WEBVTT 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:17.679 Because he is so direct and because of his passion for the downtribe and his passion for social injustice. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:32.719 I found that I find myself moving through the condemnation and focusing on the point of that, the social injustice. 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:47.920 So I would kind of brush through there's a rhythm to his condemnation, and so I would just ride that rope that rhythm as fast as I could to get to what was why he was so like why God was. 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:03.679 And he was so eloquent. 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:06.480 So he's educated. 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:11.200 He was supposedly his father died young, but a mother raised him. 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:15.680 Where did that education come from? 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:16.159 Yeah. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:17.359 It's a great question. 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:21.200 He's a shepherd and a dresser of poor figs, right? 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:25.120 So how how does he have the luxury of education? 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:26.560 It's enigmatic. 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:34.239 What do we know about the about Amos historically? 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:40.480 Well, so so on our timeline, and remember, Amos is actually a southerner. 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:53.120 So he belongs to Judah, which makes him going up in the north and saying, you guys are gonna have the hurt locker opened up on you, would be very doubly offensive, right? 00:01:53.359 --> 00:01:56.719 So he has to be riding ahead of 722. 00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:59.040 That's when the north gets wiped out. 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:01.760 That's mostly what we know. 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:09.120 Do we know do the biblical historians believe that it is written by a specific individual? 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:21.360 Or do they think that it's a combination of people, and they just Amos just happens to be a name that is picked to No, I think you find a variety on that. 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:30.960 I mean, certainly there's I've never heard the opinion that Amos represents like a bunch of chapters that have been stitched together. 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:43.680 Although it is very likely with everything we have, whether it was written by one person or a few, certainly there's editing that happens afterward, if that makes sense. 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:46.400 But does it feel like is it a continuum? 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:48.400 Yeah, it feels coherent. 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:49.280 It feels coherent. 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:51.840 I mean when you read it, doesn't it feel coherent as well? 00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:55.199 You know, again, we can, it's so old we can never go back. 00:02:55.360 --> 00:03:03.520 But the interesting thing is if you look lexically, there's not like chapter one has totally different vocabulary from chapter five. 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:05.599 This is sort of the key, right? 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:10.319 Style and and lexicon, they it's coherent. 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:21.039 Not so in Isaiah, there's three different styles in Isaiah, and people will tell you there's three Isaiahs under one name, if that makes sense. 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:28.400 I found when they were talking about 8th century, I was like, when did this happen? 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:30.319 I am ignorant. 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:34.639 I'm looking at your timeline, which is negative of until 64. 00:03:35.759 --> 00:03:39.680 So how do you know if they're talking about A C or BC? 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:41.840 Oh, this is definitely BCE. 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:45.520 So the 8th century BCE would be the 700s. 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:46.400 Yeah. 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:47.599 And 720. 00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:59.599 But I was like, what's pretty much until we flip over and start doing New Testament, we're gonna be always presume we're we're BCE. 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:00.240 Yeah. 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:01.039 Yeah, well. 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:04.560 They were so primitive. 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:11.360 It's a strange thing, actually, to think about primitivity, actually. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:16.319 I mean, because we don't know how they made the pyramids still. 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:18.480 That was magic. 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:20.639 Aliens, perhaps. 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:22.639 My father-in-law believes that actually. 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:25.279 But those are without the iron tools. 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:30.959 Or or an engine, I mean, necessity is the mother of invention, right? 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:32.319 And I that probably is right. 00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:34.079 Giants in those days. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:34.560 Giants. 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:35.680 Could be that. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:37.439 Giants robbed the earth. 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:38.319 Could be. 00:04:38.639 --> 00:04:39.839 A lot of stuff happened. 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:41.600 They didn't have iron tools. 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:43.439 That's the interesting thing, right? 