Amos: the Shepherd Prophet (Part VIII)

Chapter 7 marks a shift in the book, a shift from the words of Amos or what Amos said, chapters to what Amos saw, verses 7 through 9. So we have the words of Amos, now the visions of Amos, that would be another way of putting it. And we might even put it this way, that the words of Amos, and this is not in your notes, you can jot this down if you want, just to kind of help you kind of conceptualize the two parts of this incredible prophecy of Amos. The words may be thought of as the prophet's proclamation to Israel. This is a story. They're God's words, and I've said, you know, what Amos said all the way through, we've been on that since we started the study. They're really not Amos' words in the truest sense. They're God's words. And so when we say the words of Amos, we're talking about his proclamation of God's word to Israel. And that's still true today for New Testament prophets, prophets. Not prophets in the sense that Amos was a prophet, of course. My words every Sunday morning aren't being added to Scripture, you know, and I'm not foretelling events that are going to take place according to God's plan like prophets did. But I am foretelling the word of God, and they're not my words. It's a proclamation of the word of God. At least it should always be that. I'm not saying that all preaching is that necessarily. A lot of preaching is going on in our country and has been for years where the words are just man's words. You know, principles and psychology and, you know, just, and even some of those, many of those words are not even true to Scripture. But preaching in the biblical sense is the same as what Amos was doing here as he spoke. He was proclaiming, proclaiming God's word to Israel.

Then when we move to what Amos saw, we're talking about visions, and we're going to look at three visions here tonight. And the visions may be thought of as God's revelations to Amos. Now, also to us, because they were written down, but these were things that Amos saw that no one else saw. And now he's going to speak them. He's going to share those with the people because it's written down in the book. But there's the difference. You know, what he said, that's the proclamation of God's word that had been given to Amos and given through Amos. The visions things he saw were the revelations of God to Amos. And that's, you know, how the book, how the chapter begins there in verse one, thus the Lord God showed me. That's why we say this is, this is the dividing point in the book, a shift in focus. These are visions of things Amos saw, the Lord God showed me. All right, vision number one in verses one through three, he formed locust swarms. That's the vision. Now, let me just say this front end. It's not what he saw with his physical eyes, something that actually took place, but only what God allowed him to see might take place. And we'll, that'll make sense as we go along here. But this is a vision.

And the vision was of locust swarms. And in verse one of the, of the three verses, that's where we have this vision. Verse one is the vision, the vision is revealed, revealing the vision. This is where he, he saw it. And that's what we have in verse one. Verse one says, thus the Lord showed me, behold, he formed locust swarms. This is the vision. Locust swarms at the beginning of the lake crop.

Indeed, it was the lake crop after the king's mowings. That's the vision revealed. Now, when it says he formed these locust swarms, he's talking about creating them. Formed refers to creating. We have an example of the same word as used back in chapter four, verse 13, where the Bible says that he formed the mountains, formed the mountains and the wind. These, that is, he created these things. And so the idea is that God creates mountains and wind, but that he also creates forms of destruction.

These things are actually created. And so it's not in the same, if, if there was going to be and would have been an actual carrying out physically of what Amos saw as a vision, then we have to understand that God supernaturally, divinely would have created these locusts, these locust swarms. He didn't just kind of gather them up from different places. And we understand that from the word, he formed, created these things. And not for their benefit, not in the strictest sense of the word, but for their destruction. And this is the vision that Amos was allowed to see. The late crop, what's mentioned here is kind of a description. Again, this is the revealing of the vision. The late crop after the king's mowings, what, what does that mean? Well, the late crop was the second harvest, which would be September, well, the first, first would be March and April or somewhere in that time period. The first crop would be the king's. The king would get the first crop. King, his household, king for his, for his coffers and, and grain bins and so forth. That would go to the king. And then the second crop would go to the people. And the people would then have to live off of the second crop. All right, so when did the, did Amos see the swarm of locusts devouring the land? It was during the second crop. Now, how devastating would that be then to the people of Israel? Be, be very, very devastating because they wouldn't have anything to live off of. In verse two, the prophet intercedes. All right, so you have the vision revealed. This is what Amos saw. And based upon what he saw, what did Amos do? He, he prayed. And so he's, he's attempting to intercede for God's people. That's what we have in verse two. And so it was, when they had finished eating the grass of the land that I said, Oh Lord God, forgive and pray, forgive I pray.

