preparing for Sunday
If there are any of you who check this blog regularly, you will notice I haven’t posted in a couple of days. I am studying and preparing for teaching this Sunday for the church I serve. I am excited, and it takes quite a bit of preparation and focus. Lord-willing, I will stick the manuscript up here after Sunday. But until then, I will probable be studying Mark 10:1-16, discerning God’s message for Core.
Your prayers would be very appreciated. Here are a couple of things to pray for:
(1) That our church (that is, the people who make up our community) would have open hearts and welcoming hearts towards children of all ages.
(2) That the truth of Scripture concerning children wouldn’t just pass by like a one-sermon study can tend to do. For me, a lot of what I am sharing Sunday, was totally new to me. I would have never thought about it unless someone pressed me on it. I am hoping and praying that the Spirit of God would press our people to really care about it.
(3) That people would enter the kingdom of God as little children. There is a lot we can learn from how children receive gifts. And Jesus said we should enter his kingdom as children receive (Mark 10:15). By describing how children receive, I am praying that some men or women will want to receive Jesus Himself.
against Moab
Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom. So I will send a fire upon Moab and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth, and Moab shall die amid uproar, amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet; I will cut off the ruler from its midst, and will kill all its princes with him,” says the Lord. Amos 2:1-3.
This prophecy sounds strange right from the beginning. It is led off with the usual reasons (for three and for four…), but then Moab’s sin seems stranger. They burned the bones of the king of Edom down to lime. What does that mean? God doesn’t even point out Moab’s sins against Israel. He is pointing out one of their sins against Edom, a nation that had sinned against Israel.
The answer begins back in 2 Kings 3. In this story we find that the King of Israel and the King of Edom have managed to align themselves together against the King of Moab. Early on, Israel and Edom are worried that they are going to fail because their men are without water. Fighting men without water are way too weak. They odds seem stacked against Israel and Edom. They assume they are going to lose. So they seek outside help by calling on Elisha, a prophet of Yahweh. Elisha prophesies that God will miraculously provide water even though it won’t rain or storm. And God does.
Through another miracle of God, the Moabites see all of the miraculously-provided water as blood. They think that Israel and Edom have turned against themselves and are killing one another, so the Moabites rush in to grab the spoils of war. Instead they find refreshed, strengthened fighting men who seize upon them and begin to war against them. Now the odds seem stacked against Moab in a big way. The Moab fighters begin to turn back and flee; they are literally running for their lives. The King of Moab recognizes that they will all soon be killed, so he calls for outside help – just like Israel and Edom did earlier.
But the way that the King of Moab calls for outside help is radically different from the way the Kings of Israel and Moab called for help:
26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him 700 swordsmen to break through, opposite the king of Edom, but they could not. 27 Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own land. 2 Kings 3:26-27.
He sacrificed his own son by burning him. And it looks like it worked because Israel and Edom withdrew and didn’t totally destroy the army of Moab. But you can imagine the anguish and fury and bitterness that has now been planted into the heart of the King of Moab. He had to burn his own son. He offered his son as a burnt offering to whatever gods the Moabites were worshiping at that time. It would have been excruciating to have to do something like this. And I am sure he felt forced to do it by his very enemies.
Now the King of Moab is out for revenge. He had to burn his son’s body, and he will see to it that he gets to burn the bodies of his enemies. It is revenge. He will have nothing less. And he gets his wish. Somehow the Moabites manage to get the body of the King of Edom. The Bible doesn’t tell us how. Maybe they capture the king of Edom and burned him alive; maybe they dug up his body after he died and was buried; maybe they killed him in another battle and then burned him after he was dead. We don’t know. But we do know, from Amos’ prophecy, that they got their revenge by burning his bones down to lime. This was the capstone of their sins, the icing on the cake of their sins. This is what made the full glass of sin overflow.
And revenge didn’t just lead to burning the king. They burned them to lime so that they could use that lime to white-wash their walls or ceilings. And you can only guess that they used that lime to white-wash the walls or ceilings of their royal palaces. This is the King of Moab taking sweet joy in his revenge against the King of Edom. He utterly disrespects the king’s death by burning his bones down to lime. And now he gets the sheer joy of sitting on his throne and looking at the washed walls around him knowing that they have been washed with the dead King of Edom. Sweet revenge. The King of Moab is savoring his sweet revenge.
Therefore, what is God’s judgment against the Moabites? Very similar to other nations, he will send a fire upon them that will devour the strongholds of Kerioth. As you can guess, Kerioth was the chief city of Moab. God once again attacks the very spot that Moab would think is most secure, and he destroys that strong place. And just as fire was used to exact revenge on the King of Edom, God will now use fire to exact justice upon Moab. The judgment goes on to say that Moab will die amid uproar and shouting and the sound of trumpet. Or, in other words, they will die in heated battle. Finally, God says he will cut off the ruler from the midst of the nation. This is (most likely) the ruler that authorized the burning of the bones. The very one who was responsible for the burning of the bones will himself be cut off, put to death. Justice will be served to him. And, maybe most tragically, all the princes will be cut off as well. The ruler, the leader will suffer fully for his consequences, and his sons will, too. Moab will receive their judgment in full for their sins.
