperity, particularly in Israel, which approached in appearance the golden age of David and Solomon. Under Jeroboam II, Israel enjoyed a remarkable cultural, social, and economic revival. Once the menace of war had been removed, the northern kingdom was free to control the trading routes of the east which passed through its newly acquired territory.

One consequence of this was the rise of a rich merchant class that shared with the nobility the wealth of the nation and created new demands for an increasingly wide variety of luxury items. Materialism had become the order of the day.

Politically, the kingdom was apparently secure. Samaria, its capital, was considered impregnable. It was the last glorious period in the history of the kingdom of Israel. The hopes and expectations of the people were lifted to the highest heights. The people believed that the Lord their God had been with them in their efforts to restore the ancient glory of Israel. They looked forward with great anticipation to still greater successes against their hostile neighbors, and confidently expected a great “Day of the Lord” when God Himself would take the battlefield against their antagonists.

It was also a time of fervent patriotism. Everyone seemed unanimous in the conviction that God had finally begun to fulfill His ancient promises to the nation. The blessing of Noah (Genesis 9:25-27) had promised that the Philistines and Canaanites would be conquered. Balaam (Numbers 22-24) had seen the ultimate victory of the nation, and the blessings of Jacob had promised the greatest prosperity to the tribes of Israel. Jeroboam could therefore point with pride to his achievements on the field of battle, and amidst the general rejoicing at the newly found emancipation, the king was hailed as the savior of the people and the defender of the national religion. Such was the climate into which, without warning, was catapulted the dynamic personality of Amos.

The Call For Social Justice

The prosperity enjoyed by the northern kingdom was accompanied by an almost unparalleled degree of social corruption, which was caused primarily by the demoralizing influence of Canaanite Baal-worship that Jeroboam II developed at the local shrines. One was on the southern border at Bethel and another at the northern border at Dan. He placed a golden calf in each and instructed the people to do their worshipping there. According to ancient legend, Jeroboam II spent much of his time in Bethel. The shrine was to Yahweh, but not the Yahweh of Israel's tradition. This was a rich man's god, requiring elaborate and costly ritual, and sacrifices far beyond the affordability of most of the people.

The effect of this degenerating influence upon Hebrew society began to be felt in the corruption of justice, in willful and luxurious living of the upper classes, and in the general decay of social unity. The wealthy exhibited no responsibility towards the poor, and instead of relieving their economic distress, the rich seemed hell-bent upon depriving their less fortunate counterparts of all their property. Small farmers were dispossessed by the wealthy class in order to make possible the accumulation of vast estates, and where this could not be done legally, it was accomplished by means of bribing the judiciary to render judgment in favor the rich. Within a short period, the nation whose strength had subsisted in the mass of its independent citizens was divided into the self-indulgent rich and the oppressed poor. In just a few short years, the poor had been reduced further to the level of serfs, and when circumstances dictated, their masters over trivial things frequently sold them into bondage. The virtual disappearance of the middle class marked a turning point in the stability of Israel’s life.

The worship of strange gods or the worship of Yahweh with corrupt rituals was commonplace. The temples had apartments for prostitutes, both male and female and there was often sacrifices offered to satisfy the god. All of these degenerative practices portended an ominous future for the nation.

The impending downfall and utter collapse of the northern kingdom is the predominant theme of the book of Amos. The basis for his prophecy is not the rise in power of the Assyrian empire with its threat of invasion from the north but rather, the injustice and immorality expressed in the political, economic, and religious life of the nation. It was Amos’ conviction that Yahweh is a God of justice and His power over the nations of the earth is evidenced by the fact that transgression of the principles of justice and social righteousness will inevitably be followed by utter ruin and decay.

Amos was summoned by God to warn the Northern Kingdom of Israel of its impending doom due to the collapse of justice and the moral and spiritual decline of the nation. Let me hasten to emphasize that Amos did not travel to Israel in the footsteps of Elijah and Elisha; working miracles and wonders. He went by divine commission with a prophet message. He had no soothing or cushiony words to comfort the poor and those in adversity. Indeed, he had only threatening words of vengeance and punishment for those who defied God’s will. Justice, not mercy, was what Amos demanded.

