Published: June 16, 2024 | Speaker: Tim Freitag | Series: Amos - Daily Rising Early and Sending the Prophets - Part 7 | Scripture: Amos 2:9-16
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all right still in Amos of course um I'm going to take on the second half of chapter 2 and depending on how that goes we may uh Sally into chapter 3 but we'll see um I am going to ask you to
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stretch your minds a little bit with me as we go into a little uh transliterated Hebrew this morning because um I do think and some of you may have caught it I should probably read
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my translated version here as I was reading previously um a difference in Translation near the end of the chapter so I'm going to
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from I'm going to read from verse 9 of chapter 2 through the end as we begin our study this morning Amos chapter 2 yet I had destroyed the Amorite before them who is as tall as the height of the
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Cedars and as sturdy as the Oaks and I destroyed him from the fruits above to his roots below and I brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you in the wilderness 40 years to take hold of
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the amorites land and I raised up your sons to be prophets and from among your young men to be nazarites is this not so oh sons of Israel declares Yahweh but
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you gave the nazarites wine to drink and the prophet prophets you charge saying prophesy not behold I will squash you in your place as a cart overfilled with sheaves is buckled and flight will
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perish from the Swift and the strong shall not summon his power the warrior shall not deliver his life and the Bowman shall not stand and the fleet footed will not escape and the horsemen
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shall not deliver himself and whose heart is staunch among the Warriors he shall flee naked in that day says
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Yahweh so as we pick up here from um you know we we sort of have looked at the idea that 2 verse6 and on is the indictment against Israel the um specific message to them having
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looked at the messages to the Nations this indictment on Israel begins following our pattern but expanded so we've seen that sort of pattern that we've looked at through the indictments against the Nations um and we see that
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same pattern here in Israel but in a larger format this longer treatment of their sin in some ways a rehearsal of Israel's sin going over the ground of of what's gone wrong and as we look at this
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section here this sort of um I don't know what you want to say this book end or this piece on the end in verse uh 12 of chapter 2 this emphas emphasis on the
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nazarites and the prophecy um Israel has passed the point of no return we talked about this the sort of three transgressions and four is
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overbounding the limits of forgiveness they've passed that point of no return By ignoring or by silencing the helps that God put into place for their good um that's the point of this aspect here
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uh and perhaps not surprising but I found that the majority of the commentators emphasized the prophetic aspect of this we're looking at a prophet we're talking about prophecy um
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Amos comes to them as a prophet and there is an aspect of highlighting the fact that they have shut up the previous prophets so here's a prophet saying you've told all the other prophets to shut up um there is a um the prophesy
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not there since we're going to talk about Hebrew today has a particular case form in the Hebrew that we don't have in the English that is called The Jive um we have the imperative which is to say
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do something um one of my professors indicated the difference between the imperative and The Jive is sort of the difference between your boss saying I need you to do something and a drill sergeant saying do this the jph is that
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emphatic it's literally the don't propy um there silence in one of the the commentators wrote silencing the voice of God and his Revelation there is that
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aspect of the prophecy which just fair enough it's it's in there it's absolutely true but it's curious to me the uh overlooking that often happens of the nazarites the nazarites are are
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handin hand here in God's message through Amos um what about the nazarites God gave them not only a direct message not only the spoken Revelation through the prophets but he put in them living
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examples of Godly obedience or devotion um and again not to make a a whole thing I think most of you probably heard the the general outlines of the Nazarite vow they not cutting the hair they're not
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drinking of the wine we're not given any indication of how many here um there is some discussion in here of of the fact that he specifically singles out the young men even though we know from the
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um specific command regarding that vow that it was open to women um women could be nazarites I tend to think it's more just the poetic expression here as Amos
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is moving through but there is this idea that he has put in place in front of them both the revelatory aspect the word of God through the prophet and those who
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are trying their best to live it out to devote themselves to God to give that example that indication um so you see those those aspects there following on
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the section that we just read as sort of picks up um in verse 9 following the rehearsal of their evils the sins of Israel there is this
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rehearsal of the care and grace of God that he has given on behalf of his people so as we pick up in 29 um you see this use of Exodus um and the the