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:52.399 So think about the level of precision it takes to make something out of wood when you don't have screws or glue. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:58.560 As a woodworker, it's amazing to think about that. 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:01.040 I can build a lot of stuff with glue. 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:02.639 I don't even need screws. 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:05.759 If I've got glue, I mean they don't have glue. 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:08.240 And they don't even have iron saws. 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:09.839 I mean, you just gotta think about that. 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:17.759 A plumb line is a bubble level, you know, before that got invented. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:20.319 You can do a whole lot with it. 00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:22.399 You can do a whole lot with strings. 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:23.759 I mean, that's that's it. 00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:25.600 It's the strings and gravity. 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:33.120 And then, you know, go over and look at Rocket Park, at the space shuttle we made with a slide rule. 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:36.079 It looks like a high schooler made it in Woodshop. 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:39.360 I mean, it's it's I would never get into that thing. 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:40.480 Have you seen it? 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:44.000 I mean, I know it's incredible and it looks so primitive. 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:49.839 I mean, it looks like it could blow up at any second, and and they did, they blew up all the time. 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:54.000 So anyway, well, people made that with a slide rule. 00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:58.399 And when you say plumb line, I'm thinking of something that's correct. 00:05:58.480 --> 00:05:59.600 It's a string with a weight. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:03.920 Alright, so how did they do horizontal lines? 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:08.160 Strings? 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:09.759 No, I they didn't have bubbles back then. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:10.560 No, they didn't. 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:11.680 I in fact it makes it. 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:14.720 Because they wouldn't have had glass or plastic, it would have been invisible. 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:23.600 Well, that's fair. 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:25.120 I will tell you what's interesting. 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:30.959 The Hezekiah's tunnel they referenced in the video is one and a half kilometers and it snakes. 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:34.079 And it has a 1% grade the entire way. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:37.199 Well, there's a way to do it. 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:41.759 Well, I'll tell you how how they dug that shaft, interesting enough. 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:45.279 You can read it in James Mitchiner's book, The Source. 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:56.399 Two teams started on two sides, underground, with bronze tools, and met in the middle and were off by like two inches. 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:07.759 And essentially what they did was they they dug a big hole and they put a tree down in the hole that they'd sided outside and they followed the tree. 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:22.000 I know that sounds crazy, but this happened in 800 BC, this tunnel at Megiddo, two teams, three kilometers long, two different sides, met in the middle, off by two inches. 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:25.120 So necessity is the mother of invention, and it's funny. 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:28.000 I'm not convinced who's more primitive. 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:40.399 I mean, that was when you had to have rote learning, and you had to be, you had to be exceptionally uh gifted to do what they did. 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:43.920 We don't have to be because we have things that do it for us. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:44.879 I don't know if that makes sense. 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:49.439 And poetry was highly thinking. 00:07:54.560 --> 00:08:02.319 I honestly don't believe that we're any brighter in terms of our intellectual capabilities than they were using our technology. 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:04.560 Because we have the weight of history behind us. 00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:05.839 I have a kid. 00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:08.560 I have a question. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:15.199 Um, so in 722 the Assyrians came in and they basically destroyed Israel and Judea? 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:21.040 Well, because they took they took all of Israel and they surrounded Jerusalem, but they didn't take it. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:23.199 So Jerusalem never actually fell. 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:27.920 Yeah, and and remember, Hezekiah's tunnel is what allowed it to stay. 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:35.679 So who so the last the last king of Israel was Hiah? 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:46.320 No, the last king of Israel is Zedekiah, the one who gets his eyes gouged down after watching his sons killed in front of him, and then he's taken into exile in Babylon. 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:48.639 But that doesn't happen until 586. 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:50.720 And the last Judea? 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:53.679 Um I forget. 00:08:57.039 --> 00:08:58.080 No, no, that's Judea. 00:08:58.240 --> 00:08:59.840 Judea is Zedekiah. 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:04.320 The last king of Israel is um that's the one I can't remember his name. 