The Last Word: Grace for a Sinful People, Amos 9.11-15

This is my final installment of a series of ruminations on the prophet Amos. What a challenge he has been to me. My cage has not only been rattled but it has been put through the wringer ... Previous reflections are

Amos at a Glance: Redefining Righteousness
Amos: The Crimes of Nations
Amos: Judgment on the Church's Sin
Amos: The Tragedy of Complacency, 6.1-7

Beginnings ...

For nine chapters Amos has put God's People under the microscope. He has proclaimed divine judgment for sin/crimes committed during periods of war. He has called them out for failing to love their brothers and sisters and neglecting the poor (violating the second great commandment). Amos has examined unethical business practices practiced by folks who dismiss justice. Many are wealthy and consumed with leisure so he calls them the "cows of Bashan" oppressing the needy and desiring only another martini (4.1ff). Israel had interpreted their wealth and prosperity as signs of divine blessing and approval for their way of life. After all they were very religious and even "went to church" a lot. They observed the sabbath days and feast days (5.21ff) but in "church" they were thinking ...

"When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?
skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating
with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the
needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings
for the wheat"
(8.5-6)

Gathered worship became a mere pause in the scheme to maximize profits and reduce costs regardless of the impact on those with less power and status. It is because of the spirit exhibited by God's people here that Amos promised them nothing but heartache, and even destruction. God's people, the redeemed slaves of Egypt, were beyond hope!!! Or so it looked to the human eye. They are beyond the point of turning back Yahweh's just wrath upon their avarice. The blood of too many innocent people was crying out from the ground. One too many persons had been sold into slavery ... Yahweh had had enough!!

Judgment was coming. It was to be a severe winnowing of the people of God so much so that Amos himself plead that God relent in mercy from particular plagues (Amos 7.1-6). The amazing thing here is that God ... listened!

Middles ...

God is not man ... praise God that he isn't! One ancient Israelite in the nadir of destruction caught a glimpse of something ...

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness ..." (Lamentations 3.22, NIV)

All is not as it seemed. In chapter 9 the tone of the Prophet changes dramatically. Suddenly there is a message of gracious hope. It was (and is) a message God's people did not expect nor did they deserve it. It was simply a message of God's unending grace for his people. So sudden and radical is this change in tune that some modern scholars do not believe Amos actually said it. It is contrary to the message of the whole book and is a later addition. It is hard to conceive of a message so unprecedented ...

But a couple of brief observations need to be made here. First, God's last word for his people is never judgment. Rather God's last word is always gracious hope! Second, the canonical prophets all end with a word of grace, a word of hope, not judgment! Hosea's last word to Israel is hope and blessing (ch. 14). Joel's last word is to bless God's people (4.17-21). Micah promises Israel will rise again in God's grace (7.8-20). Even little overlooked Obadiah ends with the word of grace (vv.15ff). And so the list goes. It is breathtaking indeed but it is so true to the God of the Bible that Amos ends with the message of grace for God's Sinful People. God is in the habit of doing things that boggle our human minds.

What is the Last Word? Message of Grace to Sinful People??

In chapter 9 ... to cap of his book of sermons Amos ascends the pulpit and stuns us with his poetic word ... we are not beyond hope:

In that day I will restore David's fallen tent.
I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and
build it as it used to be, so that they may posses the
remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name,'
declares the LORD, who will do these things.

The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when the reaper
will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by
the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the
mountains and flow from all the hills. I will bring
back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild
the ruined cities and live in them. They will
plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will
make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel
in their own land never again to be uprooted from
their own land, never again to be uprooted from
the land I have given them,' says the
LORD your God."
(9.11-15)

First thing we need to let happen here with this oracle is simply "SOAK IT UP!" Let it sink into our consciousness. Let the word wash over us and overwhelm us in its unbelievable goodness. Let the grace of God take our breath away!

Once we have just sat in awe of these words we need to let their radical nature begin penetrating our psyche. This restoration blessing oracle is predicated on one thing only ... not Israel's sudden goodness, not her sudden faithfulness, not her righteousness. This blessing of grace is rooted in one thing only ... Yahweh's love for his people. It is an expression of his undeserved grace.

The oracle itself is divided into two parts. First there is the promise of restoration (exile does not end God's relationship with Israel) and power over enemies. Second there is the promise of unbelievable bounty ... a return to a land flowing with milk and honey! Yahweh bluntly states he will plant Israel like a garden, once again, in the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He has not cast them off, as Paul would later put it.