Oh, that Jacob may stand for he is small. This is a prayer of intercession. He's interceding for the people of God. So in the vision, he watches as these locusts devour the second harvest. And Amos understands the implication of that and the seriousness of that. And as he watches the locusts devouring that harvest that will feed the people for the year. Then it drives him to, to, to pray and to pray for mercy and pray for forgiveness. Now, why would we be driven to do that? Well, it's pretty obvious. I mean, he would see that and the implication of that, but he mentions here because Jacob is small. Let me go back here.

Jacob is small, he says, at least in the King, New King James Version is translated that way. The idea is he's thinking in his mind, he sees this happening and his natural conclusion is there's no way that Israel could survive based upon what I see in this vision. If this actually comes about, then they could not possibly survive. And his, and his heart is broken and he's driven to intercede for God's people. Then in verse three, we have the Lord responds, responds to what? The prayer.

And, and, and what is his response? Well, verse three, it says, so the Lord relented. King James says, repented. Still same idea concerning this. It shall not be said the Lord. All right. So how, how did the Lord respond to it? He changed his mind. Now that's problematic in our understanding of the immutability, immutability, immutability of God that he's unchanging. And does God ever really truly repent of something? Does he change his mind about things? You know, he was going to do a thing and then, well, okay, I'll, I'll not do that. Uh, in that, in that sense of it, uh, that's not possible for God. And, and, uh, and so you, you might be thinking, well, how do you explain that? I mean, this is the, you know, it's always kind of the stress between, uh, between these two things. And we have examples of it many places in the Old Testament where God actually, the Bible says God repented, uh, of the evil that he was going to do.

Does that mean that God got more information? And so then he said, well, based on what I know now, uh, I'll not do that. Uh, doesn't mean that. God is sovereign and God is all knowing and he knows all ends. And, uh, and so you're, you're saying, okay, so what's the answer for that?

Uh, I don't have an answer for that. I don't have an answer for that other than, uh, to always default to what the Bible clearly teaches about the sovereignty of God, that God never changes.

He's immutable. And, uh, uh, the, really the answer that you must, must come to is that, I mean, what, what it's saying is that God changed his mind. He changed his plan to destroy Israel's crop with a plague of locusts. That's what the Bible is saying here. Uh, but what does it mean? Uh, I think what it means is that God gave a positive response to Amos' prayer of intercession as he does ours.

Our, our prayers of intercession don't change the will of God. Our prayers of intercession, our prayers, uh, uh, for anything, uh, simply move us to be a part of God's will and plan. So what seems to be a change in his plan is really just us understanding what his plan was all along anyway. Uh, and his real plan here was not, uh, his real desire here, uh, was certainly to, uh, to bless Israel, but his plan at this point was, was to move his prophet to prayer. And that's what he does with us as well.

And, uh, and so we are moved and driven to prayer and praying, uh, that God would do such and such a thing. And, uh, actually what we're doing is getting in on what is already pleased God to do. Uh, and in that sense, it's really an amazing thing to think that God, uh, wants us to be so attuned to him. And so, uh, so, uh, in fellowship and communion with him that, uh, as we faithfully pray and always pray, we are more and more, uh, getting in line with God's will and God's plan, uh, not only for our lives, but the lives of, uh, of others, uh, other people as well. So, you know, that's just about best you can explain it. Uh, God gave a positive response to Amos intercession. There's no denying that.

And, uh, and so just on the, on the face of it, from our perspective, one person made a big difference because God, uh, is approachable and merciful. And, uh, and he, uh, uh, calls us to pray and, and really he's directing us to get in on what is his will. Vision number two, verses four through six.

