Amos was
a shepherd
in Judah who God called to
deliver a message to his nation, its sister nation Israel and the
surrounding countries. His tenure as a prophet
occurred during the reigns of Uzziah in Judah
and Jeroboam
in Israel. His message had three components: an indictment of the nations for
their sins, a
warning of the oppression to come from occupying nations and a hopeful vision
of the kingdom to come.
Amos warned the people, and particularly called out the leaders of the
nations, that God saw their sins and He would not tolerate them forever. In
particular, greed
was rampant. People used dishonesty and force to gain wealth,
especially to exploit those who were already poor. The leaders
of the nations were complicit and expanded their own wealth by these means.
The luxurious lifestyles of these aristocrats was not to last. Amos
warned them of the judgment to come in the form of subjugation to a foreign
empire. That empire would be Babylon.
Like many of his contemporaries, Amos had a vision of a future
restoration. Israel would be restored to nationhood for a while after the end
of its occupation by Babylon (and later Persia), but
these prophetic visions also extended the unending kingdom of Christ.
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