Amos 1:1-15.  We already dealt with verse 1 in the “Intro to Amos” but there ais one thing to mention here, Tekoa was basically straight south from Jerusalem.  If you look at a map it is about 1/3 of the way down the length of the Dead Sea up in the hills.  In verse 2 Amos wastes no time jumping right into what he has to say, “The LORD roars from Zion, from Jerusalem he speaks”.  Most English translations have the word ‘LORD” in all capitals, that tells you that they are translating four Hebrew consonants “Y”, “H”, “W”, and “H” again, or at least the Hebrew equivalent of those letters.  The Old Testament was originally written without vowels and the Jewish people would never pronounce the word “YHWH” because it was the personal name of God.  They would substitute their word for lord if they wanted to read this aloud so that is what English translators do.  They put it in all capitals so we know it is this word.  Early English translators who wanted to represent the actual word in English used the word “Jehovah”, that was their best guess at saying the name in English.  A better guess is “Yahweh” and that is what most scholars use today.  The point here is that Amos is using the personal name of the one true God as he begins this message to the Northern kingdom.

It’s important to notice where the message is coming from.  Zion and Jerusalem are two names for the same place.  It was the capital of Israel before the nation split.  It is the city where the temple was and true worship of God was supposed to take place.  Using the two different names is an example of one way Hebrew authors would right, the would often use parallel phrases, you see this a lot in the Psalms.  Although God is speaking from Jerusalem the effects are from the shepherds field up to the top of Mount Carmel.  Since Amos was from Tekoa that is probably the fields he is talking about.  Mount Carmel was in the Northern kingdom so by using these two references it’s like he is saying, “god’s words shake things up from North to South” or “south to North” in this case.

With verse 3 Amos starts a message that contains 8 oracles.  Oracles were little mini messages directed at specific people, places, or events.  Verses 3-5 are a message guaranteeing judgment on Damascus.  Damascus was the capital of a kingdom north of the Northern tribe, Syria or sometimes Aram.  The people of the kingdom were known as Arameans.  Gilead was a portion of Israel east of the Jordan river.  It was mostly part of the territory given to Manasseh and also to Gad (two of the twelve tribe of Israel and two who were part of the Northern Kingdom).  Although we see God speaking from Jerusalem this first “oracle” is against enemies who have attacked Northern Israelites.

The second “oracle” is against Gaza.  Gaza was a city on the Mediterranean coast west of the Dead Sea, so in the southern part of Israel.  Throughout much of Israel’s history they shared the land with foreign peoples.  The Philistines were one such group and Gaza was often controlled by them.  Ashdod was a nother coastal city often controlled by the Philistines.  The Edomites were a people group who lived South of the Dead Sea in the desert.  They were often enemies of Israel.  This “oracle” promises that the Philistines will be punished for assisting the Edomites in oppressing the Israelites.

The third “oracle” is against another coastal city “Tyre” for similar acts to the Philistines.  Tyre was in the extreme north area of Israel.  The fourth “oracle” is against Edom, again in the south.  Edomites were descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother ( Israel is another name for Jacob, see “What’s in a Name”), so the Israelites and Edomites were relatives or “brothers”.  The Edomites were continually hostile toward the Israelites, however, and God was watching.  The final “oracle” in todays reading returns to territory under control of the Northern kingdom, again to Gilead.  This time the judgment is promised to the Ammonites.  The Ammonites were a group of people who lived in the desert east of the Jordan River and North of the Dead Sea along side the area of Gilead.

So we see the oracle from Jerusalem, from the one true God but they alternate between enemies who have attacked both the southern and northern parts of the nation of Israel.  I’m sure it was not too popular for a guy from the south to come up north and start giving a message from god in Jerusalem.  It is interesting though that the first oracle is about an enemy of the Northen kingdom.  Perhaps that got the people listening.  But then he moved to an enemy of Southern Kingdom.  “Who cares”, was probably the response of that northern crowd.  But then another oracle against one of their enemies, they probably turned back to listen.  And so, back and forth.  I wonder if that started to get them thinking.  It got me thinking that God isn’t controlled by man-made borders or human rivalries, He is the God of the Israelites, Yahweh and his promises and care extended to all of them.  That doesn’t mean that we won’t have to answer for our disobedience and rebellion, I’m sure that is coming.  But for now we see that God is a God who is watching and cares about his people.

God thank you for caring even when we are wandering off.  Thank you for being consistent; Jerusalem was your place whether the northerners liked it or not.  Thank you for not being tied down by our borders.  Help me be consistent too.  Help me honor you when and where and how you want to be honored.  Help me honor you today with my life.