Yahweh will rebuild David's tent and repair its walls. Scholars are divided as to what this actually refers to. But the explanation that makes the best sense to me is Richardson's. The word translated "tent" is the Hebrew succoth. This was also a city on the east bank of the Jordan that served as an important base for David and symbolized the stretch of his military power. It was from here that David was able to unify (= rule) the enemies of Israel. But now Succoth lay in ruins and was a desolate place symbolic of the fallen state of the divided kingdom and the people of Israel. The rebuilding of that place symbolizes the return of the glory days of David. Reunification of the divided people of God is frequently associated with a new David who would shepherd God's people (cf. Mic 5.2-6). Edom had been a bitter enemy of God's people but in this day of grace Israel will fear Edom no more.

Notice the emphasis that Amos gives to God's divine activity in this restoration saying it is the "LORD who will do these things." There can be no misunderstanding here, says Amos. Israel, you only deserve punishment. You actually deserve exile. You have broken the covenant of love with Yahweh. Israel, don't ever dream for a second that you are somehow "contributing" to your "salvation." Amos says in essence, the only thing you have contributed was your damnation! Sometimes we talk of the divine side of salvation and the human side of salvation but in the Hebrew Bible there is only one side ... Yahweh's! Remember the prophets thunder: Exodus (salvation) comes before Sinai! Calvary comes before Pentecost! Grace comes before faith. Always has and always will!

Looking further into verses 13-15 Amos strains to communicate the bounty of God's grace to his Sinful People. Using images of agricultural bounty Amos impresses upon our minds what life in the kingdom of God will be like. Things are going to be so radically different on that day of grace that harvests will be so rich and abundant that the reaper will still be in the field trying after many months to collect the crops. Barley and wheat are harvested in early May in Palestine and grapes are picked in early September. Ploughing begins in October, followed immediately by sowing. In the day of grace sowing and reapoing will blend together in a near constant harvest. The harvester cannot keep up!

God's bountiful grace rains down the mountains in a mist of wine. This grape harvest, a symbol of richness and extravagance, covers the land in wine that gladdens the heart. Amos is of course using hyperbole to demonstrate that the day of grace is one of grace to the excess! In that day God will bring back his people from exile, they will rebuild and replant ... and BE replanted by Yahweh. These are images of life being restored to the way God intended it to be. God's People had lived far beneath what they were called to be. The Lord rescues them from their self-centered lives to ones lived to the full. He will plant them in the land like a new Garden of Eden. No one can take them from his hand.

Endings ...

God did redeem his people from exile and even useless self-centered lives. Peter addressing a different set of exiles along the Black Sea encouraged them with these words "you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you by your forefathers" (1 Pet 1.18). The promise of Amos to God's sinful people is, we believe as Christians, fulfilled in the Jewish Messiah Jesus of Nazareth. Yes God did bring his people back from exile in the days of Ezra but the promises are so rich and abundant that they bloom in Jesus and what he intends to do in and through Israel for the nations.

Yahweh's amazing grace brought a message of desperate hope for people under the gun. His promise allowed us Gentiles to be counted among the saints. Because of the promise we have received a name, a heritage and a purpose to live in our world. Our lives are not meaningless pursuits of self-aggrandizement but share in the mission of gracious restoration.

Amos brought a message of judgment to Israel. First on their sins of the nations in war, of injustice, for their complacency, for their abuse of the poor, and for going to "church" without their lives being radically altered by the encounter with the Living God. Yet we have seen that the last word with Yahweh is the word of hope. It is a word of grace to a sinful, a nation full of sin. Perhaps Amos 9 could serve as a wonderful illustration of the truth testified to by Paul in Romans 4.4-5 ...

"Now when a [people] work, [their] wages are not credited to [them] as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the [people] who do not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, [their] faith is credited as righteousness."

Indeed God's ways are not our ways and his thoughts are far above our thoughts. Make Amos a regular part of your Bible reading. God will bless you as you put his word in your heart.

Tolle lege

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Amos Redefines 'Righteousness': The Tragedy of Complacancy, 6.1-7

This post continues my series on the Prophet Amos and his mission to redefine "righteousness" as many of the fervently religious ancient Israelites (and contemporary Christians) practice it. The previous posts are:

Amos Redefines Righteousness: Amos at a Glance

Amos: The Crimes of Nations, 1.1-2.5

Amos Continues to Redefine Righteousness: Judgment on the Church's Sin

Amos 6 ... A Rumination

"What then is permanent? What do I have that is mine forever? Of what can it be said, this will not be lost or taken away? May answer is: the promise of god to be with us always. That is the ONE THING which the brevity and impermanence of life will not take away." (Gene Zimmerman)

An outline of our text of reflection.

