July - August, 1934
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
278
There was one city, named Bethel, about which Amos thought a great deal. The people in this city were very proud and they were very wicked. They pretended that they were worshiping God, but in their hearts they did not love Him. They offer ed the sacrifices which Moses had been shown by God to make, but God was not pleased with this service, for He knew the sin and wickedness in their hearts. Amos thought and thought about the people in this city. Then one day he real ized that God wanted him to go into their city and talk to them about their sins arid the judgment which God was going to send upon them. Now Amos must have known that many of these rich city people would laugh at a poor country herdsman if he tried to tell them what they should do. But because God had revealed to Amos that the people Would have to be punished, Amos dared to go ahead and tell them. It was hard for Amos to go into this city where everything was so great and beauti ful and tell the people that soon all o f this would be destroyed. But he went anyway, and told them that they still had a chance to do right. He said: “ Seek the Lord, and ye shall live; . . . seek good, and not evil.” The sad part is that the people would not believe what Amos told them. They wouldn’t listen to the truth. So the city was destroyed and the people were taken into captivity. Object Lesson T he B ible and the H eart Objects: A heart cut from a sponge, a tin heart, four matches blackened with crayon, and a fish bowl or large jar filled with water. Lesson: How many o f you wish that there were no rules at school to be obeyed? Yes, most boys and girls do not like rules, but the teachers have found by experience that rules are necessary for the good o f all. The faithful ministers and prophets of God in all ages have found that it is difficult to get people to obey God’s rules. Amos had difficulty with the people of his day in get- Golden Text: “ Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live” (Amos 5:14). Outline and Exposition T h e b o o k o f Amos should be read through, in order to secure the setting o f this passage as well as to grasp the character of this prophecy. The times were those o f Jeroboam II (2 Ki. 14:23-29, cf. Amos 7:11). As we saw last week, it was a period o f political prosperity, but of na tional vice and sinfulness; o f outward reli gious prosperity, but of inward moral deg radation and corruption. There were hints of revolution in the air, of acknowledged BLACKBOARD LESSON
the judgment which Jehovah will bring upon the sinners o f the land in the “day of Jehovah.” That day is described as a time o f “ darkness, and not light . s . and no brightness in it” (vs. 18-20). This does not mean that the day o f Jehovah will not bring blessing, for it will. The key to the passage is in the words “for you” in verse 18. The prophet is addressing the haughty oppressors of the poor. For such the day of Jehovah will bring nothing but darkness. Throughout the Bible, God is always con cerned for “the poor.” In the Mosaic law, very definite directions are laid down about the treatment of the poor (Deut. 15:4-11). And in the coming kingdom age, the poor are to be given first consideration. (Read Psalm 72 for the beautiful description.) 3. There is a strange word in verse 21. God says: “I hate, I despise your feast days.’’ Yet those very feasts and feast days had been appointed by God in the law. The teaching is very clear. There is no merit iri the mere keeping o f religious forms, even though God Himself has established the forms. Those who today go on living in sin, and think that by coming to the com munion table once or twice a year they can cover up their sins, should read Amos 5: 21-24. Golden Text Illustration Rachoff, o f Archangel, was at twenty- two in a trading house, with rich parents and a brilliant outlook. He disappeared and was found going from house to house teaching and reading the Gospels. He was denounced by the priests and forbidden by the government to live in the village. He disappeared for two years, and traveled through Russia and the Holy Land, teach ing the poor. The Turkish government drove him out. In Odessa he settled among beggars and tramps. In a theater filled with the elite, he arose and described the con dition of these outcasts, asking help for them. He was thrown into prison. In Arch angel he visited the dens o f crime, making peace, and teaching: He opened two soup kitchens, feeding over one hundred people daily and expounding Scripture to them. The government closed the rooms. He then went from house to house with meal, bread, sugar, tea, and wood. He established an orphanage and a night refuge. He would take off his clothing for a shivering beg gar, even giving away his fur coat (his fa ther’s g ift). The priests complained. Eccle siastical enemies sent him to the Susal dun geon for eight years. He was released in 1902, his mind totally destroyed. “ Loveth his neighbor!”—From The Record of Christian Work, in Cyclopedia o f Reli gious Anecdotes, by Lawson. A Good Preacher and a Bad King A mos 5 :l-24 j Memory Verse: “ Seek good, and not evil . . . and so the Lord, the God o f hosts, shall be with you” (Amos 5:14). Approach: Last week our story was about the prophet Elisha and the kind acts which he did for the people. This week our story is about another prophet. His
ting them to hear and obey ,God’s Word. A wise man once said: “ Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Hiding God’s Word in the heart keeps people from many sins which they might otherwise commit. W e will let this bowl of water represent the Word o f God. As I place this tin heart in. the water, you will observe that it does not receive any of the water. It is soon as dry as before. Many boys and girls are just like this heart. They come to Sunday- school, but they do not come to receive the Word o f God. As I Tight these black matches of sin, they burn and blacken the heart that has refused to receive the Word of God. A mother once gave her boy, who was leaving home, a New Testament with the following words written on the flyleaf: “This book will keep you from sin. Sin will keep you from this book. Read a por tion o f it each day. Mother.” The boy be- cairie a bandit; and when he was arrested, he confessed .that he had not opened the book since his mother gave it to him. This sponge heart is different. It drinks all the water it can. Now notice what hap pens when the matches o f sin try to burn and blacken it. The water puts out the fire. It is just so with the Word o f God. Many people have been kept from some great sin by remembering that the Word of God has forbidden their doing it. Christ used the Word of God when Satan tempted Him, and we should do as Christ did. Never neglect ah opportunity to learn God’s Word —to “hide” it in your heart. The time will come when it will be needed. immorality in society, and o f a species of idolatry in religion. As one reads this book, it would seem that the prophet is drawing a picture o f our own times. I. T he B lindness of I srael (1, 2). 1. Israel was blind to God’s holiness (v. 1). The people could be “at ease in Zion” while injustice and oppression stalked through the, land. Their actions denied their place. Zion stood for all that God was—His holiness, righteousness, truth, and justice. But Israel thrust aside all re gard for these attributes. Israel’s place, “ in Zion,” should have been a constant re minder that judgment must, o f necessity, be poured out upon all iniquity and un righteousness. But the people were blind to this fact. There áre many today who make much o f a mere place o f worship, while forgetting the God whose presence alone makes it a place o f worship. Israel’s trust was in Samaria, not in the living God. Samaria was the place of the supposed “wise” ones o f that day. 2. Israel was blind to its responsibility (v. 1). The nation had been made the “chief of
AUGUST 19, 1934 AM O S DENOUNCES SELF-INDULGENCE (Temperance Lesson) A mos 6:1-7, 11-14
name was Amos. He went a b o u t doing good, too, but in a very different way. L e s s o n S t o r y : Amos was a herds man. He lived in the country, and while he roamed over the fields, he learned a great deal a b o u t what was happening in big cities near by.
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