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Imagine, for a moment, that N.Z. /Aotearoa consists only of the North Island, though rather than being surrounded by sea, it borders on to other nations. Imagine that up to 100 years ago N.Z./ Aotearoa was all one nation, under a sovereign king, and the capital was based at Hamilton. Then a civil war breaks out and the nation is divided into two kingdoms. The original capital, at Hamilton, remains, but it now becomes the capital of the smaller and weaker Southern Kingdom, while a new Northern Kingdom is formed , and its capital, shall we say, is centred in Auckland. The Northern Kingdom, centred in Auckland, is the larger, and begins to prosper, while the smaller southern kingdom struggles, but still survives.

The Northern Kingdom builds a strong army and is soon consolidating its territory and even recovering land previously claimed by its neighbours; it sets up trading agreements with neighbouring countries and becomes a commercial centre of no small importance. The Northern kingdom becomes politically strong and its economy begins to boom.  The fortunes of this Northern Kingdom are at the highest it has ever been, and increasingly the rich are becoming richer, but at the expense of the poor, who become poorer.  More and more the wealthy enjoy their indulgent lifestyle and the merchants are urged on by their wives who demand more and more luxuries. Whereas not long ago, nearly all housing was of a similar style and value, now whole new luxury housing developments spring up, architecturally designed for the new wealthy class – gated communities are nothing new.

Small traders are forced out of business by big monopolies; the rich merchants stop at nothing to increase their profits at the expense of the poor; and those in business hate any day on which they couldn’t do business. 

Transfer this scenario to Israel, turn back the clock to about 760B.C. and this is the situation we find developing. King Saul and then King David who had been anointed by Samuel the prophet had lived and died; David’s son Solomon had taken over the throne and raised the nation to its wealthiest ever.  But after King Solomon died, his son Rehoboam sought to impose yet greater taxes on the people, and they rebelled and there began a civil war. In due course the nation of 12 tribes was split in its allegiance.  Two tribes formed the southern Kingdom of Judah, with the capital at Jerusalem, while the other 10 tribes split and became the northern Kingdom of Israel, with its capital at Bethel, in Samaria.   While the southern kingdom struggled, the Northern kingdom flourished. It was into this context that Amos was called by God and sent as a prophet to speak God’s words of judgment  to the northern kingdom.  ( Over the past two weeks we have begun to look at some of the prophets :- Moses, and then  Samuel. Today, we move on in time to look at the prophet Amos – and what he had to say for his time and for ours.)  Chronologically, Amos stands as one of the earliest of the prophets who are called by God to speak out against injustice and unrighteousness. We can read about Amos and his prophecies, in the O.T.  – pages 992 -1000 in the Good News Bible, and the book of Amos is found amongst a group of small books of prophecies which follow on from those known as the major prophets, such as Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Now that’s rather a long introduction to Amos the prophet, but the context is really important in order to appreciate and understand his message. Amos appears to have exercised a ministry for only 1 year, and he is called from his home town, near Jerusalem, the capital of  the Southern Kingdom,  to go to the big smoke – the capital city of the Northern  Kingdom and there declare God’s word and Judgment. Now Amos was no illiterate country-bumpkin! The words of his prophecy reveal a man highly intelligent, articulate and skilled in public speaking and debate. It says at the beginning of the book of Amos that he was a shepherd. In fact the word is quite unique, because it means more correctly a ‘sheep-breeder’ and this indicates that Amos may well have had others employees working for him. 

Amos had been reading the newspapers and he knew what was happening in the nations around, but he had also been monitoring what had been going on in the Northern Kingdom. He had heard of its military expansion, its political muscle and its economic growth. And he had also heard the cries of the poor, the widow and the orphan; he had heard of the corruption of the courts of law and the emptiness of the state religion. He had seen justice twisted and people cheated of their rights, and he felt God’s call to declare the justice and the judgment of God upon the nation for such atrocities.  No one is spared God’s judgment for the sin that is so blatantly committed. In the beginning of this short prophecy Amos firstly declares God’s judgments on Israel’s heathen neighbours, but then the tone gets more serious and nothing would have prepared his hearers for the shocking punch-line that this time is also come for them.

At the very heart of Amos’ words is the fact that Israel had turned away from following, obeying and worshipping the Lord, -Yahweh,- the One True God, and because of that, the moral heart of the nation  had begun to rot and decay and its social decline and eventual destruction was inevitable. This would be seen as God’s judgment on a rebellious people. That decay and rottenness showed itself in idolatry, in self-gratification  and in selfishness. Two words recur again and again in Amos’s prophecies –and they are the words ‘justice’ and ‘righteousness’. Righteousness is about doing that which is ‘right’  - and what is ‘right’ is that which fulfills the demands of a relationship, whether with God or fellow humans. And  Justice is here defined as any act which maintains, preserves or restores the foundation of a communal life. So true justice fosters real community where one cares for the other.  – where, in the words of Jesus, the hungry are fed, and the sick are visited. Being the ultimate measure of what is ‘just’ and what is ‘right’ God takes up the cause of those who are pushed to the sidelines of life. In the economy of Scripture, faithfulness to the One True God and people’s wellbeing go together.

Amos’s message is both for the nation and for those in authority – and it is also for us as individuals, and for us as the church. The call to repentance is the beginning of the way back to a renewed nation.

So Amos cries:-  “Make it your aim to do what is right, not what is evil, so that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty really will be with you, as you claim He is. Hate what is evil, love what is right, and see that justice prevails in the courts. Perhaps the Lord will be merciful to the people of this nation who are still alive.” (Amos 5: 14-15)  I think as we look around us today, we can see a lot of the signs which were evident in Israel of its apparent success in our nation also. We don’t have to scratch the surface very hard to also see signs of similar corruption and injustice. Let us keep awake to what is happening in this nation, in our communities, even in our own hearts, as we heed the message of Amos to seek justice and to love righteousness. To hate what is evil and to love what is right.