Bible Study in the Summer
One of the things I enjoy about Christmas break and summer break is that I can do what I enjoy on a regular basis without having to worry about school work. Some of my hobbies- such as video games and reading- could be done during the school year, but post-secondary education requires the laying aside of personal hobbies in order to succeed academically. Bible Study is one of my favourite activities that has to be indirectly set aside during the school year because the Bible books and passages I study during the Fall and Winter semesters are chosen when I choose my classes. Taking biblical studies courses during the semester naturally requires me focus on the books/sections/passages of the Bible that the course is based on with little room to study other books on my own. Summer time allows me to study portions of the Bible that I will not be studying during the school year. This allows me to keep my inductive Bible study skills as razor sharp as they need to be as well as allowing God to continue to work in and through me during the summer. It also allows me to study the Bible without the added stress that coursework brings.
I use many resources when I am doing Bible study, but most of them can fall into 1 of 3 categories: the Bible, surveys, and commentaries. The most important resource to use in Bible study is naturally the Bible. However, it is important to learn about the different translations/versions of the Bible that there are in English because there are 1000s of them. The versions I prefer to use are the New International Version (NIV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), and the New Living Translation (NLT). Before using surveys and commentaries, it is a good idea to thoroughly observe the passage that is being studied. What is observation? Well I cannot thoroughly explain but it is just reading the passage over and over again and looking for several features. Some features include repeated words, who is speaking to whom if it is a dialogue or letter, noting any geographical locations, noting how God acts/reacts or how the person writing talks about Him, and various other things. Observation is different from interpretation because the purpose is to not figure out what the Bible passage means but what the passage says. I learned all about this in my interpretation and application of the biblical text class, among other things when it comes to doing Bible study. Personally, I think EVERY Christian should take some kind of course on proper Bible Study but that's a discussion is for another article.
The second type of resource are Bible surveys. Bible surveys focus more on the historical and cultural context of the Bible as a whole and then focus more on the books specifically. Some surveys cover the entire Bible, others cover either the Old or New Testament, and others cover specific books. They are quite useful in understanding the historical context of the book being studied as well as the literature/genre of the book and what to look for while reading- such as theological themes.
The second set of resources are Bible commentaries. Commentaries give verse-by-verse explanations of the Bible books. Good commentaries usually focus on one book or a small collection of books. They also cover historical background and themes of the books and give summaries, but they go deeper then the surveys. It is good to use more than one commentary when studying a book of the Bible because although they are useful, they are often subject to the opinions of who is writing. Certain controversial passages- such as Genesis 1-2 and 1Timothy 2- are often subject to the author's personal interpretation; therefore, the reader should use more then one commentary when studying them.
Book of Amos:
One of the things I enjoy about Christmas break and summer break is that I can do what I enjoy on a regular basis without having to worry about school work. Some of my hobbies- such as video games and reading- could be done during the school year, but post-secondary education requires the laying aside of personal hobbies in order to succeed academically. Bible Study is one of my favourite activities that has to be indirectly set aside during the school year because the Bible books and passages I study during the Fall and Winter semesters are chosen when I choose my classes. Taking biblical studies courses during the semester naturally requires me focus on the books/sections/passages of the Bible that the course is based on with little room to study other books on my own. Summer time allows me to study portions of the Bible that I will not be studying during the school year. This allows me to keep my inductive Bible study skills as razor sharp as they need to be as well as allowing God to continue to work in and through me during the summer. It also allows me to study the Bible without the added stress that coursework brings.
I use many resources when I am doing Bible study, but most of them can fall into 1 of 3 categories: the Bible, surveys, and commentaries. The most important resource to use in Bible study is naturally the Bible. However, it is important to learn about the different translations/versions of the Bible that there are in English because there are 1000s of them. The versions I prefer to use are the New International Version (NIV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), and the New Living Translation (NLT). Before using surveys and commentaries, it is a good idea to thoroughly observe the passage that is being studied. What is observation? Well I cannot thoroughly explain but it is just reading the passage over and over again and looking for several features. Some features include repeated words, who is speaking to whom if it is a dialogue or letter, noting any geographical locations, noting how God acts/reacts or how the person writing talks about Him, and various other things. Observation is different from interpretation because the purpose is to not figure out what the Bible passage means but what the passage says. I learned all about this in my interpretation and application of the biblical text class, among other things when it comes to doing Bible study. Personally, I think EVERY Christian should take some kind of course on proper Bible Study but that's a discussion is for another article.
