BIT PA RT proph ets of th e bible
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R A Y
M A R K H A M
BIT PA RT P R o P h e Ts of Th e BIBle AN INTRIGUING LOOK AT TWELVE LESSER-KNOWN CHAR ACTERS
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OTHER BOOKS BY RAY MARKHAM What Kind of Power is This? (on the miracles of Jesus) ISBN 978-1-87379-692-4 Pointed and Personal (on the parables of Jesus) ISBN 978-1-903921-04-3 Greater Expectations (on the Sermon on the Mount) ISBN 978-1-903921-01-2 These three are published by Autumn House and come with questions for group study. The Olympics of Life (a thought-for-the-day book) ISBN 978-0-902731-48-6 Keep Your Eye on the Ball (a thought-for-the-day book) ISBN 978-0-902731-58-5 Both these books are published by The Leprosy Mission International Bit Part Players of the Bible (Over 100 lesser-known characters on God’s stage) ISBN 978-1-85345-445-5 Published by CWR Bit Part Players of the Bible: Act 2 (Over eighty lesser-known characters on God’s stage) ISBN 978-1-85345-526-1 Both these books are published by CWR
Copyright © 2011 Ray Markham Published 2011 by CWR, Waverley Abbey House, Waverley Lane, Farnham, Surrey GU9 8EP, UK. Registered Charity No. 294387. Registered Limited Company No. 1990308. The right of Ray Markham to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of CWR. See back of book for list of National Distributors. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture references are from the Holy Bible: New International Version (NIV), copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Other version used: GNB: Good News Bible © American Bible Society 1996, 1971, 1976, 1992. Concept development, editing, design and production by CWR Cover image: Miemo Penttinen – miemo.net Printed in Finland by WS Bookwell ISBN: 978-1-85345-634-3
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Contents
Author’s Preface
7
Introduction
9
1. Amos
Where’s the justice?
13
2. Hosea
I still love you!
41
3. Jonah
Destination Nineveh
65
4. Joel
The day of the locusts
81
5. Micah
The coming king
95
6. Zephaniah The day of the Lord
113
7. Nahum
You’re doomed!
123
8. Habakkuk Why, God, why?
133
9. Obadiah
Just deserts
145
10. Haggai
You’ve started … now finish!
153
11. Zechariah
Be encouraged!
163
12. Malachi
Dishonouring God
187
Notes
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DEDICATION To my wife, Sheila: For many years now you have lovingly, patiently, sensitively and prayerfully provided the environment within which I have been able to be totally focused on my writing. You have never failed to encourage and support me in my times of faltering and frustration. You have faithfully read every word I have written, and enriched my writings with your tactful yet pointed comments, to the benefit of all who have subsequently read them. From the bottom of my heart, thank you – I couldn’t have done any of it without you.
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a uthor’s preface
If your Bible is anything like mine, then the pages of the section from Hosea through to and including Malachi are somewhat cleaner than the rest, being rather less wellthumbed! Ask anyone why they don’t read these Minor Prophets, and they’ll probably say because they haven’t got a clue what they’re on about – or words to that effect. And they’d be in good company, because no less a luminary than Martin Luther complained about the prophets with these words: ‘They have a queer way of talking, like people who, instead of proceeding in an orderly manner, ramble off from one thing to the next, so that you cannot make head or tail of them or see what they are getting at.’ In this book, I have tried to ‘make head or tail of them’ and to discover ‘what they are getting at’, attempting in the process to explain in detail what these less familiar ‘bit part prophets’ had to say and why they said it, in a clear, thorough, interesting and readable way. So, if you’ve ever wished that you could find a book which would help you to understand these prophecies, then this could be exactly what you have been looking for! The ‘Analysis’ section of each chapter investigates and delves into the prophecy itself. It is preceded by an ‘Introduction’, which includes the historical and contextual background of the prophecy, along with information about its content and the prophet himself. I felt it made much more sense, and gave a clearer picture of that period in history, to look at the twelve books in probable chronological rather than biblical order. Also, I wanted to help readers apply the issues raised by each prophecy to their lives today. This is done in the ‘Challenge’ section which follows the Analysis. Here you will find a number of thought-provoking questions which emerge from them, framed as if the prophet himself were speaking directly to you today. A word of caution is in order here. By the very nature of the situations into which these prophets spoke, many of the issues they raise and tackle are not for the faint-hearted – so it may be as well to don your spiritual ‘tin hat’ before venturing into this zone! You could easily avoid this section altogether, but I hope that you will be courageous enough to expose yourself to these questions. They have certainly made me think long and hard about my own answers to the challenges laid down and the opportunities for change brought into my life by these prophets. My prayer is that this book will encourage you to linger in these cleaner pages; that it will prove to be a valuable and informative guide as you explore the messages these prophets brought, helping you to understand what they said; and that it will surprise you with the fascinating gems that are to be discovered lying buried in this less familiar ground. 7
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introduction
Before reading about the twelve prophets featured in this book, it would be helpful to understand: 1) Why the kingdom of David and Solomon became divided and the consequences of that. 2) Who the prophets were, and what their role was.