6.1 Summons to appear in court before Yahweh
6.2
6.3-7 Tragedy that is ignored by the complacent

Studdert-Kennedy has a disturbing poem about Jesus. In the poem he asks how would our world respond to Jesus if he came today? Our world that has no great passion. Our world that has no great "sin" (in its own eyes). People today would pay the Savior no mind at all Studdert-Kennedy imagines.

Oh, we would listen politely, but his words would simply fall to the ground. We simply would not care. The poem ends, hauntingly, with Jesus leaning against the wall crying out for Golgotha. What a disturbing scene!

Indifference. A cold blase attitude has come to dominate our materialistic, individualistic culture. Elie Wiesel, the great Jewish philosopher/theologian, argues that the opposite of love is not hate. He says the opposite of love is indifference. Indeed, according to Wiesel, indifference is the greatest crime/sin humanity can be guilty of. Writing against the backdrop of Nazi Germany, he says that for a person to sit and let another human being get carried away to a death camp; or a person's business to be shut down or their home taken away simply because their blood is "different" -- to be capable of watching this and not get involved is to cease being human! When cold hearted complacency can keep us from doing the right thing 'because its not my fault' or 'not my business' is to cease being a living person.

Martin Niemoller, the great German pastor, wrote of his own complicity ...

"When they came for the Poles, I did nothing because I wasn't a Pole. When they came for the unions, I did nothing because I wasn't in a union. When they came for the socialists, I did nothing because I wasn't a socialist. When they came for the Jews, I did nothing for I wasn't a Jew. When they came for the Gypsies, I did nothing for I wasn't a Gypsy. When they came for the intellectuals, I did nothing for I wasn't an intellectual. When they came for me there was no one left to do anything."

The Text

The text for our rumination is addressed to those who are materially well off. But being well off was not their sin. The problem, the sin, was what we have been attempting to describe through Wiesel and Niemoller. These Israelites let wealth make them complacent and indifferent to the needs of the poor around them. They just did not seem to care, or worse "notice" as long as it did not affect them. Read carefully the text ...

Woe to you who are complacent in Zion
and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria,
you notable men of the foremost nation,
to whom the people of Israel come!
Go to Calneh and look at it;
go from there to great Hamath,
and then go down to Gath in Philistia.
Are they better off than your two kingdoms?
Is their land larger than yours?
You put off the evil day and bring near a reign of terror.
You lie on beds inlaid with ivory
and lounge on your couches.
You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves.
You strum away on your harps like David
and improvise on musical instruments.
You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions,
but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
Therefore you will be among the first
to go into exile;
your feasting and lounging will end."
(Amos 6.1-7)

The chaos of the average Israelite lives in can exist because those with means allow it to exist. The avarice described in vv 3 & 4 is stunning when we realize that the typical Israelite only ate meat three times a year. The complacent are lost in their leisure pursuits ... God cares if we care.

Ruminating on Us

I recall a story from when I lived in Mississippi of Oseola McCarty of Hattisburg which made national headlines. She was a simple poor house keeper. She cleaned the homes of wealthy white folks her whole life. She never made more than 20,000 dollars in a single year. But at the age of 75 she donated her entire life savings to the University of Southern Mississippi, a sum of 150,000 dollars. She said it was her dream to make a difference in the lives of young African-Americans. She wanted them to have chances that she was never allowed to have -- go through high school and college. This materially poor woman was rich in care and abundant in love for her fellow image bearers. She believed she could make a difference. She believed that even she could help some one else. So she saved. She quietly worked in her housekeeping. She did not let the complacent self-absorbed world or her circumstances make her indifferent. Now a dozen students each year receive an education -- one she made possible -- because she cared.

Ms. Mcarty shows us that each of us can make a difference in this world. We do not have to be the mayor, the governor, school principal, or one with clout. The key is simply "griev[ing] over the ruin of Joseph" enough to put love into action. We must realize that wealth is not a badge of approval before God (regardless of what Joel Osteen says). God grants us blessings not so we can live in avarice or be a leisure culture but so we can do what Ms. Mcarty did. God gives us money so we can ... give it for kingdom purposes.

As we reflect on how Amos redefines righteousness and says it has everything to do with how we use our resources there are questions that come to mind ...