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:06.720 Amaziah, maybe? 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:09.840 Oh, here you got it. 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:18.799 The last king is Pekahiah, yeah, Pekahiah. 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:23.440 And and so he would have been killed by the Assyrians. 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:39.360 Well, they're the they're the first empire, like we think of the word empire. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:41.279 Egypt has been around a long time. 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:48.799 And Egypt sort of swallowed up Africa, but it didn't really come into the Levant very much. 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:55.200 I mean, Egypt was not a swallowing empire like these Mesopotamian ones were. 00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:59.519 So, so you know, there's an old Babylon, you've heard of the Code of Hammurabi. 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:01.919 That's that's the old Babylon. 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:03.759 It's not really an empire. 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:11.679 When we start thinking empires, the Assyrian Empire is really the Neo-Assyrian Empire, like there's different dates for these things. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:17.519 These are the names like Tiglath, Pelezer, Sargon the Great, Sennacherib. 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:25.200 These are the people who brutally and ruthlessly swallow other cultures whole and redistribute them. 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:29.600 And they're followed by the Neo-Babylonians, that's like Nebuchadrezzar. 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:38.960 They're followed by the Persian Empire like Cyrus, and Egypt's back breaks during the Neo-Assyrian Empire. 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:41.840 They're no longer like a world power. 00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:45.039 They used to be important and now they're just not. 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:48.559 So Amos is what day was Amos? 00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:51.600 So we're thinking 750, just ballpark. 00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:52.000 Okay. 00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:53.759 30 years ahead of the end. 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:56.960 So he basically predicted. 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:02.480 I mean, he he told folks this is what's going to happen if you don't turn around. 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:07.600 I mean, and I think a good way to think about this when we think about prediction. 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:14.000 I predict that if you go 20 miles over the speed limit, you will lose your license. 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:22.159 You might not do it today, but I predict if you do it every time on your road, eventually, the consequences are gonna catch up with you. 00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:25.519 I think that's what he's saying. 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:35.039 And part of it is, I think the way he ties that in theologically is you know, Israel and Judah have always been a buffer state. 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:44.480 They've never, contrary to what I learned in Sunday school about how Solomon was the richest man on the planet, he was not. 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:45.759 Never. 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:55.759 He married Pharaoh's daughter and brought her to Israel, and he had to build a special room for her because his palace was like a pig sty for her. 00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:57.360 This is important to know. 00:11:57.519 --> 00:12:01.039 So we think, oh, Solomon sat around in gold and all that. 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:11.519 He he I mean Israel and Judah were like Haiti, honestly, between America and Mexico under Spain. 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:28.000 So so they had some times when the balance of power was weak that they could expand, that they can contract a little bit, but they were never anything like a ser like um Nineveh or Babylon or Cairo. 00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:29.039 Never. 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:37.120 And hopefully that's that's helpful to think through relative importance here. 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:46.799 So when you're a buffer state, and I think the prophets are saying, listen, the reason you're existing is a balance of power. 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:57.120 So it's an advantage to have an independent state as a buffer, but but B, uh you actually can't take care of yourself, so you owe your existence to God. 00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:11.200 And God is not going to continue to go out of the way to preserve you from realpolitik when you're acting just like those other countries, if that makes sense. 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:28.000 So over and over again we hear the reason you can't wear clothes made out of two fabric, the reason you can't eat pork, the reason uh you can't uh have sexual relationships with your sister is because that's what the Egyptians do. 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:30.399 You can't be like them. 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:32.720 I mean, literally, that's this description. 00:13:32.879 --> 00:13:33.919 You can't be like them. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:44.559 And if you're gonna act like them, then I am going to allow natural consequences of your relative weakness to happen to you and you'll be gone. 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:47.759 If that makes sense. 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:50.639 You don't deserve to exist. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:52.399 You're too weak. 00:13:52.559 --> 00:14:02.000 I mean, to give you an idea, when the Assyrians come to Jerusalem, one of the taunts, we read it last week, is I'll give you a thousand horses. 