1. The kingdom of David and Solomon divided1 After the death of King Solomon, his son Rehoboam came to the throne; and that’s when the trouble began. Rehoboam refused to grant the requests made by the ten northern tribes, under the leadership of Jeroboam, for lower taxes and a reduction in forced labour. The upshot was that Jeroboam and the ten tribes turned their backs on Rehoboam and set up their own kingdom in 930BC. This ‘northern’ kingdom was known as ‘Israel’, and the ‘southern’ kingdom as ‘Judah’. The result of this division meant that the old empire of David and Solomon, which had dominated the region, was no more. Instead of one strong, powerful kingdom, there were now two weak ones. The nations around were not slow to take advantage of this, and stopped paying their taxes, knowing that neither Israel nor Judah could force them to cough up. They had become second-rate powers in the region, and it wasn’t long before Egypt invaded both kingdoms, and plundered Judah in particular. The separation between the two nations was spiritual as well as physical. Whether he deliberately intended it or not, Jeroboam’s subsequent actions resulted in a completely new religious system and structure coming into being in Israel. Consequently, the floodgates were now open for Israel to become completely contaminated by worship of the pagan deities of their neighbours. However, despite the fact that they were divided from their brothers and sisters in Judah, the people of Israel were still God’s people. During the reigns of Omri (885–874BC) and Ahab (874–853BC), Israel grew in strength. Omri built a new capital at Samaria, and Ahab cemented an alliance with Phoenicia by marrying Jezebel, who tried to impose her worship of Baal on to the nation. However, Israel was constantly under threat from the Syrians (Aramaens) to the north, but in 805BC the situation changed. Syria was heavily defeated by Adad-nirari III, the king of Assyria. The empire of Assyria lay to the east of Syria, 9
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and occupied the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers – present day Iraq. Whenever they conquered another country, the policy of the Assyrians was to deport most of the population to other parts of the empire in order to minimise the risk of any rebellion, and to replace the indigenous people with foreigners. The expansionist-minded Assyrian Empire would become an increasing threat to both Israel and Judah, once it had sorted out its own internal troubles.
2. The prophets This book is about twelve prophets who brought their messages from God to the people of Israel and Judah in the years that followed. So who exactly were the prophets, and what was their role?
