Fortunes Flowing for the Future
During the reign of King Uzziah, roughly 70 years before the Assyrians invaded Israel in 722 BC, the prophet Amos stopped tending his sheep and sycamore figs in the Judean village of Tekoa and traveled north about 15 miles to deliver a message he received from the LORD. His destination was Bethel, a center of worship for some in Israel, including the royal family. Biblical scholar James Limburg writes, “We are to imagine [Amos] standing outside of the place of worship, watching as the crowd made its way to the sanctuary. This was Bethel, buzzing with chatter, bustling with cattle, busy with religion. Bethel. The name itself reeks of an ancient holiness. . . . Bethel had been a holy place long before the God of the Israelites was worshiped there. It was already a place of worship when Jacob stopped there and had his dream about the ladder reaching from heaven to earth.” (Limburg, 101)
The prophecies of Amos would have been unexpected by those in Samaria, the kingdom of Israel. They were enjoying a time of prosperity. Israel had been separated from Judea for generations, and there was a sense of “national pride and optimism about the future. They were God’s chosen people and their security from enemies proved that.” (Simundson, 153)
It’s worth noting a difference between Amos and most biblical prophets. We sometimes associate the term “prophecy” with predictions about the future, but most prophets in the Hebrew Bible were interpreters of the present. Amos is unique in that he not only offered interpretation as a witness against injustice, but also prophesied in a more conventional sense by predicting the invasion of Assyria decades before it occurred.
His message in today’s passage was intended to startle Israel into realizing that their religious observances are meaningless to God when unaccompanied by adherence to covenant and justice. The accusations from Amos suggest that while the people were in tune with those aspects of their faith dealing with religious ceremony, “the daily life of Israel had completely given up the ethical standards of [their] religion.” (Gowan, “Amos,” 395) Instead of being rewarded for their observances and seeing their enemies vanquished, the Israelites themselves would suffer. The prophet “took words or ideas from the tradition that most understood as assurances of security and comfort and he would turn them on their head.” (Simundson, 151)
For instance, God takes issue with the festivals, assemblies, burnt offerings, grain offerings, fatted animal offerings, songs, and instrumental music. Seven aspects of worship in which the people took pride, seven things they thought they were doing well. You’ll recall that “seven is the biblical number for totality,” and thus the Lord was rejecting everything that was going on at the shrine. (Limburg, 105)
What should the people have been focused on instead of their ceremonies? Amos asserts the pursuit of real truth. Care and feeding for the poor. Elimination of bribery. Justice in the gate.
Amos states that the Israelites have turned “justice into wormwood,” but God will dilute that bitterness with justice that “roll[s] down like waters” and “righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” He predicts — accurately — that the people will end up in exile, subject to those who worship the god Saturn, one of the Assyrian astral deities.
If this passage makes you feel a bit uncomfortable, you’re not alone. In our society, is it sometimes hard to distinguish truth from fiction? Unfortunately, even some of those espousing the biggest of lies have a national voice. How do the poor fare in our communities? The fact that some local children get their only decent meal each day in the school lunchroom speaks to that, as do those who not only live on nearby streets, but are frequently forced to vacate them by the authorities. What of corruption? We happen to live in one of only three states that permits legal bribery to legislators. It seems we need justice in the gate in our time and place as sorely as those Amos addressed in Bethel.
The same was true during last century’s Civil Rights Movement, when Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., famously referenced this passage. In fact, you might best know these words from Amos thanks to Dr. King. They were needed in Bethel, they were needed on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and we need to hear them today. That is why biblical scholar Ehud Ben Zvi says that Amos is “meant to be read again and again, and meditated upon — as all prophetic books are.” (Ben Zvi, 1165)
If I had to guess, I’d say that the response to the words of Amos was as unpopular at that time as those of Dr. King were in his. The approval rating of most prophets doesn’t reach positive territory until after they are gone. When people are doing well, they don’t want to be reminded of the risks to one’s faith inherent in prosperity. But when that prosperity is built on injustice, it will eventually cease to be. No power or principality that has existed since the time of Amos has proven that wrong. No society or nation lasts forever.
Thankfully, the same is not true of God’s people, the church. Yes, we’ve been found in different forms across the centuries, but our call to match our concerns with God’s has been unwavering. Thus we face many of the same challenges God’s people did in the time of Amos. We can lose track of the overall picture amidst distractions and setbacks. With that, let’s turn our attention to today’s psalm.
Many of the Psalms are attributed to King David, who lived centuries before Amos, but Psalm 126 appears to come from a time much later. The fortunes the psalmist hopes to see restored are those from a day before exile, prior to the conquering of Israel by Assyria and the later conquering of Judea by the Babylonians.
Whether that restoration was being anticipated or had already happened at the time this was written is unknown, but regardless it seems the restoration is incomplete. Like one waiting for the Negeb watercourses to refill in the winter, the writer has a thirst to quench.
This psalmist knows that the Lord has done great things for God’s people, though, and a time of rejoicing was coming. They cite those who plant seeds, who understand that there is a long period of waiting that comes before harvest. It can’t be rushed, it’s simply a part of the rhythm of nature, and the fruits of their labor outweigh the challenges of the planting.