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conquest of Canaan the the sort of outline of Joshua here this is not uncommon in the prophets various particularly the writing prophets you also see this in in the Psalms the use
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of Exodus and Joshua those are major milestones in God's provision God's moving forward the uh promises that he has given to his people right it's not
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particularly surprising that these are the things that Amos is highlighting for them um but what I want to bring out here as we examine these things and we talk about them is the again the
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theological points that we observe there's a major contrast happening in this section between God and man so we talk about you know
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the indictments on the Nations the preceding verses are all relatively brief because of this sin I'm going to bring this judgment but here God is highlighting the contrast between the
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way Israel has behaved towards these people and the way God has behaved towards these same people man has trampled the needy man is committing immorality selling his
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brothers into slavery perverting Justice seeking to turn aside or to blunt any Holiness that shows up in their midst by contrast God has destroyed those that would harm them God has set captives
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free he has provided them abundant food and the best place to live I mean that's the promised land God gave to them prophets nazarites instruction and
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examples in Holiness and godliness so you have the the two halves here of the rehearsal of their sin over and over and over again and I'm not going to put up a chart because I don't think it's one to
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one it is a more of a poetic expression but it's absolutely a summation of the evils that Israel have committed against each other and the good that God has
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done for Israel for his people it is that contrast um and I think it's meant to to call to mind that idea of the be holy as your father is Holy he has given
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them prophets and nazarites to show them what they ought to be doing how they ought to ought to behave uh in some of the other uh prophets it's not particularly here in in Amos but it's not hard for us to
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imagine probably certainly you've heard this sort of thing from from people the idea of wriggling out of this indictment in the context of it you know well it's it's not so bad that we sold our
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brothers into slavery I mean they had debts we've got rights we need to recoup what's ours you know slavery was allowed uh man is adept at excusing his own wickedness Amos is
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not allowing any wiggling out here in this message that he's delivering from from the Lord um it called to my mind that the sort of Prosperity Gospel
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things that it's okay to grind people it's okay to God wants to bless you and make you the most prosperous doesn't particularly matter what happens to the little guy in the scheme of
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things um so we have this contrast of the of the forgiving forbearing God as contrasted to the greed and the grinding of man what is your impression of God as
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you read through Amos I was listening to a piece this week uh perhaps to my detriment with a an ordained Rabbi who made mention partway through here of the you know the
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god that's depicted there the vengeful and angry I'm sorry what have we just read in Amos he did everything for them he loves
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these people your impression ought to be of the loving providing forbearing God not of a I mean he is saying we're about to read he's going to avenge his Justice he
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is going is going to live out his perfect nature he cannot allow these things to go unpunished and yet we see his recitation we're going to see as we go on in
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Amos he loves them he has constantly tried to bring them back he has given them everything this is not an Angry God at the risk of sounding sacrilegious
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he is angry he's also very very disappointed you know it's the old I'm not angry I'm just disappointed he's both here God is extremely disappointed
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in them and he is going to um pour out his wrath on them because his forgiveness has reached its limit again not to make it sound like we're
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open theist open theist here God is giving us this message in this terms he is picturing himself as this person and this relationship to them
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this response but we know that all of these things are for ordained and and established in his will but he does depict this as a you
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have reached the limit you have you have exceeded what I can bear with this is the same father that we're reading about here again in terms of what this does with your theology this this father who has
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provided these things who has brought them in who has given them prophets and nazarites and and struck down the enemies in front of him this is the same father who so loves the world that he will send his son am I allowed to quote John 3:16 know in reformed circles it's
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it's a little frowned upon because of its overuse and other this is that father okay this is the same one who loves to that
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degree when he comes here in verse 11 and says is this not so oh Israel Israel is called upon to affirm the case against them you can't deny the facts of the case he has gone through your sin he
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has gone through your provision isn't that so is real I don't know if this is on your trajectory but given the day as it is honored um to
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what extent should Christian fathers mimic their heavenly father in forgiveness for well yes but
