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252 THE CONVENTION TEACHER INTRODUCTION [[column 1]] The word Amos means "burden" or "burden-bearer." He lived during the days of Uzziah, the king of Judah, who reigned from 810 to 758 B.C. He thus was a contemporary of Hosea, and of the greatest of all prophets, Isaiah. His prophecies were uttered about 760 B.C., not in Jerusalem, but in the famous ancient city of Bethel twelve miles north of the capital. Of his life his own book is our real information. "Reared on the edge of the desert twelve miles south of Jerusalem among the herdsmen of Tekoa he was a rustic like Micah; and because his father's name is not mentioned, it is inferred that he probably sprang from a poor and obscure family. He was a shepherd, and therefore a natural born preacher. He raised a peculiar breed of stunted, fine-wooled sheep, a breed small in size, ugly in appearance, but highly esteemed on account of their wool; and he describes himself as a dresser of sycamore trees. Thus he lived close to nature. His occupation carried him to the wool markets of the northern cities and he had become acquainted with the life and religion of the people. Though he was untutored, having lived as a shepherd in the isolated and desert regions of Tekoa, yet being by birth a morally noble, healthy, and vigorous reformer, he event- [[/column 1]] [[column 2]] ually became supremely concerned for the rights of God and for justice. The Northern Kingdom reached its highest splendor under the second Jeroboam. His long reign gave his great talents scope and afforded time for his enterprises to consolidate. He was successful everywhere; the old enemies of Israel had been defeated, and the old boundaries of the kingdom restored. Peace reigned and with it security. Men were at ease in Zion. But prosperity, as is so often the case, brought great evils in its train. The brief record in the book of Kings gives us an outline of the external history. It is from the pages of Amos and Hosea that we must get the actual condition of the people in the Northern Kingdom. The luxury of the rich was publicly seen. Luxury prevailed by means of what Amos calls violence and robbery, by oppression of the poor and needy; by dishonest trading, by bribery, with no redress for the poor. Micah was born about twenty miles southeast of Jerusalem. Like Amos, he was a native of the country. There is usually more home religion in the country than in the city. He was chiefly a prophet of the poor and a friend of the oppressed. His whole soul went out in loyal sympathy to the down-trodden. [[/column 2]] EXPOSITION [[column 1]] I. HYPOCRISY DESPISED. (VV. 21-24.) (21) I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. The feast days and all the system of burnt offerings, meat offerings and peace offerings were given by God to Israel at the beginning of her history. Laws concerning worship, occupy almost the entire book of Leviticus. Jehovah was not condemning these feast days, offerings and religious observances, because of what they were in themselves, for in fact, being commanded by God, they in themselves were commendable. They brought blessings to those who observed them, and were intended to result in Israel's walking contritely as a holy people before the Lord, her God. What God condemns here is the hypocrisy of Israel, in that though she attempted to keep externally the religious laws which were given centuries before to Israel through Moses, at the same time she was guilty of worshiping false gods of her own creation, some of them named after the heavenly bodies. (22) Though ye offer me burnt offerings [[/column 1]] [[column 2]] and your meat offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Though you offer burnt offerings and meat offerings, the costliest of sacrifices, yet I will not accept them; neither will I regard your peace-offerings, that is thank offerings. These were partly eaten by the worshipers. One sees how little God valued their show of devotion; nay, how much He detested them while they went on in their sins. How displeasing their hypocritical services were to God! They had their feast days at Bethel, in imitation of those at Jerusalem, in which they pretended to rejoice before God; they had their solemn assemblies for religious worship, in which they put on the gravity of those who come before God as His people come before God as His people come, and sit before Him as His people sit. But Jehovah would not put His approval upon all these things, for they were from impure hearts. (23) Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. Vocal music was a part of the Temple worship. In imita- [[/column 2]] [[end page]] [[start page]] THE CONVENTION TEACHER 253 tion of it they had their songs and the melody of their viols. They sang to the accompaniment of their lutes and harps, thus vocal and instrumental music was employed by them at Bethel when they held their Temple service, but it was utterly distasteful to God because of the unrighteousness of the singers and the people generally. These persons hoped with these services to make amends to God for the sins they had committed, and to obtain leave to go on in sin; and therefore they were so far from being acceptable to God that they were an abomination. He hated and despised their feast days, not only despised them as no valuable service done to Him, but hated them as an affront and provocation to Him, as we hate to see men dissemble with us, pretend a respect for us when really they have none. There is nothing more hateful, more despicable than hypocrisy. Their sacrifices were not to Him a sweet-smelling savor, as Noah's was. He would not hear the melody of their viols, for when sin is a jar in the harmony, it grates in His ears. Now this speaks that sacrifice itself is of small account with God in comparison with moral duties: to love God and our neighbor is better than all burnt offering and sacrifice. "Dissembled purity is double iniquity, and so it will be found, where, if any place in hell be hotter than another, that will be the hypocrite's portion." (24) But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. We are told what it is that He required in order to make their sacrifices acceptable, and without which no sacrifice would be acceptable. let judgment run down—Let there be a general reformation of manners among you; let religion, God's judgment and righteousness have their due influence upon you; let your land be watered with it, and let it bear down all the opposition of vice and profanity; let it run wide as overflowing waters, and yet run strong as a mighty stream. In particular, let justice be duly administered; let not the current of it be stopped by partiality and bribery, but let it come freely as waters do, in the natural course, let it be pure as running waters, not muddied with corruption of whatsoever may pervert justice. Let all have free access to it as a common stream, and have benefit by it as trees planted by the rivers of waters. II. A FALSE CHARGE OF TREASON AGAINST AMOS. (VV. 10-15.) (10) Then [[/column 1]] [[column 2]] Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. Here Amaziah sends a message to Jeroboam, the king, concerning Amos. The reporter was Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, the chief of the priests that ministered to the golden calf there, the president of Bethel, the leading ecclesiastic of his day, sent to Jeroboam of Israel. Amaziah does not mean to charge Amos with having a secret understanding with others to dethrone the king, but, as the next words show, with using language that was calculated to produce such a conspiracy. There were doubtless at that time in Israel restless and discontented persons enough who could easily have persuaded themselves that such a prophecy was a divine commission and that, in fulfilling it, they would be doing God's service. (11) For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. How pitiful on the part of Amaziah, the priest, to think that driving Amos out of Israel would have any effect upon the doom which God had pronounced through His prophet. Apparently, Amaziah knew no other way to silence Amos. (12) Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread and prophesy there: The priest calls the prophet a seer. This word is here used in a contemptuous sense. go, flee thee away—Amaziah implies that prophecy was a trade or profession, and insinuates that Amos is one of those prophets who lived upon popularity. He bids him ironically, to betake himself to Judah, where his words spoken against Ephraim will be accepted with satisfaction and will not remain unrewarded. (13) But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court. Notice this clash between the prophet and the priest. We see something infinitely pathetic in this conflict. The bravest and truest voice in Israel had spoken and the priest attempted to stifle it. The priest is bound by his political connections; the prophet is free, bound by nothing but his obligation to declare the truth. Amaziah, his eyes blinded by the glitter of his rites and ceremonies, does not know a true prophet when he sees him; he cannot distinguish between Amos and a common agitator. [[/column 2]] [[end page]]
