PSA Bible Reading Challenge 2023-2024

Amos is not happy with how Israel and Judah have turned their backs on God.  What is especially interesting is about what he is most upset.  Look at vs.1 where we read that they oppress the poor and crush the needy.  This is enough to force God to draw people out of the land and into captivity, which is indeed what happened.  You can see what God is able to do and the lengths to which God would go in order to bring his people back.  He tries with the old carrot and the stick approach.

God has given enough bread for everyone, but they did not attribute their needs being met as coming from God.  They were able to see that some cities received rain and others were in drought, but they did not attribute that to God.  They were able to see the terrible things that happened to them: pestilence, young men killed, horses carried away, towns overthrown and devoured with fire.  Yet even in all of this there is not attribute to God as the one who is behind all of it.  It just happened by chance, goes the thinking.  There is nothing to see and nothing to learn in all of this.

I wonder if once we make our way through all of this if we will have the same thoughts.  Look at what has happened around us: a plague has come upon our people in the form of a virus, families are divided among themselves, the nation is eyeing fracture that is so serious it makes us wonder how long can this last?  Is God at work, and if so, how do we learn from it?  And if not, why not?

Amos continues his warning to Israel and he uses rhetorical questioning in order to do it.  He begins by reminding us that God has spoken out strongly against the people of Israel.  He puts a historical context to it, in case people forget who the people of Israel are.  You know, the ones that God brought out of Egypt, you, people of Israel.  He speaks to Israel as the one, the only one, whom God has known, and as loved, and has considered His people.  No others were given that title, no others were considered the children of God in the way that the people of Israel were considered the people of God.  As a result, they will be punished in a unique way as well.

He gives a whole series of questions that allow only for answers that would consolidate what he has planned.  The reason why God is going to act in such a way is because Israel has acted in such a treacherous and unfaithful way.  It should be clear to everyone and plain to see that God’s plans are a result of Israel’s actions.  God, in many ways, has no choice, just like a lion only roars in the forest when it has prey, so God can only strike against Israel when Israel has been unfaithful.  The consistency and the predictability of God should not be underestimated.  

But just in case those in Judah are feeling pretty secure and smug because this prophecy is against the north, is against Israel, God includes the south, Judah, here as well.  When Israel is punished, then the altar shall lose its power, the horns will be cut off.  The protection that Judah had from the presence of God will disappear.  

Just when you thought that you were safe the prophet speaks directly to your problems and to your issues which you were hoping would be overlooked as God denounces your neighbors.  So here we find Amos speaking to Moab first, great, we think, we are safe, he is continuing the rants against the neighboring countries and all the things that they have done wrong.  But then he pivots to Judah and it starts to get a bit uncomfortable.  Judah is much closer to us, and they are basically our kindred.  But at least they haven’t gone to Israel our home state, to denounce anything.  Maybe we will skate clear.  Then we get to vs.6 and everything changes.

This is where we find ourselves as Amos begins his words against Israel.  The list of complaints against Israel are legion and they are of a most heinous degree.  Look at vs.7 and shudder.  Can you think of anything worse than the immorality of turning your back on the poor and devolving into sexual debauchery?  God speaks strongly against the Israelites and tells them that they are going to lose their position as God’s people as a result of what they have done.  What a horrid message, but it is prophetic.  I’m currently attending the Festival of Homiletics and here is what one speaker said about prophetic speaking:  Speaking prophetically is not telling the future, it is telling the truth.

We begin our final book of the Bible, the prophet and the prophecy of Amos.  It is interesting that while the book of Chronicles gave us the history of the kingdom and the kings of Judah, the south, Amos was a prophet to the north, Israel.  There is some contextual explaining to do in order to understand what this shepherd boy, Amos, had to say about the current situation.  Because there was prosperity abounding in the north it created a very large separation between the rich and the poor.  The poor, as in all societies, were having their rights trampled on and did not have anyone to speak on their behalf.  It is in this context that Amos comes speaking about the day of the Lord and how these inequities will be fixed as a result of the coming of God.  Let’s look at the first chapter of Amos.

