Amos The Man: What’s In A Name?

What’s your name? Say it, in your mind. Say it in a whisper. Say it. How many times has it passed your lips? How many times have you answered the question: What is your name? How many times have you heard it spoken, have you turned to look? Was it said with anger, with love, as command, as demand, as question, as plea?

Everyone

God exists whether we believe it or not. He has something to say about us, whether we ask him or not.

Amos has set a stage. The Judge has entered. Court is in session. Amos reads out the charges against Israel’s enemies, their “countless crimes.” They have mercilessly plundered, killed and sold “my people” into slavery.

A Name Is Not Enough

Not all that glitters is gold. We may have noble origins, steeped faith, renown and reputation. We may have a name, but does it mean anything?

Ignorance is no excuse in law. Yet greater knowledge demands greater responsibility, higher standards. “They should know better.” Judah was the largest tribe, home to the Temple and guardian of the Law of Moses.

Read More judgment, hypocrisy, wickedness

Warning

Why did he not warn us the banks would fail and the stock market crash? Why did he not warn us that we would not be able to finish the war we started?

Which crash, which war? That’s the point: there is nothing new under the sun. Greed begets poverty and violence begets violence.

If God does not do anything without telling us first, why do disasters engulf us?

Read More justice, warning, roaring lion

Lost in Translation

The CEV’s “fat cows” may be in step with modern idiom, but it lacks the class of “The cows of Bashan” (4:1 NIV) The poetry of the putdown. The lush plains of Bashan yield the fatted calf. The imagery of waddling udders and cow bells satirizes the wives of the wealthy, indulgent, drunken, selfish, servant-beating women of Israel.

The One

God mourns. How strange is that? He experiences loss. Our high theology leaves no room for such sentiment. Yet Jesus came to show what God was like and Jesus wept.

How strange is that?

The Day of Judgment

We are apocalyptic. We live in a culture of doom. Every other film is the End of The World, by asteroid, weather, aliens and now the dead.

How are Christians different? We embrace the End. We look forward to the “Lord’s return.” But should we? There will be no more tears, no more pain, no more mourning, no more suffering – but for whom?

Plowing Oceans

“Horses cannot gallop on rocks, oceans cannot be plowed” (6:12). War, trade and wealth warped like a Dali painting. Bitterness squeezed from the just and fair.

“You are cruel, and you forget the coming day of judgment” (6:3). Lounge lizards, celebrity chefs, pop singers, wine connoisseurs, perfume pushers, do not care about the ruin of their society – then as now.

Forgive Me for Asking

“Forgive me for asking.“ (7:2) We ask forgiveness for many things, but how often do we ask forgiveness for the questions we pose God? Does it sound stilted, rather formal; how you might speak to the Queen? What does it say about Amos? He is like Abraham with his plea for Sodom & Gomorrah: “May the Lord not be angry” even though “I am but dust and ashes” may I ask: “If there are just fifty… forty, thirty, twenty, ten” righteous people will you relent?

The Lord Showed Me

On what size screen would you see a vision from God? IMAX? Would it be in 3D? This one is not pre-recorded, but it’s not live either. Amos sees what hasn’t happened yet. He is not just in the seats, he is in the scene, he is part of the story. He speaks. The Director stops, “CUT.” Amos pleads: too much fire, too many locusts, too much blood. The Director orders: “Rewind. Edit.”