SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON HELPS Homer A. Kent, Th.D. 9 Allison Arrowood (children) Lesson material is based upon outlines of the International Sunday School lessons copyrighted by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
ites to furnish religious instruction and examples of holy living. On the character of the Nazarites see Numbers 6:3-21. Their name comes from a Hebrew word meaning to separate. Nazarites were men who were separated unto God. Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist were Nazar ites. But Israel showed its utter contempt for the things of God by tempting the Nazarites to break their vow and for bidding the prophets to prophesy (Isa. 30:10 and Amos 7:12-14). Man is in a sad way when he deliberately turns his back upon the light. Heading Toward Captivity Amos 4:1, 2 The leaders of Israel (kine of Bashan) can go on drinking if they choose to do so (v. 1), but God is sure to have the last word. His holiness demands that sin be punished. Thus in due time Israel will be taken away into captivity. They will be taken away forcibly as the . “hooks” (lit. thorns ) and “ fishhooks” graphically suggest. See Jeremiah 16:16 which pre sents the picture in reverse. Putting Off Serious Consideration Amos 6:1-7 Amos was talking to a people who were living in ease, seeming to be altogether oblivious to the fact of coming judgment. They were not warned by what had happened to other places (v. 2). They thought of judgment as being far off. Thus they continued in their reckless living (v. 3). They sang and drank themselves into insensibility to their relationship to God. How like multitudes today in this easy-going, pleasure-mad age! Let us be like Amos and sound a faithful word of warning. As a background for this lesson study Numbers 6:1-21, a description of the Naz arites and their solemn promise to follow a sensible way of life. The people to whom Amos preached had offered wine to the Nazarites in their land. Because of the sin ful condition of the nation, the Nazarites had broken their promise to God and had become disobedient to His command ments. Amos sternly rebuked God’s people for their sins, especially for drunkenness, selfishness, unkindness to the poor, and injustice to others. Earnestly he warned the Jews to “ Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate.” God’s will for His people in the day of Amos, and now, is that they should be temperate in all things. Any food or drink which harms the body or any pleasure or deed which makes the body unclean for a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit must be set aside from the life that would honor God. Many habits which are harmless if engaged in temperately, be come harmful, even sinful, if they are allowed to rule the body or mind. If you know the Lord Jesus as your personal Saviour, your body is the temple or dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. God CONTINUED ► Helps for the Children Amos in the Market Place Amos 2:10-12; 4:1, 6 Memory Verse: "Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate" (Amos 5:15a).
June 6 , 1954 Amos Condemns Social Injustice Amos 7:10-17; 8:4-8a Pointers on the Lesson
usurping God’s rightful place in our lives. Helps for the Children A Shepherd Becomes a Preacher 2 Kings 14:23-29; Amos 7:10-17 Memory Verse: "Seek good, and not evil" (Amos 5:14a). Jeroboam, King of Israel, was an evil ruler who refused to lead his people in the way which God had commanded them to follow. God’s people, the Jews, had be come rich and selfish; they were out wardly religious, but their hearts no longer truly loved the Lord their God. Into the midst of this sinful nation God sent the prophet Amos, a shepherd and a dresser of sycamore trees (a species of poor quality of fig tree, probably). This kindly shepherd who had many hours in which to pray and think clearly, wanted to aid people to love and worship God in a manner which would honor Him. God sent this humble shepherd with a mes sage of punishment to the people whom He loved. Repeatedly God had warned His people that they must be punished if they refused to obey Him. Now, because of their continued disobedience, God allowed Amos to know those things which would happen to the people. Bravely Amos told the king, and those whom he ruled, the terrible future that God was going to allow them to experience. Within fifty years the predictions of Amos were ful filled to the letter. God often finds some of His most faith ful workers among those who are not im portant in the eyes of their friends and families. Pray that you may be willing for Him to use you as His messenger and that you will be fearless in telling others of the Lord Jesus. June 13, 1954 Amos Denounces Intemperance Amos 2:11, 12; 4:1, 2; 6:1-7 Pointers on the Lesson Amos prophesied in the Northern King dom during the reign of Jeroboam II. The days were prosperous materially, but spir itually declension was in swift progress. The prophet warned Israel, as well as Judah, of the sure judgments that were to come. It seemed unlikely that judgment would come any time soon. Yet within fifty years ■the kingdom (Israel) was utterly destroyed (B.C. 722). One of the evil influences abroad in Amos’ day was that of strong drink. There are many par allels between the conditions prevailing in that day and the day in which we live. We ought to learn the lesson that trifling with sin is sure to bring destruction in the end. Making Light of Holy Things Amos 2:11, 12 God had provided prophets and Nazar-
In this lesson we are to study Israel through the eyes, and the words of Amos. It was a time of seeming prosperity and success in the long reign of Jeroboam II. The rich and the rulers were living in luxury at the expense of the poor. Amin saw evil and coming doom resulting from this situation and warned them against the dark days ahead. Jehovah is a merciful God and if people will only do something about•mein, sin He will alleviate His judgments. Shunning the Truth 7:10-13 Wicked men do not like to hear the Word of God, It condemns them. That is why it-is so hard to get unsaved men into the house of the Lord where God’s Word is proclaimed. It seems that they think that God’s judgments will not catch up with them if they do not hear about them. Thus in our lesson today Amaziah, the priest of false religion in the Northern Kingdom, tells King Jeroboam that the land cannot bear the words of Amos (v. 10). There was too much truth in them. They brought Israel’s sin into full light. Moreover, Amaziah bluntly told Amos to depart into Judah and prophesy there (v. 12). God’s message and the ways of the world do not mix. Answering the False Priest 7:14-17 Amos answered Amaziah by telling him that he had been doing only what God had told him to do. He was not a prophet in the ordinary sense that he was a product of the schools. He was a simple man of the fields but God had called him to bear a message of warning to Israel. In the primary sense a prophet is one who proclaims the Word of God. It need not be in its predictive aspect either. In this way all of God’s children can be prophets and should be so. Amos urged Israel “therefore [to] hear thou the word of the Lord” (v. 16). He further made it clear that failure to heed this word would result in serious judgments (v. 17). Presenting Israel's Case 8:4-8a The selfish, greedy hearts of the Israel ites are presented in bold relief in these verses. They have no place for God in their lives. They were so greedy of un just gain that they could not spare a single day, however sacred it might be, in pursuing it. Amos makes it clear that for this sort of attitude the land will be made to tremble (v. 8a). Let us look into our hearts today, in this materialistic age, and see if avarice and lotfe of things is
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