INTRODUCTION
When we hear the word “prophet”, we often think of someone whose primary job is to tell the future. We might equate the term with “soothsayer”, “seer,” or even in a non-Christian context, “fortune teller”. We most often judge a prophet by whether or not their words come true. There is a precedent for this in scripture, for instance when Isaiah buried his oracles until they came true, to demonstrate that God was really speaking through him; or in a case that decidedly worked against the prophet, when King Ahab imprisoned the prophet Micaiah until the king “returned safely” suggesting that the prophet would rot in prison if his prophecies came true and the king didn’t.
But the prophets of the Old Testament had a much more important job than simply telling the future. First and foremost, they were called to bring the hard truth to God’s chosen people, so that they would be forced to take an honest look at themselves and realize their need for reconciliation with God. And, as we see from our brief glimpse of him in this passage, Amos was all about hard truths. He was a man who lived during the most prosperous and powerful reigns Israel and Judah experienced during their monarchies, second only to the golden age experienced during King Solomon’s reign.(1)(2) The land prospered so much that recent archaeological finds have found ivory horns inlaid with gold and all sorts of luxuries dating from the period. But there have also been a surprising number of cultic sites found from the period.(3)
AMOS' VISIONS
In fact, as Amos’ oracles note in the previous chapters, the more Israel prospered, the more they abandoned the two basic components of their covenant with God: Exclusive worship of the Lord, and care for their fellows. Ch. 2:6-8 is a perfect example of God’s indictment against Israel through the prophet Amos, where he says,
“For three transgressions of Israel,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they sell the righteous for silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals—
those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth
and turn aside the way of the afflicted;
a man and his father go in to the same girl,
so that my holy name is profaned;
they lay themselves down beside every altar
on garments taken in pledge,
and in the house of their God they drink
the wine of those who have been fined.”
And again in 4:1, when he says that they have “oppressed the poor, and crushed the needy.” Their prosperity has led them to believe they can do whatever they want and get away with it and their riches have led them into a false sense of security that nothing can go wrong. Indeed, when Amos was prophesying around 760 BCE, the idea that a foreign power would come in, completely destroy them, and cart them off into exile was the furthest thing from their collective mind.(4) They were at peace with their neighbors, following Assyria’s defeat of their main rival, Damascus and they had little inkling that that same superpower would roll over their own kingdom just 40 years later. I can’t help but find parallels with the U.S. today. Since the end of WWII, we have enjoyed unprecedented prosperity, power, and prestige and with the fall of the Soviet Union we are the sole remaining superpower. No other nation comes remotely close when it comes to either economic or military clout. But I wonder if this prosperity gives us a false sense of security as well. If we take a hard look at our own culture through the prophet’s eyes, what do we see? Do his harsh words apply to us as well? Israel may have been oblivious, but they could not say they hadn’t been warned.
We get a sense of this warning over the course of Amos’ ministry in the preceding two visions of chapter 7. First, Amos sees that God is about to destroy Israel with locusts, but his judgment is held in check by Amos’ pleas for mercy. Again the same thing happens with fire, and again God relents.(5) But in the third vision, though v. 7 in English says that God was “standing by” a great wall with a plumb line in his hand, the Hebrew word, “nishav” is a firm, reflexive verb meaning he “stationed himself”.(6) Basically, he planted his feet and made clear that he wouldn’t be moved this time. Where during the previous two visions, natural disasters were mitigated; this time by using the imagery of the wall and plumb line, God is showing that Israel is like a wall that is crooked and about to crumble under its own weight. The plumb line used to measure the extent to which the wall had become warped represented the terms of the covenant by which Israel was to remain faithful to God. But unlike with the previous two visions, there can be no mitigation this time, because Israel’s judgment is the natural, unavoidable result of its sin and its judgment will be felt explicitly by Israel’s leaders when the high places where its priests offered sacrifices to other gods were torn down and Jeroboam’s dynasty would be cut off by the sword.(7) This time God would not “pass by” them as he had passed over them when He killed the firstborn of Egypt; and it appears from the passage that Amos, perceiving God’s resolve, did not intercede this time in order to avert the impending disaster of invasion and exile.
CHECKS AND BALANCES
For decades, prophets confronted the leaders of both kingdoms, but they didn’t listen. At around the same time and soon after Amos prophesied in Israel, Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah were active as well.(8) For not only was it a prophet’s job to challenge the people to see the truth, but also to provide a check on the power of the established monarchy and priesthood. Ideally, the power over the theocratic state of Israel was shared among these three institutions, as they all sought to preserve and honor God’s covenant through just governance. But time and again, many of the leaders in power became more concerned with preserving their own comforts than being true to God’s call. It was during these times that God would often raise up leaders from the most unexpected places, because those groomed for positions of power had already abandoned their charge.
