Friday, February 8, 2013

"I will not again..."  Final.  God is done.  But Amos continues to warn the people.  And the high priest of Bethel, Amaziah, gets word of it and he's not happy at all that Amos is upsetting his congregation.  So, like any good  religious zealot who sees his power threatened, Amaziah goes straight to the authority, the king, Jeroboam.  He reported to the king that Amos was  committing treason.  He was telling the people that God was going to kill Jeroboam by the sword and that Israel would be led away captive.

But Amaziah wasn't through.  He then went looking for Amos and threatened him and dissed him.  Amos 7:12-13  I'm going to quote this scripture in my own words.  (Janie's interpretation)  "Then Amaziah found Amos and said:  You voodoo ignoramus.  Get out of here.  Go down to Judah, set up a place down there to live.  And practice your black magic down there.  But you are not to ever prophesy up here in Israel again because it is the king's stomping ground.  The king runs the religion business in Israel and I am the high priest."

What it actually says is: "...Amaziah said unto Amos, O you seer, go, flee...away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there;  But prophesy not again anymore at Bethel:  for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court. "  There is no reference to indicate that the king told Amaziah to tell Amos all this.

And then Amos replies: (Again, my interpretation)  "I am not a king.  I am not a high priest muckety muck like you.  I wasn't even a prophet in the first place.  I don't come from a family of kings  or high priests, or television evangelists.  I am nobody.  But you better listen to what I am going to tell you very carefully because I have something you don't have.  I have an appointment from God Himself."

Here's the real scripture.  Amos 7:14-15  Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was a herdsman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit; And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me, Go, Prophesy to my people Israel."


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