Amos 3:7
Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

In this verse, Amos echoes many other Old Testament prophets (Jeremiah and Zechariah, among others) in naming himself and them as “God’s servants.” They are the ones who relay God’s message to His people; they are the ones who write down what God has placed on their hearts. Israel and Judah, both made up of God’s people, were drifting far from God by this time, so nearly all of the prophets’ messages serve as warnings of divine punishment to come, as well as promises of divine restoration after punishment.

These days, the idea of a “prophet” seems a little outmoded; it’s easy to think that the Old Testament prophets were only saying what they wanted to say and passing it off as God’s words. But in fact, as Amos says here, prophets are literally God’s servants, listening to God and acting as God commands. This is not to say that modern Christians can be fortune-tellers, however! Instead, modern people can apply this verse to their daily devotional time, “listening” to God by reading His Word, and then acting in Godly ways based on what they have studied.

So, if we’re confused about an issue, we can seek out Bible verses and passages to learn what God thinks; if we’re having a problem, we can turn to the Bible to see how to handle it in a Godly manner, and so on. We can literally use the Bible as an instructional manual on how to lead a Godly life…and in so doing, become better servants, not only willing to listen but willing to model Christianity for others.

Amos 9:1-4

1 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said:

“Strike the tops of the pillars
so that the thresholds shake,
Bring them down on the heads of
all the people;
those who are left I will kill with
the sword.
Not one will get away,
none will escape.
2 Though they dig down to the depths
of the grave,
from there my hand will take them.
Though they climb up to the heavens,
from there I will bring them down.
3 Though they hide themselves on the
top of Carmel,
there I will hunt them down and
seize them.
Though they hide from me at the
bottom of the sea,
there I will command the serpent
to bite them.
4 Though they are driven into exile by
their enemies,
there I will command the sword
to slay them.
I will fix my eyes upon them
for evil and not for good.”

Whoa. This sounds harsh. In fact, this is some of the harshest language we see God use through an Old Testament prophet. Outside of the context of the Book of Amos, and indeed outside of the context of the Old Testament, this passage seems to fly in the face of all who say that God only does good things. After all, God is talking about killing His people, even though they hide from him on the tops of mountains (like Carmel), underground, the bottom of the sea, and even in the middle of their enemies.

God’s Anger: Resolved, Not Raging

Let’s take a moment to consider what has happened, why God might be saying these things. All throughout the Old Testament, the nation of Israel has been waffling back and forth between worshipping other gods from other cultures and worshipping God, who led them from Egypt and has blessed them continuously. Not only that, the Israelites have been warring with themselves, forgetting commandments, and pretty much doing everything that God asked them not to do. The sacred worship sites have been profaned; no one in Israel, it seems, is interested in listening to God or following any commandments besides their own desires.

We know, from reading other parts of the Old Testament, that God relates to Israel much as a parent relates to a child. What does a parent do, then, when a child is being not only disobedient, but gleeful and willful about it? Most would say that the child needs punishment, to stop the unwanted behavior and to retrain the child’s thinking.

God has tried punishing in other ways before this, but every time, it has taken drastic measures to get Israel to stop behaving willfully (Noah’s Ark and the Flood, anyone?). This passage describes another drastic measure God is outlining here–this will be Israel’s punishment for drifting so far from God and refusing to listen. Israel has forgotten how omnipresent and omnipotent God is, and this passage reminds them (and us) that there is nowhere we can hide from God, no action or thought we can disguise from Him, because He is Almighty.

But What About Verse 4’s Ending?

Understood in this context, God’s anger is less out-of-control than it may have seemed at first; it’s more the anger of the parent trying to control an incorrigible child. But there’s still one more issue: why would God add that point at the end about “fixing [His] eyes upon them for evil and not for good?”

Admittedly, this is a disturbing phrase; in many other places in the Bible, God is referred to as being “holy,” never doing anything evil against anyone. Verse 4’s ending, therefore, can be horribly misleading…unless you know the rest of the context. God is not saying “I’m going to do evil things against you;” He is instead saying “I am going to punish you for the evil things you have been doing.” His eyes are fixed upon his people because of the evil they have been doing, and much like a parent resolving to discipline a child, God is going to have to be firm and a little harsh to straighten His children up.

Summary

For certain, this is not the most comforting part of the Bible to read. But this is an important characteristic of our relationship to God: when we do not follow His laws, just as when we disobeyed our parents, there will be retribution. It doesn’t mean God doesn’t love us, just as punishment from our human parents does not necessarily mean they have stopped loving us. In fact, God desperately wants to reconnect with us, just as He wanted to reconnect with the Israelites–He just had to get their attention first. And He is still trying to reconnect with us today.