God’s mouthpiece The actual word ‘prophet’ is interesting. It comes from a Greek word that means ‘one who speaks for another’; in this context, the person being spoken on behalf of is God. Moses was generally regarded as the first prophet, but it wasn’t until the Israelites had settled in the land of Canaan that prophets began to appear in the land. They usually came on the scene when a national crisis was looming, and were courageous enough to stand up in front of the king or the people and announce, ‘This is what the Lord says’. The prophets were God’s mouthpiece, who spoke forth His Word boldly, irrespective of the consequences. The messages they brought usually called the people back to their covenant agreement with God. They emphasised the special relationship they had with Him, reminding the people that God expected them to obey His laws and live lives which were morally upright, so they could worship Him with integrity (see 1 Sam. 15:22). The prophets would often stridently denounce political corruption, social injustice and the worship of foreign gods, along with the immoral practices which were part and parcel of the false religion. Behind the message was the threat of judgment in some form or other, should their words from God be ignored. However, this threat was always tempered by the promise of blessing if they repented of their sinful ways. The prophets insisted that God used them because they were living in a close relationship with Him. They saw God as being in control of events, and claimed to interpret history correctly. Therefore, their messages usually contained references to the past, to the present, and to the future. They looked back to the past to remind the Israelites of the fact that God had chosen them, delivered them, and established His covenant with them, as a means of urging them to restore this special relationship and renew their faith in God. They analysed the present to show the people how God was seeing what was happening, and how it was out of kilter with what He expected of them. They looked forward into the future, teaching that God would continue to keep His promises and, either due to their repentance or by means of His judgment 10
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Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION Background
A Mos
W h eRe’s Th e JusTICe?
Political and economic With Israel’s northern neighbour Syria crushingly defeated by the Assyrians (see Introduction) in 805BC, and under frequent attack from them in the years that followed, King Jehoash took advantage of Syria’s weakened state and recaptured the cities they had seized from Israel (2 Kings 13:25). His son, Jeroboam II, built on the successes of his father and expanded the territory of Israel into Transjordania, thus restoring ‘the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah’ (2 Kings 14:25). Now that he ruled over Transjordania, Jeroboam II was in a very powerful position economically, because he controlled the trade routes between Asia and Africa. This meant he could levy tolls on the large amount of commercial traffic that passed through the region. This provided a considerable boost to the economy of Israel, and the kingdom became extremely prosperous. The result of this boom time was the emergence of a rich, powerful, land-hungry merchant class, who had ‘never had it so good’, while the rest of the people remained poor, powerless and without a voice. There was no ‘middle class’ in those days – people were either very rich or very poor. 13
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The rich enjoyed an extravagant, indulgent, luxurious lifestyle, while the poor were oppressed. They tried desperately to scrape a living, but many got into debt and were sold into slavery to pay it off, or simply starved to death on the streets, while the rich flaunted their wealth ostentatiously, and revelled in their drunken banquets. Society was characterised by cheating, lying, robbery, sexual immorality and the breaking of oaths. Injustice was widespread, and corruption was rife. Judges could be bribed, so not surprisingly the rich got their way: for example, being allowed to keep land they had stolen from their poorer neighbours. Merchants got away with using false weights and measures, and mixed chaff with the wheat they sold.
