0:03
to be accurate and upright and saying I am going to put this Implement I'm going to put this Plum line in the midst of my people um he says
0:20
this actually I I missed a piece here that I probably need to back up to but this this Plum line is also um one of the references we have here is in first no sorry Second Kings
0:38
as he describes one of the destructions here or we read another um in 2 Kings
0:53
21 it's an interesting section in relation to what we're talking about today because there is not a named Prophet but if you pick up in 2 Kings
1:03
21:10 it says now Yahweh spoke through his servants the prophets saying because manasse king of Judah has done these Abominations having done wickedly more
1:13
than all the amorites did who were before him and has also made Judah to sin with his idols therefore thus says Yahweh God of Israel behold I am bringing such Calamity on Jerusalem and
1:24
Judah that whoever hears of it both his ears will ring I will stretch out over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plum of the House of Ahab and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish
1:36
wiping it and turning it upside down it's the exact same wording except it doesn't say plum line it actually just has the the root there that that means weight or Plum it's the end of it but
1:47
then previously he said the line of Samaria same Samaria same idea um that he's setting it in the midst of his people there's an interesting note here in in amos's
1:59
prayer of intercession for his people when we come to this third one Amos doesn't have anything to say other than
2:09
other than to acknowledge what the Lord is holding what the Lord is doing he offers no reproof here but when we see these earlier two this intercession through prayer that that Amos offers and that
2:21
the Lord apparently honors um there's an interesting note here that I had not thought about until I came to the section and was digging into it which is the number of times so we just talked
2:32
about this God doesn't change his mind does he he has his will his plan his purpose that he sets out but the number of times that you see in scripture and i' i' challenge you to keep your eyes
2:43
open for this that the Lord brings about his will in honor of the prayer of his people there's a significant one for us
2:53
I'm just going to read one section here because I don't want to T too long but when we read in Luke chapter 1
3:07
as the angel speaks to zecharias it was very interesting to me it says here I'm going to pick up in verse 11 an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing to the right of the altar of
3:18
incense and zecharias was troubled when he saw the angel and fear gripped him but the angel said to him do not be afraid zecharias for what he doesn't say the prophecy is going to be fulfilled
3:30
the prophecy of Malachi the prophecy of Isaiah the prophecy of the voice crying in the wilderness no he says do not be afraid Zacharias for your prayer has been heard and your wife
3:41
Elizabeth will bear you a son and you will give him the name John we obviously had some depending on your Reckoning 700 or
3:52
minimum 400 years if you date from Malachi between the giving of the prophecy and when the Lord begins to carry it out here starting with zecharias but he doesn't come to
4:02
zecharias he doesn't come to Mary and say good news the prophecy he says your prayer your prayer has been answered your prayer has been heard that the Lord
4:14
is pleased to bring about his will in honoring the prayers of his people I would challenge you to think about it uh particularly in light of the
4:24
the verse the prayer of the righteous man availeth much think about it as you read through the scriptures and you see these these moments keep your your eye out for it I would I would suggest to you but to return to the to the section
4:36
of the plum line here the plum line stretched out in the midst of his people um a couple of significant things here the first of them is
4:47
um the first two visions that we have I would give the assertion that they represent total Destruction of the
4:58
people the third one the vision of the plum line though the Lord
5:09
says I will spare them no longer the high places will be desolate the sanctuaries of Israel laid waste and I will rise up against Jobo with the sword it is not given to us in terms that Encompass total Destruction any
5:20
further I think the significance of the vision is this one the Lord saysi am setting a plum line in the midst of my people he is still recognizing Israel as
5:32
his people still recognizing them as among his called among his chosen I would suggest to you that there is a um an imagery here or an idea of
5:45
being measured being weighed being checked against the law of God a I'm sorry um why is therec
6:12
yeah yeah so it's a reasonable question and one of the reasons I think it happens is partly it's the poetic language that we get of the prophets that we understand in and I I will run you through what I think they're
