Courage to Speak for God

KEY VERSE: “Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit. And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.” —Amos 7:14,15

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Amos 6:1; 7:7-15

OUR LESSON FINDS Amos speaking to Amaziah, a priest from Bethel, whose rituals included the worship of calves. He was an evil man who sought to frighten and discourage Amos. Amos, like David the shepherd, had been especially called by God to cease from his life of tending the flocks and was, therefore, made a prophet of the God of Israel.

It was during this period in Jewish history that the twelve tribes of Israel were separated into two factions—the two tribes of Judah living in the south, and the ten tribes of Israel living in the north. From his simple life as a shepherd in Judah, Amos was sent with God’s message to the idolatrous ten tribe kingdom in the north, in Samaria. These people had settled down to a life of ease and self-gratification, while neglecting the special favors and care of God.

God had especially blessed the twelve tribes of Israel because they were his chosen people. He had brought them out of bondage in Egypt and had been careful to order their ways.

He had also given them the Law, and the Prophets. God’s judgment rang clear to these favored people, however, when Amos proclaimed to them: “Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”—Amos 3:1-3

As a prophet of God, Amos proclaimed the dire results of Israel’s disobedience that would shortly come to pass. There would be calamities, even as he proclaimed: “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!”—Amos 6:1

The prophet, continuing his message in Amos 7, sees the God of Israel standing with a plumbline in his hand. This illustration was intended to convey that he alone was the architect and director of Israel’s upright building. Then, the Lord was seen to use the plumbline to judge Israel and to find them wanting in righteousness. The nation of Israel had been built with great precision, and now it would be destroyed with the same degree of precision.

The false priest, Amaziah, reported to Israel’s wicked king, Jeroboam, that Amos was conspiring against him, to which Amos replied: “Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.”—Amos 7:11

Although the words of Amos were directed to the disobedient natural children of Israel and specifically applied to their future captivity, there was, however, a prophetic glimpse of similar proclamations by other prophets.

Later our Lord Jesus and the apostles prophesied against Israel who, through Amaziah, represented false religious worship.

The powerful system of Christendom that has existed throughout the Gospel Age is seen to reap the judgments of God at the end of the age on a far grander scale than Israel experienced.

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