Yesterday was a wonderful day, but I failed to provide proper background for the book of Amos. As we “Walk in the Word” we will always need to understand the background and big picture of a book, while we read it. I like to provide that in each Sunday’s message, but yesterday I got caught up more in the doctrine and application of the teaching of Amos and did not supply enough information on the historical setting or facts on Amos himself.
Let me fix that now.
The Book of Amos can be divided into two sections: “The Messages” found in chapters 1–6 and “The Visions” found in chapters 7–9. This division is revealed in verse one of chapter one of the book. “This (message) was given to Amos, a shepherd from the town of Tekoa in Judah. He received this message in (visions) two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam II, the son of Jehoash, was king of Israel.
In “The Messages” Amos tells the people to “hear” what God has told him and he warns the people of God’s intentions, if they don’t return to Him.
In “The Visions” Amos sees and explains God’s intentions using a number of interesting metaphors. Locusts, a plumb line, ripe fruit, and temple worship are woven into the tapestry that makes the message of Amos so gripping.
There are five distinct types of material that make up the book: (1) oracles (or sayings) spoken by Amos, (2) vision-reports, (3) a third-person narrative reporting Amaziah’s opposition to Amos, (4) three stanzas of an old hymn, and (5) the title.
Amos prophesied for only about a year. He was from Judah, but prophesied in Northern Israel around 762 BC.
Being a southern boy myself who has no pastoral heritage, I appreciate and identify with Amos.
He was just a good ole boy.
Never meaning no harm.
Beats all you ever saw
Was in trouble with the law
Since the day he was called.
The king’s priest Amaziah told him to go back home and stop preaching because he was stirring up trouble for the king. “Amos answered Amaziah, ‘I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel’”(Amos 7:14-15) . Amos was just an old farmer called by God to tell it like it was.
He lived in times of material prosperity. Those city folks in the Northern Kingdom didn’t think they needed God so they disobeyed Him and lived any way they pleased.
The message God gave Amos that appears in the book is primarily one of judgment, but it ends with words of hope.
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