Purpose: God uses Amos to give a summons for justice. His purpose is to hold up the plumb line
of His own righteousness against the crookedness of the people of God and shame
them into repentance, particularly their lack of compassion and care for the poor.
Key Verses: 3:1-2; 4:12; 5:24; 6:12; 8:11-12
Key Chapter: Chapter 4
Key Words: “The LORD” (21x); “Yet” (10x); “Seek” (4x); “Justice” (4x)
Key Phrases: “For three transgressions . . . and for four” (8x); “I will not revoke its punishment” (8x);
“yet you have not . . .” (5x)
Author: Amos, a shepherd from Tekoa (a town 12 miles south of Jerusalem)
Over the last few days, I have read the book of Amos 3.5 times. Hopefully, I will finish the fourth time through this evening. It is part of a month-long-soak in the text of a book I have only preached from once in nearly 50 years of ministry and reading the Bible. (That’s embarrassing!)
This afternoon, as I was reading, I had an intriguing thought for a longer study through the whole Bible based on an observation of Amos. I started to make a list of every person mentioned in the book. I thought it would be pretty easy. But then I thought of “unnamed people” (for example: “the judges of Moab,” and “the princes of Ammon”). And then there was the names that are actually stand-ins or synonyms for Israel or Judah. The list got quite long. (I’ll attach a PDF to this post of the chart I made at a future date.)
But then it hit me:
“I wonder how many different names or terms or even metaphors,
God uses to describe His people throughout the Bible?
What might I learn from God’s descriptions of His people?”
And so, that will be my new project for the year—tracing every name, title, term, metaphor and image that God uses (both good and bad) to describe His covenant people. I am going to use the New American Standard Version (1995 Update) for this project because of its literal renderings. If you would like to join me in the search, I would love to dialogue with you about what you learn.
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