Justice And Righteousness - The Right Choice

Dr. King often quoted Amos 5:24. He identified with the prophet who was sent by God with a message of warning and judgment to Israel’s political and religious leadership about their oppression, injustice and abuse of the poor and powerless. Like Amos, Dr. King called a nation to righteousness and away from evil. Today, our country desperately needs to learn from God’s message in Amos, calling us to come back to justice, righteousness and love for our neighbor (see Amos 1:1; 2:11–12; 3:7–8; 7:10–15). I pray that as His people, we would heed God’s warning in Amos and make the right choices about true worship, our leaders and how we treat the least, last, lost and left out in our country. Amen

The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa —the vision he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel. (Amos 1:1)

The book of Amos begins by giving a brief sketch of Amos’ background and calling. We learn Amos’ occupation (Sheepherder), his hometown (Tekoa, which was in the southern kingdom of Judah), the fact that he had a vision and the object of that vision (the Northern kingdom of Israel) and the timeframe of his vision and prophesying (during the reigns of Uzziah in the southern kingdom and Jereboam “son of Jehoash” in the northern kingdom).

“I also raised up prophets from among your children

and Nazirites from among your youths.

Is this not true, people of Israel?”

declares the LORD.

“But you made the Nazirites drink wine

and commanded the prophets not to prophesy. (Amos 2:11–12)

Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing

without revealing his plan

to his servants the prophets.

The lion has roared —

who will not fear?

The Sovereign LORD has spoken—

who can but prophesy? (Amos 3:7–8)

For any in Israel who may have objected that Amos the prophet was not from the northern kingdom, God made it clear that He had also raised up prophets as well as those who took a nazirite vow to serve Him from among the people of the northern kingdom. But God’s rebuke of Israel was that instead of heeding God’s message, they had silenced those prophets and caused the Nazirites to violate their vows to God. It wasn’t that they had not heard God’s calling for them to return to His authority and their covenant with Him, they had rejected it. They did not fear the Lord and so, through Amos, God would make clear the consequences of their actions and His plan to send them into exile. God rarely acted without revealing His plan through prophets. But once He did, fulfillment was certain.

Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. For this is what Amos is saying:

“‘Jeroboam will die by the sword,

and Israel will surely go into exile,

away from their native land.’”

Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom. ”

Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, 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 7:10–15)

Amos was sent by God to prophesy to the Northern kingdom (Israel). He was a man of some means, being both a sheepherder and someone who had an orchard of sycamore-fig trees. But he was called by God and sent to prophesy to Israel’s leaders (royal, economic, judicial and religious). The message God sent him to speak was that the LORD’s judgment would come upon Israel because of their mistreatment, dishonesty, injustice and exploitation of the poor and oppressed. God’s message to Israel was that because of her wickedness, He would judge them and Israel would be taken into exile. Amaziah, the chief priest, tried to enlist the king of Israel against Amos, accusing him of conspiracy to bring down the king and Israel. It is an indication of the level of evil and corruption in Israel, that the chief priest was less concerned about what God wanted (repentance of Israel) than he was with muzzling, discrediting and deporting Amos. Instead of returning Israel to God, the chief priest wanted Amos out of Israel and returned to his home of Tekoa in Judah.

Conclusion

The northern kingdom had experienced a great rise in wealth because of her geographical position along trade routes. This rise spurred greed among those in positions of power and Israel increasingly violated God’s covenant laws regarding the treatment of the poor and powerless. She acted religious, but was actually far away from a true worship of God. God used Amos to speak out against the oppression, injustice, and corruption by Israel’s leaders. He called them to come back to righteousness. But Amos was also sent to tell them that God would judge them if they did not come back to Him.

God gives us notice when we have strayed from Him also. He may do it through the conviction by the Holy Spirit of some action that we have taken. Notice from God that we need to return to him may come through a word from a friend… or even a stranger. Whatever way we have received God’s calling to come back to Him, we need to heed it and not reject it. God’s plan is for us to be in right relationship with Him. He wants us to embrace justice, righteousness and love of our neighbor just as He does. When we refuse, God is willing to confront our evil and remove us from the things that we are worshipping instead of Him. Has God has sent an Amos in your life to tell you to return to Him in true worship? Are you heeding or rejecting His message?‍ ‍Let’s make sure that we make the right choice…

Blessings, Rev. Glenn

But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream.~ Amos 5:24