Today, I am reading and commenting on Amos 6-9 and Obadiah.

I am going to do something today that I rarely do.  I am going to combine thoughts I get from the end of Amos with thoughts I get from Obadiah into one message.  I am ordinarily not inclined to see this as a valid reading, but I think today it brings us a message.

Amos tells us in chapter seven that God gave him two visions of how He was going to bring His judgement against Israel, the Northern Kingdom.  After each vision, Amos begs God not to bring such a judgement because the people would not survive it.  I believe the implication in what Amos said was that even the righteous would be wiped out by such judgements so that all of Israel would be destroyed.  God listened to Amos and withdrew each of those judgements.  Instead, God told Amos that He was going to set a plumb line among His people.  Those who failed to measure up against the plumb line would be destroyed.  Amos goes on in chapter eight to speak of the ways in which the people of Israel failed to measure up to God’s standard.  Amos speaks of those who celebrate God’s festivals, but impatiently wait for them to end so that they can resume their dishonest practices by which they take advantage of the poor and needy.  He tells the Israelites that the day of God’s judgement is coming.  Which brings me to what Obadiah had to say.  While Obadiah primarily prophesied against Edom, he said that the day of God’s judgement is for all nations, for all people.  We will all be judged by what we have done.  Let us allow God’s Spirit to transform us so that we do the things which God asks of us for without His Spirit, without the Spirit of Christ, we can do nothing except that which brings God’s judgement upon us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I have created a Patreon page for those who would like to support me in writing these blog posts every day: https://patreon.com/AttilaSoldus

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Amos 6-9 and Obadiah.

Last year I wrote separate, unrelated, entries on this final part of Amos and on Obadiah.  This year I think I see a common thread, we will see if that comes together.  Amos prophesied against the people living in Israel, the Northern Kingdom, who saw the struggles others were having and complacently thought it would not effect themselves because of their wealth and power.  Those who have turned justice into a tool for their own power rather than seeking it in truth.  Amos accuses them of bragging about accomplishments which amount to nothing.  When I read the following I think of how many businesses operate today.:
When will the New Moon be over
    that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended
    that we may market wheat?”—
skimping on the measure,
    boosting the price
    and cheating with dishonest scales,
 buying the poor with silver
    and the needy for a pair of sandals,
    selling even the sweepings with the wheat.
The practices are not quite the same, but I think about how the idea of businesses being closed on Sunday is a thing of the past, and now businesses open late in the day on Thanksgiving in order to get a jump on Black Friday sales.  Businesses which choose to not to build quality products so that people have to buy replacements that much sooner.  People who give no consideration to the needs of others so long as they get what gives them pleasure.  And then in Obadiah, we have warnings against taking pleasure in the misfortune of others.  All of these behaviors come back against us, but at the end Amos tells us that God will call some of us to Him.  Those who turn to God, and care for their fellow man, will experience God’s blessing.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Amos 6-9 and Obadiah.

These two passage do not have much in common.  So, I am going to write first about what I see in the last part of Amos.  Then I will write about Obadiah.

In the first part of this passage Amos condemns the people of Israel for their complacency in the face of threat.  Then he speaks of prophecies which God gave him concerning the destruction of Israel. First, Amos sees a threat of locusts, at least as bad as that which the prophet Joel prophesied about.  Then he sees God implementing justice by fire.  In both cases Amos cries out to God asking that He not unleash such devastation on the Israelites, because they would not survive as a people.  God accedes to Amos’ request and issues a third plan.  In His third plan to bring judgement against His people, the Israelites, God states that He will establish a “plumb line” among them.

I am going to take a moment to describe what a plumb line is because I had trouble understanding this passage before I knew what a plumb line was. So, a plumb line is a string of some sort with a small weight on the end used by builders to determine if a wall, or other upright structure, is straight, or if it leans. The plumb line is held at the top of the wall, or other structure, not touching it. If the string is further from, or closer to, the wall at the bottom than it is at the top, the builder will know that the wall is not “plumb”, that it leans. And He will know where the “lean” begins, how close to the foundation He needs to go to start over in order to build an upright wall.

So, God set a plumb line among those who He has called as His people.  By measuring us by His plumb line,  He knows how far He needs to tear us down in order to rebuild us as straight and upright people.  That plumb line is Jesus Christ.  We can also compare ourselves to God’s plumb line in order to know how badly out of kilter our lives are.

Obadiah prophesies against Edom.  He tells us that Edom was arrogant and believed that their unique geographic position made them secure against attack.  However, that was not what led Obadiah to prophesy against them.  No, Obadiah prophesied that Edom would be destroyed because they stood by and watched while others attacked and brought harm to the Israelites, reveling in the destruction of their fellow man.  They gloated at the destruction of Jerusalem and then took part in looting the ruins.  The people of Edom gloated over the misfortune of the Israelites, sure of their security against such attacks.  God brought judgement upon them for that.  We should not gloat when others suffer misfortune, no matter how deserving we believe them to be.  Further, we should not inflict more suffering on those who experience God’s punishment for their sins.  While this passage does not illuminate this, we should instead seek to relieve their suffering, even though they had brought it on themselves, in order to possibly bring them to God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Amos 6-9 and Obadiah.

I chose that line out of Obadiah verse 15 as my title for today because it reflected much about what I wanted to write about out of both the portion of Amos for today and Obadiah.  Amos refers to the plumb line which God measures His people against.  He measures us against the standard He used to measure Christ and finds us wanting.  The determining factor in that measure is what we have done to others, but God does not measure us against those others.  He measures us against Jesus.  Fortunately, He also rebuilds us according to that standard if we will allow Him to do so.  Amos also speaks about those who use their religious observance as cover for their deceitful practices; those who diligently take part in religious activities while eagerly awaiting their return to business activities where they will defraud their customers. Finally in Obadiah the prophet condemns the people of Edom for taking advantage of the misfortune of the people of Judah rather than aiding them in their distress.  In all of these cases we learn that it will be done to us as we have done to others.  But there is a positive side to this as well, when we do good for others, that will be done to us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.