The Exile of Israel (Amos 7:10-17)
About a year after we were married, Tammy made a nice meal—T-bones and baked potatoes and green beans and salad and rolls. She set the rolls out from the freezer before going to work and asked me to stick them in the oven.
But Tammy’s instructions weren’t all that clear. You see, there was saran wrap on the top of the glass dish holding the rolls. Tammy didn’t tell me to take that saran wrap off, so I stuck everything in the oven just as she told me. Needless to say, because I goofed, we didn’t have dinner rolls that evening.
How many of you have goofed? Have you ever ordered pizza because you burned dinner? How many of you have started a home improvement project and had to call a professional to finish it? Have any of you ever had a car accident because you weren’t paying attention? Did you ever send a text to the wrong person?
It’s one thing to goof, and it’s another thing altogether to sin against a holy God. Did any of you lose a relationship because you sinned? How many of you carry guilt from a past sin? Did any of your marriages nearly capsize because of sin? Have you ever suffered embarrassment because your sin was discovered?
Amaziah not only goofed; he also sinned. A prophet—Yahweh’s spokesman—stood before him, and Amaziah told Amos to shut up. Because Amaziah told Amos to shut up, his wife would become a prostitute, his kids would be killed, and he himself would go into exile.
We wish to learn a simple lesson this morning: “Not heeding God’s word leads to disaster.”
Scripture (Amos 7:10-17)
verses 10-11:
Amaziah was “the priest of Bethel.” King Jeroboam I—the son of Nebat—feared his people would go to worship in Jerusalem and pledge loyalty to the house of David. Therefore, he constructed golden calves and placed one in Dan and the other in Bethel. Jeroboam I then sacrificed at Bethel and appointed priests there (1 Ki 12:25-33). Amaziah was part of that priesthood.
Amaziah told Jeroboam II that Amos had conspired against him by declaring that Jeroboam would die by the sword and Israel would be exiled. There’s no record Amos said those precise words, but that is an accurate representation of his message.
verses 12-13:
Amos was from the Southern Kingdom of Judah, but he prophesied in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Amaziah told him to go back to Judah and to eat his bread there. Prophets were often professionals paid by the king; Amaziah’s quip about eating bread meant that Amos was to get paid to prophesy in Judah, not Israel.
Amaziah called Bethel “the king’s sanctuary” and “a temple of the kingdom.” He didn’t mention Yahweh. There wasn’t any worship to the living God, only worship to worthless idols.
verses 14-15:
The Hebrew here can (and probably should) be translated in the present tense: “I am not a prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I am a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs.”
Amos wasn’t a professional prophet, and he didn’t choose to be a prophet. He wasn’t a “prophet’s son.” He may mean that literally; sons were expected to follow their father’s occupation. However, one who was studying at a school of prophets was often called the son of a prophet; Amos may mean he never studied to be a prophet.
Amos was a rural farmer whom God called. Amos twice mentioned Yahweh: “The LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’” Amos didn’t choose to prophesy; the living God called him.
verses 16-17:
Although Amaziah didn’t want to hear Amos, Amos told him the truth. Amaziah’s wife would become a prostitute—she would be forced to debase herself because she’d have neither a husband nor sons to support her. Amaziah’s children would all be killed by the Assyrians. Amaziah himself would be exiled and die in “an unclean land.”
Application
“Not heeding God’s word leads to disaster.” Amaziah faced disaster for not heeding God’s word: captivity, the loss of his children, and the knowledge his wife would be a prostitute. What great consequences for not heeding God’s word! But there is a greater consequence—an eternity in a devil’s hell. How can you escape that disaster?
First: You Listen.
Amaziah didn’t Listen to the word of God; he told Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel” (Amos 7:12-13). If Amaziah had taken time to Listen to God’s word, he could have found redemption instead of exile.
To escape an eternal hell, you must Listen to God’s word. How often did our Lord say, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mk 4:9)? The seed sown on good soil which produced an abundant harvest “is the one who hears the word and understands it” (Matt 13:23). How did Mary choose the better portion than Martha? Because Mary “sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching” (Lk 10:39).
How much do you Listen? Do you spend time reading the word that you might Listen to God? Do you seek an understanding of the text that you might truly Listen to God? Do you pay attention to teaching and preaching that you might Listen to God’s truth? Do you Listen?
Second: You Live.
You must also Live God’s word. Amos lived God’s word: “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel’” (Amos 7:14-15). Amos gave up his career, his homeland, and traveled to a foreign land all because God said so. Amos lived God’s word.
Do you Live God’s word? The Lord has always expected obedience to his word. Adam and Eve lost their home in the Garden because they failed to Live God’s word. The Israelites were told: “This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut 26:16). God commands obedience under the law of Christ: “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Eph 5:6). You avoid God’s wrath by doing his will: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt 7:21).
How much do you Live God’s word? How obedient are you? Look at Amos—he abandoned his career and his homeland to Live God’s word. What have you left behind? Have you left behind friends who drug you away from Jesus? Have you discarded sin which drug you to the very pits of hell? Have you surrendered a pleasure to do God’s will? What will you desert to Live God’s word?
Third: You may Leave.
Amaziah refused to listen to God’s word and live God’s word; therefore, God would Leave him in a foreign land: “You yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land” (Amos 7:17).
Is there a worse fate than being left by the God of the universe? God left pagan homosexuals: “Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done” (Rom 1:28). If you continue in sin without repentance, God will wash his hands of you and Leave you to a life of a sin. Yet, nothing could be worse than having God Leave you to suffer eternity in hell. Those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ “will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2 Thess 1:9). What a horrible fate—having God Leave you for all eternity!
Has God left you this morning? It’s not too late to come back to him and claim him as your Father, Listen to his word, and Live his word. If you do that, God will never Leave you: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (Jn 14:23). Is God’s home with you this morning?
This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.