1. Amos sees the LORD standing next to an altar, presumably in a temple, a temple in the northern kingdom of Israel.
The LORD speaks of striking down the pillars of the the temple and bringing them down on those who worship there.
God will bring death upon all the people of Israel, none will escape: "they will not have a refuge who will flee or a refugee who will escape."
2. The people will not be able to escape from this destruction, even if they should get as far as Sheol or heaven. The LORD will find them and drag them back to experience the judgment that awaits all the people of Israel.
3. If even they should try to escape to the top of Mt. Carmel or the bottom of the sea, the LORD will bring this destruction upon them: "I will command the serpent and it will bite them."
4. Even if they should be captured by the enemy, the LORD will make sure that they die: "I will command the serpent and it will bite them."
God has abandoned this people: "I will set My eyes against them for evil and not for good."
5. Amos describes the LORD here as one who brings destruction, who "touches the land so that it melts, and all those who dwell in it mourn."
Amos then repeats the image of the Nile flooding and then subsiding. I suppose this is an image of destruction coming through a place.
6. Amos then describes the LORD as being far greater than we are: He "builds His upper chambers in the heavens, and has founded His vaulted dome over the earth."
The LORD "calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth."
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Amos 8, 11-14
11. God says that there will be a famine in Israel, not of food but of God's word, "hearing the words of the LORD.
Either there will be no prophets or the people will no longer listen to God's written word.
12. People will seek God's word, but will not find it. God will no longer speak to the people of Israel.
13. The young men and women of Israel will faint from thirst in that day of judgment, either literally or they will thirst for God's word.
14. The false god of Israel, the false God of Dan, is one of the reasons that the true God will judge them. This false god is "the guilt of Samaria." Those who swear by this false god will be destroyed, "will fall and not rise again."
Either there will be no prophets or the people will no longer listen to God's written word.
12. People will seek God's word, but will not find it. God will no longer speak to the people of Israel.
13. The young men and women of Israel will faint from thirst in that day of judgment, either literally or they will thirst for God's word.
14. The false god of Israel, the false God of Dan, is one of the reasons that the true God will judge them. This false god is "the guilt of Samaria." Those who swear by this false god will be destroyed, "will fall and not rise again."
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Amos 8, 1-10
1. The LORD shows Amos a vision of summer fruit.
2. This is way of showing Amos that Israel will soon be destroyed and that there is no hope of repentance and rescue.
"The end has come for people Israel. I will spare them no longer."
Perhaps the summer fruit is ripe--so it looks fine now, but soon will be rotten.
3. The destruction will reach the king in his palace: "the songs of the palace will turn to wailing in that day."
Many will die: "Many will be the corpses; in every place they will cast them forth in silence."
4. A crime of Israel: there is no equal protection of the law for the weak and poor. The strong violate the rights of the weak: "Hear this, you who trample the needy to do away with the humble of the land."
5. The merchants cheat and steal from those who do business with them. They sell in quantities less than promised (and so can sell more and make more money): they "make the bushel smaller."
They also use false weights and so again sell less than promised. They also somehow inflate the currency--"make the shekel bigger." (?) When someone inflates the currency, it take more of it to buy the same amount of things.
6. It sounds as if the rich make slaves of the poor (who presumably become debtors): they "buy the helpless for money and the needy for a pair of sandals."
The merchants also sell poor quality wheat, "the refuse of the wheat."
7. Israel is proud and God will punish them for that. He will remember all of their wicked deeds.
8. The punishment of Israel will come: the land will quake "and everyone who dwells in it will mourn."
It will be like the Nile that swells and floods the land and then subsides. (?)
9. Literally or figuratively, God will make the daytime dark "in that day."
10. The people of Israel presently enjoy festivals and singing, but God will turn them into mourning and lamentation.
People will wear sackcloth and will shave their heads.
They will feel the deepest grief, as if they were mourning for the death of an only son.
2. This is way of showing Amos that Israel will soon be destroyed and that there is no hope of repentance and rescue.
"The end has come for people Israel. I will spare them no longer."
Perhaps the summer fruit is ripe--so it looks fine now, but soon will be rotten.
3. The destruction will reach the king in his palace: "the songs of the palace will turn to wailing in that day."
Many will die: "Many will be the corpses; in every place they will cast them forth in silence."
4. A crime of Israel: there is no equal protection of the law for the weak and poor. The strong violate the rights of the weak: "Hear this, you who trample the needy to do away with the humble of the land."
5. The merchants cheat and steal from those who do business with them. They sell in quantities less than promised (and so can sell more and make more money): they "make the bushel smaller."