And, uh, it's a consuming fire. This is what he sees, a consuming fire. Uh, and, uh, so what, what is this? Now the structure of, uh, of this vision or the report of this vision is like the first vision. Uh, you have the same kind of same movements. You have, first of all, the vision revealed in verse four. And, uh, let me go ahead and read that. I think I put all the scriptures in on your notes, so you've got it there. Thus the Lord God showed me, behold, the Lord God called for conflict by fire. That's how it's translated, uh, in the new King James. And it consumed the great deep and devoured the territory. Now it's the last part of that that really clues you in on what he's talking about here, what this fire is. The fire refers to drought, severe drought. I mean, a severe drought, uh, even more than, uh, what we've experienced the last couple of years and with Texas has experienced. Although it's, it gives us a kind of taste of what it would be like because what we're talking about here, and he goes on to describe it, the great deep refers to all the subterranean water sources, springs, and, you know, uh, and all of the, you know, the, the, the, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, underground, uh, that we don't ever see and we don't even realize is there. And, uh, yet prolonged drought, of course we understand, uh, depletes that those water sources. And so it's not only dry on the land, it's dry under the land and, uh, and that's full blown drought. And, uh, in fact, uh, he says devour the territory.

That's talking about the land. So it's all the water sources that are subterranean are dried up and, uh, because the land is completely dried up and there's just no, uh, no hope. So we're talking about a devastating, uh, drought, drought that would eventually dry up all water sources and consume the land. This is the vision that he saw. That's, that's, uh, what was revealed, uh, to Amos. So what would be the result of that wasteland desert, uh, is, is what he is seeing here. And, uh, so, uh, uh, uh, what's his response? It's to pray. And so the prophet intercedes again. That's what we have in verse five. Uh, he's interceding. So then I said, Lord God, cease, I pray. Oh, that Jacob may stand for he is small. So the same, same prayer.

We, he, he said, we, we, we, they won't survive it. Um, they're too weak, too small. Uh, who could survive that? Uh, really it's a statement of the frailty of mankind, uh, in that physical sense. Who could survive such a thing? And no one could. And, but Amos is, of course, is drawn, uh, particularly to his, his people, uh, covenant people, the covenant people of God and his heart is broken and he knows that this will totally destroy, uh, all the people.

And so he prays. And, uh, then in verse six, God responds and it's the same response. God relents. God relented. Um, and, uh, so these two visions, um, that Amos saw and I think saw very graphically, um, uh, God relented. They, they did not come about. So then we get to vision number three and something changes here. Uh, vision number three is that, uh, uh, famous concept in the Bible, uh, a plumb line. And, uh, I think probably most of us, uh, here know what a plumb line is, but let me, let me say a few things here about this vision and how it differs from the first two visions, the third and fourth. Uh, in fact, the fourth one I'll get to this one tonight, but the third and fourth, uh, vary, uh, with the first two in a couple of ways. God does most of the talking when it comes to this vision. And, uh, Amos is asked to identify what he sees in the vision. Uh, God explains that the things he sees, what he sees here, these things represent judgment. And, uh, Amos is given no chance to intercede or at least he, you know, if he was drawn to intercede, God didn't allow him to intercede, didn't move him to intercede, to pray like he did with the first two visions. And also God does not relent. Uh, and so then we have to conclude this vision is going to come to pass.

And, uh, we might just say, uh, that, um, Israel's day of grace is over. Um, this is going to happen to them. And so in verse seven, the vision is revealed, uh, just like the other two visions, um, revealed, uh, by God. Verse seven says, thus he showed me, behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line. Wall was made with a plumb line with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, Amos, what do you see? All right. So he's got a plumb line. I don't know what the vision looked like in Amos's mind and the vision that God's standing on a wall with a plumb line. Uh, but, uh, there he is. And he's, uh, using that plumb line, uh, to, to check out the wall, see if it's plumb.

