Milo

VISIONS OF JUDGMENT
Amos 7–9

“Then the Lord said, ’Look, I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel: I will spare them no longer’ ” (Amos 7:8).

Amos looked ahead, and he foresaw the certain judgment of a people who had refused for decades to heed God’s call to repent.

Overview
Three visions of certain judgment (7:1–9) are interrupted by an account of Israel’s reaction to Amos’ preaching (vv. 10–17). The sinful kingdom, ripe for judgment (8:1–14) would surely be destroyed (9:1–10), yet one day Israel’s prosperity will be restored (vv. 11–15).

Understanding the Text
“I will spare them no longer” Amos 7:1–9. In a vision Amos saw destructive judgments God was preparing to unleash on Israel. He successfully diverted the first two. But finally God refused to delay any longer.
The plumb line is a tool used by carpenters. It is simply a weight attached to a line, that is held against a wall or other construction to measure uprightness. Old Testament prophets frequently used the plumb line metaphorically as a tool used by God to measure the moral uprightness of a generation.
God’s plumb line indicated that the judgment of Israel could no longer be delayed.
The New Testament helps us understand the principle of delayed judgment. It is an expression of God’s kindness, tolerance, and patience. Yet the person or nation that persists in showing contempt for God’s forebearance stores up wrath against “the day of God’s wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed” (Rom. 2:4–6). Israel was not “getting away with” the wickedness entrenched in her society. Each failure to seize a new opportunity God gave His people to repent simply made the coming judgment more certain.

“The priest of Bethel” Amos 7:10–17. The attitude of the people of Israel toward Amos is illustrated in the reaction of Amaziah, who apparently functioned as high priest at the Bethel worship center. Amos was clearly challenging the social order. So the priest informed the king that Amos was “raising a conspiracy against you.”
Amaziah then expelled Amos, commanding him not to prophesy because, “This is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom” (v. 13). What a revealing statement! The sanctuary did not belong to God, but the king, for religion in Israel was dedicated to maintaining the social status quo, not to challenging social evils!
Biblical faith is never a truly comfortable faith, for it calls us to constantly examine our lives and our society. Biblical faith is radical, in that it is never to be identified with a political theory, political party, or national ideology. Scripture calls us to stand outside our culture, and to judge it when it is wrong.
This the high priest of Israel’s religion was unwilling to do. He willingly subordinated religion to politics, and when Amos stood up and announced God’s judgment on Israel’s sinful society, the high priest angrily demanded he leave town!
But it was not the radical Amos who was judged by this priest. The priest judged himself by his actions. And God announced that he would live to see the consequences of conformity (vv. 16–17).
As for unrepentant Israel, the people “will certainly go into exile, away from their native land.”

“The time is ripe for My people Israel” Amos 8:1–14. My wife watches bananas set out on the kitchen counter carefully. She wants them just right—not too green, not too soft.
God through Amos announced that Israel had the “just right” stage: just right for judgment (see DEVOTIONAL). Israel had rejected justice. God will “never forget anything they have done” (v. 7). All will mourn in bitterness, and even if they should seek the world over for a word from God, “They will not find it” (v. 12).

“I saw the Lord standing by the altar” Amos 9:1–10. The altar and coals from the altar symbolize judgment in the Old Testament. A priest might take his stand at the altar to appease God by offering a sacrifice. But in this vision Amos saw God Himself at the altar. He stood there not to receive a sacrifice but to execute judgment.
The text makes this abundantly clear. God would kill the wicked with the sword. “Not one will get away, none will escape” (v. 1). God was committed to “hunt them down and seize them,” for the Lord has fixed “His eyes upon them for evil and not for good” (v. 4).
This awesome picture of a God committed to execute judgment is an appropriate corrective to an overemphasis on the love of God. Yes, God is love. God eagerly desires to extend the benefits of salvation to all. But those who refuse to respond to a God of love must and will face Scripture’s God of judgment and justice.
Those who live in a sinful kingdom may be completely sure that God “will destroy it” and that “all the sinners among My people will die by the sword” (v. 10).

“In that day I will restore” Amos 9:11–15. In a few brief verses Amos, as the other Old Testament prophets, added a word of hope. This unjust generation of God’s people must fall. But God will restore the chosen race.
Amos specifically links that restoration to the appearance of a Ruler to come from David’s family line. This is the meaning of “I will restore David’s fallen tent” (v. 11). When He appears, the Jews will be regathered to their land, and know an age of unparalleled prosperity. And how graphically Amos portrayed that time: “The reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes” as “new wine” drips “from the mountains.”
Israel rejected God, but God had not abandoned them. Calling Himself “the LORD your God,” God promised, “I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them” (v. 15).

DEVOTIONAL
Ripe for Judgment
(Amos 8)
One of the best marketing gimmicks I’ve heard about was thought up by the fellow whose crop of Yellow Delicious apples was ruined by hail. Every place a hailstone struck, a brown mark developed, making the apples almost worthless.
But the clever orchard owner found a way to turn his disaster around. He launched an advertising campaign warning customers to buy only apples with those brown spots that show they were tree-ripened!
Israel too bore distinctive spots. But there was no way the nature of those spots could be disguised. Such spots on any society mark it off as truly ripe, but ripe for judgment.
There is trampling on the poor.
There is indifference to true religion.
There is dishonesty in business.
There is exploitation of the weak and socially powerless.
Perhaps these marks are not yet visible on the surface of our society. But should you observe them, don’t let yourself be fooled. They’re not evidence of “tree-ripened” quality.
They are signs that our society too has become ripe for judgment.

