That Pesky Discipline of Reading Scripture

I'm still reading the minor prophets. I don't know where we got that word from, but their message is anything but "minor." Zechariah - next to last in the set up of these marvelous oracles - pulls no punches. As a person who truly believes that "the Bible is the trustworthy word of God" I simply can't ignore these words. 

 

 

8 And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying,

9 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another,

10 do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart." Zechariah 7:8-10, ESV

These are words the prophet Zechariah spoke to religious and political power brokers during the time the exiles are returning to Jerusalem during the reign of Darius - around 520 - 516 BC. They summon ideas/imperatives found in Deuteronomy.

They are followed by words which report Israel's disobedience to these imperatives: "11 But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. 12 They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets."

The phrase "they made their hearts diamond-hard" is one that jumps off the pages of this ancient prophet in convicting ways for followers of Jesus in our current world.

Those convicting words are then followed by words that make it clear how God feels about this:"Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts.13 "As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear," says the LORD of hosts, 14 "and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the pleasant land was made desolate."

When we confuse religious and political power with the heart and character of God, we can expect to ignore God's call when He calls out to us and for Him to not hear our call when we finally decide to call out to Him.

As John Walton and Brent Sandy say in The Lost World of Scripture, "The legal sayings in the Pentateuch [see reference to Deuteronomy above] revealed the character of Yahweh, and the character of Yahweh has not changed. Believers still have the obligation to reflect that character as they seek to be holy as God is holy. Jesus, as God in the flesh, embodied the character of God, and so the revelation through legal sayings is fulfilled in him, and through him we see how we are to respond to those legal sayings. The authority of the legal sayings is found in the revelation they offer of the character of God and the way they serve as guides to holiness.s" (page 221)

 

For a number of years, when I teach Biblical Interpretation (and other related classes), I insist that one of the first questions we should ask of any text is "What does this text teach me about the character of God?" When I faithfully ask that question - as apparently Zechariah did - I discover that God is concerned about "the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, the poor." If, as we often say, God's character is unchanging (Hebrews 13:8 as an often quoted text), then can a religious/political power broker who is unconcerned about what God is concerned about actually be the kind of person followers of Jesus should support? 

If I apply these ideas to my decision about voting in November, I will need to either stay home or do a lot of "write-in" voting.

Where’s Amos When We Need Him?

My personal Bible reading right now has me reading the minor prophets. The last few days have been spent in Amos. Though he lived and prophesied around 760 B.C., some of his words sound as though they could be said to us in the second decade of the twenty-first century A.D.

Amos is concerned about the gap between “the haves” and “the have nots.” 

Therefore because you trample on the poor

and you exact taxes of grain from him,

you have built houses of hewn stone,

but you shall not dwell in them;

you have planted pleasant vineyards,

but you shall not drink their wine.

Amos 5:11, ESV

In case we don’t get how seriously God looks upon such behavior, Amos comes to our rescue again.

For three transgressions of Israel

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

because they sell the righteous for silver,

and the needy for a pair of sandals –

those who trample the head of the poor int the dust of the earth

and turn aside the way of the afflicted.

2:6, 7 ESV

In language that would be risky to use in our culture right now – and didn’t go over too well in his (see 7:10-17), Amos reminds women that their lust for luxury is not of God.

Hear this word, you cows of Bashan,

who are on the mountain of Samaria,

who oppress the poor, who crust the needy,

who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!”

4:1, ESV

The real issue – found embedded in the message the prophet Amos preached is idolatry. Yahweh has been replaced with gods made in their own image and when that happens, justice becomes wormwood and righteousness is cast down upon the earth. (5:7)

All of this should have brought about repentance for Israel. But listen again to Amos.

Behold, I am setting a plumb line

in the midst of my people Israel;

I will never again pass by them;

the high places of Isaac will be made desolate,

and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,

and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

What especially convicts me when I read Amos is that the words weren’t said to some pagan nation of infidels that surrounded Israel and Judah. They were said to “the people of God” and it seems to have been so easy for them to get focused on possessions and luxury while ignoring the needs of their own people around them. “Silver” and “sandals” seem to be the way “the less fortunate” are viewed by “the very fortunate.”

We should all be grateful that before Amos is finished, he reminds us that God deeply desires a people to call His own.

In that day I will raise up

the booth of David that is fallen

and repair its breaches,

and raise up its ruins

and rebuild it as in the days of old,

that they may possess the remnant of Edom

and all the nations who are called by my name,

declares the Lord who does this.

Amos 9:11, 12  ESV

James, the half-brother of Jesus, and the apostles seem to think this prophecy was fulfilled when Gentiles were welcomed into the Kingdom of God. (Acts 15:12-21) As John Stott says about this quote from Amos in Acts, “In other words, through the Davidic Christ Gentiles will be included in his new community.” (The Spirit, The Church, and the World, page 247)

There is part of me that rejoices when I read Amos. God welcomes “outsiders” to become “insiders” in His kingdom. Isn’t that what Ephesians 2 is all about?

But there is a side of me that is convicted by Amos. It is so easy to assume our national and religious status automatically makes us pleasing to God. That was, it seems to me, what was in Israel’s head when Amos dared to speak on behalf of God.

N.T. Wright insists that idolatry is humankind’s core sin. (See, for example, The Day the Revolution Began.) Idolatry can take all kinds of forms – and it isn’t that it always shows up in “evil things” – we can allow “good things” to push God aside. Nationalism and religion are a dangerous mix!