It was made with a plumb line. That's interesting thing that is said. And, and you know what a plumb line is or plumb bob, uh, I think the old timers call them. I guess they're still used today. I mean, uh, it's, it's pretty simple concept. Uh, in fact, uh, there are records, historical records, uh, that date back all the way to ancient Egypt, uh, and plumb lines, uh, were used there. Uh, it's, comes from the Latin, if you're interested and it means true vertical, what the word plumb means, true vertical, not just vertical. You know, most of our houses don't have a true vertical. I don't know about yours, but I know mine doesn't because I've put up molding and things and, uh, I've discovered, hey, it's not square, it's not plumb and, uh, not anything in the world you can do about it, but, but kind of, well, you know, they're just ways that you can fudge a little and shim things and such to get those things, uh, put in there, but, uh, so, you know, um, and they would use, of course, uh, to, uh, build a straight vertical wall. That would be the first, one of the, one of the main uses for a plumb line. If you're constructing a house or building and putting up a wall, whatever, then you would use the plumb line to make sure you build it vertically. Uh, but they would also use a plumb line to check an existing wall.

Uh, to see if it is leaning or out of plumb and that's the idea here, of course. And so the wall may have been plumb to begin with, you know, true vertical and then later you come back and use that plumb line again to see if it's moved any, if it's leaning one way or the other. And, you know, I, uh, I remember when my dad, uh, dad's church in Fairfield Bay, they were, uh, oh, they had a, it was an old, the old sanctuary as, as I recall.

And, uh, they were making it into some classrooms. And, uh, uh, so some fellas got in there. It's kind of one of the in-house kind of jobs, you know, churches sometimes do. And, uh, it's, it's all right to do to a point, you know, if you know what you're doing and have anybody who knows what he's doing. Uh, and so they put up some walls so that what they did is, uh, as you kind of walked in the kind of a double door, they would have, they just continued it and made it kind of a hallway and then rooms to each side. And so they put up the walls and the walls for each room. Well, the problem is, you know, the doorway was plumb. And that made the fact that the walls on the other side were so out of plumb that it would just, I mean, just make you, uh, because you could see the square of the door and then you look through there and the walls are kind of going like that. Uh, and, uh, so they had to go back in there and I think they got a professional come in there, tear some of that out and square all that up. And I don't know if he used a plum, plum line or plum bob, but maybe he did.

All right. So it could be built or the, the reverse of that could be true. It could be built straight. And then, you know, like a lot of our houses here, the ground kind of softens or dries up or separates and, and, uh, the foundations kind of lower. And then suddenly you've got doors that won't shut quite right because the foundation has, has shifted or lowered. And you got to go in there and put those peers in there, jack it up, put peers. And so you do things to get things back up to plumb. All right. So that's what's going on here, uh, with Israel. God is, uh, measuring them, um, see if they're still vertical, still true. And so then we get to verse eight and the vision, uh, is applied. Uh, the Lord said to me, Amos, what do you see? And I said, a plum line. Then the Lord said, behold, I'm setting a plum line in the midst of my people, Israel. I will not pass by them any more.

All right. So what's going on here? He sees the vision. And now he says to Amos, what, what's this about? What, what am I doing here with the plum line? Well, the Lord with his plum line is checking Israel, checking them out. Uh, they, uh, had been built straight because who was their builder, original builder? God was the original builder. So they were built straight, but something has happened since. So God is checking to see if they are still plum. And, uh, the implication is they're not. Amos knows it. And, uh, that's what God is calling to his attention to, uh, that, uh, they were built straight, but now they're not true. They're not, uh, not, uh, vertical. The test, uh, will reveal one of two conditions. And we know the condition that he found, but, uh, one is that the wall is still true. And, uh, if it's true, it's plum, then it can remain. Or if the wall is, is true, then you don't need to do anything. The wall can stay, stay there and continue to stand. Or the wall has failed the test of the plum line and will have to come down. And so, uh, what was the case here, um, did Israel pass the test? And the answer, of course, is no, they did not. That's all implied in the passage, uh, because of, uh, what God says there. He says, uh, I will not pass by them anymore. Meaning that he would not spare them. Uh, the new American standard, uh, probably puts this more literally, and this is what he means. I will not spare them. I will spare them no longer. That's what he meant by, I keep passing by them. I'm sparing them. And I have been for years. In fact, you can go back, uh, and, uh, see the various kings of Israel leading up to this point. And, uh, every one of them, I mean, you can go back to, uh, we can go back almost to the beginning, uh, of the divided kingdom. If I can go beyond, uh, that and back before the divided kingdom, but just take Israel, the divided kingdom, the Northern kingdom, and see those kings going back to, well, you know, there's Ahab and Jezebel. Remember them? And then all the kings that followed them, uh, each one of them did, uh, uh, what was not right in sight of God. So God has been merciful, gracious, uh, he's been, he's been passing by them, sparing them, but he says, now I will spare them, uh, no longer. Verse nine, the punishment is described. Verse nine says, the high places of, of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste. I will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam. Now, two types of religious sites are mentioned here, uh, and, and it's all conclusive of all places of worship, uh, in Israel at this time, but there are two that are targeted, uh, or mentioned, uh, and, uh, one is the high places, the high places or shrines. And, uh, this would consist of, uh, illegal shrines to Yahweh. Say, is there such thing as an illegal? Now I say illegal, I mean, contrary to God's law, uh, not, you know, not to some, some particular government. There