6:22
representing most of these are and I can't remember the right word for when you use one thing substitution in place of the other so you recognize of course
6:33
that he's referring to Israel in these moments so when uh you back up to six he says you know the destruction of Joseph they're not not not grieved over the
6:43
destruction of Joseph well that represents the the house the the the primogenitor if you like of those uh
6:54
ruling tribe of of of the the the offspring that come there so Joseph the idea of the House of Joseph is a common motif of of
7:08
representing Israel they're not upset about that is the is the problem there why Joseph in particular that one I find harder to prove other than I think you can go back in some cases to the um the shrines that
7:22
we've traced through here Ain you have your hand up as far as terms this is also Poetics
7:33
if we expecting to used the same term for the same thing all the
7:48
time their father Jacob their patr Joseph the tribe of epim as a signicant and prominent
7:59
tribe yeah I mean the ones that are I think are easier for me to track Joseph is is maybe the best I could tell you is is the sense of his prominence in the overall story of the establishment of
8:09
the nation of Israel um the use of the term Jacob here in chapter 7 where he says how can Jacob stand well Jacob is also Israel you know he is the one who is the the father of the tribes is he
8:22
not he's the father of of the heads of those tribes and so using the term Jacob there sums all of this up when he says the high places of Isaac will be desolated this one I think is more
8:33
significant to us in what we looked at with the shrines that they are worship worshiping at because one of the things we examined was Isaac had a real and true interaction with God at the shrines
8:45
that Israel is cherishing and so when he says the high places of Isaac will will be desolated what Amos is intimating to them through the message of God is
8:57
exactly what we talked about in the overall context of the shrines you're holding on to this older format you're holding on to this idea of God that was true at the time but God's revelation
9:07
has moved on his his command is clear these places are no longer the places where he is to be found and when he comes here and and Yahweh tells Amos the
9:20
high places of Isaac will be desolated is to say those shrines in particular will be removed from the midst of the people they will no longer even be available to trip you up
9:31
I I think the mention of these different names is also to remind the people of their comprehensive their comprehensive identity that they were losing sight of
9:43
as as the generations were by especially the northern kingdom was losing sight of the Patriarchs so these these are all
9:54
reminders in Poetic form of the origination of the nation and as God views the nation he still views it as the seed of
10:06
the patriarch Abraham and Isaac being the son of the promise so the these names don't necessarily have any specific contemporary application as
10:19
they do a reminder of their you know it's like one of the prophets says you know you areed from the theck of Abraham right just a
10:30
reminder of their identity yeah I appreciate that and I think we we touched on that really briefly in one of the earlier references where he he calls out Judah in in
10:40
relation to Israel and sort of the middle of one of these prophecies I think is is additionally a reminder of the idea that that you are all the people of God that he has brought out um
10:52
and I do think that that that it helps us in part because one of the things I think we can see here is the and and stick with me with this
11:07
two prophecies being a comprehensive destruction and the third one has an element of the remnant that there will be some left there will be a measuring of the destruction that it will be
11:19
precise and not total is this idea see if I can connect the dots for you we a couple of times we've talked
11:29
about Israel as the people that God brought out of Egypt we saw this over and over again um in the later parts of Exodus and we see it uh in Deuteronomy and Leviticus frequently God refers to
11:42
himself as Yahweh who brought you out of the land of Egypt which is representative of representative of what James
12:24
totalu yeah that's a that's a good point so there there is an element of the first two in which he's almost addressing the the Land by proxy of the entire nation saying you know the the land itself will be laid waste whereas
12:35
here again I think the the third Vision here of the plum line the Judgment the the punishment described is more precise
12:46
both against the desolation of the the high places and then again this is where he brings in the King this is where he gets to the house of jeroboam and we'll talk about that in a
12:57
moment um but the Lord frequently represents himself as the Lord or Yahweh who brought you out of the land of Egypt representing himself as Redeemer the one
