Amos [Part 3] - The Bridging Prophet

Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Joseph Shulam.

Shalom, my name is Joseph Shulam, and in partnership with Brad TV, I am continuing to teach the prophets, the Old Testament prophets. And this is the third lesson for the Prophet Amos. My plan is to teach three lessons on each one of the minor prophets.

We’re in the Prophet Amos right now, and I am going to start in chapter seven, from verse 10: then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus, Amos has said, ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away into captivity from their own land.’”

And Amaziah said to Amos, “Go, you seer! Flee the land of Judah.” In other words, “Go to Judah, Amos. You don’t belong here in Israel. And eat bread there. And there, prophesy. But never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is royal residence.”

And Amos answered and said to Amaziah the priest, “I was no prophet,” or in Hebrew, “I am not a prophet, nor was I a son of a prophet, but I was a sheep breeder and a tender of sycamore fruit. The Lord spoke to me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now therefore, hear the word of the Lord, you say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not spout against the house of Isaac.’”

“Therefore, thus said the Lord, ‘Your wife shall be a harlot in the city. Your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword. Your land shall be divided by survey line. You shall die in a defiled land. And Israel shall surely be led away captive from his own land.’”

Now, these are some, as they say down in the USA, in South Georgia, these are some fighting words. And of course, Amaziah the priest didn’t like it. And he goes to the king and tells him this guy Amos is a troublemaker. Now, I need to do a little bit of introductory teaching over here.

The Bible has two major kinds of prophets. One is called the popular prophets. And these are professional prophets that prophesy only when people came to ask them questions, to ask for information, and they charge; you had to pay them something. And they essentially served the people. They learned in the school of prophets how to do this with ecstasy, with music, with dancing, with falling on the ground as King Saul, before he was anointed as king.

A famous one of these popular prophets was Samuel. Samuel was a prophet, a professional. And we’re reading 1 Samuel chapter eight and chapter nine about kings. Before he was a king, when the young boy Saul and his servant went to look for the donkeys of his father and they couldn’t find them. And evening time was coming, and they came to a place where there is a spring of water, to look for the donkeys. Maybe the donkeys, toward the evening, went to drink water.

And the servant of Saul says to him, “There is a man of God up there, a seer, Samuel, in Rama, not far from where we are. Let’s go there and ask him where the donkeys are.” And Saul says, “Well, we don’t have anything to give him. We don’t have any money to pay him.” So the servant says, “I have a coin. We could do that.” And of course, he goes looking for the donkeys and finds the crown, in that case.

Another famous popular prophet was Nathan, who in chapter 12 of 2 Samuel faces King David with a parable of the poor man’s lamb. And with that parable of the poor man’s lamb, he announces to David that David took the poor man’s lamb, Bathsheba, who was the wife of Uriah the Hittite; one of the generals of Israel.

That in itself is interesting that he was a Hittite. David had several generals who were Philistines, some were Canaanites, and some were Hittites. And the majority of course were Israelites.

But the popular prophet didn’t write books. We don’t have a Book of Nathan or the Book of Samuel. We have the Book of Samuel, but Samuel obviously didn’t write it, because it was written long after Samuel died. And the story of Samuel’s death is in the first Book of Samuel.

So these are the popular prophets. They had to be paid, they were professional prophets, and people went to them. They didn’t volunteer their information. They gave service to people who had questions, who had interests, and wanted to know something about their situation, about where their donkeys are, or what happened to their children, or things like that.

Nathan was the royal prophet. He was the prophet of the house of David. And he had to go correct David for the sin with Bathsheba. But we don’t have the Book of Nathan. He didn’t write anything.

But Amos is a kind of a bridging prophet. On the one hand, we read from chapter seven that he says, “I’m not a prophet or a son of a prophet,” but yet he prophesied in a classical way. And we have a book under the name of Amos.

So Amos, Elijah, and Huldah, the prophetess, and a few others like Gad, and the prophet from Judah, who went to Bethel to prophesy against the king of Israel, and his hand withered; then he delivered him, and then the lion ate him, because he didn’t obey God’s instructions. All these were popular prophets.

