This is an Advent Sermon Series based on all four of the Old Testament texts from the Revised Common Lectionary for Advent Year B. These are the texts for 2026.
This set contains presentation files in two formats (PPTX and ODP), with speakers notes, and commentary on the Old Testament texts in PDF format. I have also included a copy of the theme picture in PNG for use in promotional materials. You may use, edit, and modify these files as you see fit. The images in these files are either in the public domain, covered by Creative Commons licenses (where noted), or were AI generated.
As I said last time, the book of Isaiah appears to be a kind of group project: with Isaiah’s disciples adding to his prophecies through the years. This is why people talk about “second Isaiah” and “third Isaiah” — the prophecies in the book span a period of time longer than any one man’s life — longer than any two men’s lives.
Isaiah 40 begins the section generally attributed to “second Isaiah.” (I once had someone ask me where in the Bible they could find the book of “second Isaiah” because they had heard their pastor quote from it the previous Sunday.) Whatever name we might give to the prophet, the setting is important: this prophecy comes from the end of Israel’s exile in Babylon.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the LORD’S hand double for all her sins. (NRSV).
It’s an optimistic message. It’s a message of comfort (נָחַם) The time of exile is coming to an end. The future is greater than they could imagine: “she has received from the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.” The future will be doubly greater than the time of exile was bad.
Then prophet hears a voice — the voice of God. This prophecy begins not with a vision, but, first of all with a voice. So, also, the beginning of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth begins with a voice: the voice of John the Baptizer. The voice is a call to hope, an exhortation to believe, to serve, to look to the future in expectant hope.
Voices of hope are often heard to hear. Hopelessness has a kind of attraction. It doesn’t demand anything of us. Cynicism distances us from whatever is going on around us: allowing us to criticize other people in an attitude of cool detachment. We embrace hopelessness to shield ourselves from the disappointment of hopes that fail. To hope and to fail makes it hard for us to hope again.
Where the Hebrew has “comfort” (נַחֲמ֥וּ), the Greek Septuagint has παρακαλεῖτε which can also mean “urge” or “exhort.” (I can’t help but think of the related noun παράκλητος, used to refer to the Spirit of God in the Gospel of John: the Paraclete.) The voice of the God of comfort rouses out of the sleep of hopelessness into life and trust and daring again. We are urged forward by the voice of God. And, at the same time we are assured of God’s presence with us.
“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem….” That is: (דַּבְּר֞וּ עַל־לֵ֤ב) Speak to their heart.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Again: a voice. To me, I see no reason to think this is not the same “speaker” as before — though the old commentators spent a lot of time and speculation on the issue of the probable identity of these voices.
Here is where the Gospel of Mark begins: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Ἀρχὴ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ [υἱοῦ θεοῦ].) The voice of John the Baptizer!
“As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,b who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’””
A highway is to be prepared in the desert, also called the wilderness. The path is through the desolate areas. The Hebrew reference is specifically to the Arabah, which would be the wrong direction for the people to go — so it’s a highway through desolation for God to come to them.
Again, comparing to John the Baptizer: the preparation is a call to repentance and faith — believing that “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” A call to hope rouses us out of our complacency and selfishness, into the life of faith and hope.
The Highway is coming through the desert — a place where there are no resources. There are no natural supports for this hope. It is something God alone can accomplish. But, the glory of the LORD (Israel’s God) shall be revealed and “all people” (a universal hope) will see it. The hope is always that God’s deliverance of the nation of Israel (or Judah, as in this case) will be a witness to all people. This universalistic vision is characteristic of the whole book of Isaiah (however it was written!). God’s ultimate purposes are not confined to Israel alone. God has a purpose to bring hope and salvation to all people.
