Prepare to meet your God–The Lord is His name (4.13; 5.8; 9.6)
‘No, I’m not a prophet! No, I’m not the son of a prophet! It’s true. I’m just a fruit picker and flock-tender. But I’ll tell you something. Even though a lowly layman, I’m far more qualified to speak for God than are you, a professional priest!"
This little confrontation took place around 760 B.C. in the Northern Kingdom city of Bethel. The speaker was Amos, and his angry listener, Amaziah, was the faithless priest of Bethel. Amaziah had started the whole episode by his efforts to muzzle Amos. It was like attempting to silence an electrical storm! No other writing prophet so thundered away at sin, righteousness, and Judgment as did Amos. Before he finished, Jews, Gentiles, laymen, and leaders were boldly denounced.
Justice had been spurned. Judgment would fall. Four terrible visions spoke of this. But after the fury of the storm abated, the glory of the Lord would appear. Israel would be redeemed, regathered, and restored to the land!
Amos prophesies during a period of national optimism in Israel. Business is booming and boundaries are bulging. But below the surface, greed and injustice are festering. Hypocritical religious motions have replaced true worship, creating a false sense of security and a growing callousness to God’s disciplining hand.
Famine, drought, plagues, death, and destruction-nothing can force the people to their knees. Amos, the farmer-turned-prophet, lashes out at sin unflinchingly, trying to visualize the nearness of God’s Judgment and mobilize the nation to repentance. The nation, like a basket of rotting fruit, stands ripe for Judgment because of its hypocrisy and spiritual indifference. The name Amos is derived from the Hebrew root amas, "to lift a burden, to carry." Thus, his name means "Burden" or "Burden-Bearer." Amos lives up to the meaning of his name by bearing up under his divinely given burden of declaring Judgment to rebellious Israel. From OTI-30 – Amos (961106WE) – https://youtu.be/-NXYK3p9TLE
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