against Ammon
Thus says the Lord: “For the three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border. So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour her strongholds, with shouting on the day of battle, with a tempest on the day of the whirlwind; and their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together,” says the Lord. Amos 1:13-15
Upon the first read of this passage, the thing that obviously leaps out is the heinous, disgusting fact that the Ammonites actually ripped open pregnant women. Barbarous. When the image first comes up it is immediately abominable. My mind wants to find a way to move on to something else. It wants to think of anything but that. It is beastly and detestable. Could humans really do this? Did a nation’s army really storm into Gilead, kill the adults, and rip open women to kill unborn children? How could a human being really do that? It is obscene and offensive. It is repulsive and repugnant. Real adults ripping open dead pregnant women to kill unborn children. How could this be? What would drive someone to do that?
The shortest answer I would venture for why the Ammonites would do this is: their own personal, jealous, covetous desire for the future they wanted. Amos says it in a more historically connected way: that they might enlarge their border.
Here is some background information. Gilead was a territory that belonged to Israel. It was theirs. But other nations around Israel tried to take possession of Gilead (as shown in Amos 1:3). Ammon wanted Gilead, too, so they stormed in to take possession of it. Some commentators suggest this might have happened at the same time that Babylon was sieging Jerusalem. The Ammonites were cowardly enough to wait until Israel was weak before they struck. They knew they couldn’t go for the gusto (of taking Jerusalem), but their jealousy and anger drove them enough to try to get Gilead. Apparently, the self-concerned jealousy was strong, really strong. They were so passionate about their own future that they were willing to make sure the people of Israel had no future. They didn’t just kill men and women, the adults who lived now; they killed the unborn children within the women, the future people of Israel. The Ammonites sought to make sure Israel had no future.
Jealousy, greed, covetousness, self-perpetuation, triumphalism. There could be a host of motives involved here. But one thing is for sure: their heart’s motive drove them deep into abominable practices. To put it generally one more time: their own personal, jealous, covetous desire for the future they wanted drove them to kill the unborn.
The following verses show that God didn’t like this. He did not take it lightly. What is God’s prophecy against Ammon? It starts with God kindling a fire in Rabbah. The fire is begun in the capitol city of Ammon. Then it spreads to devour all of Ammon’s strongholds, its safe places and strong towers. The next two lines are full of images and sounds of what this destruction of Ammon would be like:
…with shouting on the day of battle,
with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind.
So it is not just fire. It is loud shouting, wailing, screaming in the midst of battle. There would be a host of shouts, I would guess. The army of the attacking nation would shout as they charged through Ammon. The people of Ammon would scream as they were destroyed. The wails would go up and the shrieks would be loud. It is battle. Furthermore, it is a like a battle that blows through as a tempest would. An on-land hurricane blasts through Ammon. The destruction of Ammon is like a whirlwind, raging through destroying even the things it doesn’t touch. To put it succinctly, a hurricane of war – not a stream or river of war, an entire hurricane of war. Against Ammon.
One highlighted outcome of this hurricane of war is that Ammon’s king will be taken into exile, both he and his princes. Who are the princes? The princes are the children of the king. This connects back to Ammon’s destruction of the unborn children of Israel. God is now judging Ammon by taking both the king and the king’s sons into exile. No one will be left to rule Ammon.
Historically, did this come true? Of course. Babylon did it to the Ammonites. Ammon was thrilled when Babylon invaded Israel, and their chance to take Gilead has finally come. Now the same nation that took Israel is taking them. Babylon blasted through like a war-hurricane, wiping out the Ammonites and carrying their king and his princes into exile. (This is quite similar to what they did to Israel.)
What is the take-away today for this prophecy from thousands of years ago? Thus far, every prophecy has had an impact on life today. Though it is sensitive, I can’t help but draw the connection between what Ammon did to unborn children and what millions of Americans do to unborn children. We kill them. I know that is a short, blunted way of talking about abortion. But it is true. On average, there are more than 1.5 million unborn children killed each year in our nation alone. Statistically, by the end of today another 3,700 children will be killed. All sorts of people are having these abortions:
Women identifying themselves as Protestants obtain 37.4% of all abortions in the U.S.; Catholic women account for 31.3%, Jewish women account for 1.3%, and women with no religious affiliation obtain 23.7% of all abortions. 18% of all abortions are performed on women who identify themselves as “Born-again/Evangelical”. The Center for BioEthical Reform
My hope and prayer is that I could love and care for families in such a way as to help them love life. It is possible – though I certainly wouldn’t say this is absolute – that many of these abortions take place because the parents are more concerned about their own future than they are concerned for their child’s future. There may be desperation; there may be confusion; there may be a worry about money; there may be pure selfishness; there may be an inability to comprehend what exactly is happening to the baby. But through it all, there very well could be a desire for a preferred future. And that preferred future does not include the child. It is to this particular motive and resulting sin that God has spoken very clearly in Amos 1:13-15.