How do we know there is hope for Judah in exile and ultimately for all people? Solely because: the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
We have here a succession of images: Human flesh is like grass —>Voices on a high mountain proclaiming good tidings —> Israel’s God coming with might and favor —> God caring for the people like a shepherd. The succession of images is a bit jarring. Weakness —> Proclamation —> Might —> Shepherding. But, the point is that while the nation is weak and captive, God is powerful and caring.
In verse 6 a new voice enters: a voice that calls the hearer to proclaim the frailty of human life. Human hopes disappoint because human life is like grass — it has no permanence. In the New Testament, James speaks of our life as being like a mist. Our life passes. Human hopes are built on a weak foundation.
In spite of this, the herald of hope needs to stand on a high mountain. The exiled nation’s hope is in God, not in the insubstantial plans of human beings. Human lives will come and go — God’s proclamation will stand.
The final image is a pastoral image: God caring for the nation as a shepherd would care for a flock of sheep. this is a common Biblical image in the Psalms, it also appears in the prophecies of Ezekiel, and in the New Testament Gospels (especially the Gospel of John).
FOR KO-FI MEMBERS: There are sermon preparation files for a message on this passage (coupled with Mark 1:1-18) in the shop. I have given the message an Advent theme, appropriate for the second Sunday in Advent. As usual, these are in PPTX and ODP formats. You may download these and use them however you wish. You can find them here: Isaiah 40:1-11 A Highway for Our God.
The writings of the prophets are especially appropriate during the season of Advent. They frame the story of Jesus, they provide us insight into the expectations of the people of Israel at the time Christ was born.
Chapter 64 of Isaiah is only 12 verses long. If I were using it as the basis of a sermon, I’d read the whole thing rather than just verses 1-9 as the lectionary for Year B suggests.
The book of Isaiah is now generally considered to have been sort of a group project. Yes, there was a prophet named Isaiah who lived from 740 to 680 B.C. Yes, much of the material in the book of Isaiah was written by him (especially in chapters 1-39). But, it is generally supposed today that large portions of the book were actually written by other people who lived much later. These people sometimes get called Second Isaiah (Deutero-Isaiah, if you want to sound educated) and Third Isaiah (or Trito-Isaiah).
The real heart of Amos’ prophecies was his message to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel (sometimes also called Ephraim, after its dominant tribe). So, when we get to verse 6 of chapter 2, we come to the heart of Amos’ message. Everything has been a preparation for this.
You can find my comments on the earlier portions of this prophecy here:
“Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn back….”
What had they done?
(1.) They have mistreated the poor (vv.6-8):“…because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals — they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way….”
It seems to me that the following phrases are intended to speak of the same sorts of crimes: “father and son go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned; they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink wine bought with fines they imposed.” I’m taking “father and son go in to the same girl” to mean that father and son (in a household) are sexually abusing the same servant girl. My reason for taking it that way is the context: the crimes listed are crimes of the rich taking advantage of the poor. So, also, their crimes against the poor are illustrated by “garments taken in pledge” and “wine bought with fines they imposed.”
The clear message of the Bible is that nations are judged by their treatment of the poor. Why have Christians so often lost sight of this?
I suppose Amos, if he lived today and were speaking to us would be accused of “class warfare.” But, it is a repeated theme in the message of the prophets: the measure of a society is how it treats its weakest, most vulnerable members. There is a very real sense in which God has a bias toward the poor — just as God has a bias toward the needy and the helpless and the outcast.
We need to consider this when we think about our values and our economics. The prophets of the Old Testament are clear — and we should heed it — the nations will be judged by how they treat the poor and the vulnerable.
Our politics and our views on economics need to be informed by the prophets. We need to hear what they say about fairness and justice, about inequality and equity. We cannot allow politics — and the prevailing political options of the day — to blind us to the values toward which the Bible points us. It’s not about politics in the usual partisan sense — it is about recognizing God’s values. It’s not a partisan issue, folks. It’s just a Christian issue. “If you close your ear to the cry of the poor, you will cry out and not be heard.” (Proverbs 21:13 NRSV).