Religious Not only was Israel economically prosperous and politically secure, it was also, perhaps surprisingly, extremely religious in a smug sort of way, believing as it did that wealth was a sure sign of God’s favour and blessing. The main sanctuary at Bethel had never been so busy. On the feast days there were processions in which the priests, dressed in colourful garments, carried images (usually of a golden bull) with great ceremony, while the rich people bowed in worship. The prophets were there, too: some playing instruments, some performing sacred dances, while others, in an ecstatic state, proclaimed what the rich wanted to hear: that all this prosperity they were experiencing was a sign of God’s favour being lavished upon them. Animals were sacrificed, gifts of wool, wheat and fruit were brought, wine and oil were poured on the altar as an offering, and the sweet odour of burning incense filled the air. This was followed by merrymaking, which degenerated into drunkenness and debauchery. Their worship of God had become corrupt and contaminated by idolatry, and many false gods were worshipped. Their religion had become merely a matter of ritual; just a pious veneer, beneath the surface of which lurked all manner of immorality. It was into this complacent, self-satisfied society that Amos burst like a bombshell. What is known about Amos? The name Amos means ‘The Lord carries’ or ‘The Lord upholds’. He was one of a group of shepherds from Tekoa (1:1), a small town about eleven miles south of Jerusalem, situated in a hilly region of Judah on the edge of the desert. Besides looking after sheep, he also tended sycamore-fig trees (7:14), and would have sold their fruit to supplement his income. Amos made it clear that he was not a professional prophet, and had no connection with any of the prophets (7:14). Nobody was paying him to come and pronounce judgment on Jeroboam II and the people of Israel. He was a layman, completely outside of any religious institution or influence, whom God had called to take His message to the people of Israel (7:15). Amos would certainly prove himself to be a man of God; a prophet who was fiery, fearless and forthright. Amos could have stayed at home in Judah and minded his own business, with the thought that whatever happened to Israel was their own fault, and no concern of his. But he didn’t; he was obedient to God. 14
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Since he hailed from Judah, Amos could be described as a ‘cross-border’ prophet. Interestingly, God had already sent a cross-border prophet to Israel back in the time of Jeroboam I (see 1 Kings 13:1–3). The name of this prophet is not known, but he launched into a tirade against what was happening at the shrine Jeroboam had set up in Bethel.1 Amos would carry on the work the unknown prophet had begun. He prophesied in Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II (1:1), probably between the years 760–750BC and mainly, it would seem, at the religious centre of Bethel (7:10–13). It is likely that he visited Bethel on several occasions, and that his prophecies were later collected together and organised into a unified whole. It seems highly probable to me that Amos would have visited Israel on several occasions before he delivered his first prophecy there. As a shepherd, he would have travelled to various towns to sell his wool and the figs that he had gathered. Because the people of Israel were richer than those in Judah, I imagine him journeying to Bethel, Gilgal and even Samaria to sell his goods. Festival times would have been particularly lucrative, as the people would have been in holiday mood and more prepared to pay higher prices. Amos would have seen all that was going on in Israel, and no doubt thought about it deeply on his way home and while he was looking after the sheep back in Tekoa.
ANALYSIS The roaring lion At some point, God gave Amos a vision about what was going to happen to Israel (1:1). Amos says that this was ‘two years before the earthquake’ (1:1), an event which apparently lived long in the memory, and was probably the one mentioned in Zechariah 14:5. Amos may well have seen this earthquake as a kind of divine confirmation of the coming judgment that he pronounced. Amos began his prophecy by likening God to a roaring lion, thundering His message from His earthly dwelling place at Mount Zion in Jerusalem (1:2). Jeremiah (25:30) and Joel (3:16) used exactly the same imagery. We might have expected Amos, a herdsman, to use the more familiar picture of God as a shepherd, who leads and protects the flock. But the time for gentle words was over and gone. Instead, Amos portrayed the Lord as a ferocious lion, ready to devour the flock that had wandered far from His ways. When the lion roars, everyone hears; everyone trembles; everyone takes notice. In the same way, the people of Israel needed to hear what God was saying; to tremble at the judgment which loomed over them, as devastating in its effects as a severe drought would be to the nation – one so acute that it would even dry up the fertile areas around Carmel (1:2); to take notice of what they needed to do to restore their covenant relationship with God. The question was: Would they hear? Would they tremble? Would they take any notice? 15
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1. PRONOUNCEMENT OF JUDGMENT (1:3–2:16) The prophecy of Amos can be divided into three sections: namely, Pronouncement of Judgment, Certainty of Judgment, and Visions of Judgment.
