Amos and Obadiah
One man who wrote God’s words was a herder of cattle named Amos; he was a poor man, for he said that he was a gatherer of sycamore fruit, which was a kind of fig used by poor people. It was while he was watching the cattle that God spoke to him to go tell His words to the people of Israel living north of his home, which was in a town of Judah.
Amos went as God told him to the people worshiping the gold calves set up by the king, and not caring for what the Lord had done for them. Amos told of the greatness of God:
“Lo He that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is His thought....The Lord, The God of hosts is His Name” (ch. 4:13).
“Seek Him that maketh the seven stars, and Orion (a large group of stars), and turneth the shadow of death into morning (resurrection), and maketh the day dark with night (judgment): that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is His Name” (ch. 5:8).
“Seek good and not evil that ye may live: and so the Lord God of hosts, shall be with you.” (ch. 5:14).
Amos told the people that God had kept back the rains, and they wandered for water, yet they did not remember He could send it. He said God wanted to help, and be with them, as though to walk with them, but he asked them,
God could not be with them in their wicked ways. The kings and great men built fine palaces, even of ivory, but they were unjust to the poor.
Amos told them of a time to come when they could not hear any words of God:
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord; and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.” Amos 8:11,1211Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: 12And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. (Amos 8:11‑12).
That would surely be a sad time. Do you think so sad a time can come again on earth? Now, we may have the Bible and read God’s words, but when God takes those who believe Him to heaven, those who have not believed Him will not know His words.
In the country where Amos tended the cattle, lions sometimes took a sheep or a calf, and Amos told the people that many, of them would be as cruelly taken by the men of Assyria. The words of God to Amos all came true some years after; only a few people were left in their land.
Those words of God must yet come true.
One prophet, named Obadiah, wrote a very short book of God’s words. It was about a nation south of Israel, called Edom. The people were from the family of Esau, and related to the people of Israel. But they were glad when Israel had trouble. There were high, rocky clefts in their land where they built forts and thought they would always be safe, but God said those would be broken down.
ML 08/16/1942