May God give me the grace to be a part of loving and healing those parents who have committed this sin. May God give me the grace of being a part of something that removes the fear of the future from those who might have abortions. As a Christian, I believe abortion is a sin. And as a Christian, I want to help this process – not just speak against it. May God grant me such grace. And may millions more children be birthed because of his overwhelming love for children and their future.
against Edom
11 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever. 12 So I will send a fire upon Teman and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.” Amos 1:11-12.
Just like God’s prophecy against Tyre related to the once-brotherly connections between them, now God’s prophecy against Edom relates to the actual, physical brotherly connections between them. It goes all the way back to Jacob and Esau. The Bible tells us that from the moment of conception, they were struggling against one another (Genesis 25:22). Rebekah, their mom, was wondering what was going on in the womb; when she asked God about it, he told her there were 2 nations in her womb, 2 peoples who will be divided, 1 will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger (Genesis 25:23). They were twins, and Esau was born first. By the nature of being born first, Esau gains the birthright and his father’s blessing, both of which are massively important to their culture and in redemptive history. Jacob was a sneaky, conniving, manipulative, two-faced kind of man who was also a momma’s boy (Genesis 25:27-28). Jacob used all of these character traits to yank from Esau both his birthright (Genesis 25:29-34) and his blessing (Genesis 27). So the prediction of God came true: the older ended up having to serve the younger.
As you can imagine (especially if you are the oldest child in your family), this infuriated Esau. Though he despised his birthright and sold it himself (Genesis 25:34), he also despised his brother, Jacob. And when he found out Jacob had faked his way in to receiving their dad’s blessing, he was raving mad, ready to kill Jacob as soon as possible; so Jacob fled the scene (Genesis 27:41-45). These men were brothers, but they hated one another. There was deeply rooted bitterness, hatred, and anger between the two brothers. The stories we see in Scripture of Jacob deceiving and manipulating his brother are probably not the only ones that ever happened. It bears repeating: these brothers hated one another.
Jacob went on to become Israel (Genesis 32:28), from whom the whole nation of Israel is derived. Esau went on to marry an Ishmaelite woman, and that eventually led to the people of Edom (Genesis 28:6-9; Genesis 36:6-8). Along the lines, Jacob and Esau met again and did not kill each other. But they ended up going their separate ways instead of living in peace together. And separately their people grew up behind them. Eventually it led to 2 nations, just as God predicted: the Israelites and the Edomites.
Later, the Israelites were given instructions to relate to the Edomites with care and gentleness – not with fighting nor with stealing (Deuteronomy 2:2-8). The Israelites were strictly told to not hate the Edomites because the Edomites are their brothers (Deuteronomy 23:7). In his law and requirements, God saw fit that the Israelites and Edomites should love one another and deal with one another kindly. As you can guess, though, the human heart is exceedingly sinful (Jeremiah 17:9).
Amos 1:11-12 makes it pretty clear that Israel and Edom didn’t manage to deal with one another kindly. The roots of bitterness in their hearts went way deeper than the moments of pretending to like one another. Now God is going to judge Edom for their sin in this matter. God highlights 4 things:
(1) Edom pursued his brother with the sword. But let it be clear that Edom didn’t line up in battle and go to war against Israel. Edom’s anger and bitterness and cowardice drove them to something much more despicable. Edom would pursue Israel with the sword once another enemy had already delivered the fatal blow. As cowards, they only chased from behind and never went face-to-face with Israel. You can see this in other places of Amos 1. When people like the Philistines and the people of Tyre wanted to make money off of the people of Israel (Amos 1:6, 9), they knew which country would love to kick Israel while they are on the ground – the Edomites. The Edomites were the people who loved take the sucker punch against Israel.
(2) Edom cast off all pity when they attacked Israel with the sword. Matthew Henry states it so powerfully in his commentary,”Those that are least courageous are commonly most cruel.” This was the Edomites. Too scared to confront them face to face, but absolutely brutal in their hurt against Israel. They showed no mercy, no pity. In fact, the literal rendering of the Hebrew language tells us they completely destroyed all the pity in their hearts, which set them free for brutality. As a life application note, the prison of bitterness only makes you free to inflict hurt on others.
(3) Edom’s anger tore perpetually. The image is that of a man ripping his shirt in anger, driven so mad that he has to grab something to rip it apart. But Edom’s anger kept on going, ripping more and more. Their anger tore perpetually. There was no pause button on their anger. Oh, I must be careful. What starts with a little disappointment with a friend can grow into perpetual, ongoing, tearing anger. And the most dangerous thing about anger is that it grows inside of me slowly and subversively. It lingers and lingers and lets its root go deep in my soul. Once it has a firm hold it will erupt. This had happened so much to the Edomites that their anger was constantly flowing, ripping themselves apart, ripping other peoples apart, tearing to shreds their own brother, Israel. May my heart take notice: anger is extremely dangerous, taking control of all I do and feel; it can easily become perpetual.
(4) Edom kept his wrath forever. They could have laid it aside. They could have forgiven. They could have shown mercy. They could have owned their own sin and extended kindness to any who hurt them, including Israel. But they kept their wrath forever. They never forgave. The root of bitterness was lodged so deep in them that they probably didn’t even see the possibility of forgiveness, so they never laid aside their wrath. They kept it forever.
