![]() ![]() ![]() God truly teaches His words to His messenger. This doesn’t mean that Moses simply waited for God’s word to be automatically uploaded to his lips for speaking. As Moses spoke to God about how inadequate he was to carry out the mission God assigned him, God said, “Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak” (Exod. Instead, let us dig a little deeper to discover something interesting. If there is no message, then the messenger will be meaningless, but let’s not be too quick to jump to conclusions. Which is more important – the message or the messenger? By far, it is the message. The authority of their preaching was grounded in the fact that the word of God came upon them. Thus Amos challenged Amaziah with these words, “Now therefore hear the word of the Lord” rather than “Listen to my words.” In order to claim that the authority of their preaching was not in their own research, those whom God called to proclaim His message often introduced their messages with, “Thus says the Lord” (Exod. He proclaimed God’s word only because God’s word came upon him. His preaching ministry was not based on theological education or on the temptation for monetary gain. What was he saying? He was claiming that he was not a professional preacher who graduated from a theological seminary (‘a prophet’s son’). But the Lord took me from following the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now therefore hear the word of the Lord” (7:14-16a). “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. After all, are you not preaching for money?Īmos’ reply was simple. ![]() How dare you preach in Samaria, the capital of Empire! Return to your home town and support yourself through preaching (“eat bread there and prophesy there”). “You are a clown from a country village of Judah. Amaziah never acknowledged Amos as a colleague or a minister. Amaziah warned Amos, “O seer, go, flee to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom” (7:12-13). The land is not able to bear all his words” (7:10). Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, reported to king Jeroboam II, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. Amos received God’s message for Israel in a ‘vision’ while he was among the shepherds of Tekoa then he declared that message like a roaring lion (1:2). All that we know about Amos is what is written in the book named for him. ![]()
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