But Amos is really a classical prophet. He prophesied without getting paid for it, getting persecuted for it, but not paid for it. And he prophesied some very harsh things about the king and about Israel. And one of the things that I want to stress about Amos is this that we read from chapter seven. And that is that he denies to be a prophet.

He says, “I’m a farmer. I’m a sheep herder. I’m a tender of sycamore fruit, of sycamore trees.” And that makes him a very interesting prophet. He’s not prophesying for pay. So, he’s not fully a popular prophet. He is a classical prophet. Because we have the Book of Amos, a collection of his prophecies, where he tells the king, the priest, and the people, things that they don’t want to hear. That’s why he writes them down. He records his prophecies.

So I want to go on with Amos and deal with a part of Amos that is fascinating, and it has eschatological overtones. I’m going to go on from chapter seven to chapter nine. And in chapter nine, I’ll start from verse one of chapter nine in order to give a little bit of a background of what’s going on.

Here is another interesting thing that’s connected with the classical prophets. They see visions, the vision of Isaiah. Jeremiah starts with a vision. God says, “What do you see?” He says, “I see a branch of an almond tree.” And then there’s a play of words between the almond in Hebrew and God’s relationship and attitude toward Israel in the days of Jeremiah.

So chapter nine of Amos starts with a vision. “I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said, ‘Strike the doorposts, the threshold may shake, and break them on the head of them all. I will slay the last of them with the sword. He who flees from them shall not get away, and he who escapes from them shall be delivered. Though they dig into hell, and from there my hand shall take them. Though they climb up to heaven, and from there I will bring them down. Though they hide themselves on the top of the Carmel, from there I will search and take them. Though they hide from my side at the bottom of the sea, from there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. Though they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword, and they shall slay them. I will set my eyes on them for harm and not for good.’”

I’m stopping in verse four. A horrible, difficult, harsh prophecy of Amos. As he says it was a vision. He saw the Lord standing next to the altar and got this revelation. Look, he’s prophesying to the 10 northern tribes.

Today we’re in the state of Israel. Jews are returning from all over the world. But mainly Jews that went to exile from Judah, from Jerusalem, the 10 northern tribes are still not returning. I know that there is news of the tribe of Dan from Ethiopia and the tribe of Manasseh from India.

There is zero scientific or historical proof that these people that are coming are really from one of those tribes. But for political reasons, they’re given that title, that information, the tribe of Dan from Ethiopia and the tribe of Menashe from northeast India. Could be, but the scientists have not found any proof that this is so.

These are harsh words of Amos in the last chapter of the book of Amos, very, very difficult. God says, “If you go to the bottom of the sea, I will have the serpent come and bite you there. If you climb up the mountain, I’ll bring you down from there. I will command the sword, and it shall slay them. I will set my eyes on them for harm and not for good.”

That’s the God that revealed Himself to Moses as Adonai, Adonai, Lord, Lord, long-suffering and full of grace. Full of grace and truth, who has forgiveness, who has grace, who has mercy on the thousands. That’s the same God. Israel made God so angry, so upset that Amos the prophet writes these things as a revelation from God about Israel.

I’m going to continue reading from verse five of Amos 9: “The Lord God of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell there mourn. And of it shall well like the river, and subside like the river of Egypt. He who builds his layers in the skies, and has founded his strata in the earth. Who calls for the water of the sea, and pours them out on the face of the earth. The Lord is his name.”

You know, up to verse six, it’s an introduction, telling us who God is and what are his powers, limitless powers on the earth, on the sea, and on the nations, and on the peoples. Now, verse seven, you, talking to Israel, “‘Are you not like the people of Ethiopia to me, O children of Israel?’ says the Lord. ‘Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, Crete, and the Syrians from Kir? Behold the eyes of the Lord are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,’ says the Lord. ‘For surely, I will command, and will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve. Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.’”

Oh, that comforts me, this last phrase. “Not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.” To the last Israelite that is thrown into the diaspora, lost in the diaspora among the nations, God knows them all, and none of them will be lost. As Paul says in Romans 11:25-26 to the Gentiles, “I’m not going to keep it a secret from you, dear brothers and sisters, for in the fullness of the time of the Gentiles, all Israel shall be saved.”