(2.) They silenced the voice of the godly (vv. 11, 12):“But you made the nazirites drink wine, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘You shall not prophesy.’”
They did not worship God and they would not hear the voice of God’s servants. They sought to corrupt them. They sought to silence them. And why would that be? The voice of God’s people is an independent voice — not beholden to the powers that be. The prophets speak from a higher authority. Their voices challenge the culture and they challenge the powerful. Every Nazarite who takes and keeps his vows (see Number 6:1-21) speaks to the world about a higher reality. He says there is a reason to forgo some of the pleasures of life: there is a higher purpose to life. There is a God. That’s why the Nazarites’ vow was so intolerable. It points to God.
The people had shamed and silenced those that God had raised up. “And I raised up some of your children to be prophets and some of your youths to be nazirites. Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel? says the LORD.” (v. 11). And, why was all of this so especially bad? Because they had been favored by God (vv.9, 10).
Here Amos refers to the events recorded in the books of Moses: the deliverance from Egypt, the wanderings through the wilderness and the establishment of the nation in the land where Amorites had formerly lived. As I said before, Amos is a radical traditionalist: he takes the shared history of the people and applies it to his own day.
This assumes that the people already know this story. When were the first copies of the material in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy written down? We will probably never know conclusively. It is natural to suppose that some editing of these writings occurred during the exile of Judah and then, during it’s first establishment back in Palestine. But, the stories certainly pre-date Amos (thought to be the first of the writing prophets). He assumes the people are quite familiar with the story.
They are a people favored by God. But, they have become greedy and materialistic. They have silenced the voices of the prophets. And, Amos’ message to them is this: You want to see judgement come to the nations for their sins? Then, be prepared for judgement on yourselves!
“So, I will press you down in your place, just as a cart presses down when it is full of sheaves. Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain their strength, nor shall the mighty save their lives; those who handle the bow shall not stand, and those who are swift of foot shall not save themselves, nor shall those who ride horses save their lives; and those who are stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, says the LORD.” (Amos 2:13-16 NRSV).
It was a difficult message to hear. Everything must have seemed fine. The wealthy were prosperous, and seemingly secure. But, the moral foundations of the nation had corroded — under the influence of materialism and greed. Amos doesn’t need to name an enemy nation. One will come. The kingdom’s fall is just a matter of time.
It is also a message to all of those who have been favored by God but forget the poor.
For monthly supporters on Ko-fi: there are sermon presentation files for a message on this passage (number #5 in the series on the prophet Amos) in the shop for free download. They are in PPTX and ODP formats. They contain speaker’s notes, transitions and animations. You are free to edit, or modify these as you wish. Or: you can just use them as a sermon starter. You may download them here: Danger in the Good Times.
Some of these may have text too small for congregations to read, so be careful about that. (Sometimes I let some of Microsoft’s design suggestions through.) I put another image below, so you can see what I’m talking about.
I have previously written about spirituality in what might be called a generic sense: as a human capability. A simple way of understanding the spiritual side of human nature is to see it as the capacity for self-transcendence.
As I say, it is possible to see all of this as “spirituality” in a generic sense. It’s a human capacity.
To go further in discussing this, I need to draw on ideas explicitly from Christian theology. At this point, the Christian perspective gives us some help in understanding how human spiritual capabilities connect us with God and with the world around us.
The helpful concept in this case is the Holy Spirit. Our human capacity — and yearning — to reach out beyond ourselves is answered by the reality of God’s Spirit reaching to us. This is only natural to expect. We have a desire to connect with a higher reality than ourselves. Our desire to breathe is answered by the air around us. Our desire for food and water are answered the reality of food and water. Our desire for a connection with God — which would give a framework of meaning to our lives and our moral choices — is answered by the Holy Spirit of God.
