Intro to Amos

1 The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 

Amos 1:1 (ESV)

Let's start with a bit of history. Amos, although in the middle of the prophetic writings in our Bibles, is likeliest the earliest of the writing prophets and is the first of four prophets who wrote during the eighth century BC. Amos, along with Hosea, prophesied in the Northern part, Israel while Isaiah and Micah both prophesied in the Southern part, Judah. We get a few clues as to when this book was written in the first verse, "two years before the earthquake", which may be a reference to the same earthquake that Zechariah mentions (Zech 14:5) and that it was in the days of King Jeroboam and King Uzziah. Being good Biblical scholars, we know that this would have been a time of economic, military, and cultural stability and prosperity. And although the land was experiencing a sort of renaissance, the unfortunate truth is that spiritually they were dead. It was during this time of perceived blessing from God that God chose to take a shepherd, passing over the priests, to proclaim a message to the people; and speak Amos did.

Amos' message consisted of judgment, exposure of sin, destruction, and finally hope. Although the people of God were religious, they had no living relationship with God and in fact had incorporated idol worship with their worship to God (4:4-5). And the warning is clear, the Day of the Lord is coming. This "Day of the Lord" is a coming day where God will exact judgment on the wicked people and it is here in Amos where we start to develop a robust understanding of this day.

The people had thought that this day would have been a day for salvation and light and rejoicing and were eagerly awaiting this day to come. However, Amos declared it to be a day of darkness and that it would be inescapable (5:18-20). And lest, the people think that they had no sin, Amos exposes the dark deeds that they had openly committed (chapters 3-6). Therefore, as a result of their sins, imminent and inescapable destruction was on the horizon (chapters 7-9).

But this book does end in hope. In the very last five verses of the book, we read that the Lord will intervene and bring restoration, prosperity, and peace. But their hope would not be found in anything or anyone other than the Lord God. And it becomes very clear to us that there will be a time of judgment for all of mankind which will be without escape. God truly is sovereign and we would be wise to recognize that He does have full authority and power over all things in the universe, as the Creator of all things in the universe. But wait, there's more. In the book of Acts, we read of this future hope mentioned in Amos is not just a hope restricted to the Jews. It will also include the Gentiles. And so, we can rejoice knowing that we too can be part of the people of God. And that on the day of the Lord, when God judges and restores, for those who place their hope in Christ, they will be saved, the Jew and also the Gentile.

Grace and Peace,
Alex Galvez

Weekly Scripture Memory:
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
James 1:22-24 (ESV)

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