Amos 2 through Amos 9

Hey guys,

I finished reading Amos--took me a while, but I wanted to absorb it.

God lists the wrongdoings of Israel: being unjust to those who are righteous, needy, poor, and oppressed... worshiping idols... looting.

I think it's interesting that the Bible says because God had specially chosen Israel to be an example for other nations, God will punish Israel for her sins (Amos 3:2). God is angry at how Israel has treated the poor and will take revenge. Often times people blame God for the world's injustice--what they don't realize is that God hates injustice! And God will punish those who bring injustice.

There's some pretty graphic imagery in Amos 4, where God says women who oppress the poor and crush the needy will be dragged by hooks through a wall (Amos 4:1-3). Umm... ouch. That's drastic. And that is how serious God is about all the unfairness and poverty in the world.

God also warned Israel plenty of times... wow, what a merciful God! He brought famine, droughts, destroyed vineyards and plagues upon Israel--and still they kept on sinning. This shows God's supreme authority over nature as well.

"Seek me and live" appears thrice in Amos 5. God lashes out at those who oppress the righteous
"hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts" Amos 5:15

One thing that strikes me is that DESPITE all of Israel's sin, God has mercy and forgives, willing to give another chance, give a fresh start.

In Amos 7, Amos stops God from sending swarms of locusts on Israel's crop and releasing fire on the land by pleading on Israel's behalf. And then God relents.

God keeps saying he will destroy Israel and not spare them any longer in Amos 8.
"I will never forget anything they have done."
God doesn't forget our sins when we don't recognize them and confess that we have done wrong.
It's comforting to hear that when you are the victim of a heinous crime... because God is the ultimate ruler of justice.

BUUTTT in Amos 9, after allll those verses about destroying Israel, God says he won't totally destroy Israel (Amos 9:8). He says he will restore Israel and bring her back from exile. This is kind of a sudden and unusual change of mind. Why would God do this? Why would God give mercy on a sinful nation?

Justice Project needs a motto. We need cool T-shirts. heh heh.

-Dominique

Amos study

Sorry for the late contribution but here goes:

I honestly didn't really understand the first chapter of Amos until I read your post Dominique. So the neighbouring countries to Israel brought wrath upon other communities and now, God is bringing His wrath upon them? So when other people bring injustice onto undeserving people, God is very unhappy towards them.

I think I began to see it more with the second chapter of Amos:
[Amos is talking about God talking about Israel]
They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals.
They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. (Amos 2:6b-7)

God isn't going to hold back His wrath when Israel is denying justice to the oppressed and when they are being inconsiderate of the poor. He isn't too shy about making known what He will do to them: Now then, I will crush you as the cart crushes when loaded with grain. The swift will not escape... (Amos 2:13-14)

Clearly, He wants us to do something or we will end up smushed. We need to take a stand against this injustice and lack of consideration for the poor and less fortunate.

Amos study...

Amos 1

I'm still in Mark Study mode, so bear with me. ^^ Amos is a shepherd from Tekoa, and he's prophesying what will happen to Israel's neighboring areas: Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, and Ammon. God is bringing judgment (fire) and destruction upon these places because they've ruthlessly conquered other cities, "taking captive their communities." The words "For three sins... even for four, I will not turn back my wrath."

God is depicted as the angry, vengeful God here that smites his enemies rather than a kind, patient God. This is actually kind of comforting, because whenever someone does me wrong, I think about how God will bring justice. God is a just God, and here in Amos 1 he punishes the cities that have done wrong.



Idea for volunteering
Los Angeles Mission
They help out on Skid Row and help homeless people acquire skills to assimilate back into society. I wonder, like Stanley said, if we should just go there on our own, though... without really joining another organization.

http://losangelesmission.org/index.html

The First Post

Hello Stanley, Dominique, Justin, and whoever else may be reading this!

This is the first post in our social justice blog, very exciting eh?

Just to reiterate the things that we said during our dinner meeting:

- we want to raise the awareness of (the importance of ) social justice within TCF
- we want to act and not just talk
- we want to find theological backing for social justice, particularly in the books of Amos and Luke

So here are the things that we need to do:

- talk to people and see who is interested/passionate about social justice
- read the books of Amos and Luke, Amos before Luke, and post on this blog during the summer (an e-Bible study!)
- find out what are the issues or organizations that we want to get involved with next year

TCF Social Justice Group Ideas:
-one BIG event once every month or once every two months e.g. Relay for Life, Invisible Children Walk, partnering with BCF on Skid Row
-a consistent outreach event e.g. PATH
-few meetings, lots of action
-announcement or small talk about areas of social justice during HEAT
-"crash" Bible studies to do studies on social justice

Any else, feel free to add! That's why we have a blog!