Author: Erin Newton

Scripture Focus: Amos 8.2, 11
 2 “What do you see, Amos?” he asked.
“A basket of ripe fruit,” I answered.
Then the Lord said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
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.

Reflection: The End for Summer Fruit
By Erin Newton

Summer approaches. The fruit has started to ripen. Nothing sounds more delightful than a basket of ripe fruit—ready to eat, refreshing and nourishing for the body. But the image in Amos is drastically upturned. As pleasing as the idea of fresh fruit sounds, God compares it to Israel—ready for judgment.

When God answers, he doesn’t say exactly, “the time is ripe.” The translators have done a good job here to try and reveal the play on words in the verse.  The Hebrew word for “summer fruit” is pronounced qayits. And the “ripe time” that God says is the word for “the end”—pronounced qets. It would be similar to us saying, “I see the berries over there!” To which God responds, “I see the buried over there.”

There is no more time left on the vine for the fruit and no more time left for the people in the land. It is a dire situation and the turning of an image that should bring joy (fruit gathered for eating) to a scene of hopelessness (people gathered for judgment).

The image of food is recalled with the proclamation that a famine is coming. The basket of fruit will be taken away—but in this message, it’s not really food he’s talking about. It will be a famine of divine communication. A lack of prophecy. A silence over the people.

Starvation is one of the harshest sufferings. It is slow and debilitating. The body attempts to scream out in every way possible, “Feed me!” When wars break out, starvation becomes a key humanitarian crisis. Efforts to prevent it often reach across political or ethnic borders. Throughout history, it has been a threat.

A famine of God’s words is meant to strike equal fear into the hearts of his people. They have lived through droughts and short-term famines. They have felt their bellies ache for food and have seen their neighbors recklessly desperate to get something, anything, to eat.

Without food, we die. Without the word from God, we also die. Spiritual starvation is equally slow and painful.

We are not accustomed to valuing divine communication like we value nourishment. But here in Amos the two are set side-by-side. Jesus preached the same message, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Are we serving ourselves a healthy portion of Scripture?

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
The Lord is near to those who call upon him, to all who call upon him faithfully. — Psalm 145.19

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

​Today’s Readings
Amos 8 (Listen 2:16)
Matthew 28 (Listen 2:39)

Read more about Better Things to be Doing
If we don’t value worshiping God, the punishment is a famine—not a famine of profit, or water, or food, but a famine of the Word of God.

Read more about God of the Weak and Doubtful
He accepts and encourages you today. You who doubt his presence with you. You who doubt that you are loveable

Scripture Focus: Amos 1:3
3 This is what the Lord says:
“For three sins … even for four, I will not relent.

Reflection: Judgment, The Great Equalizer
By Erin Newton

Is there escape from God’s judgment? The prophets seem to declare escape impossible. Amos uses formulaic language—for three sins, even for four. It is not a mathematical theology of sin as if to say, “God spares two sins but three is too far.” No, this is a poetic (and memorable) way to speak about the surety of judgment against sinful people.

The “three-four” punch is also an equalizer. The numerical description does not increase or decrease between the places. (In fact, Judah is included in the same language and foreboding promise of judgment in the next chapter.)  

The cities listed in chapter 1 create a perimeter. Damascus was northeast of the Sea of Galilee. Gaza was on the southern coast of the Mediterranean. Tyre was a northern coastal town. The region of Ammon was centrally located east of the Jordan River. This perimeter was a way to show that universal judgment was coming.

I need to pause here for a moment. Considering the ongoing and escalating war between Israel and Gaza—we must remain steadfast to read the Bible in its context. Nowadays, we will watch people take a word or two that has meaning today and infer that meaning back onto books like Amos. Let us pause to read more carefully.

Yes, there is an ancient town of Gaza and a present-day Gaza. But thousands of years have passed; worldviews and populations have changed. If Amos condemns an ancient town, it is a message about the civilians’ hearts, not the dirt under their feet. And that is how God deals with us today. It is the stance of our hearts, not the land we stand on, that determines God’s judgment or mercy.

This is why the repeated introductory phrase is necessary. It levels the playing field. The message is not “God will save me because I am a citizen of _____,” but “God will judge sin unbiasedly.”

Judgment is universal. According to Amos, not even Judah escapes. But with Jesus, the formula changes from “for three sins, even for four” to “leave the ninety-nine for the one.”

I hope we can read the Old Testament, including stories about similarly named places, and imagine a New Testament perspective. For one repentant sinner, even for ninety-nine, in his mercy, God will relent. 

God judges the heart within us, not the dirt we live on. Judgment equalizes us all, but so does his mercy. 

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Be merciful to me, O Lord, for you are my God; I call upon you all the day long. — Psalm 86.3

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

​Today’s Readings
Amos 1 (Listen 2:38)
Matthew 21 (Listen 7:10)

Read more about Nineveh’s Regression
God’s still in the business of forgiving those we would condemn and having mercy on those we would castigate.

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