They also use false weights and so again sell less than promised. They also somehow inflate the currency--"make the shekel bigger." (?) When someone inflates the currency, it take more of it to buy the same amount of things.
6. It sounds as if the rich make slaves of the poor (who presumably become debtors): they "buy the helpless for money and the needy for a pair of sandals."
The merchants also sell poor quality wheat, "the refuse of the wheat."
7. Israel is proud and God will punish them for that. He will remember all of their wicked deeds.
8. The punishment of Israel will come: the land will quake "and everyone who dwells in it will mourn."
It will be like the Nile that swells and floods the land and then subsides. (?)
9. Literally or figuratively, God will make the daytime dark "in that day."
10. The people of Israel presently enjoy festivals and singing, but God will turn them into mourning and lamentation.
People will wear sackcloth and will shave their heads.
They will feel the deepest grief, as if they were mourning for the death of an only son.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Amos 7, 10-17
10-11. A priest of Bethel named Amaziah tells King Jeroboam that Amos is prophesying against Israel and saying that the LORD will destroy Israel and Jeroboam as well.
12. Amaziah tells Amos to go back to Judah and stop troubling the people of Israel.
13. Amaziah tells Amos that Bethel is "a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence" and so it is not a proper place for the kinds of things that Amos is saying.
I assume that this means that Bethel is a place where the King of Israel lives and worships.
14. Amos says that he is not a prophet, so there is no sense in telling him to stop prophesying. He is a farmer and a keeper of herds.
15. He is just an ordinary person speaking out the words that the LORD told Him to say.
16-17. Then Amos delivers a message from the LORD to Amaziah: the judgment of Israel will surely come, in spite of Amaziah's unwillingness to hear of it. Amaziah's wife will be reduced to prostitution, his children will be killed, and he will be carried into exile and die in a foreign land. As for Israel, it will be conquered and the people will go into exile.
12. Amaziah tells Amos to go back to Judah and stop troubling the people of Israel.
13. Amaziah tells Amos that Bethel is "a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence" and so it is not a proper place for the kinds of things that Amos is saying.
I assume that this means that Bethel is a place where the King of Israel lives and worships.
14. Amos says that he is not a prophet, so there is no sense in telling him to stop prophesying. He is a farmer and a keeper of herds.
15. He is just an ordinary person speaking out the words that the LORD told Him to say.
16-17. Then Amos delivers a message from the LORD to Amaziah: the judgment of Israel will surely come, in spite of Amaziah's unwillingness to hear of it. Amaziah's wife will be reduced to prostitution, his children will be killed, and he will be carried into exile and die in a foreign land. As for Israel, it will be conquered and the people will go into exile.
Does God Ever Change His Mind?
This question came up in Sunday school the other day. We were studying the passage in Exodus in which God says He is going to wipe out Israel and then Moses intercedes for them. Someone in the class wanted to make it clear that God never changes His mind.
I brought up the passage in Amos 7, in which it says twice that God changed His mind (vv. 3 and 6). The teacher said that a better translation of the Hebrew verb here would be "relent" (as in turned back from His wrath) rather than "changed His mind" as the NASB has it.
The Hebrew verb is "shuv"--which has a primary meaning of return. There may not be all that much of a difference between "relent" and "change His mind." If God relents, then He returns to a state of not planning on doing what He said He was about to do. In other words, He changes His mind.
Perhaps the problem is that when we human beings change our mind about something, it is because we get better information, or re-calculate what is best and realize we were in error, or decide to indulge a desire against our better judgment, or get struck by a whim, or something along these lines. Clearly this is not what happens when God relents or changes His mind.
Someone pointed out that in most or all of the cases in which God "returns" in this way, it is a decision to postpone or withhold judgment. This reminds me of the story in Froissart, in which the Queen pleads with King Edward III at Calais, that he would show mercy on the 6 nobleman and not execute them, as he was intending to do. The king relented. In another story from the reign of Richard II, King Richard's Queen pleads with the Duke of Gloucester, that he would show mercy on Simon Burleigh, and not execute him. In this case, the Duke is not willing to show mercy and Burleigh is executed.
In the case of Israel in the vision of Amos, or Sodom and Gomorrah or Israel in the time of Moses, the objects of God's wrath are fully worthy of the punishment that God intends to visit upon them, so relenting or changing His mind does not indicate any error on His part. But God delights in mercy and it appears that He is at least sometimes willing to be persuaded to postpone or temper or even withhold judgment when asked. So if God is willing to forgo doing something that is right in itself and perfectly in accordance with His character (execute justice) in order to do something else that is also right in itself and in accordance with His character (show mercy), then there is nothing troubling about this.