Why do I have these "seemingly" natural talents?
Why do I have the job I have?
Why do I have this education?
Why do I have money?
Why do I have my house?
Why do I have ... (fill in the blank)

The materially comfortable and individually concerned of Amos' day seem to answer by saying "So I can live a comfortable life. It is proof of God's approval of me. I deserve it." Amos rattles their cage with the thundering words you will be the first to go into exile in Assyria! God's answer to these questions is that he has given us talents, jobs, education, money, etc so that we can be a kingdom blessing to those around us. This it would seem is the sole reason Yahweh has granted us wealth.

I believe that Wiesel is essentially correct. Complacency means death. It means to cease functioning as the Creator God intended image bearers to function. Complacency is the opposite of God. God cared enough about the literal poor to have his Son incarnate as a poverty stricken man.

His parents had to make the sacrifice of the poor (doves)
He took advantage of the provisions encoded into the Torah for the poor (gleaning)
He never owned a home (he was homeless)
He lived off the generosity of others (see Luke 8.1-3)
The poor man died on a cross because he cared for those who didn't. The poor man was not indifferent and it cost him his life.

Jesus was among the ones who were ignored and even oppressed in Amos' day. He was among the despised slaves in the South. He was in the death camps among Wiesel's family in Nazi Germany. He was with the blacks who had dogs turned loose on them in Birmingham. Perhaps, just perhaps, that is why these folks have been treated as they have been treated. During his public ministry we treated HIM the same way. We haven't changed that much.

This text in Amos haunts me. It really does. The reason it does is because I know, inspite of all my denials, I live in avarice compared to the rest of the world. We are consumed with leisure as Americans ... even Christian Americans! But Amos challenges us to gain a new ... a righteous perspective ... on materialism, individualism, and wealth.

One last rumination that I will simply throw out there. Those who would like to dismiss Amos because it is "Old Testament" should never read James ... especially 5.1-6.

"O gracious Lord grant us eyes to see and ears to hear what you see and hear. Grant us the Spirit to be moved with compassion and a willing heart to hear Amos' hard words (and Lord they are hard!). And grant us the strength to do as Ms. Mcarty had done. Help us, O Lord, to be a blessing in your fallen world. We pray in Jesus', the poor man, name. Amen."

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Amos Continues to "Redefine" Righteousness/Justice: Judgment on the Church's Sin

It has been a little longer since my last post than I anticipated. I have been busy with other things but I pray this contribution will help us interact with the prophet, the Hebrew Bible and let God examine us a little more deeply.

In what follows is a slightly revised sermon that I preached on March 10, 1996 at Barton Avenue Church of Christ in Luling, LA (outside New Orleans). This is just one example of how to handle this text.

In our previous post we looked at 1.1-2.5 as Amos held Israel's neighbors accountable to God's Righteousness for their deeds committed in war. The rhetorical effect of these previous oracles, taken together, is to set Israel up. They are after all God's People and what can you expect from aliens? What can on expect from a Edomite? or a Moabite? or worse a Philistine!? After getting Israel to feel quite comfortable and smug in her righteousness he lowers the boom on them. Like a prophet that would come after him, Jesus of Nazareth, Amos saved his harshest rebukes for the ones that should have known better. That is the ones who received the gracious covenant at Sinai, the ones whom God had called out of bondage, the ones created to be his special people ... Israel. The Church!

Amos begins his speech in much the same way as he has for Damascus, Tyre and the rest. He says "for three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath, This is what the Lord says" (2.6). The noticeable difference immediately is that before Amos listed only one crime for each of Israel's neighbors. Yet for God's People he lists no less than seven. What makes Israel's crimes, her sin, so reprehensible is that unlike the pagans who perpetuated their crimes against other nations, Israel foments these crimes against its own. It is Israel's brothers and sisters that are abused, mistreated and scorned. Israel sells its own poor for cheap silver and her own needy for sandals. Israel is so heartless and cold that these crimes are done while "church" services are in record attendance. Yahweh had commanded in the Torah that the poor must be cared for as his special people:

And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you ... Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff necked any longer ... He [God] defends the cause of the fatherless and widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens ... (Deut 10.12-22)

There should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance ... if only you fully obey the LORD your God ... If there is a poor person among you in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hard hearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother or sister. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs ... Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart ... There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and sisters and toward the poor and needy in the land (Deut 15. 7-11)

But the church's sin is that the poor and needy are denied basic justice! (see 2 Kgs 4.1-7)