13:07
who gathered that people together the one who redeemed them and called them for hisself um even in the places where we see references to the law you often actually have a reference to Moses as
13:19
the lawgiver Yahweh is not frequently identified as lawgiver and yet here many of the commentators run down a the the of the plum line as being the law which
13:32
the people are being measured against I don't know that I want to go down that road per se but I do think that there's an element of this Yahweh is so we've just come off
13:45
all of these oracles that Amos has described describing how far away from the heart of God they have gone describing their moral corruption their
13:57
treatment of each other their Disobedience to the commands to Worship in Jerusalem and to honor God as he has expressed his desire to be honored and worshiped and now we come here to the
14:09
Lord says okay I have a reference I have a datum in your midst that is a an upright and well-built structure and I'm going to measure you
14:20
against it there is a an element there of some will be left I mean we we looked very briefly in six he almost says in in his well he doesn't almost say his
14:32
imagery in six is the destruction will be so total that I'll leave just enough of you alive to bury your dead there's an element here in this Prophecy of the your your being measured
14:44
you're being set against the standard you are being weighed in the balance and some will be left and some will be destroyed and now I'm going to highlight
14:55
for you what will be destroyed there we go this
15:18
himself that would be a we way to read it that I wouldn't necessarily object to um I do view it more as the idea that maybe it's not even Amos specifically but it is the the command of God the
15:28
word of God that has come to them even up till now through Amos um so I would I would give the sort of totality of the true prophecy that they have received as he's already referenced earlier you had
15:40
the prophets you had the nazarites you had the command of God and here you are being corrupt I think there's this moment here of the the Lord is placing
15:50
the the plum line in the midst of Israel I could see an argument for it being Amos in the sense that this is where we're kicking off a uh a movement that will culminate in the
16:03
next 40 to 50 years in the initial Exile of of northern kingdom of of Israel as a kingdom I don't know if I'm prepared to
16:13
say that outright though that that it's definitely Amos in that regard I think I would Hue more towards it is the it is the the the the prophecy in total the the prophets who
16:24
have come to Israel are the standard and have communicated the will of God
16:36
um hon I don't know I see it I'm the the first two you two you basically deal with the destruction of manh the
16:47
manh the third seems to be going to it's still got the destruction of man but it's it seems to pick up more of a spiritual
17:04
Poss I I'm not too sure if I'm just reading what I think into it or I mean again I would view it not so much to say that there is no spiritual element to it other than to say I think the the thing
17:14
part of what distinguishes the third is its Precision so it rather than saying I'm encompassing the whole land the whole area and everything that's in it under this I'm now going to be precise
17:26
I'm going to stretch out the line and I'm going to measure you if you measure up you'll be remaining I'll tell you right now what doesn't measure up the high places of Isaac the house of jeroboam they're not meeting the
17:38
standard that's the way I think this goes and and the there's again a significance in the fact that Amos views this and offers no objection he recognizes the Justice here
17:52
additionally I I would hope again that chapter one and and part of chapter two is echoing in your your mind here where he says you know what was the refrain that we had at that beginning for three
18:04
transgressions and for four we have here three visions the Lord begins with intercession he repents he begins he repents and here in the third he says I
18:15
will no longer spare I will not hold it back as we read in chapter one and chapter two so there is that element of it and then finally you know he says
18:25
here I will rise up against the house of jeroboam with the sword um was there another question about this before I move to the next little bit because it does tie together with what happens here
18:40
10 um well I'm going to read another reference out of Kings real quick because it does give us just a little hint of in part I think why Yahweh levels This Not That Yahweh needs
18:53
any justification other than his Holiness but we actually have have an element here
19:19
it so we're going to go here it's actually in reference earlier in the um split of the kingdoms but I think it's significant to us because I think this is a paradigm that Yahweh gave to the
19:29
