lessons from the book of Amos

Christianity, Judaism

Throughout the Old Testament or Tenakh there are numerous Prophets that deliver messages to the people of Israel. These prophecies are full of duel significances. one for the people of Israel during that time and the other is valuable lessons to be learned for readers of the modern age. Themes such as social injustice, ramped corruption and religious hypocrisy. 


Image from Who’s Who in the Bible: An illustrated biographical dictionary(Readers Digest)

Amos is considered being the earliest of the classical prophets. Around his time of existence a tradition of writing prophets had begun. Before his calling to prophecy he was a Sheppard in the kingdom of Judah abiding in a tiny village called Tekoa. In the mid-8th century BC, convinced Yahweh(God) had called him, Amos left the southern Kingdom of Judah to travel northwards to deal with the societal problems plaguing the northern kingdom of Israel of that time. 

“The Lord took me from following the flock, and the lord said to me, GO, prophesy to my people Israel”(Am.7:15)

There was a sizable amount of charlatans roaming around, some of them being professional prophets. At that time there were guilds of prophets, that had trained men in the art of prophecy. They would make a living off of fortune telling. This would often lead to them being corrupted by royal sponsors who would want to hear only what they perceived to be truth. Amos made it adamant God may have called him however, he was not one of those fabricators.“I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s son” (Am. 7:14)

Here in the modern age we have professional con men and women who do the same, claim to hold the Gods truth. For example, not all but some televangelists make millions upon millions of dollars from patrons who pay these individuals for messages they want to hear. These messages will often deviate from their original meanings. Ludacris statements claiming if they get a yacht or a private jet there following will also get blessed with financial success. Nothing is wrong with a preacher making a living, but living in excess and making bold false claims in the expense of others hard earned money is wrong. We all need a bit of Amos’s ability to discern from what is charlatanism and what is genuine moral teachings.

When Amos arrived, King Jeroboam the second had reigned for twenty-five years. The great threat of the Assyrian empire preoccupied with its war with Damascus. Plus Egypts power was not what is used to be freeing up Israel from outer pressures. This gave the Israelites the opportunity to seize back lands they previously held back in the time of King Solomon. A great nationwide optimism manifested from this. Nothing but marvelous times for the foreseeable future. Amos was not beguiled by this one bit.A short time later around the year 746 BC the successful King Jeroboam died and following that disaster struck. Within decades of his death the overconfident and distracted Israel was to be crushed and consumed by the mighty Assyrian war machine.

His mission was not to prop up other nations but to reveal the dark inside of the seemingly immaculate surface of the kingdom. The wealth was for the select few and those who held power. There was a lot of poor who were in the shadows of society living under deplorable conditions, meanwhile the corrupt few got to enjoy lives full of debauchery. Realistically there will always be some form of inequality, however when it gets to such a high imbalance it is not sustainable for long. Probably the most heinous thing going on was fellow Jews could enslave one another in various forms of debt slavery. How could a person claim to love God and yet treat his creation(fellow human beings) so poorly?. Inequality is a persistent problem even in today’s modern society. Thankfully, there are no legal debt slaves today, but there are still other laws in the books that oppress people. One example being zoning laws that keep the poor and minorities away from opportunities and confined within certain places.Another gleaming problem is In my home country of the United States, whose population is five percent of the world houses a little over twenty percent of the world’s prisoners.

Therefore Amos is still relevant to today’s world. It would do the world good if many people had a little Amos in them speaking out against injustice. Fortunately this is becoming a reality, little by little the tide is turning towards a brighter future with many forms of corruption that were previously hidden coming to light. With those perpetrators of injustice being shunned or prosecuted. It is embedded in human nature for immoral behavior to get the best of some people. That is why these old sources are still applicable and should not be dismissed as merely problems of an ancient age.

Sources

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