Judgment on the Gentiles (1:3–2:3) Rather than launching straight into a tirade against Israel, Amos cleverly began his prophecy by proclaiming God’s judgment upon Israel’s Gentile neighbours. This would certainly have gone down very well among the crowd who gathered to hear what this shepherd from Judah had come to say. The subject of God visiting His deserved wrath upon the Gentiles was always a popular topic among the people of Israel and Judah! It probably had the knock-on effect of swelling the numbers who came to listen to Amos. These pronouncements of judgment followed a particular pattern. They were prefaced with the awesome words, ‘This is what the Lord says’. Then came the formulaic phrase, ‘For three sins of (name), even for four’. This was a Jewish idiom which meant ‘an indefinite number that has finally come to an end’. They had sinned, and kept on sinning, with the result that they had incurred God’s righteous anger. This was expressed in the phrase which followed: ‘I will not turn back my wrath.’ In other words, enough was enough! God’s judgment was inevitable and was on its way. After this opening came a statement of the horrendous act(s) committed by that nation, followed by the judgment that would be visited upon it for its crimes. ‘Fire’, a common symbol of divine judgment, is mentioned in each case, along with destruction in some form or other. Syria (1:3–5) First up was Syria, which lay to the north-east of Israel, symbolised by its capital city, Damascus. Its particular crime was to have treated the Israelites who lived in Gilead, (a region to the east of the River Jordan), with particular cruelty. Apparently, the ‘sledges having iron teeth’ were heavy wooden platforms which were studded with sharp metal underneath. They were made for chopping the crop prior to winnowing. It seems that the Syrians were guilty of barbarity, using these ‘sledges’ on the captured Israelites to thresh them as though they were mere stalks of grain. God had used Syria to punish Israel (see 2 Kings 10:32–33), but the Syrians had gone well over the top in their actions. Consequently, they themselves would be punished. The royal dynasty of King Hazael would come to an end, and his son, Ben-Hadad, would be defeated. Not only would their ‘fortresses’ be destroyed – so would their economy (business was conducted at the ‘gate’ of the city). Damascus would lose its power, with God’s wrath being visited on both ‘the Valley of Aven’ (meaning wickedness), and ‘Beth Eden’ (meaning a place of delight, or paradise), representing Syria as a whole, which would be totally destroyed. When the empire of Assyria conquered Syria, it did indeed send ‘The people of Aram’ (the Syrians) ‘into exile’, in keeping with its foreign policy. 16
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Philistia (1:6–8) Next on the list for judgment came Philistia, the land of the Philistines, which lay to the south-west of Israel. Philistia had five great cities: Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. (Gath is not mentioned here because, by the time of Amos, it had lost its importance – see 2 Chron. 26:6; it may even have been destroyed.) The crime of the cities of Philistia was that they had sold ‘whole communities’ they had captured, into slavery. The Jewish villages they had raided may well have been on the trade route from Gaza to Edom. To take prisoners during a war and make them slaves was one thing, but to capture innocent people and enslave them was quite another. The fact that the Philistines had sold their captives to the Jews’ long-standing enemy, the Edomites, would have added insult to injury. The Edomites were descended from Esau, whose twin brother Jacob was the father of all the Israelites and Jews. The result of the Philistines’ action was to create a situation where the Jews became slaves of the Edomites: with brother thus enslaving brother. Edom itself was on God’s judgment list (1:11–12; see also the chapter on Obadiah). The power and strongholds of the Philistines would be destroyed. God’s judgment on Philistia came to fulfilment when first the Assyrians and then the Babylonians invaded, and the Philistines were taken into slavery. Phoenicia (1:9–10) Amos now turned his attention to Phoenicia, which lay due north of Israel, symbolised by Tyre, its main city. There had always been a cordial relationship between Israel and Tyre since the days of David and Solomon (see 1 Kings 5:1–12). Amos referred to it as ‘a treaty of brotherhood’, suggesting that this relationship went deeper than politics and into the realm of a special friendship. Tyre’s crime was exactly the same as that of Philistia: it had ‘sold whole communities of captives to Edom’, in flagrant disregard for the ‘treaty of brotherhood’. Philistia had sold its enemies as slaves, which was bad enough. But shockingly and unbelievably, Tyre had gone one stage further and sold its friends into slavery! Ezekiel, writing in the first half of the sixth century BC, mentioned this terrible crime in his prophetic lament over the eventual fall of Tyre (Ezek. 27). God’s destruction awaited that city for its treachery. It eventually came to pass in 332BC when Alexander the Great utterly destroyed Tyre, and left it as a place fit only for drying fishing nets (Ezek. 26:5,14). Rudyard Kipling referred to what happened to Tyre in his poem ‘Recessional’, written in 1897, as a warning of the fate that awaits any people who rebel against the will of God and mistreat their fellow human beings. Certainly, this theme of God’s response to the inhumane treatment of others features prominently in these judgments. Edom (1:11–12) There was a lot of history between the Edomites and the Israelites. As we have already noted, they were descended from the twins Esau and Jacob respectively (see 17