were illegal shrines to Yahweh. You have to go back to first Kings 12, second Kings. We're not going to go back and look at those passages, but where Yahweh worship had been corrupted, uh, taking place in the wrong places, uh, mixed with, uh, wrong, uh, practices and so forth. And so there were those kinds of shrines. Those were the high places. And then there were shrines to heathen gods. So there was, you know, the Yahweh worship was corrupted. And then they also had just out and out, uh, temples, uh, to heathen gods, uh, in the northern kingdom. And, uh, and so he's saying these will all be destroyed. Uh, and so really what you have is ultimately all the places of worship in the northern kingdom, uh, uh, would be, would be destroyed. This is part of his judgment because he, you know, he put the plumb line, measure them according to the plumb line. And they did, they, they, they, they, they didn't measure up and, uh,

God had been passing by them over and over for years and years and years. And God said, now I will pass by them no more. And, uh, and so first I'm going to destroy all the places of worship in Israel because they're all corrupted. Uh, you know, there's, there's a mixture of Yahweh worship and idolatry. And, uh, the sanctuaries, well, I already mentioned the sanctuaries. These were religious temples located in the cities and, uh, they represented a mixture of Yahweh worship and idolatry. All right. Talked about that. There would also be the destruction of the ruling dynasty. Uh, not, not just the, the king who was ruling at the time, but he was part of a ruling dynasty that had been going on for, well, he was the third generation and then there would be a fourth would, but his would be short lived. But he says there in verse nine, I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. So this is a statement about judging the, the, the, the rulers, the ruler of the Northern kingdom, really, uh, uh, his dynasty.

And it refers to the dynasty, uh, of Jeroboam the first. Now the king at this time was Jeroboam the second. Uh, but, uh, the dynasty started with Jeroboam the first and it would come to an end, uh, when Jeroboam the second, who was the current king of, of, uh, the Northern king, when his son, Zachariah will be assassinated. Uh, and you read about that in second Kings 15. Uh, I've intended that put a little kind of some historical notes there. Okay. Let me just read down through. At first I thought I'd just read it to you and, but I gave it to you, but bear with me. I just want to read it. It's kind of interesting. Um, the dynasty to which Jeroboam the second, that's the current king here, uh, there's, there's, uh, that dynasty belong, uh, to which Jeroboam the second belong came to power through a rebellion that overthrew the corrupt rule of Ahab. Remember Ahab and Jezebel. That's how, how this dynasty started because the general named Jehu led a rebellion. First Kings nine, one to 37, you read about that. God then promised to reward Jehu, who, who, by the way, became king after

Ahab, uh, was put down. God promised to reward Jehu by overthrowing Ahab and Jezebel by keeping Jehu's descendants, uh, on Israel's throne for four generations. That promises in second Kings 10, uh, verse 30, Jeroboam the second, which is the king. Now, uh, king when Amos prophesied was the third generation of Jehu's descendants and Joe, Joe, Joe, uh, Jehoaz and Joe ash, Joe ash, excuse me, then Jeroboam the second. And that brings us up to date according to Amos prophecy. When Jeroboam the second died, his son, Zechariah, uh, came to the throne. That'd be the fourth generation. Remember God's promise. Zechariah ruled for only six months, uh, when Shalom led a rebellion against Zechariah and killed him in public. Second Kings 15, eight to 12. Shalom's violent deed exactly fulfilled God's promise to reward Jehu for four generations.