Personal Application
Spots appearing in any society tell Christians it’s time to repent, and pray.

Quotable
“Making an open stand against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness which overspreads our land as a flood is one of the noblest ways of confessing Christ in the face of His enemies.”—John Wesley

A JUST, MORAL SOCIETY
Amos 3–6

“You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine” (Amos 5:11).

The Old Testament’s vision of a just, moral society was warped and twisted in Amos’ day. Now as then, an immoral society must and will fall.

Overview
Israel’s sins required punishment (3:1–15). Amos cried out against the pampered wives of the wealthy (4:1–3), corrupt worship (vv. 4–5), and indifference to God (vv. 6–13). The nation had to seek the Lord and do justice (5:1–15), or face the dark “Day of the LORD” (vv. l8–20). God hated Israel’s corrupt religion (vv. 21–27), and would judge her for her complacency and pride (6:1–14).

Understanding the Text
“You only have I chosen” Amos 3:1–2. God would deal strictly with “the whole family I brought up out of Egypt,” for He had established an intimate relationship with them alone. It is far worse for a people who know God to give themselves over to evil than for those who have had no personal contact with the Lord.
Today too relationship with God has responsibilities as well as privileges.

“Plunder and loot in their fortresses” Amos 3:3–14. In this passage Amos developed a simple theme: causes are related to effects. Thus people walk together because they have agreed to do so (v. 3), no bird falls into a trap unless one has been set (v. 5), and the sounding of a watchman’s warning trumpet causes a city’s citizens to tremble (v. 6). What cause then did God send His prophet to link with what effect?
Hostile nations were called to witness a strange thing. Normally a nation loots its enemy’s fortresses. But Israel, which did “not know how to do right” plundered and looted “in their [own] fortresses” (v. 10). Because the society was corrupt and the rich unjustly looted the poor of their own land, “an enemy will overrun the land” (v. 11). The cause of the coming disaster was the injustice that was deeply entrenched in Israel’s society.
Exercising his prophetic gift, Amos foresaw a day when Israel would be punished for her sins, when her worship centers would be razed, and the mansions of the rich would be left smoldering ruins (vv. 14–15).
Cause and effect operate in the moral as well as physical realm. This is the impact of Amos’ teaching, and we need to take it to heart today. Any individual or nation that abandons justice as a guide to personal and social action in effect loots his or its own fortresses. One’s only sure defense against disaster crumbles, and ruin will surely follow.

“You cows of Bashan” Amos 4:1–3. With pointed sarcasm Amos compared the sleek wives kept in luxury by their wealthy husbands with the fat cattle of a district famous for its cows. The charge that they “oppress the poor and crush the needy” implied that the wives’ hunger for luxuries motivated their husbands to use any means to get the money needed to satisfy their demands. It’s much like the modern fable of the young accountant driven to embezzle to keep the “love” of his girlfriend.
Yet Amos established an important principle here. The person who profits from an injustice is as guilty as the person who perpetrates it. One who benefits in any way from injustice is rightly subject to judgment.
Thus Amos pronounced God’s judgment. The sleek wives of the wealthy would be dragged away into captivity, every luxury lost.

“Go to Bethel and sin” Amos 4:4–5. Amos pictured the wealthy of Israel, dressed in their Sabbath best, standing outside the sanctuary after a service, boasting to each other about their donations. What a modern scene! Oh, yes, you meet so many of “our kind” of people at services. And make such important business contacts. And of course it helps to be seen as an active supporter of the community by the “best people.” This is part of the reason Amos struck out at Israel’s worship. The well-to-do of Israel did “love to” (v. 5) boast about their offerings, using religion as a form of polite social competition. But the other reason for Amos’ condemnation was that God never ordained worship centers at Bethel or Gilgal. In fact, Old Testament Law required He be worshiped only at the Jerusalem temple, and that sacrifices were to be made only on its altar.
If you and I truly want to worship God, our motives must be pure. And our worship must be in accord with God’s revelation of His will.

“I gave you empty stomachs in every city” Amos 4:6–13. At first it seems a strange “gift.” Especially as God went on to remind Israel through Amos that He withheld rain (v. 7), struck gardens with blight and mildew (v. 9), sent plagues (v. 10), and ordained defeats in battle (vv. 10–11).
We see the reason that these are a “gift” when we see their purpose. God sent these disasters in hopes that Israel would awaken to its sinful condition, and return to the Lord.
The old story tells about the city fella’ who tried to drive an old mule. He shouted “Git up” and “Go.” He ranted and raved. But the old mule never moved a muscle. Finally a farmer came over, picked up a two-by-four, and hit the mule on the head as hard as he could. The farmer then told the mule, “Git up,” and sure enough, it got! Drawling, the farmer explained. “That mule will go, all right. But first you got to git his attention.”
That’s what Amos 4 is saying. God hit Israel with two-by-fours. But even then, the Lord couldn’t get His people’s attention. They were too intent on doing evil to pay any attention to His voice.
What a reminder for us. We can give God our full attention, and be responsive to His voice. Or God, in love, may hit us with some two-by-four to get our attention!