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:04.720 Let's see if you can ride one of them. 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:09.440 The people in in in this sounds crazy, right? 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:16.799 But horses, people only figured out you could ride a horse in about 800 BCE. 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:20.159 Horses used to pull chariots. 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:34.320 And the reason for this, uh, I heard this in a lecture, is that an ox breathes through its mouth, and if you put a bit in an ox's mouth, it'll suffocate because it can't it can't breathe independently. 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:37.200 A horse doesn't breathe through its mouth, it breathes only through its nose. 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:39.840 And that's why you can put a bit in a horse's mouth. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:41.679 Well, people didn't know that. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:47.519 So they had horses acting like oxen, harnessed and pulling chariots. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:51.360 And you might think, like, oh, Ben Hur, chariots are fast. 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:55.600 Uh chariots were made out of wood and they didn't have iron. 00:14:55.840 --> 00:14:58.559 So chariots actually broke a bunch. 00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:04.159 Like they were chariots were like um like Yugos, right? 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:09.519 I mean, you go nowhere in a Yugo, and you go nowhere in a chariot. 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:18.080 And and you know, when you read the story about the Reed Sea and the Egyptians get stuck in the Reed Sea, well, they'd ridden their chariots too long. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:20.240 They naturally just broke, right? 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:25.120 A chariot really was just an archery platform way back when. 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:29.440 It allowed an archer to move around, but not with any huge speed. 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:31.440 You you you'd break the axle. 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:32.399 It's all wood. 00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:33.679 I mean, again, think through this. 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:34.720 There's no roads. 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:38.159 So racing like they're doing winters, right? 00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:47.039 They did in Rome, which is 2,000 years later, when they'd figured out how to make like iron axles. 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:56.559 But you know, again, when you're going bumpity bump, bump bump, you know, through hills and dales with wood wheels and no glue. 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:03.440 I mean, we we this is this thing, we anachronistically think about history. 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:03.759 Yeah. 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:04.240 Right? 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:09.279 We think like, ah, chariot races and Egyptians have chariots, but it's totally different. 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:10.559 Totally different. 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:15.600 So the Assyrians come and they say, Y'all don't even know how to ride these horses. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:16.480 We do. 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:26.159 What's important to know is the other nations had were into the early Iron Age, and the Hebrew people were like in the Middle Bronze Age. 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:33.600 So just to contrast this, iron is very abundant everywhere on the planet. 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:34.960 Bronze isn't. 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:39.440 So Bronze Age weapons meant the king and the prince had a bronze dagger. 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:41.360 The king and the prince. 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:44.879 Everybody else had a club with a nail sticking out of it. 00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:50.879 Or they had stone-headed arrows. 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:54.960 Now the other nations had figured out how to have metal-tipped arrows. 00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:57.600 You see, easier to mass produce. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:02.799 An arrow is an arrow at the end of the day, but time and production, right? 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:11.920 And then in the early iron age, hey, other people have clubs with weak iron nails, or they've got weak iron swords. 00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:15.920 I mean, just you just gotta think through this military technology. 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:17.680 I mean, these were backward people. 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:22.319 This would have been like meeting the Blitzkrieg on horseback. 00:17:24.079 --> 00:17:25.200 Which happened. 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:26.000 Right? 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:30.559 That's the state of the Hebrew people. 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:33.039 So the Assyrians took all of Israel. 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:33.839 All of Israel. 00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:39.519 But they didn't take, was it just Jerusalem or was there an area around Jerusalem? 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:45.920 So what happened is they Judah, you know, think of it as a small county. 00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:52.400 And the the county seat is Jerusalem, which was four city blocks, not big. 00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:58.079 All the people see Assyria coming and they cram into Jerusalem. 00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:07.359 The only reason they don't die is there's a freshwater tunnel that the Assyrians didn't find, or they would have poisoned it and everybody would have died. 