There are three easily identifiable sections in the book of Amos: the first being the oracles against the nations, the second marked as a critique of Israel, and the third section comprised of visions. In the second section, spanning chapters 3-6, we find the harshest portrayal of Israel in the entire Bible. I find this peculiar because of how significant Israel is in contemporary Christianity. Indeed, Israel is a holy place in the Bible and it is certainly set apart from the other nations. One thing I have long noticed is that the church tends to ignore Israel’s shortcomings.
I believe I have mentioned before that I took a class on church history in college. For one assignment, I was asked to summarize the history of the church in a rather brief essay. For my submission, I received a remarkably low grade compared to what I normally earned in my papers. Why? My professor, a stout evangelical, did not like that I included some of the church’s embarrassing acts, such as the Crusades and the Inquisition. I had attacked the church… by merely including details that were omitted in the course textbook.
The church is far from perfect. It has never been perfect. Like every individual being, it has fallen short of God’s grace. Being set apart does not negate this fact. David sinned. Jeremiah sinned. I have certainly sinned. And so has the church. History requires honesty—whether we like the truth or not. The church has done many great things in the past two millennia. But it has also committed horrendous acts. Israel, likewise, is a great nation. However, it is far from perfect. And in Amos, we find that, like the church, Israel has committed horrible deeds.
My last post differs from everything I have posted on Living by the Logos. I did not address the problem of suffering. I addressed the “problem,” if you will, of being set apart. I (briefly) addressed the prophet Jeremiah’s calling and mentioned not one word about suffering. This was intentional. I composed the previous post the way I did to set the stage for this post. Without a doubt, God calls people and sets certain people apart. But it is not always honorable, as we will see with Amos and the nation of Israel.
Do two walk together
unless they have agreed to do so?
Does a lion roar in the thicket
when it has no prey?
Does it growl in its den
when it has caught nothing?
Does a bird swoop down to a trap on the ground
when no bait is there?
Does a trap spring up from the ground
if it has not caught anything?
When a trumpet sounds in a city,
do not the people tremble?
When disaster comes to a city,
has not the Lord caused it? Amos 3:3-6
The simple answer to each of these questions is “no.” Shalom M. Paul believes the questions are incorporated to display “the irresistible nature of cause and effect.”1 I personally believe the last question is designed in such a way to demonstrate that even disasters are the result of God’s will. To paraphrase, if a city suffers, has not God set it apart to do so? Has not God set Israel apart to suffer because of its misdeeds?
As I discussed in earlier entries to the project, particularly concerning the oracles against the nations, Amos upholds the prophetic view of suffering. This prophetic view simply holds that God inflicts suffering upon those who are disobedient to him. If God punishes, then the punishment due to a particular people is inevitably God’s will. I doubt any believer wants to agree with me on this. We do not want to believe that harm, whether deserved or not, is something that God causes to fulfill his purpose. But, in the book of Amos and other prophets, it is indubitably God’s will to make people suffer.
“Can two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” (3:3). A few years ago, when I was in rehab for alcoholism, I did a quick reading of Amos. This is one of the verses that I highlighted. A simple question, yet something of the wording really struck a chord with me. In that moment, I was being punished. I had sinned. Waking up one morning after a night of heavy drinking to find myself naked on the floor, covered in cuts and bruises, and having to admit that I, indeed, had a problem. In that moment, I experienced a degree of suffering I had never known. I had no choice but to continue my rampage of drinking or humbly admit that I needed help. Lots of it.
Can I walk with God unless he and I have agreed to do so? Laid up in that clinic, I knew that I was trying to walk with God, and yet I had not agreed to. There was no mutual consensus. I wanted to walk with God my way, not his. And what was the result? I suffered. It was a tremendous struggle to overcome my addiction to alcohol. But I could not have recovered without that suffering. It was, I believe, God’s will to make me suffer so that I would correct my mistakes.
And for Amos, the nation of Israel had sinned. They took advantage of the poor, they desecrated the temple, and neglected the faithfulness God had shown them. And when judgment day came, they did not receive a happy Pureflix resolve. God did not simply bless them, leading them to realize what they had done. He, through Amos, announces that he will smite the nation and, as a result, humble them. And thus, God’s will is to crush them, “as a cart crushes when loaded with grain” (2:13 NIV). The nation’s pain and misery is God’s will. As a result of their sins, this is what they are set apart for.
Jeremiah was called. He was set apart to do great things for Yahweh. And so was Israel. But Israel was also set apart to suffer because they violated their divine laws. The church may be set apart. Indeed, when it was instituted in the New Testament, it was certainly set apart. It faltered in the Crusades. It faltered in the Inquisition. And it most certainly has faltered in the modern world, for a list of reasons I cannot even begin. It is not a holy place. It has no protection from God’s wrath. It is a very human institution, much like Israel in Amos’ day.
As I have discussed in this project, Israel received a greater punishment than its neighboring nations. Why? Because God set it apart. God selected Israel to accomplish his will. God gave Israel the Law, and stomped on it in Amos. He set the church apart, too. God is not going to rapture the church. If and when the end comes, the church will not escape his wrath. It will face the brunt of such fury.
1. Shalom M. Paul, “Amos 3:3-8: The Irresistible Sequence of Cause and Effect,” H AR 1 (1983) 203-20.