A Message From Amos

Amos 8:4-12

Today’s Old Testament reading from this week’s Lectionary from the Book of Common Prayer is a passage from the Book of the Prophet Amos.  Amos was originally from the southern Kingdom of Judah, but the message he preached was to the northern Kingdom of Israel. Amos did not start out his adult life as a preacher or prophet, but was originally a herdsman and a farmer of sycamore figs (Amos 7:14).  The Lord called him from this career to bring His message to the apostate nation of Israel. His message was one of calling the people to put away their idols and false pagan gods and to turn back to Yahweh, the one true God, and also to show righteousness and justice to each other, and especially the poor.

As our Scripture passage opens, Amos is calling out those who outwardly keep the Sabbath and other holy days, but are anxious for the days to be over so that they can get back to the business of making money for themselves (vs. 5-6).  The people kept the Sabbaths and holy days, but not in spirit. They couldn’t wait to go back to making money, and often at the expense of the poor. They were taking advantage of the poor, both with the high prices, and also by overworking and underpaying their workers.  They were also short-changing their customers through the quality of their goods, including adding chaff to their wheat. Times have not changed much today, either, as we see a lot of the same behavior today.

The message that Amos brought the Israelites is one that can be asked today - is our heart in our worship, or is making money more important?  There used to be a time when most businesses were closed on Sundays, and then the corporate business world realized that more money could be made by being open 7 days a week.  How many people sit in church, frequently looking at the clock to see how many minutes until they can get out and get to the stores and restaurants? Worshipping God should not be a burden we endure, but rather a privilege we look forward to and enjoy.

Amos also chastised the people for their false and deceptive business practices.  Throughout the Scriptures God frequently called upon His people to be sure to use honest weights and measures, in other words, for businessmen and merchants to not cheat the people.  He told them He wanted His people to measure correctly, and not to cheat the people. Of course this should hold for people today, especially for Christian businessmen and merchants. Don’t sell merchandise that falls apart as soon as it gets to the house.  Don’t cheat the public, pay an honest wage, and don’t take advantage of the poor.

The prophet continues on, bringing a prophecy of an event that happened during the crucifixion of Jesus centuries later, when the sky would turn dark for several hours (vs. 9-10).  In these verses Amos prophesied a day when there would be darkness at noon. It would be a darkness like night, not just a heavily cloudy day, or even a dimming of the sunlight as during an eclipse.  When Jesus hung on the cross the sun was totally darkened for three hours (Matthew 27:45). This was not an eclipse, as the period when the eclipse is total is only a few minutes, gradually getting lighter.  This was nighttime darkness at noon, as nature mourned the death of the Son of God.

Amos closes our passage with another prophesy of a coming time when there would be a scarcity of the Word of God (vs. 11-12).  This occurred during the period of time between Malachi’s prophecies (around 432 BC) until the appearance of John the Baptist (around 27-28 AD), a period of over 400  years. During this time there were no prophets who brought God’s Word to the people. Today in many places there is also a drought of hearing the Word of God. Many preachers in churches today, and especially many TV evangelists, only preach “feel good” messages, and do not preach the whole Gospel of Jesus.  They fail to preach about sin, as people do not like to hear that, and only preach what people want to hear.  Amos predicted this, and Paul also spoke of it (II Timothy 4:3-4). This is stunting the growth of the Church, causing it to decline and lose its effectiveness.  Without the Word of God we are lost, and our souls are starved. If we only eat one type of food, and not a well-balanced diet, one will become malnourished. Be sure that you are fed daily from the whole Word of God.