Who would believe me? Who will even listen? Though my God gave me a vision that I must share, I am no trained prophet. I cannot even understand all that I have been told to say. I am only a shepherd. And I care for my sheep far more than my people care about me. But above all, my God cares for me, with a most perfect love.
I think I can understand at least part of the attitude of some of our leaders in Jerusalem. There was that story that cast doubt on my people for generations now. When Joab sent for that Tekoite woman with his sneaky plan to recall David’s son Absalom[1], he tainted our people, even though that situation led to a level of forgiveness and reconciliation that was good for the kingdom, at least in the short term. Yet the treachery that followed[2] sticks to my people as muddy shores to my sheep. Can that possibly be washed away?
The city we were given was standing when my people returned from Egypt under Joshua’s command, and our residents have been descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ever since. Ira, son of Ikkesh, of Tekoa, was honored as one of The Thirty that fought by David’s side. But King Rehoboam, fortified our city in order to crush his own people into submission. And now his successor, King Jeroboam sits on the throne, knowing how my people were drawn into King Rehoboam’s plans.
I went to the head priest, Amaziah, seeking an audience with King Jeroboam. To tell him what the Lord showed me. But out of his own fear and ignorance, he had me expelled – not just from the temple, not even just from Jerusalem, but from the entire northern kingdom. My message must have been too great a challenge for him. No amount of pious posturing can wash away the deceit and filth of the human heart. So now I write the following, in the hopes that it will reach the ears of those who can hear, and are willing to leave their folly and follow hard after the one and only God, who is both just and true. He who seeks to discipline those he loves for their own benefit.
“The Lord roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem;
the pastures of the shepherds dry up and the top of Carmel withers.”
How shall I record what I saw – what the LORD told me to record?
Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, Tyre who sold whole communities into slavery to Edom, Edom who pursued his brother with a sword and slaughtered the women of the land because of his burning anger and rage, the people of Ammon who ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead – now most will accept the judgement of these people that live around us.
But how will those considered wise respond to the judgement against Judah, who have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his decrees?
What hope is there for Israel, who sell the innocent for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals? Who trample the heads of the poor as in the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed?
God Almighty destroyed the Amorites, though they were as tall as cedars and strong as the oaks!
God brought our people out of Egypt, and led us through the desert for forty years.
God raised up prophets from among our children and Nazirites from amount our youth, but we forced the Nazirites drink wine, and commanded the prophets not to prophesy!
So now we too will be crushed as a rolling cart crushes debris when loaded with grain. Even the swift will not escape. The archers will not stand their ground. The bravest warriors will flee naked on that day.
The LORD speaks against all Israel: To you only have I made myself intimately known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your immoral and wicked behavior, you who twist and distort my Word.
Do two walk together unless they have agreed to meet?
Does a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey?
Does a young lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing?
Does a bird fall into a snare on the earth, when there is no trap set for it?
Does a snare jump up from the ground, when it has taken nothing?
Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid?
Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD allows it?
For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.
The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophecy?
You did not return to me, declares the LORD. Many trials and smaller judgements have not turned you around. What will it take to get your attention; to rescue you from the flames around which you play?
Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel, forsaken on her land, with none to raise her up.
The LORD says to the house of Israel “Seek me and live”!
But you seek after other comforts and dreams. You turn justice into wormwood, bitter to the tongue and soul, and cast down righteousness to the dirt.
He who made Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name, who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress. They hate him who reproves them in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth.
You build houses of stone, but shall not live in them. You planted vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine, because you trample the poor and you exact taxes of grain from them.
Therefore, the prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.
Seek good, and not evil, that you may live, and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you.
Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate. it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! It is darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him.
Even though you offer me you burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them.
Take away from me your songs, the melody of your harps – I will not listen.
But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Woe to those who think they are self-sufficient to stand before me.
Woe to those who trust in their comfort, the vastness of their resources, but are not grieved over the state of the decedents of Joseph.
I abhor the pride of Jacob and his strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.
After I saw this I said “O Lord GOD, please cease! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!”
The Lord relented concerning this, saying “This also shall not be.”
Then the Lord stood beside a wall built with a plumb line, and he held a plumb line in his hand.
And the LORD said the me “Amos, what do you see?”
And I answered “A plumb line”.
Then the Lord said “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them. The high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will raise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
This I can write to my people, in even greater detail. But can the children of the covenant bear to hear these words?
I will send these written words to many in the kingdom, but what will choose to do?
Will God’s people relent, or go to war with their maker and bridegroom?
Men will choose their path, but the Lord will determine their end.
[1] 2 Samuel 14:1 – 33.
[2] 2 Samuel 15: 1 – 14
Percipient Witnesses 