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also in dealing with the c children I mean if we're to raise we're all to
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raise up our children in the honor and mission of the Lord yeah in other words it seems to me that as Christian fathers we should be providing
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for as God has provided for his children yeah but when God's children reject that I guess what I'm thinking on is just the years of experience of for
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example children who but marry a professing unbeliever the parents response is well I want to show them love I want to be there for them
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and what point do we say that's not really love yeah if a loving God is then going to uh re Justice upon his rebellious children yeah how
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how much do we put up with in terms of that kind of rebellion oh it's an excellent point um and I think it is absolutely one of the theological points that we can bring out of the prophets
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because that is in part the message how much he has loved them how much he has put up with them but they cannot persist indefinitely there is a limit to these things we talked about this a little bit in in the larger relationship between
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Israel and Judah there is an aspect in which all there is a Remnant preserved from all of the tribes in Israel that move to Judah and Israel is effectively dispersed from there there is an aspect
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of that protecting Judah despite the fact that they persist in theirs the reason that Judah is given that longer um leash in some respects because God um
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desires to preserve them and to to honor that promise but I think you're right can we put a specific you you forgive your child four times and then they get the spanking I don't think that's where we're going with this but the the larger
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point that you're drawing out is is absolutely correct the father who loves them and cares for them you can read this in the Proverbs you can read this in the Psalms he reproves Those whom he loves he will punish iniquity he will
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not allow it to persist for forever um and I think again particularly here the the indictment about what they have done with the Nazarite and the prophet is to say he gave you helps and you you struck
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them out of his hand a you had your hand up verse
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will God put pressure on yeah he's not destroying him right I'm putting pressure on just like own child yeah push well we're we're going to come to verse 13 because that's what's up
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here if since we stand in a place where these things are written down for our instruction um we're we're seeing that the that the
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anger of of the father is there for the instruction of those who to are to inherit his grace yes seems Seems to or in other words it seems like we're
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to imitate that in our family lives as well yeah again I think it's an excellent point that and I appreciate that filling that out
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because when you talk about the the whole Council of scripture we absolutely have the love and and forgiveness of the father and we see those things and I think 100% in the prophets
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what you are seeing is the loving father who can no longer forbear um now not all the prophets are the same we're not going to paint them all with the same brush but amus again is that sort of Paradigm that we've talked about typical
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of what you see in the other prophets this father who has provided who has cared who has loved must at some point stop the sin must stem the the the
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evil um sorry I had one more piece of that thought there and it has left my brain um Chuck you had your hand up well just the last thing you said I don't I don't think as human
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fathers obviously we're not in the place of God in terms of providential punishment or giving the grace of repentance yeah so I get I don't want to be
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misunderstood in thinking that you know that we stand in that type of a role to our children I don't believe that we do but I think what we do very very often essential essentially enable our
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children in their Rebellion against God this is not to say that they have to do everything that we did it that's that's not right but when they're when they're clearly living especially as professing
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Believers they're not living according to God's word at some point there needs to be corrective action or some some alteration in the relationship that
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indicates that this is not as it should be right that's about all we can do right we're not godone absolutely and I appreciate that that's that's helpful
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because we are not the same there is the aspect of instruction there is also we talked about this in the last couple of weeks there is an element of instruction to those as aerin's already pointed out
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those of us in our day in context there's also instruction available to those who remain in Judah those in the surrounding Nations you know the the things that are not completely wiped out have opportunity at the time that this
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is given to hear with understanding to take instruction but by and large as we've already discussed for the vast majority of those receiving this message in Israel it is too late by the time the
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prophet comes to you saying thus says Yahweh this this what I Chuck this what I meant about saying that it's it's for those who are being instructed too that
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that the that the love that that the putting the that the proper putting out aside of of a child