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:08.559 That's how you fought sieges. 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:15.119 You tried to run them out of food, then they start eating each other, or they get desperate and they try to fight to get out. 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:19.039 I mean, they didn't have sappers and dynamite and all that stuff, right? 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:22.000 So everybody's crammed up in here. 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:29.119 Well, well, the Assyrians leave, which means you can go back out into your fields, if that makes sense. 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:33.920 So you just have to survive until the army leaves, and then you can go back and grow food. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:35.200 And that's kind of how that worked out. 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:38.799 So Artemis never took Jerusalem. 00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:42.160 The Assyrians did not take Jerusalem. 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:47.759 No, they and what we what what happens, right, is um two things it looks like. 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:50.319 Hezekiah pays them tribute. 00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:52.720 All they really wanted was money anyway. 00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:58.559 I mean, if I can get all your money without having to kill you, that's advantageous to me because I don't lose troops. 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:01.359 But they were saying, no way, we won't pay. 00:19:01.599 --> 00:19:04.160 So they paid, maybe they didn't pay enough. 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:19.920 We don't know, but there appears to be backfighting in Assyria, so the army's got to go back there because there's there's going to be there's essentially a coup happening in Assyria and a change in power, and you've got to get the army back there. 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:22.960 If that makes sense. 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:28.720 Was the second temple still up? 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:30.319 No, no, this is the first temple. 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:31.440 I'm not meant the first temple. 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:34.799 First temple's still there until 586. 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:46.240 Now, um, we see pictures of the Assyrians, you can find them like stele carved in, and they're all very stylized like the Egyptians. 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:47.920 You know, none of the pharaohs looked like that. 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:48.960 None of them did. 00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:51.920 That's like an icon of kingly identity. 00:19:52.079 --> 00:20:02.640 Well, the Assyrian kings are always, they always have like the braided beard, and they're always like stepping on somebody's head with like weapons. 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:05.200 And um, this is an important thing to know. 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:10.559 You know, Napoleon stayed behind the lines as the general and told people where to go. 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:12.640 And that's not the ancient way of fighting. 00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:20.559 The ancient way of fighting is that the king leads the army onto the the king is the champion, like the best fighter. 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:22.000 And for good reason. 00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:23.519 That's all they do. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:26.240 But you have the luxury of training, you know. 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:32.240 So Achilles, you know, led the army, he wasn't in the middle of it. 00:20:32.319 --> 00:20:37.599 And the same with these Assyrian kings, I mean, they were they were deadeyes with the bow. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:43.119 And they were huge, strong, agile fighters. 00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:44.079 That was what they did. 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:45.680 And they're stylized like that. 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:49.119 So again, you'll see them riding chariots over people. 00:20:49.440 --> 00:20:54.319 As Amos says, you you know, pe you'll be led away with fish hooks. 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:57.920 I mean, you don't need handcuffs when someone puts a hook through your nose. 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:00.079 You're you're going to follow the rope. 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:03.359 Don't think about a small fish hook. 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:07.359 When someone puts a big old hook through your nose, these aren't kind folk. 00:21:08.640 --> 00:21:13.680 They're they're interested in completely dominating nations, and they did. 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:19.680 Did they have any uh economy that in inside themselves or did in the country? 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:21.920 They had to to support their military. 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:26.079 You know, so so their the principal industries were initially growing grain. 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:37.440 Sounds like they they grow their own food to support their army, and then the way they expand, right, is they take all of your stuff, and then the more they swallow, the more they get. 00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:43.039 And and then they do need people to continue to grow in the grain to supply the military, right? 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:45.839 Without supply lines, you don't do well. 00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:55.200 Um, but the way they do that is again, they they intersperse populations so that there's no common language or religion, which is what allows for rebellion. 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:57.839 Brutal, brutal people. 00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:59.759 Uh you'll again, I heard I told you about 50. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:00.799 Fish hooks. 