A Dried Up Faith

Amos 1:1, 2

A person can learn a lot from the introduction of a book in the Bible. Amos is not any different. For example, we learn that Amos was a shepherd from Tekoa. A shepherd? How was a lowly shepherd going to get educated priests to listen to him? Why would a nation listen to a wandering shepherd?

David was a shepherd and became a great king. Jacob (later known as Israel) was a master shepherd who could literally breed sheep to meet his needs. So the fact that Amos was a shepherd was not a big deal. I point this out because God once again has to use someone outside of the establishment to get the people of Israel and Judah to listen.

Tekoa was a town or stockade near Palestine that seemed to play a lot of importance in the history of Israel. Though I could not find any significant information about it, I believe it was a border city that was a warning post against attacks from the west and a place of safety when Jerusalem, or Bethlehem, was attacked. I believe it was a place on Mount Carmel, though I have yet to find a map that places it there.

If a shepherd can raise some sheep in the mountains, he must have been good at his work. As for Amos, he begins his ministry two years before God’s judgment was enacted. This seems to be a side note added as an affirmation that Amos was a true profit.

Verse 2 is interesting because it shows the extent of the corruption happening among the nations of the area. God was not being heard by the people. His roar that once spoke against the enemies of Israel was now being directed at Israel. If the people in the cities would not listen then God would use the people from outside the city to be heard.

The sin of the larger cities was devastating the smaller cities. The pastures of the shepherd were drying up and causing the shepherds to mourn because they were losing places to feed their sheep. Carmel was a large mountain on the border of Israel and Palestine known for its fertile lands. For it to whither meant the land was again facing a severe drought. Drought was one way God used to get the attention of the agrarian people. Today, God would use our monetary systems and war and other natural disasters…Oh, like that isn’t already happening?

I may be guessing here but Amos seems to be one a number of shepherds in Tekoa who had turned to God for compassion and help. Amos seems to have received God’s message and given the call to spread God’s word to the surrounding people. These shepherds interpreted the signs of God’s judgment and responded. There is something to be learned here.

• Would you notice if God’s judgment began to fall against our nation?
• How do you view the call of Amos?
• Are you prepared to leave everything in order to spread the gospel of God? What would hold you back?