The second type of resource are Bible surveys. Bible surveys focus more on the historical and cultural context of the Bible as a whole and then focus more on the books specifically. Some surveys cover the entire Bible, others cover either the Old or New Testament, and others cover specific books. They are quite useful in understanding the historical context of the book being studied as well as the literature/genre of the book and what to look for while reading- such as theological themes.
The second set of resources are Bible commentaries. Commentaries give verse-by-verse explanations of the Bible books. Good commentaries usually focus on one book or a small collection of books. They also cover historical background and themes of the books and give summaries, but they go deeper then the surveys. It is good to use more than one commentary when studying a book of the Bible because although they are useful, they are often subject to the opinions of who is writing. Certain controversial passages- such as Genesis 1-2 and 1Timothy 2- are often subject to the author's personal interpretation; therefore, the reader should use more then one commentary when studying them.
Book of Amos:
Currently I am doing a Bible Study using the NIV Application Commentary series. I've read through Hosea and now I am reading through Amos. Both Hosea and Amos are minor prophets and the only two with their own respective books that were sent to prophesy in the Northern Kingdom. Hosea was a native to the Northern Kingdom, but Amos was brought up in Judah, and worked as a shepherd and raised Sycamore trees before he was called as a prophet to the Northern Kingdom. Some say that Amos was the very first foreign missionary ever called because by the time of Amos, Israel and Judah had been separate kingdoms for over 200 years and had developed very different cultures.
The books of 1Samuel-2Chronicles tell the tale of Israel when it became a monarchy. The first king was King Saul, who proved to be an oppressive despot instead of an ideal Israelite, who whole heartedly followed God. The second King was King David. King David is the line that Jesus would eventually be born from, who is our Lord and Saviour. Because of David's faithfulness to God, God chose David's dynasty to be the rightful ruler over Israel and for the Messiah to be born through his line. Matthew 1 and Luke 3 connect the two individuals quite well. Even though King David was the greatest king of Israel, I personally believe he became an incompetent flop in the end. Jesus will always be the ideal king/ruler/head of state any day of the week. This is why I do not like any government that currently exists on earth because they are always full of flaws because they are run by imperfect, sinful human beings. Jesus is fully human and fully God, and His ruler ship will always be the ideal government that I support above all others any day, but that subject is for another blog article. Back to the regular scheduled programming.
King Solomon succeeded David and built the temple and palace, and basically made Israel into an Empire. Up until that time inter-tribal rivalries always existed and attempts by King David to unify them were only partially successful. When King Solomon was in power, inter tribal rivalry heated up again because Solomon made Jerusalem the religious capital, the political capital. Jerusalem was in the tribe of Judah- the tribe that was exempt from paying taxes to pay for Solomon's army and other expenses. When King Solomon died the 10 Northern Tribes rebelled against Solomon's son, Rehoboam, and made Jeroboam (Jeroboam I) king over the new Kingdom-Israel. Only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, or the two Southern Tribes, remained under David's dynasty and they formed the Kingdom of Judah. In this blog article, unless stated otherwise, when I say Israel I mean the Northern Kingdom/Northern Tribes, and if I say Judah I mean the Southern Kingdom/Southern Tribes.
... Public Service Announcement ...
I think before I continue talking about Amos, I should give you people the back story of God's calling Amos to prophesy. The story of Israel is from Genesis 11 to the end of Nehemiah. In Genesis God called Abraham to form a nation that would be the people of God. Genesis ends with Abraham's grandson, Jacob/Israel, in Egypt because of a famine that plagued the land God promised to give Abraham's descendants. In Exodus-Deuteronomy God rescues the people from Egypt, gives them the Law, and eventually leads them to the Promised Land. Joshua-Ruth records Israel conquering the promised land and beginning its period as an independent, theocratic nation. Theocratic nations are nations where God, or a diving being, is the head of state. Throughout Exodus-Ruth the Israelites are mostly proven to be a rebellious people who repeatedly fall into apostasy and do not hold to the Law God gave them through Moses (Mosaic Law Code). While God is shown to be patient and faithful numerous times, Israel clearly proved to be a way ward people that violated their agreement/covenant with God and ended up being enslaved by other nations. This enslavement was a part of the covenant they made with God: if they followed what was written in the covenant, such as not following other gods (idolatry), then God would bless them and they would stay in the land; however, if they chose to reject God and refuse to follow His laws (which would be breaking the covenant) then God would discipline and eventually have them enslaved or exile them from the land. The latter happened over and over again in the book of Judges. Judges 2 summarizes what happens in the book perfectly. The books of 1Samuel-2Chronicles tell the tale of Israel when it became a monarchy. The first king was King Saul, who proved to be an oppressive despot instead of an ideal Israelite, who whole heartedly followed God. The second King was King David. King David is the line that Jesus would eventually be born from, who is our Lord and Saviour. Because of David's faithfulness to God, God chose David's dynasty to be the rightful ruler over Israel and for the Messiah to be born through his line. Matthew 1 and Luke 3 connect the two individuals quite well. Even though King David was the greatest king of Israel, I personally believe he became an incompetent flop in the end. Jesus will always be the ideal king/ruler/head of state any day of the week. This is why I do not like any government that currently exists on earth because they are always full of flaws because they are run by imperfect, sinful human beings. Jesus is fully human and fully God, and His ruler ship will always be the ideal government that I support above all others any day, but that subject is for another blog article. Back to the regular scheduled programming.
