Amos 7:10-17
"Amos and Amaziah"
One word... Smackdown.
Essentially, what's happening here is Amaziah, the priest from Bethel, tells Jeroboam II what Amos is prophesying against him and then proceeds to tell Amos to get lost, resulting in the Lord laying some heavy smackdown against Amaziah, through Amos.
What did Amaziah do to deserve such punishment? Firstly, he takes the words of the Lord, through Amos, and pays no heed to it. Instead, he uses it as an opportunity to accuse a prophet, a servant of God who speaks His words, of treason when the real treason was Israel's turning away from God to idols and other false gods. Secondly, he [Amaziah] proceeds to tell Amos what to do - leave Israel and never come back. Essentially, Amaziah said to God, "I refuse to acknowledge your servant, your words or you." Very dangerous words to say to the God who created the universe in 6 days, who destroyed all but a fragment of the Earth's life in a flood and who gave the Israelites the very land out of which Amaziah was sending Amos.
In response, Amos defended himself saying that he was not paid to prophesy against Israel, nor was he a pupil of prophets, but rather a shepherd and fig tree tender whom the Lord called to prophesy against Israel (i.e., he was truly sent by God and thus a real prophet). He defended his calling, nothing more. Amos did not try to defend God, and here's why: Amos then received a prophecy from God pronouncing the utter destruction of Amaziah, his family and his legacy. To add to this, Amaziah would die a stranger in a foreign land. God is perfectly capable of defending himself.
God protects those whom he sends. They have no need to worry about what persecution is driven their way for, in the end, the Lord will remain triumphant and nothing any man, beast or angel says or does will ever change that.
Isn't that encouraging?
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