It is sometimes said that the doctrine of the Spirit is a neglected theme in Christian theology. Maybe in some circles this is true. It has not been true in either the Holiness or Pentecostal streams of the Christian tradition. The emphasis in these movements has been on Christian experience and the practical aspects of the life of faith, great emphasis has, in fact fallen on the work of the Spirit.
1. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Life.
It is helpful, in the first place, to remember who the Spirit is and the nature of the Spirit’s role in general. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” (Genesis 1:1,2 NASB).
The Spirit of God is spoken of in the Bible as being the Spirit of all life. “O LORD, how many are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all; The earth is full of Your possessions. There is the sea, great and broad, In which are swarms without number, Animals both small and great. … They all wait for You To give them their food in due season. You give to them, they gather it up; You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good. You hide Your face, they are dismayed; You take away their spirit, they expire And return to their dust. You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the ground.” (Psalm 104:24-30 NRSV.)
God has created by His Spirit. God upholds all life by His Spirit. When we speak of the Holy Spirit we are speaking of the very breath of God that breathed life into the human race at the beginning. “…then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7 NRSV).
Because God is the Creator and preserver of all life, the Spirit of God is also the Spirit of all life. This larger Biblical view of the work and role of the Holy Spirit — which comes out most expressly in the Old Testament — must be kept in mind as think about this.
Wolfhart Pannenberg (1928–2014).
In the beginning of an essay entitled “The Spirit of Life,” Wolfhart Pannenberg writes:
When the second Ecumenical Council of the Church at Constantinople (381) made additions to the Nicene Creed, the Father’s first reinforcement of the third article was a qualification of the Holy Spirit as the one who gives life. This term was, of course, far from novel; it recalled the New Testament descriptions of the Spirit. Paul and John in particular had spoken of the Spirit as the one who makes alive, or quickens; as the primal source of life. Nowadays that is often interpreted restrictively as a purely soteriological expression referring to the new life in faith — a topic which is undeniably at the centre of the early Christian writings. But, references to the Spirit as the giver of life are certainly not to be restricted to the life of faith.
— Wolfhart Pannenberg, “The Spirit of Life” Faith and Reality (translated by john Maxwell) 1977.
Creation itself is spoken of in the Bible as beginning with the movement of the Spirit upon the primal waters: “…while a wind (spirit ר֣וּחַ) from God swept over the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:2 NRSV). The talents of prophets and craftsmen and poets and artists and heroes are spoken of as being inspired by the Spirit of God. While, the New Testament is primarily concerned to speak of the new life or the eternal life (ζωὴν αἰώνιον) that is available through faith in Christ — but this promise is given against the backdrop of this larger vision of the Spirit as the Spirit of all life.
Although the New Testament writings when they speak of the Spirit are primarily concerned, therefore, with his charismatic presence and the new life of faith mediated by him, the profound scope of these statements and their peculiar logic are only apparent if one is aware that they are rooted in basic convictions of Jewish tradition about the Spirit as the creative origin of all life.
— Wolfhart Pannenberg, “The Spirit of Life” Faith and Reality (translated by john Maxwell) 1977.
The God that Christians worship is no parochial God — but the God of all people. So, also the work of the Spirit must first of all be understood to be universal in scope.
2. This Connects with the Wesleyan Theological Concept of Prevenient Grace.
This line of thought naturally brings us into the realm of what theologians in the Wesleyan tradition call Prevenient Grace. By this we mean to speak of the grace of God that is available to all people — whether they are aware of it or not. This is the grace that stirs in the heart of all people, calling them to search for meaning, and purpose — as well as forgiveness and reconciliation. It is a grace that convicts and convinces the world. It is “the life” that is “the light of all people.”
Grace is available — in this form — to all because God is the God of all people and because the Spirit of God is the Spirit of all life. Remembering the Old Testament depiction of the Spirit as the source of all life — and the source of all inspiration — leads us in this direction.
The Spirit of God has an epistemic role — making the knowledge of God a possibility. It is precisely this prevenient grace that makes it possible for human beings to even know God.
