We’re in Amos 7. “Let justice roll down…” is a famous quote from chapter 5. Chapter 7 contains another well-known picture:

This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. And the LORD asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” “A plumb line,” I replied.

Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer. “The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.” (Amos 7.7 – 9, NIV)

The plumb line is one of the pictures of Amos often shown. “I will spare them no more.” The plumb line reveals a problem.

I’m reminded of current attitudes toward GAS (Gambling, Alcohol, Sex). It doesn’t matter what the new societal standards are. God’s standards don’t change. They don’t change with respect to justice, righteousness, and not oppressing the poor either.

There’s more in chapter 7. Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, is offended:

Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said, “ ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.’ ” (Amos 7.10, 11, ESV)

Israel (the northern 10) will go into exile, according to Amos. Solution? Get rid of Amos! Much easier than changing the way you live.

And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.” (Amos 7.12, 13, ESV)

Go to Judah, where you will be welcome. After all, that’s where you’re from. (See Amos 1.1, he’s from Tekoa, a town of Judah, about 12 miles south of Jerusalem.) We have a different religion up here.

But it doesn’t matter. You can believe my words or not, but it won’t change the outcome:

Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now therefore hear the word of the LORD.

“You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’ Therefore thus says the LORD: “ ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’ ” (Amos 7.14 – 17, ESV)

Ouch. And Israel (the northern 10 tribes) did go into exile as recorded in 2 Kings 17.

The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes. (2 Kings 17.5, 6, NIV)

Again, why?

All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods… (2 Kings 17.7, NIV)

See the whole condemnation: 2 Kings 17.7 – 23. The Lion has roared.

Amos 6 contains another prediction of judgment:

The Lord GOD has sworn by himself, declares the LORD, the God of hosts: “I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.” …For behold, the LORD commands, and the great house shall be struck down into fragments, and the little house into bits. (Amos 6.8, 11, ESV)

Why?

…you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood— (Amos 6.12, ESV)

No justice. No righteousness. Judgment will come. “The city will be delivered up. The houses shall be destroyed.”

And the scary part of chapter 6 is what life looks like before:

“Woe to those who

• are at ease in Zion, and to those who
• feel secure on the mountain of Samaria…
• lie on beds of ivory and
• stretch themselves out on their couches, and
• eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, who
• sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and
• like David invent for themselves instruments of music, who
• drink wine in bowls and
• anoint themselves with the finest oils,

but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! (Amos 6.1, 4 – 6, ESV)

In other words, the life of the wealthy…like us.

For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24.37 – 39, ESV)

I have written about the Soifer Mathematical Olympiad before. Go here for the first in a mini-series of two blogs that will give you a bit of the flavor. We try to make the first problem really easy, but we don’t always succeed. This year’s problem 1 was so easy we almost didn’t use it, yet students had trouble with it: only 40 of 200 solved it.

Triangular Question (A. Soifer).Each side of triangle T is longer than each side of triangle R. Does that mean that the area of T is greater than the area of R?

If you think about if for a few seconds, you know without any complicated mathematics that the answer is NO. Here’s the figure accompanying Dr. Soifer’s solution:

The shortest side of DEF (triangle T) is longer than the longest side of ABC (triangle R) and DEF’s area is half that of ABC. In my solution, I simply compared an equilateral triangle of side 2 (area square root of 3) with a triangle with sides 3, 4, 6.9999 (area virtually 0). As I say, a very simple problem.

The simplicity didn’t prevent students from answering incorrectly. Some, because they were very inexperienced at math and didn’t know what they were doing.

Others, however, way more experienced in mathematics, used formulas I hadn’t thought of in decades. One student based his “proof” on the formula Area = .5 x a x b x sin(C), where a and b are two sides of the triangle and sin(C) is the sine of the angle between them. Very sophisticated, and the student wrote two or three pages “proving” that the area of triangle T is always larger than the area of triangle R. Beautifully written, completely wrong.

