Amos 7:10-17

CAUSES OF JUDGMENT PROPHESIEDCORRUPT RELIGIOUS LEADERS

TEXT: Amos 7:10-17

10

Then Amaziah the priest of Beth-el sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.

11

For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.

12

Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thou away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:

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but prophesy not again any more at Beth-el; for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house.

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Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore-trees:

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and Jehovah took me from following the flock, and Jehovah said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.

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Now therefore hear thou the word of Jehovah: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac;

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therefore thus saith Jehovah: Thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou thyself shalt die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.

QUERIES

a.

Why was the land not able to bear all Amos-' words?

b.

What did Amaziah mean, flee. into. Judah and there eat bread?

c.

What did Amos mean by saying he was not a prophet's son?

PARAPHRASE

Then Amaziah, the high priest at the sanctuary of the golden calf at Bethel, rushed a message to King Jeroboam which said: Amos has plotted a conspiracy against you and our nation. And he is preaching his treason right here in the religious center of the nation. The nation cannot survive his seditious words for it will soon lead to rebellion all across the land. Amos is saying you will be killed in war, O King, and all Israel will be taken far away into exile and slavery. When the King took no action against Amos, Amaziah sent orders, saying, Amos, get out of the land of Israel; go on home to your own land of Judah and earn your salary as a prophet there! Never again are you allowed to preach in Israel, and especially at Bethel, for it is the royal center of religion in Israel. Then Amos gave this reply to Amaziah: I am not a prophet by profession and simply for the livelihood involvedneither was I trained to become such a professional religionist. My livelihood was earned by herding sheep and dressing sycamore fruit trees. The Lord God Himself called me and told me to leave my flock and commissioned me to go and preach unto my kinsmen and countrymen in Israel. The Lord has commissioned me personally, I am no professional prophet preaching merely for the money as you falsely assume, Amaziah! Whoever forbids me to preach sets himself in opposition to the Lord God. Now therefore listen to this message to you from the Lord. You say, Do not prophesy against Israelthe Lord's reply is this: Because of your enmity to the word of the Lord your wife shall become a prostitute in this very city, and your sons and daughters will be slain violently, and your property will become the booty of an invader. You yourself will die in a heathen land, and the people of Israel will most definitely become slaves in exile, far away from their homeland.

SUMMARY

The daring announcement by Amos of the overthrow of the dynasty of Jeroboam excites the wrath of the high priest at Bethel. He relates the affair to the king. The king apparently does not intervene. The high priest then takes it upon himself to banish Amos from Israel. Amos announces the terrible wrath of God upon Amaziah and Israel.

COMMENT

Amos 7:10-11. AMAZIAH. SENT TO JEROBOAM. AMOS HATH CONSPIRED AGAINST THEE. Evidently Amos-' preaching had met with some response among some of the people of Israel. The people were responding or taking notice of the prophet's warnings enough to cause Amaziah, high priest of the golden calf worship at Bethel, to be concerned about rebellion. If the people had paid no attention to Amos-' preaching, Amaziah would not have bothered the King with it. Amaziah sends an urgent appeal to the king that Amos be dealt with for what Amaziah says is a plot of conspiracy against the king's life and the nation. Amaziah very shrewdly does not even mention the main content of Amos-' preaching; the apostacy of Israel, his pleas for repentance, etc. As a good politician he turns it into a threat against the king's life and unpatriotic sedition against the nation. This is the first show of the corruption in the heart of Israel's religious leader. He is not concerned with worshipping Jehovah God nor with righteousness; his only concern is that the status quo not be disrupted,

Amos 7:12-13. AMAZIAH SAID. FLEE UNTO JUDAH. AND THERE EAT BREAD, AND PROPHESY THERE. BUT NOT AGAIN ANY MORE AT BETH-EL. We can only conjecture as to whether Amaziah acted on authority from the king or on his own authority in banishing Amos from Israel. It seems that Amaziah was determined to get rid of this trouble of Israel, king or no king! His command to Amos is to flee (get out of Israel, while the getting is good) to Judah, Amos-' own country. Amaziah adds a nasty insinuation that if Amos expects to make any money at this preaching business it won-'t be in Israel. His insinuation is that Amos was only prophesying for the money or livelihood it brought. Furthermore, Amos-' assault upon the very center of the calf worship of the northern kingdom jeopardized its independence. Jeroboam I realized in the very birth of the northern kingdom that if the people of Israel were allowed to return to Jerusalem to worship Jehovah in the temple they would soon move to dissolve the divided kingdoms and reunite them into one. His first move (1 Kings 12:26 ff) was to institute the calf worship as distinct from the worship in Jerusalem. Amos-' attempt to overthrow this apostate religion threatened the very existence of the nation of Israel. Now we see the next indication of the corruptness of Amaziah's religious leadership. He was only a priest because of the livelihoodhe was a hireling and insinuated that Amos was also. Amaziah was not a priest in order to serve the people as a minister of the word of Godhe was a priest to be sustained and served by the ignorant and sensual worshipers of the calf. The corruption of his heart led the people of Israel in a corrupted religion. And this became a major cause of the judgment of God upon Israel.

