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.
