Chosen to Be a Prophet – Amos 7

A text – Amos 7:7-15

7:7 This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.
7:8 And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass them by;
7:9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
7:10 Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words.
7:11 For thus Amos has said, ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.'”
7:12 And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there;
7:13 but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”
7:14 Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees,
7:15 and the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’

A reflection:

Our “chosen by God” theme continues today. Amos has prophesied several visions, and Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, is angry about it. He tries to banish Amos to far country and do his prophesying there. But Amos says he is not a professional prophet for the king or on the payroll in Israel, nor was his father. Speaking prophesy was not his choice for making a living. He is an agricultural man in Judea – a herdsman and dresser of sycamore trees. He never set out to be a prophet but was chosen by God and told to prophesy to the people of Israel. He was set apart by God for a particular assignment, an assignment in Israel.

If we read more of the book of Amos we learn that the priest Amaziah did not succeed in silencing Amos (who lived in Judea, a different nation from Israel), and so Amos prophesied to Israel. He was trying to tell the people to be faithful to God, not just the rules of the leaders. He was speaking truth to powerful religious leaders and rulers. He continued for several years to prophesy. We do not know how he died, but some scholars believe the son of Amaziah killed him for speaking against his father.

Amos was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees. Probably not an easy life, but a life that could have been carried out without political intrigue and in a country outside the one where the prophesies were to be given. He could have said no and stayed out of it. We, too, choose to “stay out of it” most of the time. But have you ever been called, chosen by God, to do something outside your comfort zone? What was it? Did you do it? What happened to you as a result?

If we live our lives focused on the Triune God and we pay attention at all, God is pretty likely to tap us on the shoulder to do something. How will we respond? How will we live our lives, gifts from God, as servants of God?

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for the life of the prophet Amos. Thank you for preserving his story for us to read. Thank you for letting us know of his faithfulness to you, even though he was doing something else. Help us to listen, when we are doing something else, to your call, and help us to be faithful.   Amen.