These four things lead to God’s judgment against them. And his judgment is just like the others in Amos 1: he will send a fire upon Teman, and that fire will also destroy the strongholds of Bozrah. Both Teman and Bozrah were cities of Edom. Did this judgment really happen? To be honest, I am having trouble finding historical evidence that it did. But based on sheer probability (that God keeps his word 100% of the time), I am sure it did, just like the prophecies against Damascus, Gaza, and Tyre all proved true.
against Tyre
9 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they delivered up a whole people to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood. 10 So I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour her strongholds.” Amos 1:9-10.
To understand what God is so angry at, it would be good to get the historical context of this historical judgment. In Amos 1:9 God mentions a “covenant of brotherhood.” That points us back to 1 Kings 5. The entire chapter is so…well, rosy. Cute, almost. King David has passed away, and his son Solomon has taken the throne. The chapter starts out reminding us that King Hiram (of Tyre, which is in Lebanon) “had always loved David.” So the very first image is of two peaceful kings of bordering nations. They could fight for land or people or riches, but they are peaceful; they love one another. The chapter goes on to become even more like an old-school guy-type fairy tale. Solomon sends word to King Hiram that he now plans to build a temple for Yahweh, the one true God. Israel has peace now, and so it is time to build. In the letter, Solomon asks for Hiram’s help. Solomon asks for workers (whom Solomon would pay), he asks for resources from Tyre (the cedars of Lebanon), and he asks for their expertise (because nobody knows cedar timbers quite like King Hiram’s people).
You might expect that such demands would be met with at least some sort of bargaining or push-back. But King Hiram actually rejoices and blesses the Lord! Hiram writes back to Solomon letting him know he got his message and that he is ready to do all that Solomon desires. And that is exactly what Hiram does; he wasn’t just blowing smoke or flattering a buddy. In this snapshot of history you can see a really powerful relationship and friendship built between two leaders of nations. They care for one another. They lead their own people to care for the other nation. They listen to one another. They respond with kindness to one another. There is a good relationship between the two of them.
So, at this time, King Hiram and King Solomon make a treaty (1 Kings 5:12). And it is certainly, as God calls it, a covenant of brotherhood (Amos 1:9). If 1 Kings 5 was the only chapter in this story it would certainly be a powerful, hope-filled, inspiring story of leadership and relationship.
But this is only one chapter in a long history between these two peoples. Somewhere along the line the people of Tyre forget the covenant of brotherhood. It no longer means anything to them. Most likely there was an attack or a large-scale siege on the people of Israel. The Israelites flee to what they think might be safe haven – Tyre, where they have this old covenant of brotherhood. Their kings used to be buddies. They should be safe there, right?
Wrong. The people of Tyre sell the Israelites to the people of Edom. They deliver them up to Edom. (This is quite similar to, and maybe interconnected with, what Gaza did to God’s people in Amos 1:6.) The very place that might grant some safety for the Israelites who escaped turns out to be a trap-box that gets wrapped up and sent into slavery. Who cares about brotherhood now? We can make some money off of these weaklings. And so the people of Tyre do. You can see the heights from which they have fallen. The relationship, over the years, has deteriorated to the point of meaning nothing. Words on a paper in the form of an official treaty are absolutely empty without a relationship. Mere law is lifeless without relationship.
The punishment for Tyre is nothing new as I read through Amos 1. The line is very similar to the punishment for Damascus and Gaza. The Lord will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre. That fire will destroy her strongholds (Amos 1:10). God will start by taking out the city’s protection, its walls. Then he will proceed to bring down the next safest places, their strongholds. Those walls were useless to the people of Israel because they were pushed outside of them. Those strongholds were turned against the people of Israel. God says he will destroy them by fire.
Did it happen? By now I am beginning to know the answer to this question. Yes, it happened. History tells us, “Many parts of Tyre were burnt by fiery missiles of the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar. Alexander of Macedon subsequently overthrew it” (Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown’s Commentary).
The take-away applications from this particular prophecy are glaringly obvious to me: First, relationships matter to God. Since I don’t know the history between the time of the treaty and the time of forsaking the treaty, I can only guess at what may have happened. And, most likely, both Tyre and Israel failed to nurture and maintain their relationship. It is so shocking to me the degree to which relationships can change. Nations can go from being very, very close allies and friends to delivering one another up to slavery and exile. Those are opposite ends of the spectrum.
Second, giving your word matters to God – not just the other party. Even though the relationship may have deteriorated, God still held Tyre accountable to their word. Reading between the lines, I would suggest that it is easier to keep your word over time and within relationship. This option is much better than keeping your word in a crisis when you don’t care about the other party. Indeed, keeping your word over time and in relationship is what enables you to keep your word in those moments of crisis and even those moments when you don’t like the other party all that much. Relationships matter to God. Relationships are not just something that us humans came up with to try to get by and make this world a better place to live. Relationships matter to God himself.
