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This week we focused on the pre-exilic prophets, and I chose to dive deeper into studying Amos. I read Amos 2:6-16; 5:10-17; 6:1-8; 8:4-9:4, and then reflected on these questions.
What does Amos say is wrong with Israelite society?
In our reading this week from Bandstra summarized Amos in saying that Amos "is to be appreciated especially for his sensitivity to matters of social welfare in Israel. He spared no words in condemning the royalty and aristocracy of Israel, who abused the privilege of wealth and even used their authority to get richer at the expense of the poor." We see the examples of this from the Amos:
- they sell the righteous for silver, (2:6)
and the needy for a pair of sandals - push the afflicted out of the way (2:7)
- because you trample on the poor (5:11)
- Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory,
and lounge on their couches,
and eat lambs from the flock,
and calves from the stall (6:4) - Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land, (8:4)
Amos called out the elite for living an "indulgent lifestyle at the expense of disenfranchised peasants". In Amos's eyes Israel is at a peak of social injustice. Their love for God is only surface and obligatory. They are more attached to rituals and formal worship than to personal responsibility and communal care. (Bandstra)
What will happen to the people of Israel if they don't change their ways?
Well this can be summed up in one word, retribution. The consequences for this continued misbehavior is devastation and ultimate destruction. We can see this in the following examples from the book of Amos:
- So, I will press you down in your place,
just as a cart presses down
when it is full of sheaves. (2:13) - you have built houses of hewn stone,
but you shall not live in them;
you have planted pleasant vineyards,
but you shall not drink their wine. (5:11) - I will turn your feasts into mourning,
and all your songs into lamentation;
I will bring sackcloth on all loins,
and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only son,
and the end of it like a bitter day. (8:10) - when I will send a famine on the land;
not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord. (8:11) - They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,
but they shall not find it. (8:12)
Is there anything that they can do to avoid this fate?
Amos doesn't leave them to their own destruction however, there is a chance for deliverance. Amos calls for justice! He takes the "religious concepts of justice and righteousness [...] and applies them to human social interaction" (Bandstra). Amos is enlisting for a total change of religious perspective, religion that goes beyond a relationship with God and over flows into relationships with the community.
Here Amos gives the guidelines for this change:
- Seek good and not evil,
that you may live;
and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,
just as you have said. (5:14) - Hate evil and love good,
and establish justice in the gate;
it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,
will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph (5:15)
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The passages we discussed today were meant for their current audience. As always when we are reading scripture we have to ask ourselves who the initial audience was, what the original intended purpose was and how that effects how we interpret the text.
Great image of the psychic! Your scripture passages do a good job of illustrating what Amos was trying to get across to the the people of Northern Israel. I was thinking of Amos while attending a leadership conference for the last 2 days on leading change based on John Kotter's book Leading Change. Amos seemed to use some of these principles such as 1) establish a sense of urgency, 2) create the guiding coalition, 3) develop a vision and strategy, and 4) communicate the change vision. Obviously Amos the prophet was not familiar with corporate change models, but it seems God equipped him with some of these techniques to try to change behavior of the people of Israel.
ReplyDeleteGreat image of the psychic! Your scripture passages do a good job of illustrating what Amos was trying to get across to the the people of Northern Israel. I was thinking of Amos while attending a leadership conference for the last 2 days on leading change based on John Kotter's book Leading Change. Amos seemed to use some of these principles such as 1) establish a sense of urgency, 2) create the guiding coalition, 3) develop a vision and strategy, and 4) communicate the change vision. Obviously Amos the prophet was not familiar with corporate change models, but it seems God equipped him with some of these techniques to try to change behavior of the people of Israel.
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