In Amos’ mind, social justice was a vital part of the covenant responsibility. He declared it so ferociously and defined it so sharply that the community of Israel must have thought he was crazy. Of course, people tend to think you are “crazy” when you speak candidly and truthfully. We are not too far removed from the response of the children of Israel. We live in a time when you are expected to sugar coat, sweeten, soften it down a bit. But Amos' words were sharp and cutting. He was a realist who dealt with things as they were. Justice was what his God demanded, and it was the smug substitution of form and ritual for justice that aroused his righteous indignation. Amos spoke for God and God alone and the Word of God is quick, powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.

Let us be clear; justice to Amos is not just conformity to a civil code, though it is involved to some degree. But for him, it was having the right dealings with and relationship toward others in the Covenant tradition. It grieved Amos to the core of his being to see that justice and righteousness were so perverted that the very

Covenant with God was dishonored and defiled. Men oppresses the innocent and took bribes to acquit the guilty, a practice specifically forbidden by the Law. Those who could not afford to pay bribes went free, while those who could not were held guilty. Thus, justice was unequally applied, another practice forbidden by the Law. Hebrew law was especially considerate of the poor and needy, but this principle was also violated as ways and means were found to prevent the right judgment from being executed whenever it was in favor of he the poor. So much of the practices of Israel were in direct violation to the covenant laws that it seemed as if Israel was in a conspiracy against its own indigent.

Amos insisted that true religion begins and ends in recognition of the holiness of God: a holiness that must find its expression in the personal and corporate life of Israel. He perceived with astonishing clearness that the physical and intellectual strength of a nation could be destroyed by immorality and overindulgence.

However, we may want to look at it, the prophecy of Amos went directly to the heart of matters. It stripped pretence from the judicial system, where nepotism and preferential treatment rather than justice prevailed; from industry and commerce, where the love of man is by the love of gain; from altars of religion, where officials were busy with their services and indifference to reality.

Amos bluntly told Israel that they were a bunch of greedy, unjust, dirty and profane people who defended and excused themselves on the ground that they were God’s elect and therefore, no real harm could befall them. Amos adamantly rejected this notion and vociferously declared that God had no favorites and that in actuality the opposite was true. The fact that Israel had been chosen above all the nations of the earth had placed greater moral obligations upon them. To the extent that they failed to meet these obligations would their punishment be greater than that of their enemies.

Neither did Amos “bite his tongue” when admonishing the women of his day whom he called “cows of Bashan” because they only cared for luxury and worldly pleasures (4:11). He describes them as a group of heartless, ignorant women who used folks to gratify their own lustful appetites.

It is troubling to the spirit when one thinks about what the people of Israel thought the “Day of the Lord" was going to be like. In their imagination, it would be a grand and glorious event when God would defeat all their opponents; give them the privilege of rule, and shower them with all the material advantages her patriots desired. Oh, how much they were looking forward to the 'Great Day of the Lord.'

For Amos, the coming of the Day of Yahweh would not be a day of triumph and joy for Israel, If God was indeed a God of justice, He would not show special favoritism to the Israelites by allowing them to escape the type of punishment that He had brought upon other peoples for exhibiting the same kind of conduct. Moreover, if Israel were standing in a right relationship to God, which they would show by their faithful pursuit of justice and righteousness, the Day of the Lord would be a day of great joy and jubilation. However, since they were not willing to do this, the "Day" they longed for would actually be their doomsday.

I wonder if there is any similarity between ancient Israel and modern America.

Amos saw in Israel a particular situation in which people were forced to live on the lowest level while others enjoyed the nation's wealth and he did not hesitate to point out the injustice which he observed. He was a deeply concerned servant of God and grieved over the ridiculousness of it all. He felt that the word of God, which he had no choice but to speak, was not only about false worship, but also about this lack of justice in Israel.

It is clear that the teaching of Amos, with his concern about the rich and the poor, is of great importance for us today. He reminds us that the struggle to make a just society is a matter for all, but particularly the Christian. We must not feel secure in our personal religiosity and do nothing while God's poor and less fortunate go unnoticed. We must first see the injustice; that is, acknowledge its existence even in these times. Then we must expose it for all the evil that it is worth.

Yet, it is imperative that we Christians keep in mind that a better form of human society that we hope to build is not the same as the Kingdom of God. After all, evil is not wiped out when we have ameliorated the conditions in which the less privileged have to live. The Sovereign God is in final control of His creation and will re-make it according to His purpose. The role Christians must play towards bringing in justice is vitally necessary, God ordained, and absolutely mandatory; but it is partial and temporary, it is not final. The last word in human history is God. Selah.

Rev. Saundra L. Washington D.D.

AMEN Ministries

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