The Roar of God Amos 1:2
Potentate that Roars The LORD
Heb יְהוֹוָה Yhovah (the) self-Existent or Eternal. Amos is letting them know two things: First, that the authority of his statements are from the Lord the sovereign ruler over all things. These are not some words of a wantabe prophet. They are the very words of the God of Israel. Amos continually invokes his name. He is constantly reminding them of who is speaking. “Thus says the Lord” is his cry throughout the text. As we communicate the truths of the scripture in our day we must not get caught in the “I believe” dialogue which only creates cyclical arguments, but we must boldly proclaim in love the truth of the Biblical text. Truth is truth whether one agrees with it or not. “Thus says the Lord” must replace well I believe in our vocabulary.
Second, he wants to remind them of actions of God toward them. He does this throughout his prophecies “the Lord is his name”. (4:13 5:8, 9:5-6). When we forget the things that the Lord has done by losing sight of his presence and power to work in the past and our present situations we succumb to fatalism or disparity. We lose hope and place our trust in other things and in our own initiatives and ability. Those in the time of Amos much like today had forgotten their creator and sovereign. They had forgotten his wondrous attributes and his ability to redeem and deliver them with great mercy and patience (2:9-11, 3:1). Amos reminds them and us that “the Lord is his name”.
Pronouncement of the Roar roars
Manner Heb שָׁאַג sha'ag (shaw-ag') to roar The word suggest the sound of a loin about to attack or pounce. It is a roar of God who is about to pounce or judge the people. He as the Lord, their sovereign creator, so he has the right to roar in judgment (Ps 105:7, 7:11, Rom 1:18-20). The text uses the allusion from nature, which speaks to predictable outcomes (3:4) to tell Israel that God has announced judgment and unless Israel takes immediate corrective action the outcome is certain destruction (3:4, 6-8)
J.A. Motyer calls the book of Amos “The Day of the Lion.” The lion being a dangerous predator is an image of the Lord’s avenging wrath expressed on his people and the surrounding nations. This is the roar of a lion about to pounce, ready to lunge at its victim. 5:19
Motives for Judgement
Idolatry One problem with the religion of the northern kingdom was that it was conducting at cult shrines of Bethel, Beersheba and Gilgal (3:14; 4:4-5, 5:5; 7:10-14). These were man-made centers of idolatrous worship where golden calves and priest were installed by Jeroboam to prevent the people of Israel from going to Jerusalem to worship and not returning (1 Kgs 12:26-29). These were not authorized by God and were actually an abomination to him (5:21-23; Is 1:11-18). Boice The real perversion with Israel was that they did not see themselves as participating in idolatry (2 Kings 17:27-41). They thought that these places of worship, priest and practices were forms of worshiping Yahweh (5:18-20, 7:10-13). They believed it was an enhancement to true worship, not idolatry. They even set up worship in Bethel which means “the house of God” assuming that their worship there brought honor to God. They formulated gods resembling Baal and a form of worship which satisfied their needs but did not honor God (5:25-26). They ultimately mixed the worship of Yahweh with that of the resemblance of the pagan god Baal. Amos reminds them of whom the true God is and that he alone is the one they must worship. They can’t mix the worship of Yahweh with any other gods (Ex 20:23). In antiquity the nations in Canaan had their indigenous local or tribal gods (Gen 31:34). God’s command to his people was to completely destroy these local deities (Ex 23:32-33, 34:11-16, Deut 12:1-7) They did not do so and thus they became a snare to Israel (Josh 23:11-13, Judges 2:1-3,). Now we have a personal individual god. God is whatever you conceive him to be. Often he is a combination of the best of various religions or a piecemeal god taking only the positive aspects of the Biblical idea of God and formulating a more palatable god of love grace and justice without sin, wrath, judgement and hell. A god that is right for me and my life, but may not be right for you, each one to his own. Sociologist Christian Smith has stated that the theological view of the god of our age is Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. It is expressed in a god who created the world and wants people to be good, nice and fair to each other as taught in the Bible and other religions. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. This god doesn’t need to be involved on one’s life except when need to solve a problem. Ultimately in this theological view good people go to heaven when they die.
