Theological Commentary: Click Here
Amos was a
prophet who lived around the time of Isaiah.
This places him among the earliest of the prophets in the Bible who have
books named for them. As with Isaiah,
Amos is concerned about the culture of the Hebrew people. He concerned about the priority of the
people. He’s got quite a bit to say
about humans interact – and how that interaction is not the way God wants it to
be.
At the
beginning of Amos, the prophet is focused on the surrounding nations. Notice the complaints Amos brings. He accuses them of expanding the territory –
implying that they are forcibly taking what isn’t theirs to take. He accuses them of tearing the citizens of
other nations apart. He accuses them of
taking advantage of the weaknesses of their neighbor and not showing pity. Amos accuses them of selling each other. In short, Amos sees how human beings treat
each other and is repulsed by it.
What is it about
human beings that repulses Amos? Amos sees
the self-centeredness. Why are the people in the lands around Israel behaving
they way they are? They want more for
themselves. They want to use each other
to buy off the major power of the Assyrians that are moving in and threatening
the area. Amos sees how our instincts of
greed and self-preservation turn us away from what God wants for us.
The reality
is that we all have these instincts. Self-preservation
is a good thing in life or death situations.
When used inappropriately, though, it turns into something ugly. Self-preservation turns into greed, where we
oppress others because we want the biggest pile of toys. After all, the person with the most toys
wins, right? That’s exactly what Amos
finds repulsive about the cultures around him.
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