That, that fulfilled the promise. And also, uh, God's promise to destroy Jeroboam's, uh, house with the sword. So we not only have the end of the promise that God made to Jehu, four generations would rule. It didn't mean that they were good rulers. They weren't. Uh, but God allowed that promised that, uh, and it came about, uh, but it's also marks the fulfillment of his prophecy given through Amos, uh, that the, uh, the dynasty would end when, uh, by the sword. And indeed it did when Zechariah was, was killed or just kind of an interesting historical note. And, uh, it's interesting because God, uh, of course is sovereign and, uh, he fulfills his word. All right. I kind of got behind there on my advancing. I don't know if any of those are things you need to fill in. Okay. Now in verses 10 through 17, we have the punishment, uh, the punishment is justified. God's punishment, his judgment is justified in these verses 10 through 17, uh, takes us to the end of the chapter. And, uh, these verses seem to be kind of an interruption. Uh, in fact, some might even think, well, this, this is something different.

It doesn't even apply. In fact, the way it's written is different. It's written third person. So maybe Amos didn't write this. Maybe somebody else did and all kinds of conjectures about this, that it doesn't belong in the book, or maybe it was added many, many years later or whatever.

But really when you, uh, consider what is said here, uh, it, it, uh, really is, uh, not just, uh, interruption. There's an explanation here. It, it, it's, uh, justifying God's punishment of Israel.

And it highlights the two main reasons for Israel's fall, their fall from God. And those two reasons were it's unjust government. That would be King Jeroboam II.

And the second would be it's misguided worship, uh, uh, represented by the high priest Amaziah. So, uh, corrupt government, unjust government. Of course, we've already, uh, covered a lot of, uh, a lot of what Amos has said up to this point has dealt with, uh, uh, injustice that was taking place among the people at the hands of the wealthy, at the hands of the leadership of the nation.

And then we're going to be introduced in this passage to, uh, uh, uh, Amaziah and, uh, and their misguided worship. It also highlights the reason God would spare them no longer.

And that's what we learn in these passages. And, uh, um, so that's why we have it. These verses narrate a, an encounter between Amos the prophet and, uh, Amaziah the priest.

The issue is authority or who was really in charge of the people called Israel. That's the issue here. Uh, and, and so it makes this kind of interruption in the vision because this is, this is attached to the third vision, the plumb line, because it just kind of flows right on into that. And, uh, and then after this is over, we'll have the fourth vision. Uh, so, you know, it's part of that third vision.

And that's why I say that it, it helps us understand how the punishment, God's punishment was justified. So who's in charge? And, uh, this passage, uh, poses four possibilities.

Only one of them is right. And it's not going to be this one, Jeroboam. That would be Jeroboam the second. And so just looking at the passage, verse 10, then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel sent, and I just kind of included some, some, uh, explanatory notes within the text here.

When it says he sent, it didn't mean he went, uh, meant that he probably sent a messenger, messenger, a message by a runner. All right. So he sent it to whom? To Jeroboam. All right.

He's reporting to Jeroboam, King of Israel. Uh, he's got to inform him about this, this, this, this guy named Amos. Because by the way, Amos is prophesying right out the, outside the door of the temple in Bethel, uh, where, where, uh, Amaziah is. So he's right out there, right at the doorstep, uh, of the temple. And, uh, um, and so he's reporting, Amaziah has got to tell Jeroboam, King, he's got to do something about this. And he said, hear what? That Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. So what's the charge? Treason.