King Solomon succeeded David and built the temple and palace, and basically made Israel into an Empire. Up until that time inter-tribal rivalries always existed and attempts by King David to unify them were only partially successful. When King Solomon was in power, inter tribal rivalry heated up again because Solomon made Jerusalem the religious capital, the political capital. Jerusalem was in the tribe of Judah- the tribe that was exempt from paying taxes to pay for Solomon's army and other expenses. When King Solomon died the 10 Northern Tribes rebelled against Solomon's son, Rehoboam, and made Jeroboam (Jeroboam I) king over the new Kingdom-Israel. Only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, or the two Southern Tribes, remained under David's dynasty and they formed the Kingdom of Judah. In this blog article, unless stated otherwise, when I say Israel I mean the Northern Kingdom/Northern Tribes, and if I say Judah I mean the Southern Kingdom/Southern Tribes.
The Northern Kingdom was bad news all the way down to 722BC when they were conquered by the Assyrian Empire. Their first king was Jeroboam I who lead the nation astray by setting up two golden calves to represent God, appointing his own priests, and appointing random feasts in the Israelite calendar. All of these were done in order to prevent people from fulfilling their religious duties in Jerusalem and potentially reunifying with Judah... Oh yeah, and they were also violations of the Mosaic Law Code (see Ex. 20, and Deuteronomy 5; Leviticus 8-10; and Leviticus 23-25). This caused the people to be led astray and opened the door for King Ahab and Queen Jezebel to introduce Baalism into the Northern Kingdom. Because Baal is depicted as a golden calf, the people began to confuse God with Baal and combined Mosaic Yahwism (Israel's religion prior to 586BC) with Canaanite Baalism. This downward spiral lead to a lot of social, religious, and political corruption. Reading about what life was like back then makes me glad I live in the 21st century AD and not during the monarchy period of Israel/Judah.
Eventually Judah suffered the same fate as the Northern Kingdom in 586 BC. They lasted longer because quite a few righteous kings ruled the nation but most of them were bad. After king Manasseh basically lead the nation to break every law in the Mosaic Covenant from idolatry to social injustice, God eventually said enough is enough and Jerusalem was sacked, and the temple was destroyed by the Babylonian Empire in 586BC.
Eventually Judah suffered the same fate as the Northern Kingdom in 586 BC. They lasted longer because quite a few righteous kings ruled the nation but most of them were bad. After king Manasseh basically lead the nation to break every law in the Mosaic Covenant from idolatry to social injustice, God eventually said enough is enough and Jerusalem was sacked, and the temple was destroyed by the Babylonian Empire in 586BC.
... Back to the Regular Scheduled Programming: Amos 1-2 ...
One of the issues God had with the Northern Kingdom was social justice, or lack thereof. The people were really nasty to one another back then. In Amos 1:3-2:3 God describes the inhumane acts of the nations surrounding Israel and Judah. Philistia, Tyre, and Edom were involved in the capturing and deporting of innocent people and selling them into slavery during peace times; Ammon was known for enlarging their territory by ripping open pregnant women to kill their unborn in order to in still terror into people so that they would flee their lands- lands that the Ammonites gladly took over; Moab was VERY disrespectful to the dead; and Edom was not only buying slaves and being a hateful and oppressive brother to the people of Judah and Israel (Israel and Judah are descendants of Jacob who was the younger brother of Esau who fathered the people of Edom).
Amos 2:4-2:16 proved that the "people of God" were not any better. Judah's problem was that it refused to follow God's laws in the Torah and that the people allowed themselves to be lead astray by false prophets and corrupt political leaders. Israel bullied their own people by not giving the poor people enough time to pay off small loans in order to sell them into slavery, sexually abusing female servants (Ex. 21:7-11; Lev. 19:20-22), and trying to worship God with stolen goods (such as cloaks and wine). Reading all about this stuff and gaining insight from Bible surveys and commentaries on Amos brought me to a couple of realizations.