Just as in ages past, when God had called Samuel to anoint David, the youngest of his family in a relatively unimportant tribe, king; or when he used Ahijah and Elisha to spark rebellions against the ruling dynasties of the time;(9) Amazaiah, who was the corrupt high priest of Ba’al at Bethel, now feared the trouble Amos was causing with his uncompromising visions. Rather than taking a hard look at himself and the institution he represented, to see whether he was doing wrong; he wrote to the king to try to silence Amos. He twists Amos’ prophecy, falsely claiming that he is threatening the king’s life and accusing him of treason.(10) He then suggests that Amos is just another false prophet, uttering shocking sayings to make a living and feed his own belly, which is a little bit ironic considering that is exactly what Amazaiah did. He made sacrifices to Ba’al and told the king what he wanted to hear so that his own livelihood could be secured.
But Amos didn’t come from the institutionalized guilds of professional prophets that were common in those days. He didn’t have their training and he wasn’t born into the office. He didn’t go to a fancy seminary and he wasn’t born into a family of pastors and preachers like so many of his fellow prophets. Instead, he had been a simple shepherd and farmer, whom God had called, not because of his education or pedigree, but simply because He knew that Amos would be honest and stick to the message he had been given, despite opposition. Amos understands that his calling is independent of his profession. Whether he gets fed or not, he is going to remain faithful.
And that honesty was put to the test in front of Amazaiah. Rather than back down or flee in response to the order that he be deported, which would be understandable given how many prophets were imprisoned or killed for their words, he gives one final utterance, bringing God’s judgment into focus for Amazaiah by demonstrating that he wouldn’t be immune to God’s judgment, and with the rest of the country, his own family would experience the devastating effects of war and exile, when his wife would be made a prostitute and his children put to death by the sword, and he would be carted off to a land far away from the territories where his god Ba’al held any sway or where sacrifices could be offered.(11)
CONCLUSION
We could learn something from Amos. Our own identities are often wrapped up in the jobs we hold. In fact, what are the two most common questions you ask when meeting new people? 1) So what’s you’re name? And 2) What do you do? For many of us, the answers to both questions are inseparable from each other. But all too often, when our lives get turned upside down because we get laid off, or a change in health or family requires that we move or even quit a job; we can feel lost, adrift, and without purpose.
For me, even though I experienced a strong call to the ministry when I left the Army, it was still hard to let go of the identity of the Soldier which I had grown into over the previous years. I knew going back to school to pursue ordination was the right thing, I found myself missing the uniform, the training, the sense of duty, and the culture of the military. When young women and men tell me they are thinking of joining the military, I often half-joke that they will spend their entire time wishing they were out, only to afterward wish they were back in. But when I think of the gospel which God has entrusted me to teach, and the people He has entrusted me to lead, I have no doubt in my mind that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.
Each of us have been given gifts which can glorify God no matter where we are. And Amos’ story shows us that we do not have to come from a family of pastors or have graduate degrees to be faithful in our use of those gifts. There is always something we can do to advance the gospel, and even though different people have different gifts, we are all called by God to use them to bring people to Him. For us, our identities aren’t wrapped up in our jobs or in titles, or even in achievements and education; instead our identity is found solely in Christ and our response to the call isn’t judged by worldly measures of success, but by our faithfulness to the mission God has given us. For Amos, that meant prophesying for a season and then presumably getting kicked out of the country.
By most measures, his ministry probably didn’t seem that successful. Israel didn’t change its ways until it was destroyed by Assyria, and Judah continued in its path until it and the Temple were destroyed by Babylon a century and a half later. It certainly doesn’t seem like he received that much support during his ministry; and by comparison to the other prophets of the time, such as Isaiah and Jeremiah, who left great written works, the years of his ministry are distilled to a handful of oracles in just a few chapters. And yet, God did one more great thing through his ministry.
With all his uncompromising, harsh proclamations of inevitable judgment, he was the first of the biblical prophets to proclaim merciful reign of the coming Messiah, restoration of God’s people, and the spread of His reign over all people when, at the end of his book, he writes,
“In that day I will raise up
the booth of David that is fallen
and repair its breaches,
and raise up its ruins
and rebuild it as in the days of old,
that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations who are called by my name,’
declares the Lord who does this.”(12)
Even at the end of what may have seemed to Amos a hard, bitter and unsuccessful prophetic career, God’s immeasurable grace and love for His people shines through. And for us as well, if God calls us to a special task or vocation, it may only be for a season. We may not immediately see the fruit of our labor. But will be faithful regardless of whether or not we are faithful. And when we respond to his invitation to serve; when we respond to his call, God's purposes will be accomplished (whether we see them fully or not).
FOOTNOTES
(1) “Introduction to Amos,” in The New Catholic Answer Bible. (Wichita: Devore & Sons, 2005), 951.
(2) McComiskey, Thomas E. and Tremper Longman III. “Amos,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Revised Edition.
Vol. 8. Ed. By Tremper Longman III & David E. Garland. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 349.
(3) Ibid.
(4) Ibid.
(5) Ibid., 350.
(6) Ibid.
(7) Fosbroke, Hughell E.W. & Sidney Lovett. “The Book of Amos,” in The Interpreter’s Bible. Vol. 6. (New York:
Abingdon Press, 1956), 837.
(8) McCominsky & Longman, “Amos,” 349.
(9) Fosbroke & Lovett. “The Book of Amos,” 834.
(10) McCominsky & Longman, “Amos,” 410.
(11) Fosbroke & Lovett. “The Book of Amos,” 837.
(12) Amos 9:11-12, ESV.
