Crossing The Threshold-1

CROSSING The THRESHOLD-I—Amos 1:1-2

Attention:

A Threshold is a crossover or transition zone or optimal use zone. Where the upper limit or end of effectiveness is reached.

An automobile transmission—Each gear is limited in it’s response. Each of the gears has a threshold beyond which it will not optimally operate. When the particular gear reaches its limit, something else has to take over. It is meshed with other gears &/or dampening or enhancing systems in order to supply power in the correct manner. A very different way of working has to be employed.

When the threshold is reached, of God’s toleration of sin in the world & His people, His wrath takes over & He approaches them in a very different way.

God used (His servant)Amos to declare God’s new relationship with His people.

Amos declared God’s strained relationship with His people.

An amiable/good relationship between God & His people can be so changed that it invites God’s wrath.

A failed relationship with God evokes His wrath.

What does a failed relationship with God evoke(bring about/cause)?

What results from God’s Crossing His Threshold?

God is Longsuffering—

Rom. 2:4—“Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, & longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”

Neh. 9:17—“They refused to obey, And they were not mindful of Your wonders That You did among them. But they hardened their necks, And in their rebellion They appointed a leader To return to their bondage. But You are God, Ready to pardon, Gracious & merciful, Slow to anger, Abundant in kindness, And did not forsake them.”

BUT...

God can Reach/Cross His Threshold & we discover that

1—A failed relationship with God evokes...

a PUBLIC REVELATION(:1a)

Explanation:(:1a-c) Insight/Public Record/Messenger

:1a-c—“The words of Amos, who was among the sheepbreeders of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, & in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.”

Amos’ is the first written prophecy of the time. He was a contemporary of Hosea(~750BC+ff.), Isaiah(~740BC+ ff.), & Micah(~735BC+ ff.). He prophesied after the time of Joel & Jonah.—Nelson’s

“The words of Amos.....which he saw concerning Israel”

Amos’ “words” are recorded here for the sake of his own generation as well as for posterity—such as for you, & me, & future generations.

Heb. 11:39-40—“And all these[the faithful], having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.”

“who was among the sheepbreeders of Tekoa”

Amos may have been a man of some means, as the only other reference to the word translated “Sheepbreeders/Herdmen/Sheepherders”[dqn] is applied to Mesha king of Moab(2Kgs. 3:4). There we are told that King Mesha(the sheepbreeder) regularly supplied the King of Israel with a hundred thousand lambs & the wool of a hundred thousand rams. Amos was not “among” the sheepbreeders as a shepherd[her-usual word] among them(it seems), but appears himself to be a breeder of sheep. Yet he himself “followed the flock”(Amos 7:15). Thus Amos may be uniquely using the term to describe a ‘boots on the ground’ relationship with the workings of being a herdsman.

Amos 7:14-15—“Then Amos answered, & said to Amaziah: “I was no prophet, Nor was I a son of a prophet, But I was a sheepbreeder[rqwb] And a tender of sycamore[sycamore fig] fruit. Then the LORD took me as I followed the flock, And the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’”

Regardless of his position, Amos was not so enamored with his social status that he was distracted from honoring God’s direction. He easily gave himself to faithfully proclaim God’s word.

*Myself—I was a lab tech for Skidaway Institute, Savannah when God called me. “Words”—rbd dabar—1) Speech, word, speaking, thing. Strong—A word; by implication--A matter(as spoken of) or thing; adverbially--A cause.

“Amos”—owme `Awmows—= “Burden” or ‘One sustained by YaHWeH’

“Was Among/Was one of”—hyh haw-yaw—1) To be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out. Strong—To exist, i.e. Be or become, come to pass(always emphatic, & not a mere copula or auxiliary).

“Sheepbreeders/Herdmen/Sheepherders/Shepherds”—dqn noqed'—1) Sheep-raiser, sheep-dealer, sheep-tender. Strong—A spotter(of sheep or cattle), i.e. The owner or tender(who thus marks them). Used 2X.?From—dqn naw-qod'—from an unused root meaning to mark (by puncturing or branding); spotted.

“Tekoa”—ewqt tek-o'-ah— = “A stockade”—2) A town in the hill country of Judah near Hebron built by king Rehoboam of Judah.

“Saw/Envisioned”—hzx khaw-zaw'—1) To see, perceive, look, behold, prophesy, provide. Strong—a primitive root; To gaze at; mentally--To perceive, contemplate(with pleasure); specifically--To have a vision of.

“Concerning”—le al—Preposition—1) Upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against; Conj.—2) Because that, because, notwithstanding, although. Strong—properly--The same as le[substantive—1) Height or—adverb—2) Above, upwards, on high] used as a preposition(in the singular or plural often with prefix, or as conjunction with a particle following); above, over, upon, or against(yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications.?From—le ; properly--The top; specifically--The highest(i.e. God); also(adverb)--Aloft, to Jehovah.