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Restoration (9:11–15) However, it seems that there would be some grain in that sieve which would be preserved, because the Lord declared that He would ‘not totally destroy the house of Jacob’ (v.8). Even in His anger He would be merciful to those who had worshipped Him with integrity. One day, ‘David’s fallen tent’ would be repaired, restored and rebuilt (v.11). Interestingly, James referred to this verse during the debate held at the council of Jerusalem (see Acts 15:15–18). The issue under discussion was whether Gentiles needed to become Jews before they could become Christians. It seems that James used it to show that the prophets as a whole were in agreement about the Gentiles being part of the Church, but not that this event marked the fulfilment of what Amos had prophesied. Amos seems to be saying that when God’s judgment on both Israel and Judah had run its course, God would be gracious and merciful to His chosen people, and bring them to a place of unparalleled prosperity and abundance (v.13). They would return from exile, rebuild the ruined cities and farm the land once again (v.14). And this time, God Himself ‘will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them’ (v.15). With these words of great hope and promise, pointing to a bright future emerging in the distance out of the present darkness, the prophecy of Amos comes to an end. The question is, how far away was that distance? History shows that the Jews did return from Exile, rebuilt cities, worked the land and became a nation once again (see the chapters on Haggai and Zechariah). However, that nation eventually fell to the Greeks under Alexander the Great, and subsequently to the Romans. Some would say that this prophecy will only be totally fulfilled when Jesus comes again in power and glory at the end of time. Others say it was completely fulfilled when Jesus came as the Messiah, because the kingdom promised by Amos was not a political one but a spiritual one, and when Jesus came He restored the glory of Israel spiritually speaking, setting up a kingdom which would indeed never end that included Gentile nations (see verse 12). Whenever we meet apocalyptic literature, or predictive prophecy such as this passage, I believe we must handle it with care. What we can agree on I’m sure is the wonder of the unfailing mercy and grace of God that this promise of restoration portrays.
CHALLENGE 1. Do you realise that you are all accountable to God? Amos challenged his hearers to realise that all nations will answer to ‘the Sovereign Lord’, a phrase he used nineteen times during his prophecy. No one, even those who prided themselves on being God’s chosen people, was exempt from His awesome judgment. They were all accountable to God for their actions, or lack of actions, and on that ‘day of the Lord’, they would be judged accordingly. They were complacent 37
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about these warnings at their peril; God’s judgment was certain and was coming, and there would be no hiding place. As we look around the nations of the world today, we see much that is evil and wicked; and many of these deeds seem to go unpunished. Whenever we feel dismayed by this, let’s remember that God sees it all, and one day will come as the Judge of all. Many in today’s society find the thought of being answerable to a God for what we say and do completely unpalatable. But that is the solemn message that we see not only in Amos but throughout Scripture. Are we ready to meet with God? If we have repented of our sins and are seeking to live lives that are pleasing to God (1 John 1:7–9), then we have nothing to fear on that day. But there is another aspect to accountability that we should not overlook. Jesus told parables about this subject (see Matt. 25:14–30; Luke 19:11–27) to emphasise that God expects us to use the abilities we have been given to serve Him. Are we doing that? This is a serious question because, as Jesus’ parables clearly show, this is a matter on which we will be held accountable. I’m sure we all want to hear those words from the lips of Jesus: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant!’ (Matt. 25:21,23). 2. What are you seeking after? There was no doubt what the rich of Amos’s day were seeking after: power, prosperity, possessions and pleasure – to name but four. Amos challenged their luxurious lifestyles, which were characterised by self-indulgence, self-sufficiency and self-centredness. But then, is our society any different today to what it was then? Like them, do we not live in a nation where some people have or earn obscene amounts of money while others struggle to get by? Like them, are we not a hedonistic society in outlook? In the words of Paul: ‘lovers of themselves, lovers of money … lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God’ (2 Tim. 3:2–4)? Like them, do we not still seek after possessions and position, which are so often used as measures of success in society? It’s so easy to get sucked into the world’s way of thinking and living – sometimes without even realising it. It’s not wrong to have money and possessions, but it is wrong to make them our gods. Amos challenges us, as he did the people of his day, to turn away from seeking after such things, and to seek the Lord instead. Jesus told us to ‘seek first his kingdom and his righteousness’ (Matt. 6:33), because therein lies the true secret of success and happiness – that elusive quality in today’s consumerdriven, money-mad, pleasure-seeking society. ‘What are my priorities in life?’ Our answer to that question shows us what we are seeking after. Is it time to re-evaluate, and to refocus our lives on serving God and living according to His ways rather than those of the world? 3. Do you care for and care about others? One of the themes which emerges strongly from the prophecy of Amos is that we as God’s people should care about what is happening to others in society, and should be working for social justice. As we look around the nations of the world today, we can still see in many places what Amos saw in Israel: the twin evils of injustice and poverty. 38
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amos – where’s the justice?