Amos 7:14-17. I WAS NO PROPHET, NEITHER WAS I A PROPHET'S SON. HEAR THOU THE WORD OF JEHOVAH. THY WIFE SHALL BE A HARLOT. THY SONS AND DAUGHTERS SHALL FALL BY THE SWORD. THOU. SHALT DIE IN A LAND THAT IS UNCLEAN. Calmly Amos repudiates the insinuation that he was in the business of prophesying for the sake of money. He was not a prophet by profession neither had he ever been trained to preach the Law of God as others had (see Special Study Eight The Schools of The Prophets). Professionally or vocationally Amos was a herdsman in the hills of Tekoa. He also dressed sycamore trees to provide his living. The sycamore tree of Palestine bore a kind of fruit that required piercing, nipping or scratching in order to ripen. K & D call it a mulberry-fig tree. He earned his living this wayhe was not a hireling preacher like Amaziah. God took this honest-hearted, willing, God-fearing man from the flocks and commissioned him with a divine command to Go! tell my people! He was not sent by the religious leaders of Judah; no human had advised Amos what to preach. His commission and his message were both from Jehovah Himself, Who was Amaziah to forbid that this message should be preached? Who was Amos that he should disobey the Lord God, merely because a human priest, and an apostate one at that, did not like his message?

Whoever sought to oppose the message of Amos opposed the Most High God! Since Amaziah had rebelled against the word of God, God, through Amos, pronounces His judgment upon His enemy, Amaziah. Amaziah's wife was to become a common prostitute, selling her body and soul to other men. This is probably what she did because of the extreme conditions of privation and starvation during the siege of the cities of Israel just before the captivity. Amaziah's sons and daughters were to die violent deaths by the sword, either by murderers or soldiers in battle. His property, undoubtedly a large and rich estate, would become the booty of the invaders and be divided amongst heathen soldiers and conquerors. As for Amaziah himself, he would be taken captive with all the people of Israel and he would die in a heathen land, never again to see his beloved homeland. The encounter between Amos and Amaziah reminds us of the encounter between Jeremiah and Hananiah (Jeremiah 38). God's word shall not return unto Him void but shall accomplish that which He purposes (Isaiah 55:6-11).

Honeycutt in Amos And His Message, has said, In a day when the ministry tends toward a cold professionalism, the message of Amos carries a severe warning for the contemporary minister. The world will always need men of integrity who cannot be intimidated, coerced, or threatened into silence at the very time when a prophetic voice is needed most. Here is to be found the acid test of preaching: Will a preacher speak for God in the face of adversity and hardship, even the threat of both job and life? Knudson has well observed: Someone has said that there are two classes of preachersthe good preachers who have something to say, and the poor preachers who have to say something. But there is yet another and higher class. It consists of those who both have something to say, and who have to say it. Such are the prophets. Such a one was Amos. A poet has said it this way:

God give us men. The time demands
Strange minds, great hearts, true faith and willing hands;

Men whom the lust of office does not kill;

Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;

Men who possess opinions and a will;

Men who have honor; men who will not lie;

Men who can stand before a demagogue

And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking;

Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog

In public duty and in private thinking!
For while the rabble with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their large professions and their little deeds
Mingle in selfish strife; lo! Freedom weeps!
Wrong rules the land, and waiting Justice sleeps.

by J. G. Holland

QUIZ

1.

Why was Amaziah so excited about Amos-' preaching?

2.

Why would Amos-' preaching at Bethel be particularly threatening to Israel?

3.

What is a son of the prophets?

4.

Name the specific judgments of God upon Amaziah and his family?

5.

How does Amos furnish an example for preachers today?