Alexander Strauch’s Biblical Eldership
I am grateful to God for Alexander Strauch’s work, Biblical Eldership. As I have read the book, there have been many moments of God working in my heart, highlighting his truths, deepening my convictions about church leadership, and opening my eyes to brand new light. I have really enjoyed the book. I will highlight three gifts God has given me through this book. There are many others, but I want to at least share three of them.
The first thought that has challenged me most is this: being a pastor means being a shepherd. I have had two different experiences with church leadership. In the first, being a pastor meant being a director or administrator or CEO. In the second, being a pastor meant being a leader who reports to the shepherds. Strauch showed me a third way: being a pastor means being a shepherd. Yes, there are elements of administrating, executing decisions, establishing goals and policies, gathering, directing, and others. But through all those and above all those is shepherding.
Strauch pulls this imagery straight from Scripture. Psalm 23:1-2 portrays Yahweh as our shepherd. In Ezekiel 34 God casts the spiritual leaders of his people as shepherds, drawing incredible parallels. When Paul gathers the pastors of Ephesus, he uses the images of caring for the flock, keeping out the wolves, and being alert, all of which are shepherds’ tasks (Acts 20:28-31). When Peter addresses the elders, his first exhortation is to shepherd the flock of God, and he points to Jesus, our example, as the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:1-4).
What does a shepherd do? That was the question I had in my mind. Strauch pointed to four functions of shepherding, all of which I found very helpful. (1) A shepherd protects the flock (page 17). (2) A shepherd feeds the flock (page 22). (3) A shepherd leads the flock (page 25). (4) A shepherd cares for the practical needs of the flock (page 29). Each of these four functions are full of guidance from the Scriptures and meaning from real-life shepherding.
The second weight that I have felt throughout Strauch’s book is just that: weight. The desire to be an elder-pastor should be fully met with the weight and responsibility of that role. This is no small matter; this is no light consideration. For years now, I have loved the idea of serving a church in this way. Now that I am on the verge of it, I am feeling the weight of it. Scripture, as Strauch points out, makes the weight very clear. James 3:1 is just the beginning: Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
Again, Paul’s urgings to the Ephesians elders stands tall in this area. Before he gives them their charge, he examines his own. And he examines his own charge and calling in very weighty, almost scary terms in Acts 20:26-27: Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Those are the words of a man who knows he is accountable for his work. He has a clear course and ministry (Acts 20:24) in mind that he had to finish. It wasn’t a drifting, a trying-something-out, a let’s-give-it-a-shot type of deal. It was his life and breath. He felt the weight of the calling.
As I was feeling this weight throughout the book, I thought I had tasted it enough. Then Strauch referred to Ezekiel 3:18-19: If I say to the wicked, “You shall surely die,” and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. Thank God for Jesus Christ! But at the same time I see the weight that is given to shepherd-leaders, to prophet-leaders, to teacher-leaders among God’s people. As I read this passage I remember similar passages from God’s law early in the Scriptures. This wasn’t a one-time, random interjection from God. It was a real and stern warning to the watchmen of God’s people. Thus I have began to start feeling the weight of a watchman a little more.
Based on all of this, I hope to follow Strauch’s wisdom when he says, “…a wise individual will never rush into leadership. The knowledge that a leader must give an account to God should greatly affect the leader’s quality of spiritual leadership” (page 272).
One other gift I will mention from reading Strauch’s book is the realization of the overflowing need to disciple men. When a church doesn’t have elders, it is not first because they have bad structure. When a church doesn’t have elders, it flagrantly points to the fact that the leaders of that church have not discipled men. No man is born an elder. There is no magic potion to transition a man from a beginning Christian to a steadfast, spiritual leader like an elder. It takes time, heart work, hard work, patience, commitment, authority, transparency, and so many other things.
Over the years, I have personally loved mentoring and discipling men, but after reading Strauch’s book I realize I have so far to go. Discipling men for eldership is a difficult task, a totally different task than just basic discipleship. It is more than just equipping a man to love his family, even. As always 2 Timothy 2:2 rings out: And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. That is no easy task (which points back to the weight I mentioned earlier).
One quote that stands out is Strauch’s quote of Bruce Stabbert. He says, “Somebody is going to have to disciple some men. We may not have much more than a bunch of fishermen in our congregation, but they should be discipled. Someone must spend time with them. Someone must teach them. Someone must pray with them and for them. But they can be discipled!” It is much easier to say they should do it on their own. It is easier to ask some other pastor to do it for me. It is easier to cop out and just pass books their way when they are in desperation. It is much more difficult to consistently engage in the years-long, slow-change transformation that Jesus did with his men. May God grant me the grace to walk that road with many, many men in the years to come.
There are other texts that point to discipleship as much more than mere reading of good books (though that is essential and helpful, too). Hebrews 13:7 commands followers to imitate [their leaders’] faith. Followers aren’t commanded to read about it, listen to a sermon about it, write about it, or think about it. They are commanded to imitate their leaders’ faith. There is just as much weight on the leader to be connected in to men enough to be imitated as there is weight on followers to catch and respond to their leaders’ faith.
