Day 117 – February 1, 2024: Amos 1-5 and Psalm 25

As I was reading along I was thinking to myself, so when exactly did Amos live? Stacy said it was sometime around Isaiah and I thought, so when did Isaiah live? I realized that the years and the kings and what was happening in the life of Israel and Judah was probably more fuzzy to me than it should be. So I looked it up and found this. This is a chart of the prophets who were in both Israel and Judah. We read as a beginning in the prophet Amos that he lived during the reigns of both Uzziah of Judah and of Jeroboam of Israel.

He speaks out not only against the two kingdoms, but also against those countries surrounding the two kingdoms. If you look at chapter 5 it is the one that is used most often in social justice circles, especially vs. 24. But really the entire chapter is a scolding against Israel that it has overlooked and even trampled upon the needs of the poor and the destitute and only looked after the amassing of wealth. It is a good lesson to all of us today.