“Seek Me and live” Amos 5:1–16. The Bible makes a distinction between God hitting His own on the head with two-by-fours in order to get their attention and divine judgment. Sometimes when we think we are being punished, all God really is doing is shouting to us in a loud voice in an effort to help us hear what He has to say.
Amos now warned the people of Israel that God was about to actually judge them. Unless there was a radical change in their values and behavior (vv. 4–15, see DEVOTIONAL), the nation would be decimated (vv. 1–3) and every family would wail in mourning over the death of loved ones and of the nation itself (v. 16).
We need to learn to welcome any suffering that draws us closer to the Lord. Such pain is insignificant in comparison with its benefits—and in comparison with the judgment we might suffer if we stubbornly refused to turn to Him.

“Beds inlaid with ivory” Amos 6:1–7. Amos now returned to the lifestyle of Israel’s complacent rich. They lounged on expensive couches and feasted daily on meat, entertaining each other with musical instruments and drinking wine by the bowlful. Yet it was not luxury itself that was wrong. What was wrong was that they “do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.” There was absolutely no concern for the poor; no sense of any obligation to use their wealth to aid those less fortunate.
Genesis 4 reports that after being confronted by God, Cain who had murdered his brother Abel, muttered, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” God’s Law had answered that question with a decisive yes! We are to love our neighbor as ourselves, and to display that love in practical ways. The complacent rich of Israel denied this fundamental principle by not only being indifferent to their poor neighbors, but also by exploiting them.
The angry prophet announced God’s verdict. “You will be among the first to go into exile; your feasting and your lounging will end.”



Archeologists have found pieces of ivory inlay in Samaria, the capital of Israel, from couches like those mentioned by Amos. While the poor of Israel starved, their rich exploiters continued to meet for daily banquets, indifferent to the suffering of their fellow citizens.


“I abhor the pride of Jacob” Amos 6:8–11. It’s not wrong to feel good about our accomplishments. This is not the pride that Amos condemned. Rather Amos spoke against the arrogance of men and women who have prospered at the expense of the poor, and now gazed smugly about themselves at their lands, mansions, and luxuries.
Individuals who live in any society marked by institutionalized injustice should weep and repent, not look with pride at what they might possess.

“Do horses run on rocky crags?” Amos 6:12–14 The Hebrews, like other ancient peoples, loved riddles. So when concluding his indictment, Amos used such a saying. Do horses run on rocky crags, or do cattle plow there? The answer of course is, never. Horses would fall, and no crop could grow in such soil.
Israel, in turning justice into poison, had guaranteed her own downfall, and planted a crop destined to produce bitterness. There was no explaining such a choice. And there was no avoiding its tragic consequences. The Lord would “stir up a nation against you, O house of Israel,” and that nation, Assyria, will “oppress you all the way.”
Like Israel you and I are free to choose our own course. But we are not free to avoid the consequences of any choices we make. How important that we choose wisely, then, and willingly go God’s way.

DEVOTIONAL
Seek Me, and Live
(Amos 5:1–17)
Amos 5 describes a people whose values are turned upside down. The chapter is a powerful call to God’s people to establish the just, moral society the Lord yearned to see. It’s a chapter relevant to us today, because like ancient Israel, prosperous America is confused about basic values.
What is necessary for any people or society to be truly just?
We are to seek God, and live (vv. 4–6). Note that the text emphasizes seek “Me.” It’s not religion that produces a just society, but personal relationship with the living God.
We are to lift up righteousness (vv. 7–10). The text pictures a people who “cast righteousness to the ground” rather than lift it up. Yet God, who established the natural laws that maintain the physical universe, is the source of just as sure moral standards. Israel’s values were a reverse of the divine: the people “hate the one who reproves in court and despise him who tells the truth” (v. 10). No society that abandons biblical standards of righteousness or shows antagonism to them can build a just society.
We are to care for the poor. In Israel the poor were oppressed by such institutions as the courts, and by individuals, who extorted money from them. The slumlord is guilty, but so is any social system which denies the poor the rights accorded under law to the well-to-do. No society that exploits the economically deprived can be just or moral.
But what can you or I do about “society”? How can an individual have an impact on his or her world? Perhaps there is little we can do. But Amos showed us that we can do something.
Amos said, “Seek good” (v. 14). The verb is active, and you and I are to actively search for any good that we can do, and do it.
Amos said, “Hate evil, love good” (v. 15). Again the verbs are active. We are to be aware of what is warped in our society, and to really care. We are to hate evil and love so passionately that we act on our convictions, and take a stand.
Amos said, “Maintain justice in the courts” (v. 15). Again the verb is active, and the call is clear. There may be little we can do, but we are to do the little we can!
It’s fascinating that Amos gave us no blueprint for social revolution. What he did do is to call on us to care. To care so deeply, so passionately, that we do whatever we can to hold up justice as a shining ideal.

Personal Application
Though there may be little you can do, do the little you can.

Quotable
“If you add little to little and do this often, soon the little will become great.”—Hesiod

Amos





INTRODUCTION
Amos was a sheep rancher in Judah whom God sent to neighboring Israel, where he denounced the sins of that kingdom. His indictment of Israel charged the people with turning from God, exploiting the poor, and committing gross immorality.
The preaching of Amos was characterized by striking visions of coming judgment, and by a blunt portrayal of the social sins that made the prosperous era of Jeroboam II so corrupt. Through Amos’ preaching we gain insight into God’s concern for social justice, and into the responsibility of God’s own to speak for the poor.
As other Old Testament prophetic works, the Book of Amos concludes on a note of promise. Sin must be punished. But afterward a chastened and purified Israel will be restored.

