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"Listen, Israelites to these words that the Lord
addresses to you, to the whole nation which he brought
up from Egypt; for you alone have I cared among all the
nations of the world; therefore will I punish you for
all your iniquities." Amos 3.
Amos, the herdman of Tekoa, who became a skilled
public speaker, set standards for public speakers in method,
content and timing, for what they want to say.
Because there remains an open space for public
speaking, whoever the speaker and whatever the subject, there
is always relevance in considering the ways and means of those
who spoke or speak, to people collectively.
While communication, people with people, is
now more likely to be by the media in its several forms, there
is no doubting the value of the human voice when it is used
either for positive or negative purposes.
A momentary thought will recall to mind men
and women whose contribution, by voice in the public place,
had results good and bad for humanity.
The Bible has many illustrations of the effects
of leaders and preachers upon those who heard and heeded them.
Amos was one who was especially effective.
Christian history lays much stress on the preachings
of some men who like the Bible preachers, continue to affect
the thinking and living of people. The one to the many, the
preacher to the people, continues to be the means by which
many are brought to faith in Jesus Christ.
It has been asserted that the church is at its
strongest and most effective, when there is a high valuation
on preaching; when there is certainty of the truth in what
is being preached, and the sincerity of the preacher is not
in question. And at its weakest when it undervalues preaching
and lacks the sense of necessity and urgency in transmitting
the Gospel that motivates him.
Amos, in his background and occupation, to be
gifted and recognised as a preacher, is the reminder that
the Selector chooses whom He pleases, and His choices are
as amazing to the chosen as to those who know them.
Amos, of Tekoa, a geographical backwater, heard
the call of God to him as he tended his sheep on the hills.
His response came from the burden on his soul to speak out
for God against the sinfulness of his people. His was to tell
them of the condemnation of God on them, and the doom to befall
them if they did not repent of their sins and turn to Him.
The harsh message had in it the promise of a better, proper
and beneficial relationship with God on their repentance for
their sins.
Amos, the perceptive preacher, was careful in
his opening words not to say anything that would lose the
attention of his audience. He had their attention when he
condemned the attitudes and actions of Israel's neighbours
and described their sinfulness. There was nodded consent that
these nations were to be condemned. The reaction was different
when the preacher hit his target, Israel.
The message of judgment is always relevant,
for the things Amos condemned in Israel are here and in a
world fearsome for the very many who suffer in countries where
the richer get richer and the poor poorer. His concentration
on the fundamentals of man's relationship with God and one
another is needed now. It is to recognise that to God people
matter, and one by one. The injustices, inhumanities and indecencies
Amos condemned are prevalent everywhere in the world today.
He insisted that there must be positive, selfless,
responses to the goodness of God from those who are able to
respond to the allievation of human distress.
Ability to help and opportunity for doing so
is there with many people who should be moved to action by
the horrific pictures of suffering that are to be seen day
and daily from so very many parts of the world.
To read Amos is to be reminded that privilege
has responsibility, that living is caring for, and sharing
with others.
Canon Dr. S.E. Long
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