Kings at the time that ought to have been in their mind all the way down in First Kings First Kings 11 there is a description
19:58
up so he sends the prophet aijah to him I'm going to read starting in verse 37 he says I will take you and you shall reign over whatever you desire and you shall be king over Israel then it shall be that if you listen to all that I command and walk in
20:09
my ways and do what is right in my sight by observing my statutes and my Commandments as my servant David did then I will be with you and I will build you an enduring house as I built for
20:21
David and I will give Israel to you thus will I afflict the descendants of David but not always and so there's a condition if you will walk with me if you will be upright if you will obey then I will do
20:33
these things again please bear this in mind because I think it's partly the key to what we're talking about here and we're going to see it in verse 10 he's talking to a people who viewed
20:44
themselves as right before God he's talking to a people who who are looking around themselves going woof we did it we got back to the borders that Solomon had God is with us he is blessing us we
20:57
saw that with the shrine God is with us he's in our midst we have the shrines here we are the objection then that's raised here in in verse 10 as amiah
21:08
accosts him and I want to with the time we have this morning we'll talk about the specific context here and next week we will probably talk a little bit about prophets and Prophets and Prophets um
21:21
because this I think is the place to to stab at that particular question but here in 10 he says then amiah the priest of bethl sent word to jeroboam king of Israel saying Amos has conspired against
21:32
you in the midst of the House of Israel the land is unable to endure all his words for thus says Amos jeroboam will die by The Sword and Israel will certainly go from its land into Exile
21:42
then amaziah said to Amos flee you seir flee away to the land of Judah and there eat your bread and there do your prophesying but prophesy no more at
21:52
bethl for it is a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence uh you know if you have to sum it up I'm telling Dad um amziah objects here but there's
22:06
actually I think a couple of arguments a couple of significant things it's it's a very short couple of phrases that he has here that he levels against Amos but I think there's a certain amount of
22:17
meaning packed into the the words that he chooses here first is there's a bit of an argument in the historical discussion over Amos over whether amiah was intentionally
22:29
misrepresenting what Amos said so some have said uh you know Amos says Jobo will certainly Die By The Sword whereas what Amos actually said was Yahweh says
22:40
I will rise up against the house of of Jobo with the sword it amounts to the same thing I don't think that amiah is intentionally construing this irrationally I frankly
22:52
think if you you go back to the total context that we've talked about he's the priest of priest of bethl does he have a vested interest in remaining the priest of bethl and getting all of the offerings and the
23:02
sacrifices yeah probably but also I think frankly there's a man here who thinks he's doing the right thing there's a man here who thinks he is defending Israel who thinks he is
23:15
fulfilling his place as high priest and calling out those who are being disrespectful or causing problems because he says here after he gives this
23:25
this uh missive to amiah by the way or not to amiah to jeroboam Amos makes no mention of anything coming of this uh apparently as far as amos's testimony Jobo either
23:38
didn't care or he wasn't all that worried uh about the missive here because nobody else answers except amiah but he says to him amiah says to
23:48
Amos go flee away to the land of Judah so flee away to the land of Judah well go down to Judah you'll be safe there I've already told jeroboam that that you're calling for his destruction and
24:00
claiming that he's going to be dead that you're being seditious and sewing problems in the land of Israel go down to Judah you'll be safe there the king of Israel won't get you if you've gone
24:11
down to Judah effectively well I've called the cops you better get out of here um secondly eat your bread there some of you may have um earn your living there um it's it's very literally go eat
24:23
your bread there uh essentially he's he's getting a sense of the you can go and earn your living as a prophet in in Judah we're full up here in Israel if
24:34
you go down to Judah and you prophesy there I'm sure they'll give you some food and they'll feed your you know your your prophet of Judah go back to Judah where you where you belong additionally there's an element
24:44
here where he says go prophesy there yes there is very much an element of him saying we don't want your prophecy here we don't need you here
24:55