What we find here after the introductory verse on Amos is a speech against the nations.  But let’s pause on verse 1 if we can.  Amos is called a shepherd of Tekoa which was just below Jerusalem and so obviously a part of Judah.  But he addresses the kings of both Judah and Israel.  Here is a map of the kingdoms against these speeches went against just so that as you read through it you can get a feeling for where they are located.  

Here we find Amos indicting their neighbors for ethical transgressions on the order of war crimes.  The prophet condemns their actions not only against Israel and Judah, but against other neighboring peoples.  Keep in mind that throughout this chapter all of the nations mentioned were at one time allies of Judah and Israel.  

We come to the end of the book of II Chronicles and we find our friend the prophet Jeremiah ends the book.  Remember Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet because over his 40 year ministry he does not have a single convert.  We find another cyclical turn over in rulers with Josiah who was a righteous king leaving and his son, Jehoahaz taking over and once again a continual cycle of those doing evil in the sight of the Lord begins.  There is no one who comes out strong and brings the people back.  It is so bad that even Jehoiachin who was eight years old and only reigned for 3 months is described as someone who did “evil in the sight of the Lord.”  What can an 8 year old do that can be described as being evil?

This continual reign of bad rulers continues and it includes both Egyptian and Babylonian exile by the the people and those in command.  We see that both Egypt and Assyria have the chance to not only take the people in to captivity but they also get to choose who stays behind in Jerusalem to rule over the people, or at least those who remain.  It can easily be said that the ending of II Chronicles gives us probably one of the worst times in Israelite history.  

We end the chapter with a bit of a potential promise as King Cyrus of Persia encourages people to go back to Israel and rebuild the city and the walls.  This is after Jeremiah and probably around the time that Nehemiah is the prophet.  

We close this book of the Bible and move on to one that is no longer a history of the rulers.  We must remember that people of God have a tendency over time to do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord.  May God protect us as we look to break that cycle.

We come upon the death of Josiah who was one of the most faithful kings of Judah of all time.  But, keep in mind his age.  He began reigning in Jerusalem when he was only 8 years old.  When he was 26 he began the reformations and he continued with them throughout his time.  Not only were reformations done in Jerusalem, but he also required that the people keep the passover.

It is an interesting way in which Josiah dies.  He goes to battle against the King of Egypt.  Notice that the king of Egypt says that he was sent into battle by God, and that he was not going against Judah.  He told Josiah to keep out of the battle because they had nothing against Judah.  But Josiah went into battle and as a result was killed.  Jeremiah is mentioned as the prophet who was around at that time and offered up a lament for Josiah. 

We once again find ourselves in a place where God raises up a righteous ruler but then once he dies there is a strong possibility that the next ruler is not going to be someone that follows God’s commands and will bring back the idols that were not of benefit to Judah.  Let’s see what happens, but I’m guessing the cycle continues.

The more things change the more they stay the same.  Josiah is an awesome king.  He does not turn from the left or the right from following God.  He eliminates all the idols, all the people who were worshipping the idols, and all the places where the idols were worshipped.  He spends money in order to get the temple back up to snuff and in a state where people are able to understand that this is now our priority.  We are the people of God and this is where we have to place our trust and our priorities.

Doesn’t this event remind us of our daily lives over time?  We forget often what God can do for us.  We fall back into thinking that we have to do all things for ourselves.  We then have an awakening, we put things back in order, God takes over again, and then something happens, or just life and time happens, and we forget again.  It isn’t necessarily a conscious decision on our part to turn our back on God, we just find ourselves as time marches on in a position where we realize that God is very, very distant from us.  Time for a revival.

Josiah is that king who brings the people of Israel to a revival.  He tears his clothes when he hears the newly discovered book of the law because he is able to see how far they have gotten from the Word of God.  He requires the people to turn to the Lord if they are going to be citizens of the Judah.  All of his days he does not turn away from God.