Jesus’ entire life and initial call of his disciples also rings true. “Follow me,” Jesus said in Matthew 4:19. And they did as Matthew 4:20 shows. They kept following him, and following him, and following him. All the way through three years, they followed him! It wasn’t a 6-week book study or a 12-week intensive or a 1-week camp. This was full-life discipleship. And I need a lot of grace from God to live this way with other men. I thank God for men like Alexander Strauch who call us to this way of living, who paint this picture for us in words.
So, in conclusion, I would say the three main gifts I received from reading Alexander Strauch’s Biblical Eldership were these. (1) Being a pastor means being a shepherd. (2) Being a pastor is weighty. (3) Being a pastor means discipling men.
against Gaza: the consequences
In the last post, I established what Judah had faced. Gaza wanted to completely wipe them out, rid the earth of them, and cut off all memory of them. To that end, they carried the whole of Judah away in exile captivity to the people of Edom (Judah’s worst enemies). One of Judah’s enemies (Gaza) delivered Judah over to another of Judah’s enemies (Edom). So what are the consequences for Gaza?
As a whole, God promises to do them as they have done unto others. To take it even further, God promises to do to them what they wished they could do to others. Amos 1:6-8 says it.
First, he sends a fire against the wall of the city of Gaza – the headquarters of the Philistines. Was it a literal fire? I am not for sure. But the point is that God attacked what Gaza used as defense. He overtook the key city of the Philistines.
Then God promises to cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, another city of the Philistines. The words are strong here. God is giving the Philistines what they wanted to give to others. He is going to cut them off. This is exactly what they were hoping to do to Judah. When the Philistines say they are going to cut off the Judaites, they can only try. When God says he is going to cut off the Philistines, they’re doomed because God doesn’t just try; he succeeds. He starts in Gaza, then proceeds to Ashdod.
Then God promises to cut off him who holds the scepter in Ashkelon, another city of the Philistines. The leaders – the scepter-holders – will be wiped out, too. God moves right along to the next major city, Ekron. You can get the sense of what God is saying. He is going to march right through Philistia and wipe out every last one of them. Just in case anyone misses the point, though, God finishes by saying that even the remnant of Philistia will perish. Those who run, will be found and cut off. Those who survive the initial attacks, will still get caught. Those who linger a little longer, still lose.
There are at least 2 things I can learn from this prophecy against Judah’s enemies. (1) Every last sin of mine will be dealt with. Thank you, Jesus, for dealing with my sin on the cross. You didn’t just seek out and destroy the biggies; you didn’t just do away with the most strategic sins. You dealt with all of those and the little ones, the easy ones, the sneaky ones. You dealt with all of them; not even a remnant (one day) will be left. This is good news to me. There is a promise in this judgment that sin will not be left untouched, it will not be swept under the rug, it will not find a hiding place in the closet. Sin deserves punishment. Oh, thank God for mercy! Every last sin has been punished and forgiven. No matter how hard I try to hide them, even the remnant will perish. But God, in his mercy, will spare all who trust in his Son, Jesus. And (2) greed is a powerful motive. Greed? Where did that come from? That seems like it is from out of nowhere. What are you talking about? It struck me that the Philistines had explicitly sworn to completely rid the earth of the people of Judah. So why did they take them to exile in Edom instead of just kill them? If they had the chance to kill them, why not do it and get it over with? My best guess (and this might be reading too much in to it) is that they would rather sell the people of Judah and make some money off of them. They do the capturing and humiliating, they get to take home the spoils of war, and they also get to make some money by selling the people they just defeated. If they kill them they can keep the spoils, but they can’t make money off of their deaths. Maybe greed drove them to sell them instead of kill them. And in the end, greed came back to bite them. They paid for it.
Finally, once again I ask, did this really happen? Did God really have his justice? Or is it mere threats? I believe God had his justice, and you can see it in 2 Kings 18:8. King Hezekiah routed them. And he started with the watchtower (i.e., the walls of Gaza, where the watchtowers for Philistia would be), and he finished by wiping out every fortified city (i.e., Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Ekron). Quite precisely, God made sure his words did not return null or void or empty or incomplete. He sees to it that his word is sure. Furthermore, Uzziah also had his way with the Philistines (2 Chronicles 26:6). And, finally, “Subsequently to the subjugation of the Philistines by Uzziah, and then by Hezekiah, they were reduced by Psammetichus of Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar, the Persians, Alexander, and lastly the Asmoneans (Jamieson, Fausset & Brown Commentary on Amos 1:3-15).” God’s word does not return void (Isaiah 55:11).
against Gaza: the sworn enemies of Judah
Gaza strikes me as somewhat more interesting because it is the name of a current-day city. And the current-day city is right in the vicinity of the Gaza mentioned in this passage of Amos. The inhabitants of Gaza were the arch-nemesis of the people of Judah and Israel. They were the Philistines. Goliath (of David & Goliath fame) was a Philistine. Throughout the time that they knew each other, Israel and the Philistines were at each others throat most of the time (much like it is today). It is probably safe to assume that Amos is personally glad, maybe even excited about this judgment from God.
