"Country Boy"


BIBLE READING:  Amos 1-5

               Amos was an interesting “fella” (and yes, I use that term on purpose).  You see, he was a country boy in every aspect; he was a “herdsman of Tekoa” (Amos 1:1) and describes himself as being “no prophet”, no “son of a prophet”, but a “sheep breeder and a tender of sycamore fruit.” (Amos 7:14)  Here was this country boy sent to the BIG CITY of Bethel in Israel.  He would be perceived as an outsider, and that would work well for him because he would be unsympathetic to the pampered lifestyle the people of Bethel were leading at the time.  In fact, Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, was in direct opposition to him (Amos 7:10-13) and basically told him to “GET OUT!”  The difficulty that Amos found was that the Israelites were so prosperous at the time that the rich got richer, and the poor got poorer.  Amos 5:11 says that they “tread down the poor”.  Amos 6:4-7 describes them as people who “lie on beds of ivory, stretch out on your couches, eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall; who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments, and invent for yourselves musical instruments like David; who drink wine from bowls, and anoint yourselves with the best ointments, but are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.”  Amos 3:15 describes them as having summer houses and winter houses.   Amos 4:1 describes them as people “who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands – ‘Bring wine, let us drink!’”  One of their sins mentioned in Amos 2:6 was that “they sell the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals.”  And here comes Amos… the country boy himself, to remind them that luxury, convenience, and material things can corrupt even those with the best intentions.  It is not sinful to have comforts and conveniences, but remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6:21: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  May we always look to “the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Hebrews 11:10)
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