Our Old Testament reading this week is from the Prophet Amos. Prior to being called to preach God’s Word, Amos was a shepherd and a farmer of sycamore figs. Though he was from the Southern Kingdom of Judah, most of his preaching was to the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
Our passage begins with God giving Amos a vision of a wall being measured with a plumb line (vs 7-9). A plumb line is a device used by builders to ensure the straightness of a wall. A wall that is not straight will throw off the whole building, and eventually collapse. God is telling Amos that the people of Israel are out of line, they are a leaning and tilting wall. From the time the two kingdoms split, Israel has been in deep idolatry, worshipping Baal, Astarte, and a host of other gods, in addition to Yahweh. The true spiritual nature of Israel is tested and found wanting by God’s plumb line of righteousness.
As Amos goes through the kingdom preaching against the country’s idolatry and failure to follow Yahweh’s Word, warning them of His judgment, he came to the attention of the priest Amaziah (vs 10-13). Amaziah was chief priest in Bethel at this time, representing Israel’s official religion, which had long fallen into pagan practices. He was not interested in hearing God’s Word. Amaziah actually reported to King Jeroboam that Amos was speaking traitorously when he said God would bring judgment on the country if they didn’t turn from their wickedness. Many prophets, like Amos, were thought to be traitors because they preached against the actions and behavior of the king and other political leaders. They were thought of as enemies rather than God’s spokesmen. Amos’s words cut into the leadership of Israel. His preaching caused them to accuse him of conspiracy against the king.
How does Amos’s words apply to us today? If God set a plumb line among our lives, how straight would our spiritual lives line up? We are to live by God’s standards. He wants us to be right with Him, and to immediately throw out the sin that makes us crooked. God’s Word, the Bible, is our plumb line, showing us where we aren’t straight. God will accept nothing short of holiness. The only way we can achieve that by accepting Jesus, the sinless Son of God, as our Savior.
Amos kept true to the calling that God had given him, even though it could have been dangerous. Amaziah and other pagan religious leaders were viciously opposed to Amos and his message. By accusing him of treason, and trying to turn the hearts of the people against the king and the worship of idols, Amos was in danger of imprisonment or even execution. However, our prophet did not let that scare him from following the mission God had given him.
Nor did Amos let his lack of “official” training keep him from serving God and obeying his calling. God didn’t care that Amos was a shepherd and sycamore fig farmer, without multiple theological degrees. God used him in a special way, and his message has been contained forever in Scripture. If we are faithful in spreading God’s Word, we will find opposition from His enemies. We may also find those who attack if they feel we aren’t qualified to serve God. Remember Amos and his faithfulness to God and His calling, and let us be just as faithful and true.
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