FOR THREE SINS
Amos 1–2

“They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed” (Amos 2:6–7).

This prophet, who spoke out against the corruption that festered in ancient Israel during an age of unparalleled prosperity, reminds us that justice, not wealth, is a measure of national health.

Background
The era of Jeroboam II in the eighth centuryB.C was a time of unparalleled prosperity in both Israel and Judah. Together the two kingdoms recovered most of the territory held in the time of David’s and Solomon’s United Kingdom. Jeroboam not only extended his nation’s territory, but also took control of ancient trade routes to the East, pouring vast wealth into Israel.
This wealth was not distributed equally, a fact which caused great social dislocation. Many were forced to leave family farms and move to the cities, where they struggled to exist. The newly rich used their wealth to create great estates, in violation of the biblical statute calling for families to hold their land in perpetuity. The wealthy controlled the court system, and within years the majority was figuratively ground into the dust, disdained by the rich who exploited them without compassion or concern.
At the same time, religion was popular, and many fine homes were constructed at Israel’s major worship centers, Bethel and Dan. There a religion that mixed biblical and pagan rites was enthusiastically practiced—and strongly condemned by Amos and other prophets of the era.
It is against the background of a prosperous and complacent society, riddled with injustice and indifference to God, that Amos is to be understood.
Was Amos welcomed in Israel? Not at all. His brief months of ministry stirred up opposition and the prophet, his mission complete, apparently returned to Judah and his sheep. Yet Amos’ written words remain an unmatched legacy: a call for justice that is as important for us to heed today as it was for indifferent Israel to heed so long ago.
Word Study

Justice. The biblical concept of justice finds one of its most powerful expressions in Amos. The prophet cried out urgently against those who “turn justice into bitterness” (5:7), and begged the people of Israel to “maintain justice in the courts” (v. 15). In sharp detail the prophet defined the injustice that marred Israel’s society: “You hate the one who reproves in court and despise him who tells the truth. You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts. Therefore the prudent man keeps quiet in such times, for the times are evil” (vv. 10–13).
But what is justice? The Hebrew words are mishpat, usually used when the text speaks of doing what is just, and shapat, which indicates the various functions of government. To do justice is to act in accord with one’s rights and duties under law, and implies an objective code against which a person’s acts can be measured.
In Israel, as for Christians today, that objective code was found in the Scriptures. God’s revelation through Moses defined the Israelites’ duty to God and to neighbor. This standard was more than a list of rules and regulations. It was a call to love God and others, with statutes that illustrated the practical implications of love in the social sphere. Even more significantly, the code was an expression of the loving nature of God Himself, who is committed to doing right by all in His creation. This law was an expression of God’s own character; a model for all who yearned to be like the Lord.
Unredeemed human beings can never be completely just, as justice is ultimately a quality of God alone. Yet the concern we express for others is to demonstrate, in every social relationship and in every social institution, the spirit of love that infused the Hebrew Scriptures.
Justice, then, is showing love by doing what is right, as right is defined in God’s revelation of Himself and of His will for mankind. It is just this that Israel in the age of Jeroboam II failed to do. There was no love, only selfishness. There was no concern for others, only a passion for personal comfort. There was no commitment to God’s standards, only social conventions that openly favored the poor.
God still calls His people to do justice. We are to show concern for the well-being of our fellow human beings, and to apply God’s standards in our personal and national lives. Only by a commitment to justice can we hope to avoid the wrath that Amos announced must soon fall on Israel.

Overview
Amos of Judah traveled to Israel to announce an imminent outbreak of God’s wrath on Israel’s hostile neighbors (1:1–2:5), and on Israel herself (vv. 6–16).

Understanding the Text
“The words of Amos” Amos 1:1. Little is known of Amos beyond what is said in this verse. He was a resident of Tekoa, in the land of Judah. He identified himself as a noqed, a shepherd, who was given a vision and called by God to a prophet’s ministry. This is not, however, a common word for shepherd. It suggests a wealthy rancher, even though Amos pictured himself actively caring for his flocks (cf. 7:15).
How appropriate that God should send Amos. Someone had to be sent to the prosperous of Israel, to charge them with injustice and selfishness. The fact that Amos himself was wealthy added weight to his words—and showed that a rich man can be truly righteous.
It’s one thing for the poor to rail against the rich. It’s something else again for a wealthy man to stand up and speak out against his own class. The man in rags who shouts on street corners is easily dismissed by the proper of society. But the man in a Brooks Brothers suit, the member of the club who stands up and confronts other members with the sinfulness of their behavior, can’t be as easily dismissed.
Each of us, like Amos, belongs to a social class. While God may call us to condemn the sins of those in a different stratum of society, we are most likely to be heard—and to be right!-if we take a stand against the sins that characterize our own class.