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is is not just for their sake but for the sake of those who are doing doing what they should that the that the love in the family is made complete by
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dealing with sin as Sin and dealing with faithfulness as faithfulness in a in a human sense and seems to me that that has done
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know has given us that that picture here by giving instruction of isra cast out that we may not become arrogant toward them or may not bless ourselves saying
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well we we will be saved uh even though we are in the hardness of our sin that sort of thing but there's ample instruction for those
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Jud he does we should just throw away our children because don't because don't agree no no not throwing away I'm not saying that I'm saying that we cannot enable them in their sin we we never
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throw away our children but there are questions that are asked today I am asked over the years many times you know my child who professes to be a believer is engaged to an
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unbeliever what should I do those are questions that the church never even asked for many many generations because that was a how do we show love our love to God must be higher than our
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love to our children but please I'm not saying that you ever just reject no that would be you don't reject your children but you don't continue to participate in
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blessing their Rebellion against God right not not against you right it's it's their Rebellion against God that they cannot continue in that relation
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ship unchecked and uned and again what we're trying to do in part there are so many parts of this that can be dug
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be dug into you into you know just Chu is mentioning it affects the church I think verse 12 goes into how it affects the church
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because you made the nazarit strength wine they didn't water the nazarit they lived a lifestyle that basically made it okay for the men who were not
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supposed to drink wine they felt it was okay so they were it's like churches today are wanting to have women preachers and you
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know we we are so we've grown so used to to it oh it's okay now it's and I mean our churches today compared to
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100 years ago I us sure yeah that's that's true so what I
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want to what I want to point out though is we're reading a prophecy given to a people in a specific time and place there are a bunch of ways to approach that which we have talked about most of
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them this morning one of them is it tells us something about the nature of God right and that is the primary context that Amos is delivering
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it to them in this father who has done these things who is forbearing with you can only bear up to this point and now despite all that he has done for you all
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the care that he has given to you as we move into 13 and following here's the punishment here's what's happening we've we've looked at this pattern before it starts with the indictment of the sin it moves into instruction and it finishes
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up with punishment Amos is following this pattern as he delivers this message from Yahweh here there is that we are not God that is absolutely true so we
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cannot one for one map these things onto ourselves but we are meant to imitate Our Father we are meant to understand his nature and the way that he approaches these things so there is a
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lesson to Earthly parents in the way that this is handled both in provision in forgiveness and the limits of those things I think that's what we're trying to draw out not to say you're going to
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crush your children that you're going to squash them in into the Earth there may be times where that is appropriate I'm not going to be able to stand up here and tell you when your child does X then you must do y that's not going to happen
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out of out of Amos but you can draw a larger principle there that forgiveness is not unending even in God's nature his forgiveness is Limitless in
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the sense that you have already pointed out he will draw Israel back he preserves a remnant of all of those tribes that are in Israel I mean we haven't talked about the makeup of the fact that most of the tribes are up
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there but a bunch of them all Representatives all of them end up in Judah at the time that Israel is dispersed he preserves his children he preserves the promise that he has made
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there is that but there is also this there is also the punishment I think one of the mistakes we make is we think that when we see God in his in his anger that
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he's no longer God in his love we make a we make a separation discipline and love but he says you oh Israel I have love out of all the nations therefore I will
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punish you yeah I think we have to understand this is not some dichotomy in the divine the divine nature what we're learning about here is the nature of divine love yeah which
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not unendingly tolerate Rebellion Rebellion against him yes we do we love our children when we accept their homosexuality are we really loving them
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when we say you know I need to be there for them and we never stand we do not stand enough for the principles that God has taught us in his word and we have taught our children then are we really
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loving them yeah is that really love right and I think the only reason we think otherwise is that we make distinction between discipline and love When God says the father disciplines the