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:04.720 Um, you'll also hear things like babies being dashed. 00:22:05.279 --> 00:22:10.480 I just to make sure we're clear, that's where you take a baby and throw it on a rock. 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:14.079 Um to kill it. 00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:17.039 Oh, when you go into another country. 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:17.599 Yeah. 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:23.680 So Amos is a is this is a shepherd or a farmer? 00:22:24.319 --> 00:22:26.000 He identifies himself as a shepherd. 00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:34.160 And he is a fairly well-educated shepherd from Judea, and he goes to Israel to speak against them. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:36.799 What about Judea? 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:38.400 Weren't they just bad? 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:40.799 Well, he does speak a word against Judah. 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:41.440 Right? 00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:48.880 And and this is the interesting part rhetorically, and this is where maybe we can dive directly into the text with that background behind us. 00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:52.640 I do want to say there's a monument of Martin Luther King Jr. 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:57.359 in Atlanta, and there's this quote on there, let justice roll down like waters. 00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:01.200 Well, he didn't say it, he said that, but it wasn't his idea. 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:02.720 That comes right out of Amos. 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:04.400 So King was quoting Amos. 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:06.720 A lot of folk don't realize that. 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:09.599 Um I just had to say that. 00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:09.920 Okay. 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.400 Um, because I recognized it. 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:16.880 It's pretty, it's pretty famous. 00:23:18.319 --> 00:23:20.400 Um so a couple of things. 00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:24.240 Rhetorically, the book begins with this interesting thing. 00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:30.079 For three sins will God will overthrow you, but you've done four, right? 00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:33.839 So so look, uh you you you're over the line. 00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:37.359 And he does that with all the surrounding countries. 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:39.759 And this book is great, it draws that out, right? 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:44.240 So you get to hear the surrounding countries in case you're interested. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:48.880 There's Syria, still there today, capital is Damascus, right? 00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:52.880 There's Gaza, that's the Bank of the Philistines. 00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:57.759 Um, helpful to know the Philistines are basically Minoan Greeks, right? 00:23:57.839 --> 00:24:05.359 So they they're they're not an indigenous people of the Levant, they're Greeks who have been pushed out of their own place. 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:12.240 They've got Iron Age weapons, and the Philistines are a major problem for the Hebrews because they're technologically superior. 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:14.559 They live in, what do you know, Gaza. 00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:17.119 And and look, listen to what they did bad. 00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:21.279 They exiled, they exiled entire communities. 00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:26.640 Boy, if you think they're bad, that's what Assyria did. 00:24:28.240 --> 00:24:31.200 Tyre, those are the Phoenicians, right? 00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:36.160 Tyre, um they delivered people to Edom, and that's really bad. 00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:42.319 The Phoenicians are the ones who invented the color purple or discovered it, right? 00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:45.920 One other interesting thing about the Phoenicians. 00:24:46.079 --> 00:25:00.400 The gods of the Phoenicians are the gods of Canaan, like El and Baal and Asherah, and uh Hiram of Tyre, he's the king of Tyre, builds a temple to Baal in Tyre. 00:25:01.680 --> 00:25:08.160 When Solomon builds the temple in Jerusalem, it's a carbon copy of the temple to Baal in Tyre. 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:19.759 It's important to name this because uh Amos is gonna say, listen, you're worshiping idols at Bethel and Dan, you've got bulls there. 00:25:20.559 --> 00:25:25.599 The bulls are a symbol for Baal, but I don't know if you realize the Hebrew temple also has bulls. 00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:33.680 In fact, it's got this ginormous bronze sea, which is a basin, on the back of twelve bulls. 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:44.720 So bulls are okay in Jerusalem, but they're not okay in Bethel and Dan, and here's why the prophets from Jerusalem. 00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:55.759 I guarantee you that the prophets in Bethel and Dan said the same thing about the bulls in Jerusalem. 00:25:56.160 --> 00:26:00.799 Those are idols, but ours, on the other hand, are just mine. 00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:07.279 Um, the Edomites attack their brothers. 00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:19.519 And what's really interesting is we're getting closer and closer because the Edomites are the descendants of not Jacob, but his twin brother Esau. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:23.920 So the Edomites are relatives of the Hebrews. 00:26:24.079 --> 00:26:27.680 They're in the same family tree, but they act different. 00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:31.200 Then we get to the Ammonites and the Moabites. 00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:33.119 Those are Lot's children. 