Amos.

This week in OOTLE 15, we studied the latter prophets of the Bible, specifically Amos. Throughout selected passages (which I will discuss further on... keep reading!), Amos finds that the Israelite society has done things and behaved in ways that were not right and then proclaims what will happen to them if they don't change their ways.

Time Out: Before talking about that though, let's talk about Amos, the person (Note: this is not the cookie company's Famous Amos...sorry, Folks!). Amos was -- chronologically speaking -- the first of the prophets to have a book named after him (see Bandstra's Chapter 10 Page 288 to read more about this). In the introduction of the Book of Amos, readers learn a bit about Amos: he was a shepherd from Judea and he was called by God to be a prophet. Bandstra questions the authorship of the introduction, insinuating that the introduction may have been written by an editor (291).

Aside from his biographical information, the history from which the latter prophets associate is interesting as well (listen to Prophecy Part A and Prophecy Part B to get the 411 on that!). Amos comes to us from a period when, in his opinion,"Israel was just going through the motions of worshipping God and observing proper rituals, thinking that this was the sum total of their obligation to God" (Bandstra 291). The people were being chumps about their faithfulness to God. #yesisaidchumps 

Go with me for a moment: in my previous life (okay, okay... not life, but career) I was a high school English teacher for six years. In the time I spent student teaching and in my own classroom, I saw a handful of teachers who had "checked out." These were the folksies who had decided to hang up their rulers and chalk sticks (or gym shorts and tube socks for the PE variety) and call it a day. Now, don't get me wrong, most of the people I worked with who had reached the age of golden days retirement were sad to go, but recognized that they had worked long and hard and were ready for a little freedom. The few that I speak of though are those who put their retirement papers in the principal's box, skipped and cartwheeled back to their rooms, and then handed out worksheets and showed "educational" videos to their students for the rest of the school year. Because a contract had been signed, they showed up every day (for the most part... there do seem to be the people with 786.2 sick days banked up and are going to burn them!), but only fulfill the bare-minimum obligations they legally have to the school (thanks to those pesky contracts that cover an entire school year!). Long story short: They have a contract, but fulfill it half-heartedly. 

Enter: the Israelites of this time period. In Amos' opinion (and apparently in God's), the Israelite people are half-heartedly fulfilling their covenant with God. Not only are they half-hearted, Amos speaks for God with a laundry list of things the people are doing wrong, including selling the innocent for silver and those in need for a pair of sandals (Amos 2:6), crushing the heads of the poor and pushing the afflicted out of the way (Amos 2:7), and drinking wine that was purchased with gathered up fines (Amos 2:8), among other injustices. These are the people who "hate the one who judges at the city gate, and they reject the one who speaks the truth" (Amos 5:10). Overall, these people are greedy, act immorally, and corruption seems inevitable. 

So what now? What if the people of Israel don't change the way they are living? As seen throughout these passages of Amos, there are undesirable consequences coming to the people of Israel who have forgotten their loyalties and have become lax in their worship. The Lord say, "I know how many are your crimes, and how numerous are your sins -- afflicting the righteous, taking money on the side, turning away the poor who seek help. Therefore, the one who is wise will keep silent in that time; it is an evil time" (Amos 5:12-13). These people are not getting away with the way they've been living. God sees their greediness, their selfishness, and it will not go unpunished. Amos describes doom (to those who are living comfortably in their sins) that is certain (Amos 6:1-8) and days of hunger and thirst (Amos 8:11) and roaming aimlessly (Amos 8:12) that are set to come. No one can outrun or hide from this fate. 

Now we may wonder: is there anything the people can do to avoid this doomed fate? In reading Amos, the most clear answer I could find for this question was found in Amos 5:14-15 where it says "Seek good and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of heavenly forces, will be with you just as you have said. Hate evil, love good, and establish justice at the center gate. Perhaps the Lord God of heavenly forces will be gracious to what is left of Joseph." Not only does Amos seek justice throughout his work, but encourages readers to seek to do do what is good and right. Evil has no place in our lives, for that is what brings the doom, greediness, selfishness, and a whole host of negative adjectives we probably don't want to be described with!

Overall, Amos is concerned with social justice -- that we take care of the poor, downtrodden, and everyone in between! How can you serve others with social justice in mind this week?

T-OOTLE-oo!

Melissa

P.S. -- I used the Common English Bible (CEB) for all scripture references.