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Showing posts from December, 2015

What would the shepherd say to us today

We've finally reached those prophets who wrote books in our Old Testament study. So this week is an introduction to the first half of Amos. I'm not sure if we'll get to the second half before Christmas, but watch this space--we'll get there eventually! (10) Amos The prophet Amos, a shepherd from Tekoa near Bethlehem, hears God’s call in the reign of Uzziah, “two years before the earthquake.” Read Amos 1:1, Zechariah 14:5.  Jewish tradition says the earthquake happened when Uzziah entered the Temple, but Jeroboam was long dead by then, and archeological research suggests it was earlier, around 760BC. Read Amos 1:2. Amos is a shepherd from Carmel. What’s special about Carmel? (Read 1 Samuel 15:10-12, 25:40, 1 Kings 18:19, 2 Kings 2:25, 4:23-25, Song of Solomon 7:5, Jeremiah 50:19) Is this where you’d expect to find a prophet? Read Amos 7:10-15. Clearly it’s not where the established prophetic house expected to find a prophet. What is happening to the establish