"I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me," declares the LORD. (Amos 4:6)
Amos appeared on the scene when Israel, the Northern Kingdom, was booming. They had beaten back all their traditional enemies and even invaded neighboring Judah, taking land and prisoners. For a change, the government was stable: King Jeroboam II presided over a half-century of prosperity and strength. People were too busy enjoying the good life to listen to the rantings of a prophet, and for precisely that reason Amos spoke in italics and exclamation points.
Unlike Jonah, Amos was not a professional prophet. He was a man of the land, a shepherd and a tender of sycamore trees. A migrant to Israel from the South, he spoke with a rural accent and was probably the butt of many jokes by city sophisticates.
Amos the peasant could not get over what he found in the Northern cities. The luxurious lifestyles shocked him: gorgeous couches, beds of carved ivory, summer homes, top-grade meat, fine wine. It seemed obvious to Amos that this extravagance was built on a foundation of injustice: oppression of the poor, dishonest business practices, court bribes, privilege bought with money.
Lulled into security by their powerful, victorious army, the Israelites thought they were safe for generations. But, as Amos warned, Israel could not forever push God into a small corner of their lives, to be brought out like a magic charm whenever they needed him.
"Prepare to meet your God, O Israel," Amos shouted from the street corners, but those words had about as much impact in his day as they do in ours. Nevertheless, the prophet's warnings proved true: in a remarkably short time, Israel fell apart. A mere thirty years after Jeroboam II's reign, the Northern Kingdom of Israel ceased to exist.
Amos is not a comfortable book to read - its message hits too close to our own time, when nations judge success by the size of gross national product and military forces. For that reason alone, it deserves a close look.
Life Question: What parallels do you see between Amos's time and our own?