The sin of Israel reaches a nadir in v.7d. Here Amos points to the exploitation of a female for sexual pleasure in direct violation of the Torah (cf. Lev 18.21ff) and profaned the holy name of God. This woman is likely a female slave already devoid of rights and standing and now her dignity as an Image Bearer is ripped away as well (Douglas Stuart, Hosea-Jonah: Word Biblical Commentary, p. 317). Notice carefully Amos does not charge the pagans with this crime. He says the religious folks, the 'church' goers are the ones oppressing the poor to their own advantage. Just as in James 5, the ones that have will experience God's righteous judgment. God will settle the wrongs we perpetuate on those who are downcast and abused by the world and the church. He will judge us according to his holy justice to see if we have upheld the covenant we entered into with him. It is the church's job to protect the poor, to feed the poor, ... to go to bat for the poor. Even if they are not "Christians."

In verses 9-10 Yahweh reminds the church of the Story of Grace that gave them life. By briefly reviewing Israel's history God is shown to be incredibly faithful to faithless Israel. God gave Israel the land by Grace. Yahweh delivered Israel from slavery by Grace. God even placed in their midst prophets and Nazirites ... by grace. The prophet thunders: "Is this not true, people of Israel?"

Amos does NOT reveal a God of Wrath. Amos reveals a God that is a SPURNED LOVER! Yahweh has been unbelievably loving, undeniably generous, undeservedly gracious to his People. God has given Israel the honor of being HIS. But Israel has polluted the marriage, profaned the covenant (marriage language), and in essence has become an incarnation of Egypt to the downtrodden!! This is why Yahweh chastises Israel. The church's failure to image divine grace toward the poor (as he had toward them) results in the poor becoming objects of scorn and self-advancement rather than opportunities to exercise our understanding of what it means to be saved by grace! The graced are generous!

Israel's problem was not that she heard to much grace. Israel's sin is affluent complacency. How this ailment has been handed down in our spiritual DNA. How many times have we said "I don't want to be involved. It's not my problem!" The "problem" with this mentality is that Yahweh did not ask if we wanted to get involved or not. He commanded us to be involved. Involvement in Amos' project of redefined justice is a covenantal requirement.

Yet the church forbade the prophets to preach. Even late in the book of Amos we learn that Amaziah demanded that Amos no longer preach (7.10-14). So many times God's People willingly hear a so-called prophet if he points out everyone else's sin. Just as they listened to Amos as he preached against the nations. But as soon as "I" need to repent we get a little upset.

We tend to think "our life is just fine with God. Look at all the good things I have. Surely this means God approves of us." What a misconception. Indeed it is a lie according to Amos. How many worldly possessions we have or do not have has nothing whatsoever to do with our standing in the sight of our God. This is an unpopular point of view but it is true nontheless.

God will purify his people. God's judgment will come and be so great that "even the bravest of warriors will flee naked on that day" (v.16).

This passage reminds us that those who have been blessed and graced much is expected of them. God did not redeem Israel so she could become a curse to the world. He saved the church so she could be part of the solution to the curse! She is called to be a holy priesthood to point others (the nations around!) to the one true God. This remains our task as God's People. God has not called us out of the fallen age to be elitists but so that we could get on our hands and knees with the downtrodden to shoulder their heavy burdens. We point to the one who as the Suffering Servant brought the Year of Jubilee to all the world's poor. Peter reminds us, like Amos of old did, that on that great day God will do some house cleaning.

We need to hear Amos as he redefines righteousness. Amos is calling us to be a servant church with a suffering servant heart. A church that (to paraphrase Paul) carries around in its body "the marks of Jesus" (Gal 6.17).

He who has an ear ...

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Amos: The Crimes of Nations, 1.1-2.5

Amos continues to "redefine" righteousness for religious people. Justice/Righteousness is not simply a matter of personal goodness or morality. There is clearly a personal element in justice/righteousness but it goes far beyond that according to Amos. Amos believes that the personal dimension is taken up into the corporate structural behavior of the group. Thus in Amos there is a structure of righteousness that individuals are a part.

The first two chapters of Amos reflect a world that is full of “international terrorism.” One can see shades of al-Qaida or other groups dedicated to terror. But the culprits in Amos are not rogue groups but nations. Here is a summary of the message of the first chapter and a half:

Amos’ Yahweh watches over the established orders of international law
not only in Israel but also among the other nations, and whenever they
are broken he imposes a historical punishment upon the culprits.
(Gerhard von Rad, The Message of the Prophets, p. 106)

As Amos chastises the traditional enemies of Israel (the named nations all border the Northern Kingdom) he uses a common hook: for three ... even for four sins. But then he names only one! These nations do not have the Torah and their righteousness/justice is not measured in specific terms of the Torah. However Yahweh does hold the corporate entities of nations accountable for gross violations (i.e. attacks upon divine Image Bearers!) of human dignity.