To go back to the example of Edward III and Calais, there is something beautiful about the Queen's pleading and the King's yielding that would not have happened if Edward had pardoned the noblemen without being asked. The same can be said of the times in which God yields to the pleading of a Moses or Abraham or Amos, so perhaps it is part of God's beauty that He is willing to change His mind.
I brought up the passage in Amos 7, in which it says twice that God changed His mind (vv. 3 and 6). The teacher said that a better translation of the Hebrew verb here would be "relent" (as in turned back from His wrath) rather than "changed His mind" as the NASB has it.
The Hebrew verb is "shuv"--which has a primary meaning of return. There may not be all that much of a difference between "relent" and "change His mind." If God relents, then He returns to a state of not planning on doing what He said He was about to do. In other words, He changes His mind.
Perhaps the problem is that when we human beings change our mind about something, it is because we get better information, or re-calculate what is best and realize we were in error, or decide to indulge a desire against our better judgment, or get struck by a whim, or something along these lines. Clearly this is not what happens when God relents or changes His mind.
Someone pointed out that in most or all of the cases in which God "returns" in this way, it is a decision to postpone or withhold judgment. This reminds me of the story in Froissart, in which the Queen pleads with King Edward III at Calais, that he would show mercy on the 6 nobleman and not execute them, as he was intending to do. The king relented. In another story from the reign of Richard II, King Richard's Queen pleads with the Duke of Gloucester, that he would show mercy on Simon Burleigh, and not execute him. In this case, the Duke is not willing to show mercy and Burleigh is executed.
In the case of Israel in the vision of Amos, or Sodom and Gomorrah or Israel in the time of Moses, the objects of God's wrath are fully worthy of the punishment that God intends to visit upon them, so relenting or changing His mind does not indicate any error on His part. But God delights in mercy and it appears that He is at least sometimes willing to be persuaded to postpone or temper or even withhold judgment when asked. So if God is willing to forgo doing something that is right in itself and perfectly in accordance with His character (execute justice) in order to do something else that is also right in itself and in accordance with His character (show mercy), then there is nothing troubling about this.
To go back to the example of Edward III and Calais, there is something beautiful about the Queen's pleading and the King's yielding that would not have happened if Edward had pardoned the noblemen without being asked. The same can be said of the times in which God yields to the pleading of a Moses or Abraham or Amos, so perhaps it is part of God's beauty that He is willing to change His mind.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Amos 7, 1-9
1. God shows Amos what He is about to do: namely, bring a plague of locusts upon Israel, in order to destroy the spring crop.
2. When Amos sees the destruction He pleads with God on Israel's behalf, that God would spare Israel.
3. So God changes His mind and agrees to spare Israel.
4. Then God shows Amos another vision--a vision of God destroying the land of Israel with fire.
5-6. Again, Amos asks God not to bring His wrath upon Israel and the LORD agrees.
7. Finally, Amos sees a vision of the LORD standing next to a wall with a plumb line in
His hand.
8. The LORD then tells Amos that He will not postpone His judgment any longer. He will hold up a plumb line in Israel--and presumably this will make it clear how unrighteous the people are.
9. The places of false worship in Israel will be destroyed and then God will bring down the King of Israel, Jeroboam, by means of a conquering enemy.
2. When Amos sees the destruction He pleads with God on Israel's behalf, that God would spare Israel.
3. So God changes His mind and agrees to spare Israel.
4. Then God shows Amos another vision--a vision of God destroying the land of Israel with fire.
5-6. Again, Amos asks God not to bring His wrath upon Israel and the LORD agrees.
7. Finally, Amos sees a vision of the LORD standing next to a wall with a plumb line in
His hand.
8. The LORD then tells Amos that He will not postpone His judgment any longer. He will hold up a plumb line in Israel--and presumably this will make it clear how unrighteous the people are.
9. The places of false worship in Israel will be destroyed and then God will bring down the King of Israel, Jeroboam, by means of a conquering enemy.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Amos 6, 12-14
12. There is no justice or righteousness in Israel, just poison and bitterness. This is not as it should be, like making a horse run on rocks or plowing rocks with oxen.
13. The people of Israel do not recognize their need for God; they think that they are responsible for what they have achieved.
13. The people of Israel do not recognize their need for God; they think that they are responsible for what they have achieved.
14. God will raise up an enemy to conquer Israel and afflict them. Presumably "from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah" refers to the entire length of Israel."
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