AP

Amos 2:9-10 “Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars and who was as strong as the oaks; I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath.  Also it was I who brought you up out of the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.”

Amos, possibly the first of the writing prophets, was a shepherd and farmer called to prophesy during the reigns of Uzziah (792–740 BC) in the southern kingdom and Jeroboam II (793–753 BC) in the north. During this time both kingdoms enjoyed political stability, which in turn brought prosperity, which, of course, is always dangerous for spiritual health!  So, it was also a time of idolatry, extravagance, and corruption.  The rich and powerful were oppressing the poor.  Amos denounced the people of Israel for their apostasy and social injustice and warned them that disaster would fall upon them for breaking the Covenant.

He urged them to leave the hypocrisy of their ‘solemn assemblies’ (5:21) and instead to “let justice roll down like waters” (5:24).  Nevertheless, said Amos, the LORD God would remember his covenant with Israel and would restore a faithful remnant.  As we saw in 2 Kings 24, Israel needed to be reminded constantly that the LORD was using them, his Covenant People, to bring Judgement on powerful nations like the Amorites because of their gross wickedness.  Fundamentally, the Conquest of Canaan was not about Israel’s military prowess in defeating much stronger nations, it was about the Sovereign LORD God executing his Eternal Plan of Salvation, for his glory, in human history.

The Covenant People of Israel, the descendants of, and heirs of the promises given to, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, had been miraculously rescued from slavery in Egypt, and equally miraculously preserved for 40 years in the wilderness, as part of the outworking of this Sovereign Plan.  But, sadly, they needed to be constantly reminded of this indelible truth as they sinfully integrated with the nations they were intended to replace as part of The Plan!  Amos reminds them that God’s judgement would therefore be visited upon them as well if they continued with this rebellious attitude.

Amos’s warning is a warning to all nations, including our own.  As the Apostle Paul would point out to the the Athenians eight centuries later, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.  And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.” (Acts 17:24-27a)  Those of us of non-indigenous origin only have the right to be here in Australia as ‘God-seekers’, and to encourage everyone to seek him also, remembering that he must be sought, and can only be found, in Jesus (Acts 4:12).  How effectively are we doing this?  Has our prosperity here led us to be so integrated with our prevailing culture that we cease to be the ‘salt’ and ‘light’ Jesus intends us to be?

– Bruce Christian