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son who he loves I appreciate that because that's that is absolutely the point that is being driven here in Amos is to is to say and I want to tie it back to what
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we've talked about earlier that God is angry with angry with them there is an Angry God here and he is also still the same loving father in that anger those are not again I think
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you're absolutely right that we have a really bad habit Even in our own thinking to say God EX exhibits one of these modes at a time as some kind of modalism in his his uh aspects that he
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can he will be angry or he will be loving or he will be forgiving but he is god without change and so his Justice and his Mercy must also be appeased this
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is why we come down to again think about the time frame in which Amos is existing here this is preist the reason we have Christ the reason we have that final reconciliation
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with God is because at this time in this way that reconciliation needed to come through Christ but was not yet achieved yet not yet perfected the way it would
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be revealed to us in in Christ and in his sacrifice and so there is the some of the prophecies it's not here in Amos but some of the prophecies talk about you know the the righteousness and
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the mercy have met together um Justice and peace have kissed that's the idea that's what we're looking for in Christ and it's the the L Al embodiment of God's nature in in Jesus Christ is it
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not so that those you you can't have you can't pull any of the parts off of it um I want to address just a couple of things here as we move forward so we can
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actually finish chapter two and move on to three because I think frankly if you hold on to a little bit of this thought chapter 3 is going to bring this aspect out because he starts with you alone among the Nations I have known right he
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singles out the the intense care that he has given to them but will almost certainly be next week at this point I want to just talk real quick uh well I'm not going to bother to write the Hebrew here for you but when you look at the
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end of chapter of verse uh 11 there where it says uh declares Yahweh in most or declares the Lord in most of your translations um that is in fact a noun
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uh yeah close enough a declaration so it's not declares Yahweh it's it's almost like a seal he goes through all of this and he says a declaration of Yahweh there is a flat finality to that
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he says is it not so oh Israel a declaration of Yahweh there's no disputing the case um I do think that chapter 12 helps us and it it is tied in
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here but I want to pick up because I want to get into the details a little bit 13 and following to the end of the chapter I've put the translation of 13 up here on the
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board I think most of your translations we can do a little survey of translations if you want um my new American Standard Version in 13 says behold I am weighted down beneath you as
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a wagon is weighted down when filled with sheaves a you said pressed down does anybody have anything besides weighted down or pressed down
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okay so this is why I've got this on the board because again I don't want to sew anybody to have doubt you can read your English versions and get what you need out of Amos and be perfectly fine but I will say the vast majority of the
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translations that I looked at missed something important here and that is the direct action of God so let me briefly show you what is normally translated here and then I will put up the other oh
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just for fun real quick this H that we've got here um behold or um some of you may recognize it Amos or not Amos Isaiah 68 the Here I Am Lord send me
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that is H it's slightly different but it's the same root word it's literally see me behold me here I am um if we look at our um translations some of the
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translations will say something uh a closer translation would be behold I will press you down or some of them said behold I will stick you fast or one even said halt you in your place it is 100%
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the idea that God is going to stick them in place he's going to pin them down the image in my head perhaps a little cartoonishly Monty Python style but it's almost the thumb of God coming down and
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just you're stuck I'm G to squish you in there um yeah I just I have a note in in my Bible my Bible that says or tottering under
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so this is where this is a place where the translation is a little bit disputed the idea is literally the the the concept of Wheels sinking into the Earth um the one that occurred to me because it happens to me a lot is you've
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overloaded the wheelbarrow and you go to pick it up and the wheel just and you're not you're not going anywhere now your wheelbarrow is too
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heavy so it is that idea the wheels are stuck in there uh like a 4x4 stuck out in the field or if you want a more biblical example cicer chariot wheels stuck in the mud but the reason I bring this up and I'm going to just quickly do
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two things here um this is a rough transliteration of the Hebrew most of the versions will do something like
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this uh I let's see M weighed down
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option but I'm going to suggest that the better version is something more like
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dispute instead of behold I am weighed down under you like is weighed down a cart full of sheaves it would be more like I will press down on you or press you in place like a cart is pressed down when it is full of sheaves it's fairly