This corresponds with this promise, and there are another 12 or 13 places in the prophets that correspond with Romans 11:25-26. “All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’”

Verse 11 now: “Oh, on that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David,” or the fallen tabernacle of David, “and repair its damages. And I will raise up its ruins.” He’s talking about the restoration of Israel now. The fallen tabernacle of David. God says, “‘I will raise it up again. I will repair its damages. I will rebuild their ruins as it was in the days of old. And they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations, the gentiles who are called by my name,’ says the Lord who does this thing. ‘Behold the days are coming,’ says the Lord. ‘When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the tender of the grapes him who sows the seed. The mountain shall dip with sweet wine, drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will bring back the captive of my people Israel. They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens and eat the fruit from them. I will plant them in their own land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,’ says the Lord God.” The end of the Book of Amos.

What do we have here? We have here a very interesting situation. The harsh things that the prophet has said about Israel, about the people are reversed. In the end, everything will be restored.

In the end, God is going to bring back the captives of Israel. They will rebuild the city. They will rebuild the land. The land will overflow with milk and honey, with wine, with prosperity. And the most important part, the fallen tabernacle of David will be restored.

Now, we have in the Book of Acts the conference that was held in Jerusalem by the apostles and by Paul, and, and the apostles decided that our Gentile brothers and sisters, Gentiles means from the nations, our Gentile brothers and sisters don’t have to be circumcised.

They don’t have to convert to Judaism. What they have to do is keep the commandment that God commanded the generation of Noah after the flood in Genesis 9. The first command is get married and multiply. The second command is not to shed blood. The third command is not to eat blood.

From these commands that are in Genesis 9, the Jewish rabbis designed originally three commands. And then by the time of the New Testament, four commands. Then after the New Testament and the destruction of the temple, seven commands.

So Gentiles that want to be saved, they don’t have to become Jews. They don’t have to become converted to Judaism and be circumcised. All they have to do is keep these commandments that God gave to Noah and his generation after the flood.

So the apostles have this discussion in Acts 15, and they argue, and then Yakov, James in English, arguing with Peter, agree that the Gentiles don’t have to convert on the basis of this text of Amos 9 verse 11 forward. Why? Listen to the text. I’m going to read it now the same text from Amos 9 verse 11 forward from the Book of Acts 15 from verse 16. “After this I will return, and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down. I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up, so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord who does all these things.”

Now, if you compare the text from Amos and the text from Acts chapter 15:16-17, you see that there is one difference. In Amos, he says, “I will, so that the rest of Edom may seek the Lord.” In Acts 15:17, he said the rest of mankind may seek the Lord.

Now, Edom is one nation situated on the other side of the Dead Sea. The Edomites that gave a hard time to Moses. The rest of mankind is Adam. Edom, Adam, in Hebrew, that is written without vowels, is the same.

What’s more correct, the text as it is in the Hebrew text, or in the New Testament? It’s in the New Testament. He’s talking about restoring the tabernacle of David in Jerusalem for the rest of mankind, not only for one nation, the Edomite, that don’t exist anymore, but for mankind.

And it depends how you read the text. They read it one way in the 10th century, the rabbis, and they read it different in the first century. More correct, because the vowel signs are not in the text. The vowel signs were put between the seventh and ninth century AD into the Hebrew text.

So without vowels, you could read it Edom, you could read it Adam, it’s the same. Adam is more correct from the general context of Amos, who’s talking about the nations.

I’m going to read a couple more verses. Verse 18: “Known to God from eternity are all his works.” Means all the people, all the nations. “Therefore, I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but what we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from porneia, sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses has been taught many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every sabbath.”

So we have here a recommendation, a type of recommendation, that these gentiles don’t need to convert to Judaism to be brothers and sisters in the kingdom of God. But they can go to the synagogue on sabbath and hear the word of God read, because they didn’t have iPads and iPhones, and they didn’t know how to find out the story of the Bible from Genesis all the way to the end of the Old Testament, and of course, after the New Testament was written, to the Book of Revelation.

May God bless us all, and bless all those from among the Gentiles who have accepted the God of Israel as their God and the Messiah of Israel as their savior. In Yeshua’s name, shalom.