Of course, it’s not just in math…

Certain persons…have wandered away into vain discussion…without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. (1 Timothy 1.6, 7, ESV)

If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions… (1 Timothy 6.3, 4, ESV)

And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray…And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.” (Matthew 24.4, 11, ESV)

PS The formula the student attempted to use could be used to arrive at the correct answer. The closer angle C gets to a straight line, the smaller the triangle’s area is. And as angle C gets larger (approaching a straight line) its sine approaches 0, and the formula will tell you that the triangle’s area approaches 0 no matter how long the sides are.

University of Alabama (Bama) lost to University of George (UGA) last Saturday. A key factor right at the end was Bama cornerback Dijon Lee, Jr, “shoving” a UGA receiver after a play. ESPN reports on the play and the coach’s reaction:

Lee, who was targeted frequently by the Georgia offense, shoved a receiver in the helmet after a 1-yard run that would have set up a third down with less than 2:30 to play. With a stop, Alabama could have gotten the ball back on a punt with a chance to tie or take the lead. Instead, the penalty gave Georgia a first down and allowed the Bulldogs to kneel with the ball on the next three plays to end the game.

“We preach emotional maturity, and I really feel strong that across the board we had that with our team and would’ve never expected that to happen,” [Head Coach] DeBoer said. “You got to give yourself a chance.

“You’re out there giving everything you got. You just got to give yourself a chance. And so, emotional maturity is what it comes down to. And we’ve been pretty good at that going on the last two years. Obviously, the moment comes up like we had just now, we didn’t respond the right way.”

I think “shoving” is an understatement. “Shoved the receiver in the helmet” looks more like a punch. But that’s not the point of this blog.

The coach said, “…emotional maturity is what it comes down to…” Really? Later in the ESPN report we read:

DeBoer didn’t go into detail regarding another key moment with the officiating. Before Georgia’s final drive, with 3:28 left, Alabama quarterback Russell threw a pass into the end zone to wide receiver Scott, who was contacted by a Bulldogs defensive back. No penalty was called after the incompletion as DeBoer was seen screaming at officials in the aftermath.

“Seen screaming at officials…” for several minutes! Long after the play was over, while the game was continuing. Coach DeBoer should have been managing the game in progress, not screaming at the officials for a bad call no one can do anything about.

From my vantage point, Coach may preach emotional maturity, but he certainly doesn’t demonstrate it. It might be argued that the cornerback was just modeling his coach.

I don’t think Coach can say what the Apostle Paul said:

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4.9, ESV)

The fruit of the Spirit is…self-control. (Galatians 5.22, 23)

We move into Amos 5, which contains an often quoted verse. Here’s an excerpt from the description of the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama:

On a curved black granite wall behind the table is engraved Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s well-known paraphrase of Amos 5:24 — We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Amos 5 begins:

For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live; but do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.”

Seek the LORD and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel, O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth! (Amos 5.4 – 7, ESV)

What was Bethel? When the kingdom split after Solomon, Jeroboam, king of Israel didn’t want his people (the northern 10 tribes) going to Jerusalem to worship…

So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” And he set one in Bethel… (1 Kings 12.28, 29, ESV)

Don’t go to Bethel! It’s not even the right God! And it’s more than that:

“You turn justice into wormwood…”

…you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him… (Amos 5.11, ESV)

The solution?

Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. (Amos 5.14, 15, ESV)

And don’t forget, the Day of the Lord is negative:

Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it? (Amos 5.18 – 20, ESV)

And don’t try to substitute religious ritual:

I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. (Amos 5.21 – 23, ESV)

What does God want? He is clear:

But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5.24, ESV)

We looked at Amos’ “For three transgressions and for four…” (Amos 1 and 2) and “the LION roars…” in chapter 3. (October 14, 2026)

Amos is on a roll as we get to chapter 4. I don’t know how many of us could get away with calling the women in our congregation “cows.”

“Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’ (Amos 4.1, ESV)

Then he moves on to the religious people (all of them, VERY religious!)

“Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days; offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them; for so you love to do, O people of Israel!” declares the Lord GOD. (Amos 4.4, 5, ESV)

Empty religion is not enough. We would say, “Church attendance is not enough, even if you drop a few bucks into the offering plate.”

God has been punishing Israel, all for the purpose of bringing them back:

• I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
• I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither; so two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water, and would not be satisfied; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
• I struck you with blight and mildew; your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
• I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
• I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD. (Amos 4.6 – 11, ESV)

“Yet you did not return to me” despite famine, drought (sound familiar?), plant disease, pestilence, being overthrown (I don’t know, financial ruin?).

For you say, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing,” not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked…Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3.17, 19, 20, ESV)

Amos begins with a fairly well known formula: “For three transgressions of [place] and for four…” Here are the places and the main accusations (Amos 1.3 – 2.8):

• Damascus
  • “They have threshed Gilead…
• Gaza
  • “They carried into exile a whole people…”
• Tyre
  • “They delivered up a whole people to Edom…”
• Edom
  • “He pursued his brother with the sword…”
• Amorites
  • “…ripped open pregnant women in Gilead…”
• Moab
  • “He burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom…”
• Judah
  • “They have rejected the law of the Lord…”
• Israel
  • “They sell the righteous for silver…trample the head of the poor…

Note first the order of countries: he starts outside of Israel – 6 countries – and his nation, “Israel,” would be applauding. Then “Judah” – remember, the southern tribes of the divided kingdom. Israel would really applaud that. But, of course, not so fast: he closes with condemnation of his audience. Second, only Judah is judged because “they rejected the law of the Lord.” Judah still claimed the law. The others, even Israel, didn’t.

Then another well-known section of Amos: the cause and effect list:

• Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?
• Does a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing?
• Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth, when there is no trap for it?
• Does a snare spring up from the ground, when it has taken nothing?
• Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid?
• Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it? (Amos 3.3 – 6, ESV)

The first one is slightly mistranslated in the King James:

Can two walk together, except they be agreed? (Amos 3.3, KJV)

The sermons I heard growing up emphasized the need for agreeing with God. How can you walk with God unless you agree with him? Not a bad application, but the more accurate translation in context is: if you see two people walking together in the desert, it’s not by accident. They have agreed to meet. Five other cause and effect observations follow.

The application?

For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy? (Amos 3.7, 8, ESV)

“The LION has roared…the Lord GOD has spoken…” Hang on.

It’s been a while since I’ve quoted Annie Dillard…

On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return. ― Annie Dillard, “An Expedition to the Pole” from Teaching a Stone to Talk (1982)

We started Amos yesterday in our Prophets Reading Plan, and, as usual, I can’t give you a better introduction than Eugene Peterson’s as it occurs in The Message Bible. In fact, I often tell folks that The Message is worth the price if all you read are the book introductions. Here’s part of his take on what Amos is about and why the book is important:

…The history, worldwide, of religion-fueled hate, killing, and oppression is staggering. The biblical prophets are in the front line of those doing something about it.

The biblical prophets continue to be the most powerful and effective voices ever heard on this earth for keeping religion honest, humble, and compassionate. Prophets sniff out injustice, especially injustice that is dressed up in religious garb...

They pay little attention to what men and women say about God or do for God. They listen to God and rigorously test all human language and action against what they hear. Among these prophets, Amos towers as defender of the downtrodden poor and accuser of the powerful rich who use God’s name to legitimize their sin.

None of us can be trusted in this business. If we pray and worship God and associate with others who likewise pray and worship God, we absolutely must keep company with these biblical prophets. We are required to submit all our words and acts to their passionate scrutiny to prevent the perversion of our religion into something self-serving. A spiritual life that doesn’t give a large place to the prophet-articulated justice will end up making us worse instead of better, separating us from God’s ways instead of drawing us into them.