What are we doing as individuals to make our society a more just place in which to live? Are we involving ourselves in local politics or organisations which exist to mobilise action to challenge and change what is happening in society? Are we a voice for the voiceless? Praise God for those Christian organisations which exist to encourage us and create a platform for us to be involved in tackling injustice, both in our own country and around the world. What are we doing as churches to make a difference in the community around us? Jesus made it clear that loving our neighbour is inextricably linked with loving God. What schemes do we have in place to show the people in our neighbourhood that we care about them? How exactly are we caring for the poor in our community and showing them God’s love? Some people question whether we should help the poor at all. After all, they say, such people don’t deserve help: they got themselves into this mess, so they can get themselves out of it. In any case, they continue, what little I can afford to give isn’t going to make any real difference, and may not even get to help them. Are these reasons for not helping the poor, or are they excuses? Should we not as Christians be people of compassion, who want to show God’s love in a world that is out of joint? In my experience, much can be achieved if we work together as a church in our own communities, or through Christian organisations which exist to tackle poverty and help people in need in practical ways. Not just in Amos, but in many places in the Bible we see that God is the God of the poor, of the needy, and of the oppressed. Jesus summed this up in His parable of the sheep and the goats (Matt. 25:31–46), told to show just how seriously God takes this whole matter of the way we treat the poor and needy in society. In the light of this, do we need to take it more seriously than we do at the moment? 4. Are you worshipping God with integrity? God hated the worship of Israel in Amos’s day because it was shot through with hypocrisy and lacked any integrity whatsoever. It was but a superficial veneer which had no impact on their daily lives at all. From Amos’s prophecy it is quite clear that worship of God isn’t something we ‘do’ on a Sunday – it is a lifestyle. God is not impressed if we sing all the latest worship songs enthusiastically in church, and then for the rest of the week behave as though we have no regard for Him at all. Going to church and worshipping God is not enough. God wants to see the love that we profess for Him in our worship permeating our conduct and impacting on the lives of everyone around us. The truth of our worship can be seen in the way we live our lives, which is what Jesus meant when He said that God’s ‘worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth’ (John 4:24). This is where the people of Amos’s day fell down: there was no integrity in their worship. Are we as guilty of hypocrisy as they were? Where does my worship stand on the integrity/hypocrisy continuum? 5. Are you living lives that are pleasing to God? Amos made it clear that God’s people should be living holy lives, characterised by 39
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obedience and by doing what is right. Sadly, his verdict was that Israel had forgotten how to do what is right. They had disobeyed God’s laws, and were no longer living lives that were pleasing to Him. Peter reminds us that we are ‘a chosen people … a holy nation, a people belonging to God’ (1 Pet. 2:9); and, as such, we are to be ‘obedient children … holy in all you do’ (1:14–15). What a challenge that is to each one of us! Are we doing what is right in God’s sight; or have we allowed ourselves, perhaps unwittingly, to become so corrupted by the values and immorality of this world that we have almost forgotten how to do so? Dare we look as He drops that same plumb line alongside the wall that represents our lives? Unlike the people of Israel, may we be humble enough to repent, knowing that the promise of divine mercy and restoration of which Amos spoke still avails for those who will reach out and receive it. Even though he was but a humble shepherd, Amos was obedient to the call of God on his life, and was prepared to surrender it in service of ‘the Sovereign Lord’, no matter what the cost. It’s so much easier to simply get on with our own lives and ignore what’s going on around us, isn’t it? But God calls each one of us, whatever our background, to serve Him in the society in which we live. The example of Amos challenges us to respond to the prompting of the Spirit of God, and to be obedient to His call upon our lives to make an impact for Him.