“For three sins . . . even for four” Amos 1:3–2:5. The phrase, found in each oracle that Amos launched against one of Israel’s hostile neighbors, means simply “for repeated sins.” We can imagine Amos, climbing up on some prominent place, speaking to Israel’s “beautiful people.” He began his sermon by pointing to the northeast, toward Syria and Damascus. Loudly he proclaimed his news: for the repeated sins of this nation, so hostile to God’s people, the Lord “will not turn back My wrath” (1:3).
Then, rotating slowly, Amos continued to denounce other nations in their turn. He spoke against Gaza and the land of the Philistines, against Tyre, against the Edomites and Ammonites, against Moab. How his listeners must have nodded and smiled! This was the kind of preaching they liked!
And then, when Amos had turned full circle, he pointed south and cried out,
“For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not turn back My wrath” (v. 4). And at this, the crowd of Israelites must have broken out in loud cheering! At last their alienated brethren were going to get what they deserved.
I imagine the Israelites who first heard this sermon never suspected what Amos was leading up to. They never noticed that in drawing a circle around them, Amos had made Israel the bull’s-eye!
Every time you and I rejoice over the troubles of someone who “deserves whatever he gets,” we follow the example of those Israelites. We never stop to think that we too are guilty of faults and failings! In applauding the judgment of others, we condemn ourselves, for we agree that sins and failures should be judged.

“I will send fire upon Judah” Amos 2:4–5. Amos was from Judah, but he had no illusions about his fellow countrymen. He knew the mass of the people had “rejected the Law of the LORD and have not kept His decrees.” He knew that many had “been led astray by false gods.”
Before we condemn the sins of others, we need to be ready to confess our own. We cannot pronounce judgment, as if we were judges. All we can do is to confess the righteousness of God in condemning our sins, and thus take our place with those we warn. Amos did not come from a just society to criticize an unjust society. Amos came from a society he knew was sick with sin, to urge a nation terminally ill to face the fact that it was dying, and to turn to God for healing.
This is the attitude we need to adopt when sharing Christ with others. Not the “holier than thou” attitude of some. But the humble urgency of one who knows how desperately he himself needed the healing he received at Jesus’ touch.

“Now, then, I will crush you” Amos 2:6–16. Amos then turned to Israel and held up a mirror so that the people could see themselves as God saw them. He began with a brief catalog of sins that revealed the injustice which marked Israelite society.
God is never indifferent to sin, wherever it may be found. Yet the sin that disturbs Him most is the sin found in those who claim to be His own.

DEVOTIONAL
Where Cash Counts
(Amos 2)
Prosperity tends to drain the vitality of any people.
It happened to ancient Israel. It happened to Rome. It happened to the British Empire. And it’s happening to America too.
Why? Because with prosperity comes a subtle change in the values held by citizens of a nation. This was the message of Amos to his contemporaries. Your values are turned upside down. Those distorted values doom you to judgment.
Amos identified the critical values which doom a people in his first charge against Israel. Materialism replaces humanitarianism. Selfishness shoves morality aside. And secular religion replaces the revealed faith. Note how each of these is described.
The people of Israel “sell the righteous for silver” (v. 6). Old Testament Law called on Israelites with money to spend it to redeem fellow countrymen who had become slaves (Lev. 25:39–52). In Amos’ Israel cash counted with the rich, while poor people did not! This is the nature of materialism. A love for things replaces a love for people as the motivating drive in a person’s life.
“Father and son use the same girl” (v. 7). Men selfishly “use” women rather than value them as persons. The drive to experience selfish pleasures stretches beyond the loosest bounds of morality. Traditional moral standards become objects of ridicule and are arrogantly shoved aside.
They “lie down beside every altar” (v. 8). They are religious, but practice a religion of ritual without reality. Old Testament Law commanded that garments taken as a pledge to guarantee repayment of a loan be returned at night, for such garments often served as the only blanket of the poor. Yet the people of Israel saw no conflict in being religious, and at the same time being disobedient to God and indifferent to the poor. Secular religion is a tool to oppress or a sop to conscience, while biblical faith is a call to commitment.
The point of Amos’ first sermon, and this devotional, is really simple. We need to check our relationship by checking our values. Is profit more important to us than people? Are the standards we live by those of our society, or of our God? Is our faith a matter of Sunday attendance, or that plus week-long commitment to doing God’s will?
The way we answer those questions, and the way our nation answers them, may well determine the future of our land.

Personal Application
The difference between God’s people and the world’s isn’t just in what we believe, it’s in what we value and in what we do.

Quotable
“If we have to choose between making men Christian and making the social order more Christian, we must choose the former. But there is no such antithesis. . . . There is no hope of establishing a more Christian social order except through the labor and sacrifice of those in whom the Spirit of Christ is active, and the first necessity for progress is more and better Christians taking full responsibility as citizens for the political, social and economic system under which they and their fellows live.”—William Temple

Joel





INTRODUCTION
Joel’s vivid and passionate prophecy was stimulated by a terrible infestation of locusts that destroyed Judah’s crops. Joel saw the disaster not only as a contemporary judgment, but as an event prefiguring a coming “Day of the LORD” at history’s end.
In powerful words and images Joel portrayed the Sovereign God who will surely judge the sinful. God’s people must repent from the heart to escape imminent disaster.

DAY OF THE LOCUST
Joel 1–3

“What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten” (Joel 1:4).

Natural disasters in Israel and Judah were typically viewed in the Old Testament as God’s judgments. Joel raised an important question for us to answer: what should our response to personal disasters be?