This reminds me a bit of hiking the Barr Trail, which is how one ascends Pike’s Peak near Colorado Springs. It’s not an easy walk to the top; you start at 6,300 feet and from there you hike over 12 miles to the summit at 14,110 feet. If you review the Barr Camp web site, they make the challenges clear:
Do not underestimate Pikes Peak. The lower oxygen levels make it harder to take what is normally a simple step. Hikers have found themselves in serious trouble by overestimating their capabilities, underestimating the mountain, or by being unprepared.
Even in ideal weather and after a year of conditioning, hiking the Barr Trail was a challenge for me. On my way up, I would have climbed for what seemed a long time, would finally reach a clearing allowing me a view of the summit . . . and it would seem no closer than it was the last time I saw it. Meanwhile, it grew increasingly hard to breathe. I had to continually remind myself that the peak was ahead, even when it was out of sight and I could only see the obstacles to progress.
I often hear folks lament the state of the Christian church in America. It isn’t what it once was. Many of our buildings are sparsely populated on Sunday mornings, and the church doesn’t hold the standing in society it once did. I join those who mourn the loss of the church in which I was raised. Something that my seminary education taught me, though, is that the story of God’s people has had many chapters.
What peaks are we as a church hoping to reach? What fortunes are we waiting to see restored? Certainly we face challenges, but how do they compare to those faced by the author of Psalm 126, who was quick to respond to God with joy and rejoicing? The Judeans returning from exile had lost their land, their possessions, and their cultural memory. Today there are increasing numbers of Jesus-followers around the globe, the foundations of our faith are only as far away as our phones, and we’ve seen the arc of the moral universe bend significantly from its vector in biblical times.
I ask again: What fortunes are we waiting to see restored? While we as a church face organizational and national difficulties, threats to tradition, and the lingering effects of a global pandemic, look at the sowing that has taken place in the past few years in response. We’ve adopted new ways of communicating, using social media to engage individuals who have never before entered a church. We’ve used online video to meet, study, and even to worship. Our persistence in the face of challenges has led to a greater reach than we’ve ever had before.
What are we waiting to see? Ultimately, the Kin-dom of God fully realized. It’s sometimes hard to imagine, though we might catch a glimpse of it from time to time when we reach a bend in the trail. Thankfully, the journey there is not one we need to make entirely under our own power, although we may occasionally need to stop and take a deeper breath than usual along the way.
I had the privilege last month of attending the national gathering of PCUSA’s 1001 New Worshiping Communities. In case you’ve not heard of it, 1001 New Worshiping Communities is an initiative begun by the denomination in 2012. Since its inception, over 715 New Worshiping Communities (or NWCs) have been started. Many represent specific efforts or interests. There are NWCs for hikers and skateboarders and yogis; there are NWCs for different migrant communities; and there are NWCs dedicated to different justice pursuits, including ecological and racial and socio-economic. (I think Amos would be especially fond of those.) They are often small and agile, and they are attracting populations and age groups that most of our existing faith communities haven’t. They are a supplement to and a resource for existing faith communities in PCUSA.
I left the NWC gathering inspired and encouraged by the energy of the leaders I met there. While I still lament what is lost as the church is going through change, I recognize that this represents another chapter in a faith tradition that is reformed and always reforming.
Siblings in Christ, the appearance of worship and churches may change, but Amos reminds us that those matters are secondary to the pursuit of justice and faith to the covenants we have with our creator. Some of the things we hope to see restored may not be, but we do know that all will someday be reconciled. There may be occasions for weeping along the way, but eventually God’s righteousness will bring us ever-flowing joy.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Works Referenced
Abarim Publications. “Sikkuth meaning.” Last modified April 23, 2019. http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Sikkuth.html.
Andersen, Francis I. and David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Bible, Vol. 24A, Amos: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New York: Doubleday, 1989).
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Ben Zvi, Ehud. “Amos,” in The Jewish Study Bible: Second Edition. Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler, eds. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).
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Eidevall, Göran. The Anchor Yale Bible, Vol 24G, Amos: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2017).
Gowan, Donald E. “Psalms,” in New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume III. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015.
Gowan, Donald E. “The Book of Amos,” in New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume VII, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996.
Limburg, James. Hosea-Micah, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1998).
Linville, James R. Amos and the Cosmic Imagination, (Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2008).
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Schuster, Ruth. “Fact-checking the Book of Amos: There Was a Huge Quake in Eighth Century B.C.E.,” Haaretz, January 3, 2019, https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium.MAGAZINE-fact-checking-the-book-of-amos-there-was-a-huge-quake-in-eighth-century-b-c-e-1.6807298?=&ts=_1556241462505, accessed April 25, 2019.
Simundson, Daniel J. Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2005).
Wright, Jacob L. “A Nation Conceived in Defeat,” Azure, Autumn 2010, 83–101.
Yee, Gale A., Hugh R. Page, Jr., Matthew J. M., editors. Coomber Fortress Commentary on the Bible: The Old Testament and Apocrypha. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014), Kindle.
