Amos 2 (5)

Pray Psalm 81.11, 12.
“But My people would not heed My voice,
And Israel would have none of Me.
So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart,
To walk in their own counsels.”

Sing Psalm 81.11, 12, 8.
(St. Petersburg: My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less)
“My people would not listen to Me,
but hardened their hearts most hideously;
I cursed them for their hard-hearted ways
to wander in darkness all of their days:
Refrain (v. 8)
“O Israel, hear, admonished now be;
My people, repent, return to Me!”

Read and meditate on Amos 2.1-13; meditate on verse 13.

Preparation
1. How did God describe the sins of Israel?

2. Why do you suppose He said this twice?

Meditation
Only one verse today, but it is packed with significance. This verse is embedded in a poem. Indeed, everything thus far in the book of Amos has been a poem, or a series of poems, except for Amos 1.1. If it is a series, then the introduction to them all is Amos 1.2. Each subsequent poem, or section of the one poem, begins with “Thus says the LORD”. The poem, or section of a poem, we are now considering began at verse 6. It is by far the longest section or poem, and this itself stresses the intensity of God’s wrath against Israel.

Hebrew poetry does not rhyme sounds; it rhymes images and ideas. Here in verse 13, God compares Himself to a cart, one used to bring in the harvest from the fields. For emphasis, He states the central idea of His image twice: He is weighed down. He is weighed down like a cart about to break. This image of a cart weighed down with sheaves should be evidence of the blessings of God (cf. Ps. 126.5, 6). Instead, it is the “last straw” of His judgment. The sheaves are not sheaves of blessing but tares of wickedness and rebellion. And God has had enough of it.

But there is a second idea here, which only becomes clear in the light of Paul’s comment in 2 Corinthians 4.17, where he likens the glory of God to an eternal “weight.” The meaning of the word “glory” in Hebrew is related to the idea of being heavy. God’s intention is to “weigh” on His people with His glory, that they might know His Presence with them and rejoice with gladness. Here, the idea is reversed, the far opposite of the “weightiness” God intends. For it is not the weight of glory and God’s holy Presence, but the weight of their sin which God has borne patiently for many years, but which now is about to be thrown off in wrath.

Just so the Lord Jesus bore the weight of our sins and suffered the brunt of God’s wrath against us. What “sheaves” will we offer to Him today?

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
I AM weighed down by you,
As a cart full of sheaves
Is weighed down. (Amos 2.13)

Your New Moons and your appointed feasts
MY SOUL hates; they are a trouble to ME,
I AM weary of bearing them. (Isaiah 1.14)

Have you ever opined (maybe only once or twice), “That child is jumping on my last nerve”? Now, I know God is perfect, and His thoughts and ways are not my thoughts and ways (Is. 55.8, 9), but the two preceding verses have just the tiniest ring of similarity to our nerve jumping statement.

And we, as His children, can either cause Him to experience and say that about us—or not.

Which child do you enjoy more? The one jumping all over your last nerve or the one trying to please you? You love both, no question, but enjoy? Hmmm.

And of course, God loves His children constantly, as well. But enjoy? Delight in? (Prov. 11.20; 12.22; 15.8)

But His love is so complete that the restoration of His weighty and wearying children is always a possibility.

For example, let’s look back at God’s judgment of the Amorites in Amos 2.9: “Yet I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath.” But in Isaiah 37.31 He says, “And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.” Poetic, no?

God has been restoring people to a right relationship with Him ever since Adam and Eve were not a delight.

“Fear not O land; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done marvelous things!” (Joel 2.21)
“So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…Then you shall know that I AM in the midst of Israel: I AM the LORD your God and there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame. And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days” (Joel 2.25, 27-29).

“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’” (Gal. 4.4-6)

Just, how about, we don’t jump on His last nerve! Don’t weigh down His heart or weary Him with sin.
How about, we keep the Law? We give Him delight? Then He rejoices to hear us cry out, “Daddy!”

Reflection
1. Does it delight you to know that God delights in you? Explain.

2.  Why would we ever do anything to jeopardize that mutually delightful relationship?

3. What sheaves of God’s blessings do you hope to reap today? How should you prepare for that?

God carried that people on his shoulders; and when they loaded him with the burden of iniquities, it is no wonder that he said that they were like a wagon ― a wagon filled with many sheaves… John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Amos 2.13

Pray Psalm 81.13-16, 8.
Pray for revival, renewal, and awakening. Pray that God’s people would hunger for Him and His Word and would look to Jesus for healing grace. Pray for a great worldwide awakening to faith in Christ.

Sing Psalm 81.13-16, 8.
(St. Petersburg: My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less)
Now let us all abandon our ways
and listen to God, and offer Him praise!
Our foes He will so quickly subdue,
extending His hand to save and renew.
Refrain (v. 8)
“O Israel, hear, admonished now be;
My people, repent, return to Me!”

Then even those despising the LORD
would falsely obey and follow His Word;
in vain they seem to follow His way,
yet judgment awaits on God’s chosen day.
Refrain

The finest foods for us He will buy,
and furnish us an abundant supply.
How sweet our lives can be in the LORD,
when only we heed His glorious Word.
Refrain

T. M. and Susie Moore

If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.