Background
Locusts. Throughout recorded history Africa and the Middle East have been plagued by swarms of these grasshopper—like flying insects. Even in the 1900s swarms so great that they blocked out the sun have been reported. When a flying swarm of millions upon millions of insects lands, they eat every green plant, leaving the land utterly desolate. Even worse, they often lay eggs before they move on, and just as new plants begin to sprout locust larvae attack the recovering vegetation. For a people like the ancient Israelites, whose livelihood depended on agriculture, a locust plague threatened existence itself. Just such an invasion of flying locusts, far worse than any in living memory (1:2–3), devastated Judah in Joel’s day. The prophet interpreted that event as a divine judgment, and called on the people of Judah to repent. But even more, the utter devastation caused by the locusts stimulated a prophetic vision of devastation to be caused by invading armies at history’s end, when the Day of the Lord finally comes.

Overview
A locust swarm that devastated Judah (1:1–12) moved Joel to utter a call for national repentance (vv. 13–20). The disaster prefigured the “Day of the LORD” (2:1–11), and made return to God urgent (vv. 12–17). Yet when that day comes God will save His people, and bless them afterward (vv. 18–32). God will judge hostile nations then (3:1–16), and Judah will know God’s pardon (vv. 17–21).

Understanding the Text
“Has anything like this happened in your days?” Joel 1:1–4 It’s typical of folks today to think that things “just happen.” A personal tragedy is only “bad luck” that “could have happened to anyone.”
The same attitude was all too typical among some in ancient Judah. But when an enormous swarm of locusts devastated Judah, the Prophet Joel cried out, “Think!”
This is the force of his question, “Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers?” Sometimes things happen that are so terrible we can’t dismiss them as mere chance.
Underlying Joel’s cry was the conviction that God is in control of events in this world. When disaster strikes, an appropriate response is not to shrug and say, “Bad luck,” but to examine our hearts, and to see if perhaps God is crying out for our attention.

“Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!” Joel 1:5–12 There’s nothing so frustrating to a parent as indifference. You try to reach your kids, you confront, discipline, even yell. And rather than repentance, or even rebellion, there’s simply the shrug of a shoulder and a muttered, “Oh, well.”
That’s what frustrated Joel and the Lord about Judah’s response to the locust plague. They didn’t cry out. They didn’t make a fuss. They just sat around drinking their wine, shrugging their shoulders, and saying, “Oh, well.”
How does God want us to respond when we are disciplined? First of all we need to wake up and weep! (v. 5) Discipline is designed to get our attention and to turn us back to the Lord, not just to make us hurt. Waking up and weeping is often the first indication that we’ve begun to pay attention to God’s message.
The prophet added more verbs to portray an appropriate reaction to divine discipline. We mourn (v. 8). We feel a sense of despair and grief (v. 11). These emotions are not pleasant, but they are profitable. They show that we’re taking events to heart. A godly sorrow, according to the New Testament, can lead us to repentance (2 Cor. 7:10).

“Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn’ Joel 1:13–20. Joel called on the religious leaders of his day to serve as examples of how to respond to the national disaster. They were to first personally put on sackcloth—rough garments worn to indicate grief and sorrow—and spend the night in prayer (v. 13). Then they were to utter a call for a national day of prayer, when all would appeal to the Lord (v. 14). As terrible as the locust plague had been, it was only a preview of the terrors of the approaching Day of the Lord.
Clearly the clergy of Joel’s day failed to interpret the locust plague correctly. They themselves did not repent and they called for no national return to the Lord.
What happens when the clergy are insensitive to the Lord? Just after the locust plague, God raised up another messenger, Joel, who was sensitive to Him! You and I needn’t wait for clergy to take the lead when our own hearts are grieved, or when we feel a burden for our land. What we do need to do is take the situation to heart and express our own grief and sorrow to the Lord. Then, like Joel, we need to speak out!

“For the Day of the LORD is coming” Joel 2:1–11. The phrase, “Day of the LORD,” is a technical term in biblical literature. It can be used to describe any time when God acts directly in history. But it’s primary reference in prophecy is to events destined to take place in the years just preceding history’s end.
Those years are both dark and bright. They are dark in that they introduce a time of worldwide tribulation, and especially a devastating invasion of Israel that causes intense suffering for the Jewish people. They are bright because they end with the surviving remnant of Israel restored to intimate relationship with God, and endlessly blessed by Him.
Here however Joel focuses our attention on the dark face of the Day of the Lord. He sees it as “a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness” (v. 2). An invading army, like the locust plague, would leave the land a waste and overrun every defense. Most awful of all, Joel pictured God on the side of the invaders (v. 11), using them as His instrument to punish His own people. No wonder Joel cried, “The Day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?” (v. 11)
All such Old Testament passages remind humankind that God has fixed a day for final judgment. And that judgment day is rapidly approaching. Yet no matter how vivid the images of its terrors, most humans remain indifferent. Most of us simply don’t want to deal with uncomfortable things until we have to.
What Joel was telling Judah was that God’s time for them was just around the corner of tomorrow. And the moment to deal with that very real and present danger had come! This is what the Gospel tells us too. Each individual must face God the Judge, and the time to make peace with God is now, not then! Why wait to welcome Christ into our lives and receive His forgiveness? Tomorrow may be too late.

