AMOS
We know very little about the background of these so-called ‘Minor Prophets’ tucked away at the end of the Old Testament. Of Amos, we know only that he came from Judah in about 760 BC (around 20 years before Isaiah) and was called by God to prophesy to the people of Israel, by then an almost separate nation with its own King and traditions. He worked as a shepherd and cared for Sycamore-fig trees; he was not regarded as a ‘proper’ prophet by the nation’s leaders.
The first part of the book is a series of prophetic ‘Woes’ directed against other surrounding nations. His hearers would have said glad AMENs to these fierce denunciations. But we pick up the story where he finally turns his attention to Israel, leaving his hearers hugely uncomfortable. So much so that in Amos 7:12 we find them demanding his return to Judah. ‘Then Amaziah sent orders to Amos: “Get out of here, you prophet! Go on back to the land of Judah, and earn your living by prophesying there! ‘
He was not intimidated however, and the rest of his prophecies are notable for their uncompromising and fierce denunciations of Israel’s people.
Read Amos 2:6-16 Social injustice.
v 6. This is what the Lord says:
“The people of Israel have sinned again and again,
and I will not let them go unpunished!
They sell honourable people for silver
and poor people for a pair of sandals.
What kind of picture do you get of society in Israel? Amos doesn’t criticise religious unbelief, he simply points them back to the special privileges they had enjoyed as God’s people. ‘It was I who rescued you from Egypt and led you through the desert for forty years, so you could possess the land of the Amorites.‘ Yet these so-privileged people now went on themselves to oppress the poor and needy! Society had become divided by selfishness and greed with their memories of past blessings blurred by the enticing hope of luxuries. They had become self-centred people, with an attitude of ‘Blow you Jack, I’m alright’ or however a contemporary Israelite would have put it.
It is not religion, but social injustice that is in the crosshairs of Amos’ attack, culminating in God’s just response ‘The people of Israel have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished!‘ The blunt fact is that social justice matters. Nobody in any society can claim a right relationship with God whilst retaining an oppressive or unjust relationship with fellow human beings. Nor is it just a matter of what our forefathers did, (as some seem to promote these days) it is a lively issue for us today – how do we respond to injustice in our society these days?
That is the matter for you to reflect on today!
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