Our very capacity for self-transcendence is a gift from God. It opens for us a possibility that our lives need not be consumed by selfishness and self-destruction. Grace is conveyed to us in our lost-ness — making saving faith in Christ a possiblity.
3. The Spirit Connects Us with All of Life.
In fact, it is the work of the Spirit of God to connect us with God, with other people, and with life in the world.
Self-transcendence need not lead to escapism — though obviously it can, and often does. The Spirit of God, being the Spirit of life and the Spirit of God, seeks to lift us out of ourselves into connection with the God of all creation, and the best interests of other people — and, ultimately, all creation.
As long as our lives are closed in upon ourselves, in fact, there is no hope for this. The hope given to us in the Gospel of Christ includes the possibility of being lifted beyond ourselves — in love for God (who has created all) and in love for all other people. And, that is certainly good news.
I’m just pulling together a few reflections on this story today. I won’t be going through the passage verse by verse. Just a few thoughts especially for preachers, but also for everyone.
(1.) It’s a narrative: present it in a narrative style. This one of my long standing frustrations with preaching & listening to preachers: how do we make our message more story-like and less essay-like? I have been asked by lay speakers and aspiring preachers: how do you preach on a story?
The question should be: how do I preach on something essay-like like the Pauline epistles — where story needs to be supplied by me?
I actually enjoy reading 19th Century preaching. But, I would never want to preach like that. It’s too dry and logical and formal. It goes on far too long. It’s all propositional. It does not respect human nature. We are still like little children in a way: we want someone to read us a story.
When God wanted to communicate with us, God inspired the minds of story-tellers. The Bible is one long inter-connected story. Christian faith sees the whole of the Bible as having it’s focus in Jesus Christ.
Preach stories. Preach the story of Christ. Make the essay-like portions of the Bible more story-like. Let the story-like passages carry you forward by their own energy. The late evangelist Billy Graham often did this — allowing the story to carry his message.
Confession: My life-long frustration is learning this, trying to get better at this: learning to let ideas flow because they need some sort of narrative structure to communicate best.
(2) It’s a story about Jesus. I cringe a bit when the preacher announces this text. That’s because I’m a United Methodist and “mainline” preachers are embarrassed by the miraculous elements in the Bible. So, it seems like the safe route here to turn this into a story about the need for the crowd to share their lunch with each other. One preacher I heard went on to claim that this was the greater miracle, anyway. But, if it hadn’t been for the (felt) need to avoid the miraculous element in the story, this story would never have been turned into the story of everybody-share-your-lunch in the first place! In the attempt to avoid the miraculous, the whole focus of the story is changed. Instead of being a story that focuses on Jesus, this becomes a story about the crowd.
But, this story only became known and spread in the first place because it pointed to the uniqueness of Jesus in providing nourishment when there (essentially) was none.
(3) It’s a connected story. Nevertheless, in telling this story the preacher should not just draw out little unconnected life-lessons and move on. Like other messages, thought needs to be given to the main point (and minor points) one wishes to convey. That is because the message needs focus to communicate well.
(4) The event here was understood to be a miracle. You need to get over any hesitancy you may have about that. You can’t explain a miracle. So, there’s nothing wrong with saying: ‘I don’t know what happened here or how.’ But, here is what we are being told through this story: we place what we have in the hands of Jesus and it becomes enough. Or: something like that. There are plenty of mysterious things in the world. We will never fully understand this one (personally: I can’t envision this:, what did it look like?).
(5) It seems like a good idea to connect this story with the sacrament of holy communion. This story is about grace being conveyed through everyday objects. We are in the habit of making miraculous claims about what God accomplishes in Holy Communion, too. I do not fully understand Christ’s presence in the bread and cup. But, I am thankful for it, and receive it by faith.