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Chapter 2
INTRODUCTION
hoseA
I sTIll loVe you !
Hosea and Amos compared Like Amos, Hosea’s prophecy was directed at the northern kingdom of Israel during the eighth century BC, and it seems likely that Hosea would also have gone to the centres of Bethel and Samaria to speak to the people. Indeed, their prophecies may well have overlapped slightly, with Hosea’s beginning in 753BC and then going on after the Assyrian invasion in 722BC until about 715BC. Both Amos and Hosea were appalled by what they saw happening in Israel, but the focus of their prophecies was different. As we have seen, Amos concentrated particularly on the social injustices which were rampant at the time, whereas Hosea’s specific focus was on the people’s unfaithfulness to God, as demonstrated by their worship of idols. They also differ in style. For example, Amos gave reports of visions, and used patterns of speech to introduce his messages, which themselves had a similar shape – features which do not occur in Hosea’s prophecy. And whereas Amos spoke to Israel, Hosea tended to speak about Israel. Indeed, a large part of Hosea’s prophecies can be seen as either God expressing His thoughts to Hosea, or Hosea himself thinking aloud. 41
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Another obvious difference is that Israel was Hosea’s homeland, whereas Amos was a visitor from Judah. And whereas Amos never mentioned Assyria in his messages, Hosea did. This probably reflects the fact that by the time of Hosea the Assyrians were becoming an imminent threat, and several ultimately futile attempts were made to buy them off, in the hope that they wouldn’t invade Israel.
The political situation Whereas Amos’s prophecies took place during the reign of just one king, Jeroboam II, Hosea’s were given against a background of political instability. Interestingly, the introduction given to Hosea only mentions one king of Israel, Jeroboam, but four kings of Judah: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah (1:1). Quite why this should be is uncertain, but it reflects the likelihood that Hosea’s words were in circulation in the kingdom of Judah after the destruction of Israel, and were seen to have as much relevance for them as they had for the northern kingdom. Indeed, Hosea’s speeches and stories were probably taken to Judah by refugees from the northern kingdom when Israel fell to the Assyrians. After the death of Jeroboam, Israel had six kings between 753BC and the Assyrian invasion in 722BC. Zechariah (son of Jeroboam) was killed by Shallum, who succeeded him as king. Shallum was killed by Menahem, who became king in his place. When Menahem died, he was succeeded by Pekahiah, who was killed by Pekah, who seized the throne. Pekah was killed by Hoshea, who turned out to be the last king of Israel. No wonder Hosea described what was going on politically as ‘bloodshed follows bloodshed’ (4:2)! During this period, Assyria under TiglathPileser III and Shalmaneser V was expanding ever westward in the direction of Israel. It wasn’t long before Israel became a vassal state, and was then finally destroyed and subsumed into the Assyrian Empire. What is known about Hosea? Hosea was the son of Beeri (1:1), and his utterances indicate that he had a complete understanding of the religion being practised in Israel at that time. Hosea spoke out against all that was wrong with it. For example: crediting the Baals with the fertility for which God alone was responsible (2:5,8–9); offering futile sacrifices (4:19; 5:7); claiming to be able to discern the will and word of God (4:12); indulging in prostitution (4:13–14); venerating calf idols (8:6; 13:2). Hosea was adamant that none of this was the fault of the Canaanites or anybody else; the blame was to be laid squarely on the shoulders of the people of Israel. They all had enough ‘knowledge’ (4:6) of the covenant and its requirements to know that what they were doing was wrong. Along with a wide knowledge of the covenant, the Law of Moses and events in Israel’s history, Hosea also showed his unwavering belief that God’s people had a unique and binding relationship with Him, which had inescapable implications. Whether all this came from being brought up in a devout family, or was the product of instruction received at a priestly or prophetic school isn’t clear. Certainly no prophet before had spoken so repeatedly about God’s love in such a way, couching it as he did in terms of a marriage relationship – his own. 42
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