Learning the skill of listening well

I was once asked to contribute a part to a document on a biblical issue compiled by the bible college where I taught. This was later publicised in the denomination of the college. One church’s leadership particularly objected to the part I had written and complained to the head of the denomination. I appreciated, of course, that the issue was a contentious one and interpreters were likely to disagree on the best way of reading the relevant biblical passages. I also applauded the fact that this church did not just cave in to cultural pressure but turned to Scripture for answers. Sadly, however, their letter did not substantially engage with my argument but instead disparaged my academic abilities, my knowledge of biblical languages and so on. Attacking the person rather than evaluating their message is a tempting but unhelpful route to take when seeking to discern God’s will.

The temptation to discredit the messenger

Our reading reflects a similar Israelite reaction to Amos. The chief priest of Bethel is outraged at Amos’ prophecies (the land can’t endure his words!) and denounces him for conspiring against the king (Amos 7:10). He either assumes that the prophet bears ill-will towards Jeroboam or that Amos is meddling in politics. In his rage, as it so often happens, Amaziah also distorts the prophet’s message as foretelling Jeroboam’s death by the sword (Amos 7:11). However, Amos predicted the violent end of the dynasty (‘house’, Amos 7:9), not the king, which was fulfilled when Jeroboam’s son was assassinated (2 Kings 15:8-10). Further, the priest scornfully tells Amos to go home and earn his living in Judah (the sense of ‘eating bread’; Amos 7:12) implying that the prophet is motivated by money for choosing the busier, bustling shrine of Bethel for ministry which offered better earnings.[1] Finally, Amaziah’s ban on Amos to prophesy cites the elevated position of Bethel as the royal chapel and the national temple (lit. ‘the house/temple of the kingdom’, Amos 7:13) as the reason, which shows his contempt for this nobody of a prophet from backwater Judah.

Amos’ true motivation and God’s response

Amos’ reply makes clear that he did not start out as a prophet, nor belonged to the prophetic guild (‘the son of a prophet’, i.e. attached to and paid by the court/sanctuary, Amos 7:14).[2] In fact, he had a livelihood as a breeder or herdsman as well as a grower/dresser of sycamore figs, hence not in need of money.[3] Neither did he choose his vocation, but was called by the Lord to address Israel (Amos 7:15). However, Amaziah (and Israel) were too busy denigrating the prophet and trying to silence him (cf. Amos 2:12,7:13), instead of considering the truth of his message. Since they effectively wanted to silence God Himself, their judgment would be severe. The priest would die in in a foreign, unclean land (especially bad for someone whose lifelong concern was for purity), his wife be publicly demeaned,[4] and his descendants and inheritance destroyed (Amos 7:17). Israel’s judgment was likewise decided and no longer to be reversed (Amos 8:1-3).[5]

Learning the skill of listening well

Last time we saw the limits of intercession, and today’s reading highlights the reason for it. Israelites and their leadership have so hardened into their convictions that they discredited the prophet and silenced him so that they would not have to face his message from God. Intercession then can make extra time for repentance, but when God and His message are repeatedly and consistently rejected, there comes a point of no return. It is a sobering lesson for all of us in how we listen to God’s Word. Today, it is increasingly common for people to stand over the Bible (especially the Old Testament) and discredit its message as unreliable, the words of a cruel or angry God. Others attribute motives to the human authors when they read something in the Bible that they disagree with (‘oh, this is just Paul being narrow-minded!’). Like Amaziah, we are also capable of discrediting each other, so as to avoid having to evaluate opposing views to ours that are uncomfortable. Listening to others fairly, even if we end up disagreeing, requires humility. It is an attitude that we need to cultivate most of all when we come to God’s Word so that we stand under the authority of Scripture and take to heart its truth.

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[1] Prophets were at times sought out by the general population for advice and counsel and paid for their services. See e.g. Saul wanted to ask Samuel about the donkeys his father had lost and expected to pay him for his help (1 Sam 9:3-10).

[2] The phrase ‘son of…’ in Hebrew does not always mean being a descendant of someone. In some contexts it can mean being the member of a guild, belonging to a group or class. E.g. the phrase in Ezra 2:42 ‘sons of the gatekeepers’ does not say anything about these people’s fathers but simply refers to those who belonged to the group of gatekeepers. Likewise, 2 Sam 22:45 – ‘sons of a foreigner’ means foreigners; Ps 89:22 ‘son of wickedness’, a wicked man, Ezra 4:1 – ‘sons of the exile’, the exiles.

[3] Both boqer (herdsman? breeder?) and boles (something to do with sycamore figs) are words that only occur here in the Bible, so their exact meaning is uncertain. The likely sense for the latter is that Amos dressed sycamore figs by ‘nipping’ or ‘scraping’ them so that the fruit would ripen properly. The process also rid the figs of a particularly harmful insect. See Shalom M. Paul, Amos, Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991), 247-48.

[4] Women had few options for earning money when left without male protection and with Amaziah in exile and the children dead, his wife would have to resort to prostitution in the city (i.e. publicly, where everybody knew her). This is a horrifying prospect, but the point is that this will be the consequence of Amaziah’s actions; his refusal to take God’s Word on board will affect his whole family. Much as we like to think of ourselves in individualistic terms, what we do when we sin can hurt, even destroy, the lives of the people we are close to.

[5] As mentioned in my previous post, the last vision of our reading in Amos 8:1-3 is a play on words between kayitz (‘summer fruit’) and ketz (‘end’). The summer fruit has no particular significance beyond the similarity of sounds in Hebrew. There is a comparable vision in Jeremiah 1:11-12 where an almond branch (shaqed) is to remind Jeremiah that God will watch over (shoqed) His Word to make it happen.

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