Amos but I again we're not given all of this context but I think the benefit of the doubt is he would recognize if you're a prophet it
25:05
is not lawful for you to hold your tongue or to be silent if you are a prophet of of Yahweh you must speak he's saying just go do it over there go down
25:16
to Judah and go speak there instead of here and in fact what he levels at him is go prophesy there don't prophesy here why well because bethl is sacred we
25:27
already looked at the shrines Here I Am the high priest of of bethl where we've had this encounter with Yahweh in the past and we are offering sacrifices and we are dutifully in our Temple here get
25:38
out of here this is a sacred place and you're profaning it you're frankly you're being you're being anti-authoritarian you're calling for the destruction of jeroboam you're saying that Israel is going to be wiped out you are
25:49
sewing problems in the midst of Israel you are you are disrespectful of Yahweh by saying that all this is going to happen to us go prophesy there don't prophesy here
26:01
because you are in bethl and it is what does he say here it is a sanctuary to the king and a royal residence this is a place that jeroboam has designated for
26:13
his own protection and a place that he holds dear in in his kingship get out of here with your with your Anarchy and your you're rabble rousing Amos you're
26:24
causing problems in the people of Israel so I think there's this element here I view amiah as not simply some of the commentators paint
26:36
him as sort of uh mustache twirling cartoonishly villainous I think he's the much more dangerous kind of villain the kind who is 100% sure that he's
26:47
right he's a company man who says this is the right thing to do this is what Israel has been doing for multiple Generations why are you here causing us
26:57
problems we're doing doing the right thing in bethl think weavi that Israel is chastised for we
27:08
saw in Judah later in some of the prophet and then again that Jesus called the phes out so we know that this is not just an Israelite problem right could there also be an aspect where he says
27:19
you know don't just proph go see they're doing the same thing go over there andas them I think that would be reasonable to say you know yeah Judah needs to hear
27:30
the same you know if if you've got a message for us why not them um we talked about that actually in this sort of opening chapters in which you have the sort of six neighbors and then Judah is
27:40
highlighted very briefly before he levels his his a at Israel I think amos's message that he's delivering has already headed off that
27:50
thought a little bit or should have obviously amiah hasn't got the picture but has headed off a little bit of the the Lord's not picking on Israel he summed everyone up under this describing
28:02
the bad behavior but also he's been clear here that he's sent to Israel and and Amos is going to answer the charge here but go ahead Chuck I don't think we can over the difficulty
28:13
that Believers have always had with respect to the source of prosperity yeah we always associate
28:23
Prosperity with the blessing of God promotions are always God higher pay it's always from God yeah I mean the
28:34
disciples were flabbergasted when Jesus said it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of an evant than a rich man to enter the kingdom they they responded who who can Beed yeah there is
28:47
an element in which God has promised to bless the obedient and so when we mistake material blessing for obedience then someone comes along and you know in
28:58
a time of prosperity but you're all mucked up it's like what what do you mean right God is blessing us we have peace we have Prosperity we have power what what other
29:12
what other evidence is there faithfulness from God then is material blessing and that's a perennial problem that has never gone away I think you're
29:23
absolutely right and and I think you could you can add weight to that from just the description that Amos has already given if my if my reading of it is correct and there is some argument
29:34
over his vision in chapter 5 of whether that was something that had already happened to Israel or him retrospectively viewing what's about to happen to Israel I think it's stuff that
29:45
Israel has already endured and gone through the the famine the winnowing that they have already endured and now under jeroboam they have resurged they have come back to their bounds and they
29:56
are wealthy again they are looking at a God blessed us we we were we were clearly chastised and now here we are secure we have the sanctuaries we have
30:06
the shrines we have the wealth we have the power we have all of this so how else are we supposed to to your point how else are we supposed to tell that God is pleased with us if we have all
30:17
the things effectively that we want but also I think there's additionally there's an element here again I think it would be hard to say that amiah is is
30:28
