Tag: Tekoa

• Amos: Responsibility

  
  

  Thursday, March 4, 2021

  The Book of Amos

  Responsibility

  Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent came to us last week and in preparation we wandered through our valleys of dry bones and we have examined both the exterior and interior law.  Yesterday we reflected on social justice and how the human race strives – or does not strive – to match our words with our deeds.  Today we look at a brief, but powerful, prophecy. Amos brings us words we can easily use today.

  So let us take on the responsibility of living a life of integrity as we look at these verses to ask ourselves . . .

  How do we resist the corruption we nearly always find in powerful and influential forces?

  How do we balance our day-to-day reality with the call of the Gospel?

  How do we advocate for those who have no voice?

  God says: I have sent to you a prophet who has much to offer you. I have given you the courage and zeal to explore his prophecy. And I have bestowed on you the love and compassion you will need to act on his words that come from me. Do you have the determination to explore my Word that arrives through Amos? Do you love me in such a way that you will put aside a few minutes for me each day to study my word? Do you believe that you too are one of my valued prophets?

  God gives us many Biblical figures with whom we might journey as we seek to know ourselves, our God, and others better during this Lenten tide.

  Tomorrow, the insight of Amos.

  ---

  To learn more about the exceptional person Amos, read the articles from Britannica online at:  http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/21356/Amos and http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/21365/Book-of-Amos

  Consider the questions below and reflect on what insights Amos might bring to us.

  1. When did Amos write and what did he have to say to the political and social leaders of his time?
  2. Did Amos travel or did he remain in the town of Tekoa where he was born?
  3. Did Amos write his prophecy on his own and who was his audience?
  4. What did Amos predict?
  5. What did Amos believe?
  6. Do we see any similarities between the world of Amos and our own?
  7. What does Amos have to say to us today?

  Image from: http://www.ucg.org/commentary/will-religion-become-thing-past/

  Share this:

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Print
  • More

  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr

  Like Loading…

  March 4, 2021

  corruption, integrity, Tekoa

  ---

• Investigating Amos

  
  

  Thursday, September 10, 2020

  

  Investigating Amos

  What do we know about the prophet Amos? When we seek we will find that . . .

  • He described himself as a shepherd and farmer who tended to sycamore trees;
  • His strong verbal skills imply that he was more than an ignorant peasant;
  • He did not consider himself to be a professional prophet; he did not make a living proclaiming oracles to a patron who paid to hear what he wanted to hear;
  • He lived in Tekoa, a town about 11 miles south of Jerusalem;
  • He centered his ministry around Bethel, a major city in the north of Israel where many of the upper classes of the northern kingdom worshiped;
  • He lived during the reigns of Jeroboam II of Israel and Uzziah of Judah, 760-750 B.C.E., an era of unusual prosperity;
  • He brought a message of warning to the wealthy and powerful that they must come to see that their wealth had lured them into spiritual complacency and ethical laxity;
  • He warned his audience that judgment would be exacted for the actions of the strong against the weak. (Zondervan 1444-1445)

  There is heavy emphasis on social justice in this prophecy and those of us today who live in first-world cultures do well to spend time contemplating the words and thoughts of Amos. What do we who are comfortable do for those who are not? How do we have much enact God’s Word for those who have little? Who are the peasants among us who ask for our introspection, our witness, our voices, and our action? In the time of pandemic and social unrest, how do we reflect the God who created us?

  If we spend time today with the words of Amos and a solid commentary or other resource, we will hear God speak to us in our innermost refuge where we go to forget the woes of the world. If we spend time with the poetry of Amos today, we will experience the message of healing and restoration this prophet still brings to the faithful who seek God’s wisdom, to the faithful who yearn to bear fruit.

  Tomorrow, an exhortation to return to God.

  ---

  Adapted from a post written on September 14, 2013. 

  Image from: http://ferrelljenkins.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/zaccheus-climbed-up-into-a-sycamore-tree/

  ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDY BIBLE (NIV). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005. 1444-1445. Print.

  Share this:

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Print
  • More

  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr

  Like Loading…

  September 10, 2020

  Bethel, Jeroboam II, oppression, social justice, Tekoa, Uzziah of Judah, witness

  ---

• Amos: Without Constraint

  
  

  Wednesday, September 9, 2020

  

  Amos: Without Constraint

  “Amos was a shepherd of Tekoa in Judah, who exercised his ministry during the prosperous reign of Jeroboam II (786-746 B.C.). He prophesied in Israel at the great cult center of Bethel, from which he was finally expelled by the priest in charge of this royal sanctuary. The poetry of Amos, who denounces the hollow prosperity of the northern kingdom, is filled with imagery and language taken from his own pastoral background. The book is an anthology of his oracles and was compiled either by the prophet or by some of his disciples”. (Senior 1126)

  “Amos is the earliest of prophets who have books in their names.  In fact, his oracles were transmitted orally, and only collected in book form much later . . . We know very little about the career of Amos . . . He was an independent agent.  He was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores (the fruit, resembling a fig, had to be tended in order to prevent insects from destroying it), and so had his own means. He did not depend on king or priest for support, and so was not beholden to them, and did not require their permission to prophesy. This independence left him free to speak the truth as he saw it, without political constraint”.  (Senior RG 361-362)

  The words and life of Amos charge us to speak without constraint. What do we do with and in our lives to live in this independence?

  The oracles and visions of Amos show us the possibility of a world that delivers justice and mercy without constraint. How do we act and speak to live in this possibility?

  The woes and joys of Amos guide us in the way that Jesus comes to lead us. How eager are we to follow in the witnessing we are called to perform without constraint?

  Tomorrow, Investigating Amos.

  ---

  For a reflection on the Book of Amos, go to the Amos-Accountability page on this blog at: https://thenoontimes.com/the-book-of-our-life/the-old-testament/the-prophets/amos-accountability/

  Senior, Donald, ed. THE CATHOLIC STUDY BIBLE. New York, Oxford University Press, 1990.1126 and RG 361-362. Print.

   

  Share this:

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Print
  • More

  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr

  Like Loading…

  September 9, 2020

  Bethel, Jeroboam II, Tekoa, witness

  ---