Amos 1:6 states that Gaza has committed many sins (for 3 and for 4), but God singles out one in particular: they have carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom. Historically, it is unclear just which time God is referring to here, which makes it all the more understanding why Gaza deserves this punishment. It might have been the time when they took all of Jehoram’s family and all of his possessions, every last bit (2 Chronicles 21:17). Or it might refer to the time when, with Tyre and Sidon, they took all the silver and gold and rich treasures of Judah and followed that up by selling the people of Jerusalem and Judah to the Greeks (Joel 3:4-6). Or – most likely – it might be the time when they sold them directly to the Edomites, another sworn enemy of Judah. Basically, the Philistines were in alliance with the other nations surrounding Judah to wipe them off the land, send them into exile to whomever would take them, and cut them off as a people from the face of the earth. Psalm 83:4-7 speaks of nations that explicitly want to wipe Israel out as a nation, making sure the name of Israel is remembered no more. And it isn’t just one nation; it is many: Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites, Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia and Tyre. These countries that were in the modern-day Middle East were sworn enemies of Israel, partnering together to wipe them off the face of this earth.
Sound familiar?
It is almost no different from today. There are many countries surrounding Israel and in their region that are explicitly sworn enemies of Israel with the stated goal of wiping Israel off the face of the earth. You might think it is just a middle eastern deal, but it isn’t. Throughout history there have been many others (the most obvious example is Hitler’s Germany) who have made it an explicit goal to wipe Israel off the face of this earth. Over and over again Israel lives with the threat of death and destruction staring them in the face. It is nothing new to them. It makes David’s plea in Psalm 122:6 sound both ludicrous and urgent all at the same time: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May they be secure who love you!
I love the Jewish people. I have had the high honor of meeting many of them, spending a few weeks in their homeland, walking with them in ministry, learning from them, and serving them. I have talked with Jewish people who know and love Jesus, their Messiah. And I have talked with Jewish people who think that trusting in Yeshua is absurd – they are still waiting for the Messiah, missing the True Messiah. And I have talked with those who missed the Messiah for years, only to have their eyes opened to Jesus later in life. I love the Jewish people. May there be peace in Jerusalem! And I pray that the peace will come through Yeshua (Jesus) as the message and life of Jesus spreads throughout Israel. One day we will see it and hear it and taste it and feel it as an overwhelming love for and trust in Jesus will ripple through Israel (Romans 11:25-26). Those days will be the best days this world has seen in a long, long, long time (Romans 11:15).
At the same time, I love Palestinians and Syrians and Lebanese and Iranians and Iraqis. The love of Jesus is for them, too. And I hope that hundreds and thousands of them will hear the message of Jesus, lose their life, and place their trust in Jesus Christ.
While I’m here, I would highly recommend a book: Your People Shall Be My People, by Don Finto. There is much more that can be said about the Jewish people and their promised return to Jesus. Don Finto says it well.
Hopefully this paints a picture of what Judah was facing from the people of Gaza, and what they have been facing for thousands of years since. Lord-willing, next post we will look at God’s judgment against those who treated Judah this way.
against Damascus
In Amos 1, it is difficult for me to really understand what these nations did. I know they did things over and over again, and I know they did things that were completely deserving of God’s judgment. Here is how God expresses it in Amos 1:3-5:
Damascus…threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. Damascus was the leading city of Syria, a kingdom to the Northwest of Judah and Israel. They threshed people. They trampled on them, tread upon them, and stomped on them – both figuratively and literally. Amos 1:3 says they threshed the people of Gilead with threshing sledges. These are the sharp-pointed tools people would use to thresh out the grain. This would certainly includ beating, ripping open, and hitting repeatedly. You can get an idea of what Assyria did to Gilead by seeing what they did to Israel. The Bible tells us of the horrible acts of King Hazael, king of Syria in 2 Kings 8:12. These acts were literal, physical, purposeful acts. And they made God angry. At the same time Assyria also figuratively threshed the people of Israel (2 Kings 13:7). The destruction was not an isolated event; it was widespread throughout the land. It would be safe to assume that Damascus is now being held responsible for the same kind of devastation that they inflicted upon Gilead.
So what is God’s judgment on Damascus? On the first read, his judgment is also hard to undertand. What is God really saying? I am sure this made sense to Amos’ listeners at the time, but I would like to connect the dots myself and discover what God is saying. Scripture is so beautiful and powerful that I can’t help but think that hidden within the judgments of God against foreign nations are nuggets of Gospel-truth. But it does take digging sometimes.
God will send a fire upon the house of Hazael; that fire will devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. Hazael is the king of Syria. Immediately, I find it interesting that God goes straight to the top. He is sending a fire upon the house of the king. There is no respect of positions in God; he will rise up and take down as he desires. Furthermore – and this is scary to me – God doesn’t only send fire upon King Hazael. He sends fire upon the house of King Hazael. We are talking about his family, his home, those closest to him. We are talking about his possessions, his riches, and what he enjoys the most. Ultimately, as king, it was Hazael who commissioned and authorized all of the horrible atrocities committed by his people. The consequences of his leadership will now affect those closest to him. There is something to be learned here about leadership. Leaders don’t just affect themselves when they sin. Leaders affect many others when they sin. One leaders’ sin can have consequences that hurt many others.
