Are we listening?

Messages are all around us. Some are audible, others are inaudible. Furthermore, some we tune in to, others we tune out!

Amos, the prophet-shepherd who lived in a wilderness area south of Jerusalem where the winters are cool and wet and the summers warm, clear and dry, was impelled to share an important message with his neighbours – especially those to the north in Israel – even though he would probably have anticipated a cool response.

Writing in the May 12, 1980, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel*, Lynn Howard gives us a vivid picture of the bustling marketplaces Amos would have encountered:

To sell his wool and fruit and to purchase what he needed for living in the wilderness, Amos probably journeyed to many marketplaces: Jerusalem, Beersheba, Gilgal, or even more distant Samaria. Marketplaces (open areas just inside the gates of a town) were the town's center of activity. A crowd of all kinds of people— farmers, weavers, fishermen, and their families—milled about at the market. There was buying and selling of fruits, vegetables, textiles, and pottery. In addition, civil court cases were tried, and the tax collector received customs money. Merchants bringing bales of silk, spices, and jewels from far away, as well as more ordinary merchandise, journeyed the caravan routes to reach town before the gates closed at night.

Someone must have been paying attention when Amos proclaimed his message around 760BC, because it’s been preserved. Here’s one instruction he announced:

             Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: ... (Amos 5:14, 15 (to :))

Down the centuries, others have repeated these sentiments. For example:

o   Depart from evil, and do good … (Psalms 34:14)

o   … eschew evil, and do good …  (I Peter 3:11)

o   Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (Hebrews 1:9)

Questions are also useful for capturing audience attention. Here are three posed by our prophet friend (chapter 3):

                o   Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

o   Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey?

o   Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid?

Even though the book of Amos has been a challenging read, I am so glad to have spent the past month getting to know it a little better.

Julie Swannell

*Christian Science Sentinel - May 12, 1980: “Amos, the shepherd-prophet”