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succinct in the Hebrew some of yours may have a a version close to that a lot of the versions go towards the older format which is to say I weighed down under you um Calvin obviously not a most recent uh
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Hebrew scholar uh appeals to Isaiah 1 verse4 in which he his Calvin was written in the French and then translated into English his translation
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of it that I had in my copy was ye constrain me to labor under your sins or to be weighted under your sins my Isaiah 11:14 in The New American Standard says
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I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts they are a burden to me I am weary of burden of bearing them um he says God carried that people on his shoulders and they've loaded him up with
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the burdens of his iniquities the problem that's coming up here is this here some of you may have heard the term a hop Haw lamon something that only
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appears once um this is the only place this shows up in Biblical Hebrew there are postbiblical hebraic examp of this
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verb showing up where it does mean weighted down several hundred years after this is written so it's uncertain there the biggest aspect of this though is this
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aspect here and here but particularly in this formulation of it it is a it is a positive participle so if if you read the verses saying I am weighed down well
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that's passive he's being weighed down it is 100% direct action of God I will press down on you so if you have a passive please make a note that this
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is not passive this is active and if you look at the context in which it's showing up here he's going to go on to talk about those who are unable to flee those who cannot run away those who
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cannot Escape it is the I am I am preparing this by sticking you fast you're not getting out of this one it is the direct action of God um
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the the pattern of this indictment instruction punishment verse 13 is the segue into the punishment phase of this it is the clear intention and direct action of God that leads into this
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confrontation of the military that's going to happen in the next couple of verses um I was a little bit baffled so I I've referenced now Calvin um one of
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the excellent Hebrew Scholars that I like to read who I do not think is a Believer um has the halted or or or sort of deals with this and comes up with something that I agree with a much more
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um reformed and well-intentioned man that I read who commentary was published in 2019 went through this exact same thing and then followed it up with none is
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more helpful than the traditional rendering I don't understand that at all I you have got to understand it is the will the intention of God to to take
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this action um it's not passive it's not it's not reflex it is the imposition of his will um as we go on this this idea that flight will perish from the Swift
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that you read here in 14 um the verses are more effective as we move forward here and I want to close Us in the next couple of minutes with these last couple
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of verses he says flight will perish from the Swift the strong will not summon his power the warrior shall not deliver his life The Bowman shall not stand the fleet footed will not escape
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the horsemen shall not deliver himself these two verses here are are two sets of Triads in the in the biblical poetry um that you sort of get that almost like a horse hoof drum beat it's if you look
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at 14 and 15 it's 1 two 3 1 two 3 these are not escaping these are not fleeing these are not getting away it's interesting and again I think it's effective the same way we read in the
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indictments against the Nations where God says I will not turn it back he is not specific he does not detail what is being restrained you absolutely get the idea here in these verses of a military
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being overtaken by something unspecified the enemy is not pictured here simply the destruction of the army their inability to escape what is washing over them
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um I think it's an effective use of of the Poetry there both in the English and in the Hebrew that he goes through this you're not getting out of it you're not getting away whatever that is that's
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coming to them you're not getting out of it um it um the so you have 14 and 15 as these sort of distinctive cascading Triads and then um verse 16 you know the staunch hearted
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the the the Mighty Men you can almost think of the Mighty Men of David right those fantastic Warriors who did all those exploits um it says Naked shall flee in that
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day it is just the word naked but frankly I think the picture there is the the mighty warrior AR raay for battle has thrown down his weapons has chucked off his armor he's shedding all of his
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Warrior Garb to get away faster he's thrown everything off because he's trying to get unweighted so he can run away he's unloading the sheaves if you like trying to get out of the out of the
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rut uh he's throwing everything off the word flee is in the Hebrew yeah um so and then just as we we close with
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that aspect as you see this indictment of God that their military is going to be wiped out please remind yourself that it comes in the context of Israel and Judah being the major military powers in