One of the obvious things that God wants to teach people in this passage is that He is the Lord of all nations. In Western society this can be hard to believe because we have so much money, technology and other benefits that it seems we control our own destinies. In some ways that is true because it is the choice of every individual to follow God or reject Him. However, this does not mean that God does not sovereignly rules over all nations. The prophecies, also called "war oracles" because they are things that prophets or priests would say before they went off to war, in Amos 1-2 show that God will hold all nations and all people accountable-- including His own.
Another thing is that God is for social justice. This is because of who God is and how He created human beings. Social injustice is committed when people, usually those in power, violate the human rights and human dignity of other people, usually those who are not in power. These things violate the image of God as all people are created in God's image. Denying someone their rights and dignity as a human being, violates the image of God and that makes God mad. God is also a loving God and throughout Scripture we read of a God who cares about the poor, the humble, and the weak of all societies. Furthermore, He is shown as one who fights for the oppressed against their oppressors. This was true in the case of the Exodus when God fought for the oppressed Israelites against their oppressors, the Egyptians. This event showed that God fulfils His promises, is a God of grace and wants to save people, and that oppressors are His enemy.
In Amos day the Israelites seemed to have forgotten God's grace to them and that He is against oppressors, as now they have become oppressors. As a Christian, I am part of the people of God. From reading the Bible, it is clear that God's people do not really get special treatment unless they walk in obedience. To me, this shows that that God does not truly show favourites because anyone can become a part of God's people. God saved me and my brothers and sisters in Christ through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ from the greatest oppressors of all time: sin, Satan, and death. Therefore, I have to remember what God did for me then and what He does for me now so I do not become an oppressor. Some people who know me could read this and think that I will never become an oppressor. My answer to that is in our society there is always the potential to be in power and those in power are always tempted to abuse that power and become oppressors. That and sin still exists in me, even though I am redeemed. And just like the Israelites had the potential to do the opposite of what God wanted, I have the potential to do the opposite of what God wants of me too. Therefore, I must always be on guard against this temptation.
Another thing these chapters bring up is God's name and how it can be profaned. An example of this is what is happening in the Catholic Church right now. Because they allowed sin to go rampant and unopposed, God's name, honour, and reputation has been desecrated in the eyes of the people in and outside of that denomination. This is true about any other issue-- especially social injustice because it gives the impression that God supports it, is unable to stop it, or doesn't care about it. A mixture of all three has happened as a result of these scandals, and the first item has especially happened throughout Israelite (Northern + Southern Tribes) and Church history. God's people are supposed to represent God to human beings who are not a part of God's people and show them what God is like. This is what the Bible calls witnessing, and it is a calling that God gives to all human beings who are His people. To allow sins of any kind- such as social injustice, sexual sins, and oppressing others-- violates God's name, honour, and reputation. No wonder God the Son had to come down and reveal God directly, because the Israelites basically did a terrible job of it and in a lot of ways the church has done a terrible job of it.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Amos 1-2 calls believers to examine their lives and make sure they are not committing social injustices. There have been many cases throughout history where the church has been directly responsible for social injustice. The oppressed became the oppressors and we are still cleaning up after them to this day. Thankfully God came down in the person of Jesus Christ to reveal what He is like to us, and He gave us His Word as another revelation to who He is and what He is like and how He views social justice. Social injustice is contradictory to God's character, and He demonstrates it throughout the Old and New Testament.
I think that Amos 1-2, and passages like it, should be preached at least once a month in churches today. Church leaders need to enforce the fact that our actions either honour God bring glory to God or dishonour God and desecrate His name. Perhaps it would cause people, including many church leaders today, to rethink some of their actions and think twice before they choose
I also think that Christians should pay more attention to social justice issues in the world today. If God is the Lord of Nations and cares about what's going on in the world, then we should care and try to get involved. I also think that means that we should know what's going on in our own country and pay attention to things, such as politics. In the Bible it is clear that God cares about politics and who is in power. If our God cares, then we should care and be involved so that God-honouring/God-fearing candidates come into power and that God-honouring laws get passed and the ones that do not honour God or go against what the Bible says are not.
I bet a lot of people reading this are wondering why I haven't posted Amos 1-2 in this article. The reason is that I think that when it comes to the Bible it never hurt to get people to do some work. Look up Amos 1-2 and verify what I am saying. Read Genesis 12-2Chronicles yourself and see if what I wrote about the history of ancient Israel is true or not.After all, you shouldn't be completely trusting my word, but God's Word. This is why I will rarely post the passage I am talking about within my blog articles unless it is needed. Believe me, it is better to do your homework because you'll get more out of blog articles like this one if you do, and it'll prevent you from being duped!
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