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.

Joel 3:1-21.  This chapter of Joel continues the description of the “day of the Lord.”  As we saw yesterday Peter applied Joel’s prophecy to events that occurred on the first Pentecost celebration after Jesus’ crucifixion (and resurrection).  Pentecost was a celebration 50 days after Passover (the time when Jesus was crucified).  Both Passover and Pentecost were Jewish religious holidays commanded in the Old Testament Law to help the Jewish people remember important actions by God on their behalf.  In Hebrew (the language of the Old Testament) the word for day is “yom”.  The word can mean daytime, a 24 hour day (like in Genesis 1), or a vague period of time.  “The day of the Lord” is this last usage.  It is clear from all of the descriptions of the “day of the Lord” that it began on Pentecost when Peter gave his speech and is still not completely fulfilled.  It sort of like when we say “end times”.  So some of the details of the “day of the Lord” have already been fulfilled (or at least started to be fulfilled) and some have yet to happen.

In verses 1-8 God tells us several things.  First of all Judah will be a prosperous nation in the world.  It is interesting historically that from the time of Joel that Judah was not really a world power and was often under foreign control.  And remember that this is a description of the “Day of the Lord” which started about 33 AD.  In 70 AD after several decades of Roman domination Israel tried to rebel and was squashed by the Roman army.  At that time the Temple in Jerusalem was actually torn down stone by stone (Jesus predicted this almost 40 years earlier; Matthew 24:2).  From 70 AD until 1947 the Jewish people were scattered all over the world.  At the end of the Second World War the United Nations voted to grant a portion of land to the Jewish people for a homeland.  For several decades prior to that declaration Jewish people had been immigrating to the area and buying land there.  With the declaration many more Jewish people across the globe moved into the new state of Israel.  The reemergence of a distinct people group after almost two millennia is historically unprecedented.  But that is the nature of biblical prophecy and God’s promises, they are sure to happen.  Additionally the Jewish people have take a neglected desert land and made it one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world.

Another fact contained in these verses is that nations will be hostile toward the Jewish people.  Although we have seen a lot of hostility toward the Jewish people over the last two thousand years only since their restoration to the land have they been in a position for the nations to “gather to them” in hostility.  Finally we see that God is going to “judge” the nations for their mistreatment of His people and His land.  He is going to do this in a valley called the valley of Jehoshaphat.  There is a double meaning in that name.  First of all the name Jehoshaphat (remember he was a former king of Judah) means “Yahweh judges” (Yahweh is the proper name for the one true God; the God on Israel who appeared to Moses in the burning bush story (Exodus 3:14).  Scholars are divided on the location of the valley of Jehoshaphat.  Some identify it with a small valley near Jerusalem while others think it is also called the Valley of Jezreel and is the place where Jehoshaphat was killed.  Part of this valley is also known as the valley of Megido or Har-magedon.  In English we have morphed this name into Armageddon.  In Revelation 16:16-19:21 we see a battle fought in this valley between Jesus and the nations.  This occurs when Jesus returns to the Earth from Heaven to set up his kingdom on Earth.  Although many people believe this to be the final battle of all time and identify it with he end of the world that is really a mistake.  After the battle Jesus establishes his kingdom for 1000 years (Revelation 20).  At the end of the 1000 years Satan is released on the Earth to test people who have been born during the 1000 years.  There is a brief rebellion which is stopped by Jesus.  After that rebellion comes the final judgment of all human beings and the establishment of a new heavens and a new Earth.  Verses 9-16 seem to be a description of these final battles.  The end of verse 16 and verse 17 show us that God is loving, faithful and protecting.  This them of love and judgement continues to the end of the chapter.

The prophecy of Joel shows a balanced view of God.  He will deal with sin but he is also loving and faithful to his promises.  The people of Judah have been warned to turn their hears back to God and given the hope that, for those who di, there will be a good and pleasant future kingdom for them.  But remember the prophecy in Joel 2:28 that Peter applied to the believers in Jeus in his day.  That prophecy is for “all mankind”.  Some of god’s promises are specifically for the physical descendants of Jacob but many of them apply to all of us.  And the offer of peace with God through the promised king of Israel, the messiah, the Christ, Jesus, is for all of us.  John taught us that as many as receive Jesus, believe who he is and what he has done, will be saved from God’s judgment and allowed into His forever kingdom (John 1:12).  Eacch of us must decide and respond.  Each of us needs to “return to Him with all our heart”.  The choice belongs to each of us.

God thank you for being loving.  Thank you for the opportunity to return.  Thank you for not judging each of us immediately like the angels were judged.  Thank you for your Spirit who helps me live for you.  Help me respond to him each day and live a life tht is pleasing to you.  Help me share this good news with others until “the day of the Lord” is fulfilled.