Amos 8 ~ searching for the Word of the Lord

Movie, "The Book of Eli" - Denzel Washington

Amos 8:4-12 ~ (New International Version)

- Audio Link to Amos 8

⁴ Hear this, you who trample the needy
and do away with the poor of the land,

⁵ saying,
"When will the New Moon be over
that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended
that we may market wheat?"—
skimping the measure,
boosting the price
and cheating with dishonest scales,

⁶ buying the poor with silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
selling even the sweepings with the wheat.

⁷ The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: "I will never forget anything they have done.

⁸ "Will not the land tremble for this,
and all who live in it mourn?
The whole land will rise like the Nile;
it will be stirred up and then sink
like the river of Egypt.

⁹ "In that day," declares the Sovereign LORD,
"I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.

¹⁰ I will turn your religious feasts into mourning
and all your singing into weeping.
I will make all of you wear sackcloth
and shave your heads.
I will make that time like mourning for an only son
and the end of it like a bitter day.

¹¹ "The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD,
"when I will send a famine through the land—
not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.

¹² Men will stagger from sea to sea
and wander from north to east,
searching for the word of the LORD,
but they will not find it.

When we read the Book of Isaiah, it's never clear if it refers to yesterday, today or tomorrow. All of the books of Scripture have the same quality, the word of God is living and active. As Amos wrote, Israel & Judah were in peak form. The Temple of Solomon held up the traditions and the reading of God's word.

Amos, what a trouble maker... Amos sees the coming of the 2nd exile & end of Solomon's Temple, due to corruption. Amos sees the coming destruction of the 2nd Temple, not even built. Amos' timeless writings, the power of the Holy Spirit, see the Essenes leaving the 2nd Temple because Herod the Great, a Samaritan married to his brother's wife, rules the priesthood. Thirsty for the Word of God? What about a world ending the worst warfare century? The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls left from a time of hunger for God's Word, reach out and touch part of the world after another 2 millenniums.

Amos' writings cover "The Book of Eli", the movie. Just as Eli is in a destroyed desert world, so are the Essenes. Our first photo today is from the movie, the second from Qumran, the settlement recording the Bible before Christ. The same Bible, word for word, we read today, 2,000 years later.

People who don't know the Scriptures often say it was written by "the man" who wrote it & used it to control the masses. Read Amos. God isn't trying to control the masses, but to educate them about corruption or greed. God isn't interested in promoting selfish interest - God promotes fair trade.

"The Book of Eli" works because it's believable. Believable not only because it tells of portions of the future, but interesting because it has occurred again and again. Allowing something bigger than Hollywood, hope from 2 millenniums past bring the Word of the Lord to our lives.

Romans 8:28
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

The Essenes believed they had reached the time of Apocalypse, the world's Apocalypse, instead they had reached the time the Romans would end their lives and world. It was the Essenes' Apocalypse. But the Essenes reached out and touched the world more profoundly than they imagined. God works all things together for good, greater than man imagines or plans.

Help us each day, Father God, to work our lives to your purpose. In Jesus Christ's Holy name. Amen.

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