Week 33 Amos 3
Yesterday I was thinking & wondering about the seven questions Amos asked. I decided that the point of his questions was: first of all Something happens…and then second of all a connected follow-up Something-else happens (I called it ‘first is followed by second’). It was a pretty basic idea that most people would accept and I wondered why Amos went to the trouble of making it.
But I realized that with his seven questions Amos was only making a Preliminary Point – a kind of lead-in point.
His Main Point was the next verse: the Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.
At the beginning of the chapter the Lord had already told Israel & Judah pretty decisively: I will punish you for all your sins. So: 1) Something had happened (Israel had sinned) and then the follow-up – the result – was that 2) Something-else would now happen (Israel was going to be punished). But Amos’ additional point was that the Lord would first tell people what he planned to do (and he’d use the prophets to do it).
So yesterday I started by figuring there were just two things going on (and based on Amos’ Seven Questions that made sense). But now there’s this third factor added in – wedged between 1) and 2):
1) Israel had sinned
2) the Lord would (helpfully) send prophets to warn the people about impending disaster
3) only then would disaster would strike.
Note: quotes from Amos 3:7 2 (NIV)