not convinced in his own mind that what he's doing is right because Amos is is saying God's going to strike his people
30:38
and in amah's mind he's probably got Moses a little bit in mind going God doesn't strike his people these are his people he preserves his people we are his people in the midst of the Nations
30:48
what are you talking about Amos why would he hit his people eight you think
31:23
right as chist not TR when people really believe in Christ that's when they kill upset the leaders of the people yeah maybe it's
31:37
here yeah so some some take a little bit different tack I'll be honest I didn't run this one all the way down some take a slightly different tack with his phrase here where it says the land is unable to endure all his words uh let me
31:48
find it here where he says it yeah so so this translation has the land is unable to endure all his words some argue that that should be understood as effectively he's beginning
32:00
to sway the people um we're not given much more evidence than these couple of lines that he says here but I would be willing to believe
32:11
the the word of God is never without its hearers if Amos is is giving the prophecy from from the the word of the Lord there are certainly those among the
32:22
people who would have heard and understood and believed so certainly I think you you can credit an amount of of nervousness in amah's sense but I would I would sum it up really in the same way
32:34
of the Pharisees of effectively saying um if if you allow me to paraphrase it is expedient that one Prophet should be kicked out rather than that all of Israel should be thrown into turmoil you
32:47
know that we got to get Amos out of here because he's he's a destabilizing influence but I think it I would lay a charge that amiah thinks that's the
32:58
right thing to do for the people that he set over
33:18
yeah obviously amiah was not right he was not a godly man no he knows supposed to be in Jerusalem not in these places
33:33
bad so I think I think nice guy oh God no he's not a nice guy but I do think the the parallel between amziah and the Pharisees is probably the right one which is to say it started from a place
33:44
of thinking they were right and doing the right thing obviously Jesus calls out their failures he highlights the fact that they are adding burdens to the people they can't bear he's pointing out that their interest now is not so much
33:55
in godliness as it is maintaining power etc etc I mean I think there's a real parallel there of of he started the we
34:06
looked at the shrines and what that meant to the people the fact that there had been encounters between the Patriarchs and Yahweh at these places they were coming from an aspect of the well we're we're safeguarding true
34:17
religion and I think amiah is in that same vein even though he's clearly wrong and Amos has just described to them how you're wrong I mean please don't miss the sign ific of the fact that we are 34
34:29
or two3 of the way through the oracles when amiah says enough get out of here he he is not listening with Compassion or understanding
34:47
the Pharisees judgment we were also told that the disciples were told you're righteousness must exceed their righteousness yeah so there there was some good to be but right right and and
35:00
we can draw and it's not in this specific verse we're also over time so I'll close with this but you can draw some pieces out of the earlier prophecies and we've we've briefly looked at them where Amos protests in
35:12
part of their behavior because there are righteous among them there are the Righteous whose way is being um subverted there are those poor in spirit
35:22
who are being crushed there is the righteous man who is being turned aside at the gate there there are among the people of Israel those who are still righteous and I think that's part of what we're getting out of out of this
35:34
third Vision here in chapter 7 is Yahweh is saying okay I will have a Remnant and I will measure them according to my standard that's the the point of that
35:45
one is I have repented of completely wiping out the northern kingdom but they must still be held to account I will permit no unholiness to pass this standard let's close in prayer as we go
35:57
upstairs to worship this morning Father we do thank you for your word and for giving us these things we ask that we would speak rightly of you that we would honor you rightly that we
36:08
would not be like those that are being uh preached against here but that we would humble our hearts and soften ourselves to examine whether or not we
36:19
are worshiping you according to your desire according to what you have described in your word we ask that you would search us and try us and indicate to us any wicked way that is in us that
36:32
we might be called on to the right Road and walking more closely after our Lord and savior that we would be patterned In His Image and that it would be a
36:44
blessing not only to us but to those around us and to the world we ask all of these things in Jesus name amen
