passion play

This coming Sunday, we begin a series on the book of Amos: one of the most forgotten books in the Bible, but so very applicable to our situation in America. I’m going to be blogging through the book, giving you insights into the way I study, how I study, but more than that, insights into portions of the Word of God that we have all too often neglected. Hope you enjoy it; here’s my overview. I’ll be teaching the overview and chapter one this week: it’ll be a long one. (Note: Just because you read this doesn’t mean you don’t show up Sunday. It needs to be yelled at you, I promise. )

• Amos was a redneck. Pure and simple: He lived in the South, he was a poor shepherd (some say he was wealthy, I call bluff), he was a stranger to Israel (being from Judah). He would’ve drove a Hemi, flew a confederate flag (’because of tradition’), eat red meat, and watch NASCAR/bass fishing/deer hunting shows on ESPN on Sunday morning. He was also a straight shooter, which we’ll see in later chapters [especially Amos 7 : his argument with Amaziah is hardcore.]
• He preached for no less than a day, no more than four or five, about 750 years before the birth of our Savior. He probably wrote the sermon down himself, being seemingly an educated country boy.
• All this took place around the same time that Hosea, Micah, and Isaiah were roaming the country. Talk about a pastor’s conference! Man, that’d be incredible.
• Amos prophesied before a major earthquake, later recorded by Zechariah, and said by Josephus to coincide with Uzziah’s pride/idolatry/leprosy bout (2 Chronicles 26:19).
• Some major stuff was going down around Israel, as we shall see in Chapter One.

Sources: Wikipedia articles on Amos the prophet and the book of amos, Calvin’s commentary on Amos, Josephus, Bible commentaries via StudyLight.org