Damascus: “because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth” (1.3b; cf. 2 Kgs. 8.12f)

Philistia: “she took captives whole communities and sold them to Edom” (1.6b)

Tyre: “she sold whole communities . . . to Edom” (1.9b)

Edom: “pursued his brother with a sword, stifling all compassion” (1.11b)

Ammon: “ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to extend his borders” (1.13b)

Moab: “he burned, as if to lime, the bones of the Edom’s king” (2.1b)

Judah: “rejected the law of the LORD” (2.4b)

These opening chapters of Amos sound like a catalog of violations of the Geneva Convention. It is almost as if Yahweh is saying: "Yes war is evil and it flourishes in my fallen creation, BUT I STILL WILL NOT TOLERATE SOME FORMS OF EVIL ... even in war." God hedges the evil of war and says there are standards of righteousness that corporate structures like nations will be held to. Rhetorically, on the canonical level, Amos 1.1-2.5 lulls the church going and devout Israelite into a sense of smug self righteousness. "What can you expect from the PHILISTINES! What can you expect from a EDOMITE! What can you expect from ..." That is when Amos lowers the hydrogen bomb on the church people in 2.6ff! But that is for a future post. It is just important to note how the text functions.

What are the “crimes” in Amos' day? Slavery, trafficking in slavery, lust for war, attacking civilians as a way to further political ends, desecration/hatred of a person, and finally departure from Yahweh’s covenant of love.

I want this blog to be "interactive" so I am going to leave it open ended. I have tried to take these opening oracles seriously. If Amos were to come to our church today, and he redefined or reconfigured our concept of justice/righteousness, what would he say? I have thought about the world and sought "analogies" to the kinds of things that Amos says rather pointedly matter to God. Because the issues are "bigger" than any one of us (as they were in his day too) does not let us off the structural hook so to speak. What crimes would Amos call us to repentance for? I have listed four. I have numbered down to the perfect number seven. What should be listed there. Some of the things I have listed may bother some people but I am sure that some were bothered by Amos too ... especially when he nails Israel to its tree.

What might be some contemporary violations of the principles outlined by Amos?

1) American slavery. Sounding much like Amos of old, American hero, Frederick Douglass, said:

What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? I answer, a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy – a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour. (“What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” in Crossing the Danger Water: Three Hundred Years of African-American Writing, ed, Deirdre Mullane, p. 160)

2) Flying planes in skyscrapers

3) Targeting non-combatants. Many countries have done this through history: Ammon, Assyria (with their stakes); Romans; Crusaders; British; Japanese; Germans; Americans; Russians.

4) The Holocaust/ Japanese internment camps?

5)

6)

7)

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Amos at a Glance: Redefining Righteousness

Greetings from the land of Saguaros and Scorpions. I have planned out four or five blogs on the prophet Amos and hope to have them all up by the beginning of next week. My overarching theme is redefining righteousness ... and how Amos radically challenges what religious people think that concept might be. My initial post is an outline of the book:


Amos at a Glance:


I. International Relations are Subject to Yahweh’s Righteousness (1.1-2.5)
1. Damascus’ Crime (1.3f)
2. Gaza’s {Philistia} Crime (1.6ff)
3. Tyre’s Crime (1.9ff)
4. Edom’s Crime (1.11ff)
5. Ammon’s Crime (1.13)
6. Moab’s Crime (2.1ff)
7. Judah’s Crime (2.4ff)

II. A Nation’s Internal Relations are Subject to Yahweh’s Righteousness (2.6-16)

III. Yahweh’s Court Date with Israel (3.1-15)

IV. Wealth – Not always a “Blessing” (ch.4)

V. Amos’ Funeral Song over Israel (5. 1-3)
1. Who looks out for the poor (5.4-17)
2. Religion without “justice/righteousness” is a stench to God (5.18-27)

VI. How Leisure Reflects Yahweh’s Righteousness (6.1-7)

VII. Pride in wealth, power, and nation can be Misplaced (6.8-14)

VIII. Visions of God’s Righteous Justice on Israel’s lack of righeousness/justice (ch.7)

IX. Using Religion to abuse of the Poor (ch.8)

X. The End – Almost (9.1-10)

XI. Grace In the End: God’s Righteousness Superior to Israel’s (9.11-15)

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