“Even now . . . return to Me with all your heart” Joel 2:12–17. I don’t know how she got my Phoenix, Arizona phone number. But I began to receive calls from her, from Toronto, Canada. She was tormented with the fear that God wouldn’t accept her. What she had done seemed so terrible to her that she feared it was too late.
Joel’s message to Judah was the same as Jesus Christ’s message to us today. It’s not too late. “Even now” reminds us that as long as it is called “today,” a person can turn to God and find pardon.
Joel, however, warned Judah that God is not interested in any superficial religious experience. It’s not raising a hand, or walking down an aisle, or promising to give up drink. Joel said, “Rend your heart and not your garments” (v. 13). In biblical times people often tore their clothing to express grief or sorrow. Joel cried that any turning to the Lord must be heartfelt and real.
What can we expect if we truly turn to God? We can expect Him to act in character! He will welcome us, “For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love” (v. 13).

“The LORD will . . . take pity on His people” Joel 2:18–27. The generation that lives at history’s end will repent at last. What is destined for them is an illustration of what you and I can expect when we turn to the Lord.
First, God will provide for us, meeting our basic needs (v. 19). Second, God will save us from our enemies (vv. 20–21). Third, He will pour out so many blessings that the hard times we have experienced will seem nothing in comparison—we will be fully repaid (v. 25). Seeing God’s hand in all this, we will praise and bless the Lord, for we will know by experience that God is present, and that He is our God (vv. 26–27). (See DEVOTIONAL.)

“Afterward, I will pour out My Spirit” Joel 2:28–32. The primary focus of this promise is on the aftermath of the Day of the Lord. God will then bless all Israel, from child to adult, by pouring out His Spirit on everyone.
In Old Testament times the Spirit was given to equip a believer for some specific task or ministry. Now Joel foresaw a time when the Spirit will be poured out on all Israel and Judah. That event, after the judgments of the Day of the Lord, will be linked at history’s end with various signs in the heavens and on earth.
But how, if Joel viewed the outpouring of the Spirit as something destined for Israel, and located it at history’s end, could Peter explain events of the Day of Pentecost as “what was spoken by the Prophet Joel”? (Acts 2:16)
In the same way that the locust plague foreshadowed the ultimate Day of the Lord, so events at Pentecost foreshadowed the ultimate outpouring of the Spirit. Today you and I possess, with Jesus, the gift of the Holy Spirit. With and in Him we have a rich taste of the ultimate blessing to be given all by our loving God.

“I will gather all nations” Joel 3:1–16. The picture of the end given in Joel harmonizes with the picture found in other Old Testament prophets. God will stir up mankind’s natural hostility toward Him and His people. Those who have been enemies of the Lord’s chosen people will again invade. God will let them come, a great horde, and then, when they seem about to triumph, the Lord will judge the nations on every side.

“The mountains will drip new wine” Joel 3:17–21. The little Book of Joel closes with the promise of blessedness. The enemies of Israel and Judah will be punished, the people of God will again be holy, and God’s pardoned people will live forever in His presence.
The journey we are on may be long and hard. But our destination is glorious.

DEVOTIONAL
The Years the Locusts Have Eaten
(Joel 2)
For months she cried every night. Lying alone, her tears soaking the pillow, she sobbed out her “why?”
They’d been married for eight years, and she was three months pregnant with their daughter, when her husband just left. He couldn’t stand being tied down anymore, he told her. And so he left her, with a two-and-a-half-year-old son and pregnant.
It was so hard, trying to deal with her loneliness, her doubts, her questions of, “What did I do?” and most terrible of all, “What will happen to me now?” She had to live with these questions not for days, or weeks, or even months, but for years.
Joel’s warning to Judah of the coming Day of the Lord challenged God’s people to repent and turn to God for healing. The chapter presupposes a people who have turned away from God, and who need to “return to Me with all your heart” (v. 12). There had been years of devastation. But Joel promised even God’s rebellious people that the Lord has good in mind for them. Despite years of devastation, it is within the power of a loving God to “repay you for the years the locusts have eaten.”
Today the young woman who cried herself to sleep so many nights is married again, to a husband who loves her. She loves her job teaching, and delights in the times she shares with her daughter, who is now nine. Life is good, and she’s proven that God’s promise to “repay you for the years the locusts have eaten” can be claimed even by those who never departed from Him, and whose suffering was something other than punishment for sin.

Personal Application
Hold on to God’s promise to repay, no matter however long your suffering lasts.

Quotable
“My Good Shepherd, who has shown Your very gentle mercy to us unworthy sinners in various physical pains and sufferings, give grace and strength to me, Your little lamb, that in no tribulation or anguish or pain may I turn away from You.”—Francis of Assisi

ISRAEL TO BE RESTORED
Hosea 11–14

“I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for My anger has turned away from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily” (Hosea 14:4–5).

There are few passages of Scripture that approach Hosea 11–14’s emotional expressions of God’s love. As we hear His cry, “How can I give you up, Ephraim?” we sense the depths of God’s great love for you and me.

Overview
God’s love is seen against the background of Israel’s rebellion (11:1–7). In the last days God will restore Israel (vv. 8–11) despite her folly (v. 12, 12:14). Israel fell into sin (13:1–16), but will return to God and be blessed (14:1–9).

