Today, I am reading and commenting on  Amos 1-5.

Happy Anniversary to my lovely wife.  I have been married to a lovely woman for 21 years. I am so grateful that she has been with me all of this time.

Amos prophesied primarily against Israel, the Northern Kingdom, but before getting into the meat of the prophecy which God had given him, he also had warnings for the surrounding nations, including Judah, the Southern Kingdom.  He makes it clear that even though God has given him a message condemning the people of Israel that does not mean that they are worse than their neighbors.

Amos writes that God had sent them prophets to call them back to Him, and those who lived righteous lives to inspire them to return, but that they had told the prophets to be quiet and had compelled the righteous to violate their conscience.  God had caused disasters to happen as a warning to bring them back to Him, yet they refused to return to God.  Do we see the ways in which this applies to us, and to the people around us?  (and if you think it applies to you because you are one of the prophets or one of the righteous you have missed the message of the Bible)  The people of Israel loved to do things which made themselves look righteous without actually making the sacrifices to be righteous.  They turned justice into injustice and hated those who upheld justice in court.  They oppressed the innocent and taxed the poor so as to build mansions.   The prudent kept quiet to avoid becoming targets.  Amos told them that the day of the Lord was coming and it would be a day of darkness.  However, he also told them that if they sought the Lord, they would live.  God would be with those who sought and did good rather than evil.  Let us seek to maintain justice, not the appearance of justice.

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