Wow. Makes you want to read it! And as we start, here is a “just the facts” introduction from the English Standard Version:

Amos, possibly the first of the writing prophets, was a shepherd and farmer called to prophesy during the reigns of Uzziah (792–740 B.C.) in the southern kingdom and Jeroboam II (793–753) in the north. During this time both kingdoms enjoyed political stability, which in turn brought prosperity. It was also a time of idolatry, extravagance, and corruption. The rich and powerful were oppressing the poor. Amos denounced the people of Israel for their apostasy and social injustice and warned them that disaster would fall upon them for breaking the covenant. He urged them to leave the hypocrisy of their “solemn assemblies” (5:21) and instead to “let justice roll down like waters” (v. 24). Nevertheless, said Amos, God would remember his covenant with Israel and would restore a faithful remnant.

This introduction isn’t magic. Part of it’s right out of verse 1:

The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. (Amos 1.1, ESV)

And here’s a central theme as suggested above from chapter 5:

I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5.21 – 24, ESV)

As Peterson said, religion doesn’t impress God. Justice does.

What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.

When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. (Isaiah 1.11 – 17, ESV)

When I wrote about The Big Three – Gambling, Alcohol, Sex – some of you might have objected to my phrase: “gambling in all its forms.” I hear, “Surely a just-for-fun small wager on a game or small stakes poker with some guys in the neighborhood isn’t hurting anyone.” Stay tuned.

One of my heroes just passed away last month. Ken Love who was part of our discipleship ministry in Alabama, passed on September 25.

This sentence from the obituary needs a bit of expansion:

On February 1, 1999, he made a life-changing decision and accepted Jesus as his personal savior.

As Ken tells the story, his wife had been dragging him to church for about a year. On that day in February he pulled into a business parking lot off the Troy Highway, south of Montgomery, and accepted Jesus…

I was coming off of a three-day drunk and had just dropped $50,000 on the Super Bowl.

He continues:

After that, I never took another drink; I never laid down another bet.

An alcoholic and a compulsive gambler, Ken went on to share his story and lead recovery programs. 27 years of effective ministry before his homegoing. I was Minister of Discipleship in Ken’s church from 2001 – 2006, and along the way, I taught Ken how to have daily time with God. I teach a simple template: Read, Reflect, Respond, Record.

Ken put that template into a spreadsheet with a tab for each day’s time with God. When he showed me the spreadsheet, he had recorded over 400 consecutive days! He would get up at 4:00 a.m., lift weights, and have time with God. (He would have been in his 60s at the time.)

When I left the church in 2006 to go full-time with The Navigators, Ken was a significant, faithful donor for many years.

Back to the opening paragraph and my caution against “gambling in all its forms.” Ken, how did you get started gambling? Answer: “Playing penny poker in the Marines.”

The Apostle Paul wrote:

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.(1 Timothy 1.12 – 14, ESV)

Paul continued:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. (2 Timothy 4.7, 8, ESV)

I believe Ken was greeted by Jesus:

Well done, good and faithful servant…Enter into the joy of your master. (Matthew 25.21, ESV)

I mentioned San Antonio Spurs’ giant center, Victor Wembanyama, 7′ 4″ tall, when his team lost to the Knicks in last year’s NBA finals. “Wemby” is in the news again for something way more important than a basketball game. Here’s the headline from ESPN:

Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama not interested in promoting betting sites

He said:

I want to promote things that have a good impact, have a good influence with who I can share messages and values. Obviously, we earn millions and millions. This is not our biggest strength. Our biggest strength is inspiring. I want to inspire in a good way. That’s the strongest thing I can do.

Good for him. My basketball hero Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets is a fine man, an extraordinary basketball player frequently described as humble and selfless. But Jokic “…became the first brand ambassador of Superbet in Serbia.” Disappointing.

Likewise the Manning family:

Supporters expressed disappointment that multi-millionaire, legendary athletes with clean, family-friendly reputations are actively pushing gambling onto the public. – Yahoo Sports

So Wemby, who claims no particular religion, from “secular” France, is principled enough to recognize evil when he sees it. May his tribe increase.

Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way. For they cannot rest until they do evil; they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble. (Proverbs 4.14 – 16, ESV)