Understanding the Text
“When Israel was a child” Hosea 11:1–7. Hosea now pictured God’s relationship with Israel as that of a parent with a toddler. The child runs off; is brought back; runs off again, only to stumble and hurt its knee; is ministered to gently by its parent; and runs off again, completely unaware of the love shown by the parent whose guidance it ignores.
What an image: God, “bent down to feed them,” and His people “determined to turn from Me.”
Hundreds of years had passed, and Israel still had not learned. Israel’s refusal to repent meant that “swords will flash in their cities.”
How many people who have an image of the Lord as a loving God cannot grasp the fact that true love must seek the best for its object? A God of love will punish, even as a wise parent will punish a child who continually goes astray.

“How can I give you up?” Hosea 11:8–11 Unlike human beings, who are dominated by strong emotions when these emotions are aroused, the Lord is “God, and not man.” Despite His justified anger against sinning Israel, He also felt compassion. God will be true to His love for Israel. One day He will roar like a lion calling back its cubs to the safety of the den.

“According to his ways” Hosea 11:12–12:14. It was not God who had brought the coming punishment on Israel. It was the people themselves. What had Israel done to bring judgment down on her?
God’s people had “surrounded Me with lies” and been “unruly against God.”
God’s people had multiplied “lies and violence.”
God’s people had failed to “maintain love and justice.”
God’s people used “dishonest scales” and love “to defraud.”
All this had bitterly provoked God to anger. “His Lord will leave upon him the guilt of his bloodshed and will repay him for his contempt.”
The passage, however, leaves Israel and us an example to follow. The man Israel, then known by the name of Jacob, “as a man he struggled with God” (v. 3). The allusion is to Jacob’s experience at Bethel, where he wrestled with the Angel of the Lord in a desperate struggle to obtain His blessing (cf. Gen. 32:25–29). Jacob did prevail, and won God’s blessing. The forefather is thus held up as an example for contemporary Israel, to illustrate the intensity with which they must struggle to be blessed. What does that struggle involve? In Hosea’s time or our own, to win the blessing of God we must “return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always.”

“I will come upon them like a lion” Hosea 13:1–16. Rather than struggle to obtain God’s blessing, the people of Israel had thrown themselves eagerly into the pursuit of sin. Their craftsmen developed “cleverly fashioned idols,” and they “offer[ed] human sacrifice.” And this despite all God had done for them.
This people without gratitude, who had experienced God’s kindness (vv. 4–7) would now experience Him in a different way. “I will come upon them like a lion,” the Lord said (v. 7). “I will destroy you” (v. 9). “I will have no compassion” (v. 14).
Yet even when pronouncing judgment the Lord cannot resist a word of comfort. “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death” (v. 14).
If you should happen to feel the lash of God’s discipline, remember this chapter of Hosea. The One who acts to destroy is also the One who ransoms. We can turn back to Him confidently, for He will welcome us home.

“Say to him” Hosea 14:1–3. Again and again the Old Testament shows us how to approach God after we have sinned. Here the prescription is repeated: Come asking forgiveness. Come trusting in Him only.

“I will heal their waywardness” Hosea 14:4. God tells us in advance how He will respond to such an appeal. He will deal with our waywardness and love us freely. He will do more than forgive. God will transform us, so that His anger may be permanently turned away.

“He will blossom like a lily” Hosea 14:5–9. Using images from agriculture, the Lord foresaw a time when Israel will again flourish in her land. Her idols put forever away, Israel will again enjoy the blessing of God.
The book closes with a question. “Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.”

DEVOTIONAL
Never Alone
(Hosea 11)
The man was bitter. Life had been unfair to him. He had been abused as a child. Not particularly gifted, he did poorly in school, and had difficulty finding a good job. Though a Christian now, married and with children, he often felt frustrated and angry.
A wise counselor opened the Bible to this chapter of Hosea. In verses 1–3 the hurting believer saw that though God’s people hadn’t been aware of it, all through their life as a nation God had been there. God had taken them by the arm, and they hadn’t felt His touch. God led them gently, the leash woven of love. God’s hand lifted burdens from their neck, and He Himself bent over to feed them.
The counseler showed him in verses 8 and 9 that God had felt every hurt, and that His heart had surged with compassion at Israel’s suffering, even though it was deserved. And the counselor showed him in verse 11 that even the most vulnerable of beings will come, trembling, when God calls, only to be settled safely in his home.
And then the counselor asked the embittered Christian to close his eyes, and to relive those experiences that caused him so much pain. But this time he was to imagine God in each situation. He was to sense God beside him, and that the Lord was bringing him safely through. He was to sense God touching, and healing, every pain. He was to feel God lifting his burdens, and bending down to sustain him when he was ready to collapse in his weakness.
With eyes closed, the man did relive his experiences, and consciously invited the God of Hosea 11 to relive them with him. God had been there all the time! And as he became aware of that fact, and let himself feel God’s loving touch, his bitterness was healed and his pain gave way to peace and joy.

Personal Application
The God of Hosea 11 has been with you all your life. Invite Him to heal your own memories, and cleanse you of bitterness and pain.

Quotable
“The happiest, sweetest, tenderest hearts are not those where there has been no sorrow, but those which have been overshadowed with grief, and where Christ’s comfort was accepted. The very memory of the sorrow is a gentle benediction that broods over the household, like the silence that comes after prayer. There is a blessing sent from God in every burden of sorrow.”—J.R. Miller