00:26:33.359 --> 00:26:40.880 So, you know, Lot, in Hebrew it's Lot, uh Lot flees Sodom and Gomorrah. 00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:43.200 His daughters get pregnant by him. 00:26:43.359 --> 00:26:45.279 They probably think they're the last people on earth. 00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:47.119 They're trying to preserve the human race. 00:26:47.279 --> 00:26:51.839 So these are essentially like the children of incest in Israel's family tree. 00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:56.160 So again, these are relatives of theirs, and so it's getting closer and closer to home. 00:26:56.240 --> 00:27:03.920 You may not realize this, but he's always getting closer and tighter, not just geographically, but ethnically as well. 00:27:05.599 --> 00:27:09.200 The problem of the Ammonites is they ripped open pregnant women. 00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:12.799 This happened all the time in ancient Near Eastern warfare. 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:14.160 It's like dashing babies. 00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:16.000 It is it's dreadful. 00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:26.160 The Moabites burned the king's bones, which is essentially when you burn somebody's bones up, their afterlife is over. 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:33.119 So it's it's and even if it's a king, you're supposed to show respect for kings and not do this. 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:33.440 Okay? 00:27:33.599 --> 00:27:34.960 Then we get to Judah. 00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:38.720 The problem with Judah is they rejected the law of the Lord. 00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:46.480 So Amos is saying of his own people that they have rejected the Torah that Moses gave them. 00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:49.119 Very general. 00:27:49.359 --> 00:27:49.839 Alright? 00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:52.400 And then he comes home rhetorically. 00:27:52.640 --> 00:28:02.240 He's sort of come around and around and around, and maybe they were really excited to hear, hey, for three sins I'll punish Judah, and they've done four. 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:07.359 And now for seven, Israel. 00:28:08.319 --> 00:28:10.400 So he saved the best for last. 00:28:10.480 --> 00:28:14.720 He's sort of surprised, you're the worst ones. 00:28:15.599 --> 00:28:18.640 And then you know, it's interesting, he doesn't name seven things. 00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:22.720 And when he talks about for three and for four, he never names three and four things. 00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:25.359 He only at most ever names one thing. 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:30.400 The ones we get is father and son go into the same woman. 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:32.720 That's a violation of the Torah. 00:28:32.960 --> 00:28:36.400 Um, you drink unjust wine. 00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:38.559 More on that in a second. 00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:43.440 And you make the Nazarites drink wine and you tell prophets not to prophesy. 00:28:43.599 --> 00:28:53.680 So father and son going into the same woman, that's essentially, it's probably prostitution in the sense of you go to a temple, right? 00:28:53.839 --> 00:29:00.079 So don't think red light district, or don't think this is a son with his father's wife. 00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:08.720 Think this is worshiping other gods, and father and son are doing that, so it's a it's a double insult to the Torah. 00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:11.440 Um, Nazarites. 00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:16.079 Nazarites are people who take a vow to God. 00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:18.480 Paul actually is a Nazarite. 00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:19.440 We'll get there. 00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:28.559 During the time they make a vow to God, they cannot drink wine, touch anything dead, or cut their hair. 00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:31.680 They can't drink any wine. 00:29:32.079 --> 00:29:33.359 That was standard fare. 00:29:33.599 --> 00:29:36.720 So this is like a nutrient-poor diet. 00:29:37.039 --> 00:29:43.680 You can't touch anything dead, means you can't eat meat or be a butcher. 00:29:43.920 --> 00:29:53.519 And then you can't cut your hair, is another interesting thing, because we're not really sure that people did cut their hair, but it was an external sign. 00:29:53.599 --> 00:29:58.640 Now, when your vow is over, and Paul does this in the New Testament, you shave your head. 00:29:59.200 --> 00:30:01.119 We'll see it when we read the book of Acts. 00:30:01.759 --> 00:30:02.559 It's for a period of time. 00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:03.920 It's for a period of time. 00:30:04.079 --> 00:30:08.799 There are in the Bible three people who are Nazarites their whole life, or they're supposed to be. 00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:11.279 In fact, they're born as Nazarites. 00:30:12.079 --> 00:30:13.200 Do you know who they are? 00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:14.400 Samson. 00:30:14.960 --> 00:30:15.519 Samson. 00:30:16.079 --> 00:30:22.559 Samson is actually the first one, and he breaks every single one of those, right? 00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:27.279 And when he breaks the last one by cutting his hair, he loses everything, right? 00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:30.880 But he was drinking wine, he touches the dead lion. 00:30:31.039 --> 00:30:32.640 You know, this is bad. 00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:41.839 Um, John the Baptist, right, who does not break the vows, and Samuel, actually, the prophet Samuel. 00:30:42.400 --> 00:30:44.400 So he's a vegetarian his whole life. 00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:46.079 That's important to hear. 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:56.720 Essentially, the thing is, these people have made vows to God, and you are breaking their vows. 00:30:57.519 --> 00:31:02.160 It would be like taking a monk and making them watch pornography or something like that. 00:31:02.240 --> 00:31:05.920 I mean, just trying to think through an equivalent symbol, right? 00:31:06.880 --> 00:31:10.400