Uh, did it occur, possibly occur to, to, uh, uh, Amaziah that Amos was actually speaking for God? It didn't even occur to him. Uh, well, if it did, I mean, he rejected that out of hand. I mean, so far away from, uh, from the one true God anyway. So he, so here's Amos prophesying, but instead of Amaziah receiving that as a word from God, he, he receives it as treason. This is treason. He says the land is not able to bear all his words, endure all his words. That really what, what he means is, uh, they're sick of hearing this. I'm sick of hearing this and they're sick of hearing it. Kind of, kind of reminds me of, uh, kind of what our culture is, is becoming. And, you know, we got, we got to do something to silence these Bible thumpers, you know, we're sick of hearing this stuff, you know, that, you know, it's almost, in fact, uh, I don't think it's there yet in our country, though there are glimpses of it, but it certainly is true of Christianity, true biblical Christianity, many, many of the communist countries and Muslim countries that, that, uh, these people are not only, uh, uh, a nuisance, they're traitors. Traitors to our country, traitors, um, uh, and trying to tear our country apart. We've got to silence these people. And we're, we're very fast approaching that, uh, in our nation. All right, so this is what he's saying. So Amos, Amosiah treated Amos's words then as a political propaganda rather than the words of God, rather than what they really were, the words of God. So Amosiah is on pretty, pretty dangerous ground here. Uh, you know, he's denying, in fact, uh, uh, based upon the New Testament, we would, we would understand this as blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. This is the word from God. And, uh, instead of Amosiah receiving it as the word of God, he's saying this is treason. And this, this is, uh, a propaganda.

Um, and it's all propagated by Amos. Verse 11, for thus Amos has said, and this is, this is him trying to quote Amos, and he misquotes him, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive from their own land. Now, he got the gist of it, but his misquote, uh, is, is pretty serious. Um, in the first place, it was the house of Jeroboam that would die by the sword, not Jeroboam. You know, really what he's doing in a snide way, he's saying, you know, this guy needs to be silenced because, uh, uh, I think he's calling for the assassination of our king. Um, but that's not what Amos said. Of course, Amos is not speaking for himself anyway, of course. He's speaking for God, but it is the house of Jeroboam that will die by the sword, and the idea being the end of that dynasty is coming.

And also, it was, God said, I will rise with the sword, not Amos. So, Amaziah, hearing the message of Amos, he's, he's getting it wrong in a very grievous way, not only misunderstanding, misquoting what Amos has said, but totally missing the fact that Amos said this is what God said. And it's God that will arise with the sword, not me and not any, anyone in Israel.

I'm not, uh, trying to lead someone in Israel to be an assassin or to, uh, to raise up, uh, some people to, uh, uh, put together a coup of the government. Uh, this is, I'm speaking for God. God said, I will do this. Amos, I have then mistakenly thought Jeroboam was in charge.

So, who's in charge? Is it Jeroboam? That's what Amaziah, or what these passages are pointing to. Amaziah is not going to the Lord with this, as if he were sovereign. He's going to Jeroboam, as if Jeroboam was sovereign. The second possibility is Amaziah. Maybe Amaziah is in charge. Maybe he's the one with the authority, and these verses, uh, uh, tend to, uh, indicate that Amaziah thinks that. I better hurry up. Verse 12, then Amaziah said to Amos, go, you seer. And seer here is used to mock Amos. That's not a problem with the word seer, because that word is used a number of times in the Old Testament to, legitimately, to refer to a prophet, a genuine prophet. Uh, but it's the way it's used. It's used to mock him. It's kind of tongue-in-cheek kind of thing, you know. You prophet of the Lord, meaning you're not one, you know. It's, it's meant to mock him. And this is what he said. He said, flee to the land of Judah.

That is, go home. There, eat bread. That is, make a living there. And there, prophesy. Implying, really, that Amos was a prophet for hire. And that's the idea behind this. This is the conclusion Amaziah has come to, that Amos, because he didn't like Amos' message, so Amos is just a, one of these political hacks, you know, and he's paid to do it. He's kind of a, um, um, um, what do you, what do you call it? A community organizer. And, uh, you know, it makes his living from stirring things up and, and, and, um, speak, speaking, uh, this way.