We find a bit of a redemption story with the next king.  The son of Hezekiah was Manasseh and he began reigning when he was 12 and he ruled for 55 years.  That was a long time!  We see that at the beginning of his reign he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.  He put back all of the things that his father had torn down which were used to worship false gods and idols.  He even made an idol and placed it in the temple.  Things were really going poorly.  

As a result of how bad things were Manasseh and Judah was overrun by Assyria and the king was taken into captivity into Babylon.  This is where we find Psalm 137 where those going into captivity were required to sing a song of Israel, but how could they sing in a foreign land?  It was a time of great sadness and tragedy in the life of the people of God, and it all came about because of the king who was unfaithful to God.  Manasseh himself was taken bound into Babylon.

But then he has his come to Jesus moment and realizes how far away he had strayed from where God wanted him to be.  He prays to God for forgiveness, and God actually does forgive.  He is given the chance for a do-over and he takes advantage of it.  When he returns to Jerusalem he throws outside of the city all of the idols that had been present there.  He makes sure that he turned a new leaf in his life.  That lasts until his son takes over, Amon.

Yeah, Amon doesn’t last long, just two years, and he was so bad that the people of Jerusalem killed him and put his son into power, that would be Josiah.   Let’s see how he does.

Hezekiah is faced with probably his most severe challenge as King.  He is confronted with the armies of Assyria and they close up Jerusalem in order to wait out the siege.  As they are holed up in Jerusalem the King of Assyria, Sennacherib, basically begins to trash talk Hezekiah and the people of Judah.  He tells them that they have invaded so many other lands and put aside so many of the other gods of the other lands that what makes them think that their god is going to do anything.  He also criticizes Hezekiah for tearing down all of the high places for the other gods because that then left them exposed completely.  He was hoping to put fear in the heart of the general population so that they would rebel against Hezekiah.  Yeah, not so much.

As a result of Hezekiah’s faithfulness and his words of encouragement which you find in vs.7, the people stand firm.  After a while Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, yes, the same Isaiah we read about in the Bible, you know the son of Amoz, prayed that God would drive out the Assyrians.  As time passes all of the top warriors of the Assyrians were cut off and when the king gets home his kids kill him.  Kind of a random end to it all, but I guess the moral of the story is don’t mess with God and certainly don’t trash talk God.  God tends to win out.  Elijah and the prophets of Baal is another example of where God normally wins the trash talking.

 I have to say something about Hezekiah’s tunnel which is mentioned here in this chapter.  It is one of the most exciting and exhilarating experiences you can be on when you go to Israel.  You are literally walking under the city of Jerusalem in shin deep water and it feels a bit like the walls are caving in you as you walk in the darkness.  You can imagine what it would have been like to go build that tunnel.  You can still see the chisel marks on the ceiling.  Amazing what they were able to accomplish.

This is an account of a revival in the land of Judah, the southern kingdom, which also had an affect on the surrounding lands as well.  What the people of Judah and those surrounding Judah did, was first go out into their own lands and tear down those places that had been used for idol worship.  You can see in vs.1 that people banded together and went out together to tear these places down, then they went home to their own properties.  The assumption is that at their own properties they then did the same thing.

Revivals must begin with the tearing down of that which inhibits the right and true worship of God.  I am sure that there were economic interests involved, but I’m guessing that they were able to pivot to cover the new regime pretty well.  As a result of the revival the people of Judah responded in overwhelming fashion, and in a way that surprised the priests and those who reigned in Judah.  There were piles and “heaps” of overflow of gifts for the priests.  Hezekiah orders that stone chambers be built in order to store the left overs.

This was all a result of the tithes that were being brought in from the people surrounding Jerusalem and in all of Judah and beyond.  Without a doubt Hezekiah was an effective leader and was able to motivate the people to not only walk closer with God, but also to take actions on a daily basis that reflected their newfound devotion to God.  Tithing is a reflection of a people who love the Lord and are willing to trust that God will provide.  Everything Hezekiah did he prospered in.