2018, October 14 ~ Amos 5:6-7, 10-15 and Hebrews 4:12-16

Amos 5:6-7, 10-15

After Solomon died in 930 BCE, the Kingdom of Israel split into two parts, the North (called Israel with 10 tribes) and the South (called Judea with two tribes). Each of the Kingdoms had their own king.

The reign of King Jeroboam II of Israel (788-747 BCE) was very prosperous and a time of great inequality between rich and poor.

Amos was a cattle herder and cared for fig trees in Judea, but he was called by YHWH to go north to prophesy (speak for the LORD) against Israel from about 760 to 750 BCE. Amos is one of the 12 “minor” prophets whose works are shorter than the three “major” prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel). He was the first (chronologically) of the prophets whose words left an indelible stamp on later thought about God.

In today’s reading, Amos warned Israel (the “house of Joseph”) and the city of Bethel (where there was a shrine) of coming destruction if they did not change their ways. (Israel was later conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BCE.) Amos warned that injustice would lead to “wormwood” – the leaves of which are very bitter.

In ancient Israel, legal proceedings were held at the city’s gates, and Amos condemned the corruption of the legal system by the rich and the unjust treatment of the poor at the gate. He urged the leaders to “establish justice at the gate” (v.15) so that YHWH would be gracious to Israel, the “remnant of Joseph.”

Hebrews 4:12-16

Although the Letter to the Hebrews is sometimes attributed to Paul, most scholars agree that it was written sometime after Paul’s death in 62 CE, but before 100 CE. The letter was addressed to Jesus Followers who had suffered persecution and it introduced a number of important theological themes. The first four chapters explored the word of God spoken through the Son.

In today’s reading, the author interpreted the life, death and heavenly role of Jesus through the category of the “high priest’ who perfects the ancient sacrificial system of Judaism (which ended when the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE).

The letter emphasized that Jesus (as high priest) is able to sympathize with our weaknesses because he (as a human) had been tested as we are. The presentation of Jesus as high priest in the Letter to the Hebrews is unique in the Christian Scriptures and reflects the continuing process in early Christianity of developing images to describe who and what Jesus of Nazareth was (and is).