Famine of the Word

The Rev’d Stephen E. Stults
St. Barnabas Anglican Church
18th Sunday after Trinity
October 23, 2011

Famine of the Word

Amos 8:11 ”Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: “

These are the chilling words that the Lord utters through his prophet Amos in today’s Old Testament Lesson. He tells the people that there will not be a famine, or a drought, but a dearth in prophecy and guidance from God. The words of the Lord will be few and far between.

To the vast majority of mankind, this may be a “so what” moment. After all, what does it matter whether or not we hear Scripture, or prophecy, or exhortation? What need we of that, they say, when we have many, many other voices to lead us to righteousness? After all, hasn’t man become so enlightened that he can make his own destiny? In short, what need have we of God?

This is a fair question. Why does man need God, or even the need of anything beyond himself? Once our physical needs are satisfied, and our material wants are more or less satiated, what need is there of anything else?

Let’s return to that question in a minute. Before we attempt to make any sense of that, let us step back into our Old Testament lesson and examine why God might make such a prophecy? What could prompt God to utter such a thing?

Consider this: (Amos 8:4-6) “Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, 5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? 6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?”

These very words condemn the speaker and those who think like him. Listen to the words and consider the actions which underlie them: “swallow up the needy”, “make the poor of the land to fail”; lamenting the new moon, which prevents them from selling corn, and even bewailing the Sabbath itself, which prevents them from selling wheat. To make it worse, it isn’t even honest commerce, but crooked. They desire to make the ephah, or grain measure, small, which makes the shekel great! Obviously, this means that they will lie about goods being sold by falsifying the scale and defrauding their customers. Finally, they will take these ill-begotten gains and buy the poor of the land. What are they worth? A little silver, or merely the cost of a pair of shoes. Any way you look at it, this is a dark picture, indeed.

Amos returns to this theme again and again. Judah and Israel are wealthy, sensual, and corrupt. They have corrupted themselves in every aspect of their lives, especially the one that God cares about most: the allegiance of their soul. As if their personal behavior is not bad enough, they have turned away from the One who brought them out from Egypt. They have paraded images of pagan gods and have wholly followed the idolatrous calves set up by Jeroboam in Israel at Dan and Bethel. Recall that Jeroboam was concerned that if the tribes went up to Jerusalem to perform their mandatory worship, he might lose the kingdom. One modern translation says this: “1 (Kings 12:26-31) 26 Jeroboam thought to himself, "The kingdom is now likely to revert to the house of David. 27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam." 28 After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." 29 One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin; the people went even as far as Dan to worship the one there. 31 Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites.”

This was a major step in the Israelites’ slippery slope towards moral degradation and eventually, divine punishment. Yet, even this divine retribution took place in stages. God did not just pronounce them corrupt and send them off into exile. Instead, God punished the Israelites in steps, each time waiting for them to return to Him. He sent them drought, which brought on famine. He sent them war, which took away many of their young men. He even had some captured and carried away as a warning. Yet Israel did not repent, nor did it turn to the Lord.

The Lord continues his warnings, as He tells the Israelites: (Amos 5:5)” But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.” He is telling the people of the captivity of the Northern Kingdom, which would eventually come to pass. The huge, pagan, Assyrian Empire would eventually swallow them up. Later, in history, as their sister nation, Judah, continued in apostasy, she too would be carried away by Nebuchadnezzar, which would begin the 70-year Babylonian Captivity.

Yet, at this time in History, God is still warning the Northern Kingdom, although it seems as if His patience is ending. In Amos 8:7-9, we hear these dreadful words: “The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. 8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. 9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:”

Here, God is telling them of things to come, while also prophesying that fateful Friday when His own Son would be offered as the perfect sacrifice.

Regarding the acts of men to justify themselves, consider how God regards the current religiosity of the Jews: (Amos 5:20-23) “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. 22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. 23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.” So, it seems that the Israelites obviously believed that they could act as they wanted to personally and in business, just as long as they offered the prescribed sacrifices and rites to God. Call it what you will: symbolism over substance, works righteousness, or even “gaming the system”, it was false and hollow. To top it off, many Jews worshipped other gods to boot!

Thus, even the seemingly limitless patience of God has its limits. Note, however, that even at this late date, if Israel had turned from idolatry and back to God, He would have forgiven them. Regarding man’s true repentance from sin, God’s mercy truly is limitless. Remember Jesus’ words about this in Matthew 18:22, when asked about the number of times one should grant repentance:”Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” In Israel’s case, this is not going to happen. They are hardened in their sin and idolatry, past the point of going back to righteousness. Thus, God not only pronounces their sentence through His prophets, but as history later attests, brings it to pass.

In light of all this Old Testament history, let us return to our original question: what need have we of God? The answer may be blatantly obvious, but for the sake of clarification, let us rehearse it here. We saw that as Israel fell away from their true faith in God who delivered them from Egypt, their behavior, moral and otherwise, became degraded also. In fact, a key component of all of the pagan gods’ worship necessitated some form of degradation. Note, however, how that degradation spilled over into their business behavior and their ethics, or lack thereof. At this point in their history, religion has become only a show, or worse yet, a means to curry God’s favor while they do as they like. Not only did they renounce God in their worship of other false gods, but they were totally hypocritical in His worship as well.

Thus, do have need of God? That answer I leave up to you. As you ponder that question, consider this: religion, especially Christianity, cannot be merely a surface affair to be effective in our lives; it must be transformational. Granted, what we Christians have the early Jews didn’t is a full realization of our relationship with Almighty God through the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Ghost. Whereas they attempted to commune with God through the Law and its statutes, we have the ability and the permission to come boldly to the throne of Grace because of the Son, through the Holy Ghost. We have that realization of the direct connection with God. Instead of the thick darkness of the Temple, which was a pervasive theme of the Old Testament, we have brilliant, dazzling light of the Christ of the Transfiguration. This only occurs in the New Testament. This light, as accept it, rejoice in it, and literally bathe our souls in it, makes a difference in our lives. We are not a transactional people, seeking to make a bargain with God, but rather we are a transformational people, seeking new life in Him. This new life affects everything that we do. It should affect how we think and how we act We should be the standard bearers of true, loving, righteous behavior, not of ourselves, but because of our relationship with Christ.

Once again, what need have we of God? You be the judge of that….

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN.