Scripture Reading of the 2nd degree

Scripture Reading of the 2nd degree

Amos 7: 7-8,
v7. Thus he shewed me, and behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumb-line, with plumb-line in his hand.

v8. And the Lord said unto me ‘Amos what seest thou?’ And I said, “A plumb-line.’ Then said the Lord, ‘Behold, I will set a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel I will not again pass by them anymore.’

Historical Background on scripture

God delivered the nation of Israel from slavery in Egypt about 1270 B.C. by many miracles, signs and wonders including:

1. The Egyptian plagues;
2. The parting of the waters of the Red Sea;
3. Moses’ meeting with Good on Mont Sinai to receive the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments;
4. Bringing water from a rock to quench their thirst;
5. Giving them manna from heave for food;
6. Not letting their clothes wear out in forty years;
7. Parting the water of the Jordan River;
8. Bringing them into the land of Canaan, the Promised Land and defeating the idol worshippers who lived there.

Despite all these and many other miracles, the Israelites continued to be an obstinate and disobedient people. God tried on numerous occasions to bring them back into fellowship with Him, but the Israelites always reverted to their wicked ways.

Prior to the reign of King Jeroboam I, the Israelites were involved in Baal worship. Jeroboam instituted the Golden Calf worship in an effort to discourage the Israelites from making pilgrimages to Jerusalem. The northern kingdom of Israel was in continual fear the worship of Yahweh in the capital of Judea would cause the people to turn their sympathies to the southern kingdom.

In 783 B.C., Jeroboam II ascended to the throne, ruling Israel for forty years. Jeroboam II achieved great military success, expanding the borders of Israel as far as they had ever been (2 Kings 14:25-28). The nation was prosperous, but it’s prosperity was based on selfishness, unfairness to the poor (Amos 4:1, Amos 5:11), robbery, theft and murder. The people practiced only a token worship of god, but they perverted true worship by paying homage to pagan gods and idols. There was a complete lack of mercy and justice and absolutely no regard form human life. Israel was still involved in the worship of Baal and the Golden Calf, which Jeroboam II encouraged. The Israelites had sunk to an all time moral and spiritual low.

Amos, the Man

Amos was one of the lesser prophets of the Old Testament. He was a shepherd and a ‘tender’ of sycamore (fig) trees in and around Tekoa, a small village about 10 miles south of Jerusalem in the Judean highlands. Amos is the earliest prophet of the Old Testament whose actual writings we possess. He preached to the northern kingdom of Israel (ca, 750 B.C.)
Amos prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II of Israel. Amos faced opposition from the religious establishment of Baal and Golden Calf worship in Bethel. The priest Amaziah criticized Amos for his prophecy, claiming it was politically motivated and part of a Judean conspiracy to overthrow Jeroboam II.

Amos responded to this charge by Amaziah by restating his occupation and the fact he was not a professional prophet, but only following God’s call. Professional prophets were common through Israel’s history. They would proclaim oracles from God for profit, or attempt to divine the future for a fee. Most were false prophets who only proclaimed what the people wanted to hear (Jeremiah 6:13-14). Not only was Amos not a professional, but he was not even a student prophet or “son of a prophet”. Instead, he was given a special call by God, which he shares in

Amos 7:15.
Briefly put, Amos’ message was to warn the people of Israel, that unless they worshipped and obeyed God and created a just society, they would be destroyed. True to form, the people of Israel, being complacent in their prosperity, did not heed Amos’ warning. As a result, Jerusalem was destroyed, and the people enslaved in Assyria in 722 B.C.