God’s fire will devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. The strongholds of Ben-hadad were the extravagant, well defended, firmly built up palaces of the princes of Syria (many of whom were of the Ben-hadad family). In other words, God was going to destroy their version of the Pentagon, their version of key military headquarters, and their version of the White House. He would do it with a fire. Can you imagine hearing that judgment if you are Syria? These overbearing, strong leaders who are known for killing children and ripping open pregnant women hear from a backwoods shepherd in Judah that God is going to send a fire on their Pentagon, key military headquarters, and White House. I am guessing they laughed in derision and sent Amos back to have other delusions while watching his sheep in the blistering heat. Amos was probably good entertainment for them.
But God goes on. He says He will break the gate-bar of Damascus. He is promising that the most central gate of this huge, powerful city will be broken through. This gate would have been massive. It would not have been the only gate to the city, but it would have been the most sturdy gate, the most important gate. And it would have bar after bar of strong iron that should easily keep out savage intruders. You can see what God is doing here. He is picking all of Damascus’ most treasured places, and he is going right after them. He is identifying Syria’s strongest defenses and blatantly telling them he will tear them down. All of the might of a barbarous people or all of the intelligence of a developed people could not stop God from bringing his judgment upon them. Might does not make right. And so God has set out to prove that might is no match against him.
With the White House, Pentagon, and central military posts all up in flames, and with the strongest and last defense of the city torn open, what does God do next? He isn’t done, that is for sure. (1) God will cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven. For Syria, their gods were gods of the valley. So God is saying he will wipe out their false worship, their version of religion. (2) God will cut off him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden. Beth-eden refers to the house of pleasure, a place of immense sensuality and sin. And the one holding the scepter would be the leader of this sinful-pleasure, sensuality den. God is saying he will do away with their favorite places of sin. (3) God will send the people of Syria into exile to Kir. Damascus will be completely taken and the people will be sent to Kir.
Great story, serious threats, but did this really happen? You bet it did (2 Kings 16:9). God does not make empty threats; he does not emotionally manipulate. Therefore, when he speaks, it is best that we listen and obey. Please, God, grant me the grace to hear your warnings, to repent, and to not laugh away the Jesus-freaks. I don’t want to be Damascus or a leader of Damascus. Thank you for Jesus!
Much of the historical information from this post was drawn from Matthew Henry’s commentary.
for three and for four
Throughout the first 2 chapters of Amos, God leads off his judgments with a repeating line. It goes like this: For three transgressions of ___________, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment. My first two initial observations are that God doesn’t strike quickly and that most of these countries have sinned far more than four times.
God does not strike quickly. By pointing out that these regions have sinned (at least!) 3 and 4 times, God is revealing himself as slow to anger. He is not punishing after one small mess up. Indeed, he has been patient through 3 and 4 atrocities. And then it seems that a point comes when God has had enough – maybe that comes at atrocity #4 or maybe that comes at atrocity #57. Only God sees the depths of sin in our atrocities. But when the point comes that God has had enough, he will not revoke the punishment. It is a committed deal, sealed by his promise.
But God does strike. Just imagine for a moment that you are a victim of the Ammonites. This means you have been or your wife has been literally ripped open by these savages, your child has been killed by these savages, and your land has been plundered, burned up, and demolished by these savages. The tragedy comes and goes. Then you are left in your small town – one of the few alive. (As I type this description it strikes me as quite similar to what might be happening in Darfur, Sudan, even now.) What do you think when you are one of the few survivors? What about when years have gone by and there has been no judgment against those Ammonites? What do you do? You can’t man an army to go against them. You can hardly build your flimsy wall back up around your town. You can’t appeal to the political powers; they are rich and corrupt and quite comfortable. How you deal with the screaming demand for justice in your soul?
Though this may risk seeming cheesy, I believe the Bible speaks into this very situation a lot. These judgments in the beginning of Amos speak into this situation. God may not have dealt the justice in the first few days after the tragedy, but he dealt justice. And he did it across the board. He dealt justice when his special people of Judah were hurt. He dealt justice when other nations were hurt. God dealt justice. The deepest issue in my heart when someone hurts me is this: do I believe that God is just, or do I need to make justice happen? If God is capable, can my hurt rest in him? Or do I feel a sense that I need to seek out this retribution.
When you have been struck by another, and you trust that God is just, it is absolutely revolutionary. The words of Jesus are mind blowing, especially if your the father who just lost his wife and child-in-the-womb. “Do not resist. Give them your other cheek (Matthew 5:39). Give them your other provision (Matthew 5:40).” And the urge of Paul (Romans 12:17-21) is so counter-human that it is truly impossible. Only the grace of God overflowing can bring a person to the point where they do not want to repay evil for evil. Instead, they want to give mercy. I think that one of the only promises that can help us get there is that God, who is just, will see to it that justice is done. He did it in Amos – over and over again. And he does it in Jesus – over and over again. The fact is that justice will be carried out. It might be carried out on this earth through a host of different ways. It might be carried out in eternity through God’s wrath in hell. And it might be carried out – and let us pray this is the way – through the cross of Jesus Christ, making mercy available to all. That would be most beautiful.