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this sphere in their day so he's talking about in part I think he's not saying Damascus is going to get its revenge on you Gaza is going to rise up against you
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it is all of this military might and control that you're trusting in those who trust in horses those who trust in chariots that's all melting in the face of God's Wrath it is it is wasted away
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like Wax for the flame these this certainty you have recall back to the the verses uh that open the the indictments you know the Lord Roars out
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of the citadels out of Jerusalem and out of Zion you're certain and secure here in your fortified cities and in your military power and in your control and here as we come to the end of what I
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think is that first Oracle I do think that three chapter 3 is a good break it's a distinct um message as he closes that that he opened
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with the Roaring out of the citadels it's your might your power it's it's useless to you in the face of God's Wrath it is unable to stand do any of
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the commentators reference back
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to yes so there's a number of things that you could look back to um God himself brings up the idea of bringing them out of Egypt here um I also saw reference to and and it's frankly the first thing that occurred to me in
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judges with Deborah and Barack fighting against uh cicora whose whose iron chariots that were so mighty are stuck in the mud and they're all overtaken and killed um there are 100%
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biblical examples out of these things that God has already pointed out the the um leading up out of Egypt the conquest of Canaan the the security of the land
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there are elements there where the armies have been destroyed more or less obviously by the power and might of God but again I think it's it's interesting here in the sense
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that he doesn't give a particular you know it's not a picture of a wave a few of the commentaries um suggested that you should think back to that Roar that
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blasts out almost that shock wave of sound as being the thing that's overtaken the Army here it's reasonable enough but there's nothing particularly in the Hebrew that says you tying those things back together um so yes there's
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history there but um none of the pictures particularly in terms of their history that is to follow this point they did as much ripping themselves apart as they were ripped apart by yeah
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the Assyrians almost came in and just cleaned up right they had already really decimated themselves by Civil War yeah true and again you know you think about
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it in the terms of the context of the history it's coming at a point I don't know if I'll say the most but one of the most peaceful points in the relationship between the Kingdom of
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Israel and the kingdom of Judah that we have on record and that they're not actively tearing each other apart at this specific moment the message is brought to them um so yes uh history you
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know I think the idea of of Pharaoh's Army being wiped out by God with the Red Sea is reasonable enough thing to to call your mind back to but frankly if you look strictly at what is pointing
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out to them there it is uh it is pointed right at their throat that this this power of God is coming to your military might it just seems to me as very
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individual it's individual it's not certain
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at yeah certain think good soiling he does single out individuals in the way that it's written but I I would caution that I think the way that
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the Hebrew poetry is written it is it is illustrative of the might of the nation right in the same sense that he's called out individual people who sell their brothers into slavery or who lay down on
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on garments taken in pledge it is individual things that are summing up but you're absolutely right because it's you know the the the fastest person won't be able to get away the strongest
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person won't be able to summon his strength the warrior will not fight you know won't deliver his life you have those the specific thing that you're trusting in your your skill set your
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task your power is useless to you but it's summing up the whole military might in those verses it's an argument from the greater to the Lesser fastest won't get away what about the slower if the
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strongest can't defend what about the weak right so it's it's it's you it is the best of you won't stand rest of you will Beyond hopeless yeah right so again
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from my standpoint and what I can read here I do think that three is a pretty clear distinction in the narrative I basically one Amos 1 1 through 216
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hang together as a piece in how I can read it and three opens a new section we'll pick up with chapter 3 next week unless there's another particular question from here let's close in prayer
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father we do thank you for your word for the things that you've given to us we ask that we would Avail ourselves of it but that we would do so not through our own understanding or our own effort but
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that these things would be mediated by your spirit to us feeding us and nourishing us from the storehouse that you have given for us particularly father as we go upstairs to gather
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together in a time of song and prayer and the word preached we ask that you would feed us by the hand of your UND Shepherd your word delivered to us would
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nourish our souls and strengthen us to the steps ahead that you have ordained for us we ask these things in Jesus name