And so, since he's come to that conclusion, he's saying, go, go home and do that at home. All right. Um, you know, that, that, that's the idea behind there, there, eat bread. That is, make your living there as this political propagandizer. And, uh, there do your prophecy, prophesy. And, uh, this is where you get the idea that, uh, Amos' I thinks he's in charge.

Uh, these are imperatives. He's commanding it. Yeah. Somehow I've got the authority to tell you, go and flee. Literally run for your life. And it couldn't be taken as a threat. You better go home or you're in big trouble. Uh, and then the emphatic repetition of there means go home to Tekoa. Go home.

Verse 13, but never again prophesy at Bethel for it is the king's sanctuary and it is, uh, the royal residence. So Amaziah was speaking in his own authority and he gave no thought to Amos' authoritative words as, uh, an official prophet of Yahweh God. He was actually called and sent by God and speaking God's words.

This didn't even, didn't even enter his mind. All right. Third, uh, is Amos in charge? Is he the one with the authority? Well, verse 14, uh, removes, uh, any doubt about that.

Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, I was not a prophet. And this is New King James word. I was not a prophet, nor was I a son of a prophet, but I was a sheep breeder and a tender of sycamore fruit. Now in reality, well, the King James, King James, I think does too. And New King James certainly does puts this in the past tense. The tense really is present tense. So as some of the other versions pick this up, I am no prophet. And the reason why that's important is because it could be that Amos was saying I wasn't one, but now I am. Uh, before God called me, I was not a prophet or the son of a prophet, but really the idea is I'm no prophet nor a prophet's son. And so the question is, well, I thought he was a prophet. Well, yeah, he is a prophet, but what he's saying is I'm not a professional prophet. That that's not my vocation. Like, like an Elijah, um, for example, he prophesied only when he was called upon by

God. So he wasn't part of any particular guild of prophets, not recognized in that sense. He wasn't a card carrying prophet, you know, uh, kind of thing. Uh, but he was a true prophet, uh, as God called him. And, uh, all right. So Jeroboam claimed authority as King of Israel.

Amaziah claimed authority as the high priest. Amos claimed no authority because he had no official title. Amos spoke for the one who had all the authority. And so that brings up the fourth possibility, Yahweh, Yahweh God. Of course, that's the right one. Verse 15. Then the Lord took me as I followed the flock as God chose and called me. And the Lord said to me, this is a, this is a command and this is a command. Go prophesy to my people, Israel, not Jeroboam's people, not Amaziah's people, not even Amos's people in the sense of ownership, but God's people, Yahweh God's people. Verse 16. Now, therefore, hear the word of the Lord. And this is meant to be a contrast between Amaziah's words and God's words. You say, you, not I, do not prophesy against Israel and do not spout against the house of Isaac. So he's speaking directly to Amaziah. This is what you said, but I didn't say that. Your words are put in complete contrast, contradiction to mine. So Amos accused Amaziah of thinking his authority superseded God's. Verse 17 is

God's judgment on Amaziah and it's pretty, pretty severe. Therefore, thus says the Lord, your wife shall be a harlot in the city. He has to be so destitute that the only way she can survive is to be a prostitute. Your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword.

Your land shall be divided by survey line. That's you're going to lose all your property. You shall die in a defiled land and Israel shall surely be led away captive from his own land. That's what's God's judgment. All right. So to wrap this up, kind of summarize.

The narrative encounter between Amos and Amaziah settled the issue of authority, right? Jeroboam was king of Israel, but he was not to rule the Lord's covenant people under the, he was to rule the Lord's covenant people under the Lord's authority, which he was not doing.

Amaziah was the high priest of Israel. Yes, a high position, but his concern should have been to serve the Lord's covenant people under the Lord's authority. Amos spoke to the Lord's covenant people, but he did so under the Lord's authority. All this highlighting the fact that Yahweh was in charge in Israel because the people were his, his people. And, you know, I would just have you think the same is true in the New Testament church. We're not Israel, not even, even, uh, uh, a new Israel in that sense. We're, we're a different people, unique people that God has chosen. And each one of us is accountable directly to God, as well as, uh, each one's accountable to each other, uh, in, in the church.