(6) But, nonetheless, it is a story about sharing what you have. So, now I turn around and say a good word for the everybody-shared-their-lunch interpretation. Jesus says to them: “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” (verse 16). So, it really is (in part) about the disciples’ willingness to use what they had to provide for the people rather than just send them away (verse 15). We aren’t told anything about additional resources the crowd had.
For members of my Ko-fi site: I uploaded sermon presentation files for a message on this passage.
These are in two formats: PowerPoint and Open Document. They can be downloaded from the Ko-fi shop: Here.
In the Ko-fi shop there is a series of sermon presentation files for a sermon series of ten messages on prayer, based on the teachings of Jesus. These are free to members.
” If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
“Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.”
RANDOM NOTES ON THESE FILES: These contain speaker’s notes which might be helpful — or not. They are only suggestions, to help you get started in thinking about how to develop the ideas on the slides. As always, you are free to use these however you wish. If there is something there you disagree with, BY ALL MEANS CHANGE IT! Don’t preach something you can’t defend during the week. I keep trying to get better at this, and will upload improved or updated files if I feel that is warranted. I am discovering that the ODP files do not always look as good as I wish they did. I am still learning this format.
I am (of course) continuing my series on Amos but I have no idea (at this point) how many messages will be in that series. Other files will be going up also.
Review: You don’t see what the prophet is doing here until you see that Amos 1-2 is a unit. And, it is carefully structured. Verse 2 pictures the LORD (YHWH) roaring like a lion. Then a series or oracles of judgement follow. Each is for a different nation. They are introduced with this repeated formula:
עַל־שְׁלֹשָׁה֙ פִּשְׁעֵ֣י
“For three transgressions of _____________,
עַל־אַרְבָּעָ֖ה לֹ֣א אֲשִׁיבֶ֑נּוּ
and for four, I will not turn back….”
There is a certain rhetorical power in this repeated formula. But, this whole poetic prophecy is going somewhere. It’s building. It is going to end in an extended prophecy of judgement at the end (in our chapter 2). And, the weight of this prophecy of judgement is going to fall on Israel. In Chapter 1 verses 3-15 Amos mentions: Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, and the Ammonites. There is a pattern here. And, it starts to become clearer in this chapter. The prophecies are coming closer to home.
With Damascus, Gaza, and Tyre we simply have enemies. But, with Edom, and the Ammonites (and then, the Moabites, mentioned in this chapter) we have near-relatives. The Edomites were believed to be descendants of Israel’s brother Esau. And the Ammonites (like the Moabites) were believed to be descendants of Abraham’s nephew Lot. So, as Amos moves along here, he is getting closer and closer to his real targets: Judah and Israel.
So, the list continues:
(6.) Against: Moab“because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom.”
• Consequences: “So I will send a fire on Moab, and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth, and Moab shall die amid uproar, amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet; I will cut off the ruler from its midst, and will kill all its officials with him…”
What is striking here is that their sin is an act of disrespect of the dead. This incident is not mentioned anywhere else in the Old testament history, so we don’t know anything more about it than what is told here.
(7.) Against: Judah“because they have rejected the law of the LORD, and have not kept his statutes, but they have been led astray by the same lies after which their ancestors walked.”
• Consequences: “So I will send a fire on Judah, and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.”
This is where the prophecy takes a dramatic turn. We can still feel the power of this. Yes, the nations have done wrong. Their conduct in war has been cruel and disrespectful. But, this is as nothing before the sins of the Chosen People.
The atrocities recounted here are recognized by all peoples as crimes against humanity, so the nations are accountable to the Creator, the Lord. Since Judah and Israel have a revelation of God’s righteousness…, their guilt is greater than the nations’. Even Jerusalem, the site of God’s throne… is liable to judgment (2: 5).
It is worth noting at this point: Amos’ prophecies do not come out of nowhere. They are rooted in the particular history of the people of Israel. He assumes they know the story and they know what the law is. it is not a matter of the prophet simply saying: ‘This is true because I say so.’ He is reminding them of their history and the particular revelation of God that has been given to these particular people. The prophetic tradition assumes and builds upon the Mosaic tradition.