Like those in Amos’ day fallen humanity has made a religion for themselves and abandoned the true Biblical God.
Injustice (2:6-7; 4:1; 5:7, 11-12; 8;4-6) The people were oppressing the poor and had turned justice into poison (6:12). God’s desire was that they would be just in all their actions that they would hate all forms of evil injustice and love the good (5:15). That they would “let justice roll down like water” (5:24). That true and undefiled religion might be reestablished where the people minister to the needs of the afflicted rather than oppress them (James 1:27).
Opulence It was a time of great wealth and material prosperity. They slept on elaborate beds and ate on the choice cuts of lamb and veal (6:4-7, 3:15). The people believed that they were being blessed by God, but the blessings for which they were thankful came at great expense of the poor. (Boice) The love of money was the drive of the times. Unjust gain at the expense of the poor was the normative behavior (8:7). The prosperity gospel was the religion of the day. They were declaring God’s blessing, speaking prosperity and prophesying health, wealth and happiness into their lives and anything that discounted this teaching as well as those who taught it were dismissed as disruptive of their “Best Life Now” (7:10-13).
Place from which he Roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem
He Yahweh roars from Jerusalem. Israel, of course, by its sinful schism, had voluntarily cut herself off from the temple in Jerusalem and its worship, but that is where the Lord’s presence was represented, not in the false sanctuaries of Samaria. God established Jerusalem (also referred to as Zion 2 Sam 5:5-9, Ps 132:13, Ps 48:2) as the central city of Jewish worship (Deut 16:16, Is 33:20, 1 Chron 21-22, 2 Sam 24, Heb 12:22). It is where God’s presence on earth dwells above the mercy seat behind the veil (Ex 25:22, Num 7:89). It is where every male Jew is to go 3 times a year to worship (Deut 16:16). The northern kingdom rejected Jerusalem as the sole site of worship and establish other places, priests and practices for the Jews of the north to worship God (1 Kgs 12:26-29, Amos 7:13).Similar to the Samaritans at the time of Jesus (John 4:19-24). The real problem is doctrinal disobedience issue. God set forth how and where he was to be worshiped, but they refused to follow the directive that were set up for the Jewish people. Thus they set up their own doctrine and directives and sid that it was worshiping Yahweh. It is true today that God in his word establishes the way that we are to worship him in Spirit and truth (John 4:23-24). We are to ascend to his Holy hill with clean hands and a pure heart (Ps 24:4). We are to worship him in the slender of his holiness (Ps 29:2). We are have no other gods before him Ex 20:3, but this doctrine frustrates many who can’t accept this narrow minded view. So they develop their own “golden calf” and say that it is the true worship of Yahweh.
Perimeters of the Roar
Carmel was a holy place were Elijah battled the prophets of Baal and where God rained down fire, demonstrating that he alone is the true God. 1 Kgs 18:36-39 God’s judgement will extend from the least to best to the poorest and to the most remote areas of the land. Mt Carmel was high and could catch the moisture-laden clouds from the coast. This allowed for the best farm and grazing land. God would cause the land to wither and thus the pastures would mourn. (Boice) The blight of divine wrath will fall from the luxurious river valleys to the top of the mountains, from Amos’ grazing lands in the south to the far north of Israel’s realm. Christian Smith’s research showed that most teens raised in the church found their faith to be very important and made a big difference in their lives, but they were “stunningly inarticulate” concerning the actual content of their faith. In contrast to the previous generations that had some knowledge about the Bible and the basics of the Christian teachings, it seems there is very little serious ability to state, reflect upon, or examine their beliefs much less to relate them to daily life. Many seem to living on hype and their friends in the youth group, both of which eventually lose their influence, especially in college. Quoted in “Christless Christianity” by Horton
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