One description of the role of a prophet is to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Amos certainly practiced the latter of those two tasks in the first eight chapters of the book that bears his name. He threatened, he cajoled, he condemned the society which was built on exploiting the poor and weak, which didn’t live godly ways. In Chapter Nine, almost as an afterthought, he offers some consolation: I will wall up its breaches, raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old. Perhaps that is a good reminder to us that constant fussing can be counter productive. Amos ended with a message of hope so that we would know that our efforts at conversion pay off.
JULY22022
By Church Staff