I realize that there is some uncertainty about the writing and editing of the Old Testament books as we have them in their present form. Certainly the exile and restoration of the nation are shaping influences on the books as we have them. but, the prophets remind us that they are much older than that. Before there could be an Amos calling the people back to faithfulness, there first had to be patriarchs and a law giver.
Like all true prophets Amos is a radical traditionalist. His word grows out of the words already given by others before him — but he radically applies the inner principles of that tradition to the times in which he lived.
What was Judah’s sin?
They rejected the Law of YHWH. They were under blood oath to keep this according to Exodus 24:8. It was part of their covenant with God. But, they had no respect for the Law.
They have not kept YHWH’s statutes. Of course, this phrase is typical Hebrew parallelism (redundancy), but it reminds us that the statutes of God are not only to be respected — they are to be followed.
They turned to Idolatry. Most commentators think that’s what the phrase “they have been led astray by the same lies after which their ancestors walked” means. They followed after false gods and false prophets.
When the truth is uncomfortable, the tendency is to turn to those with an easier message. As Jesus said, of those to whom much has been given, much will be required (Luke 12:48). Those who have received a revelation of God’s will have a responsibility to keep it.
The question for us is: how is the Church of Jesus Christ doing in keeping the teachings of Christ? Are we quick to condemn others when our own house is not in order?
Whoever is curious about the sins of others, or judges his brother on suspicion, has not yet laid the beginning of repentance and has not taken care to get to known his own sins, which are truly heavier than a lead weight of many pounds, and does not known why a man who loves vanity and seeks after falsehood becomes slow of heart (cf. Psalm 4:3), and therefore, as a man senseless and roaming in darkness, he, leaving his own sins, dreams of those of others, whether true or imagined on suspicion alone.
How quick we are to condemn! How slow we are to examine ourselves! But, Amos knew himself to be part of a people who were under the judgement of God — for he was himself a member of the tribe of Judah. But, the real crux of this prophecy is what comes next in verses 6-16. Amos primarily prophesied against the northern kingdom of Israel.
And to that we turn next….
For monthly supporters: there are sermon presentation files for a message on this passage (number #4 in the series on the prophet Amos) in the shop for free download here. They are in PPTX and ODP formats. You are free to edit, or modify these as you wish. Or: you can just use them as sermon starters.
The time in which the prophet Amos lived was a time of peace and prosperity. But, the prophet could hear God roaring like a lion — in anger.
Amos the prophet was certain that there was a God to whom the nations must give account. There was a moral judge of the world. No doubt this was a growing realization among the people of Israel. The God they worshiped was not a localized god — not simply their God, but the God of all the nations. YHWH was the God to whom all the nations were accountable. So, in these verses, the prophet begins with this notion: the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will call the nations to accountability.
For many years now I have had a this personal website on the Internet.
I have decided it’s all coming down. There are a lot of reasons for that — which I’d rather not go into right now. The material here will go back up on the Internet in some form — but I’m not sure what and where just yet. My web hosting is paid through December, so the transition can be slow. But, I’ve known for years that I need to abandon that particular project.
Voices of hope are often heard to hear. Hopelessness has a kind of attraction. It doesn’t demand anything of us. Cynicism distances us from whatever is going on around us: allowing us to criticize other people in an attitude of cool detachment. We embrace hopelessness to shield ourselves from the disappointment of hopes that fail. To hope and to fail makes it hard for us to hope again.
We have here a succession of images: Human flesh is like grass —>Voices on a high mountain proclaiming good tidings —> Israel’s God coming with might and favor —> God caring for the people like a shepherd. The succession of images is a bit jarring. Weakness —> Proclamation —> Might —> Shepherding. But, the point is that while the nation is weak and captive, God is powerful and caring.
