I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the LORD your God. – Amos 9:15

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 2, 2016): Amos 9

On September 3, 1947, the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine put forward a paper recommending that Palestine be divided into three sections – an Arab section, a Jewish Section and Jerusalem, which would be claimed by both – and by the Christians. The report was the culmination of the severe refugee situation that had been caused by the Second World War. The Jewish people had lost the lives they had built in Europe and wanted to go home – home to an Israel that in 1947 simply did not exist. The Arab people opposed the partition, but the idea of a partition of Palestine was the first step to recognizing a Palestinian nation that had not existed for almost 2000 years, and it could be argued had not existed in 2700 years, or even 3000 years – a united Israel.

On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the Israeli Declaration of Independence. Gone were the Palestinian quotas and immigration limits that had existed under British control. If you were Jewish, finally there was a home that would welcome you with open arms – there was a place where you belonged.

Scholars argue over the fulfillment of the restoration of Amos 9. For some, Amos was speaking of the bringing back of the Jews after the Babylonian captivity. But the tricky point is the restoration of “David’s fallen shelter” (vs. 11) – a comment that is almost universally taken to mean the Tabernacle (after all, the Temple was built by Solomon, even though it was David’s dream.) After the exile, there was a rebuilding of the Temple, although definitely not to the splendor that had existed before its destruction as was prophesied in Amos 9, but no reconstruction of the Tabernacle – David’s fallen shelter.

Others argue that the fulfillment of Amos’ prophecy is found not in the return of Judah from exile after the Babylonian captivity, but rather in the inauguration of the Christian Church after the death and resurrection of Jesus. The fallen Tabernacle is the restored Church of Jesus Christ. Maybe, but there might be another solution.

What we seem to miss is that Amos was prophesying in a period when there was both an Israel and a Judah. Judah was restored after their exile into Babylon, but Israel was never restored – unless we argue that their restoration came in 1948. In 1948 a country was founded that claimed anyone who believed that they were descendants of the House of Jacob. Granted, most would be of the tribe of Judah, or maybe Benjamin and Levi, but the door was left open for all of the descendants of Jacob – even the descendant of the lost tribes (or more likely the culturally assimilated tribes) of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

And the Tabernacle? Maybe that hasn’t been built yet. All of Israel is dreaming of a day when they will once again have a permanent Temple, like Solomon’s, built on Temple Mount. But I still believe that a Tabernacle, a temporary edifice built to the configurations of Moses and placed somewhere else in Israel, might be a worthy stand-in until the days when the Temple can be rebuilt on Temple Mount. Admittedly, I am in the minority, but the rebuilding of the more portable Tabernacle – David’s fallen shelter - would be a perfect fulfillment of the prophecy of Amos.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jonah 1 & 2

“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. – Amos 8:11

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 1, 2016): Amos 8

“God helps those who help themselves.” Maybe the best known Bible verse that is not actually in the Bible. The words have a long history. Euripides makes this comment in his play “Hippolytus” - "Try first thyself, and after call in God; For to the worker God himself lends aid." Sophocles wrote (about twenty years after Euripides), “No good ever comes of leisure purposeless; and heaven never helps the men who will not act.” But the actual saying probably dates even farther back than either of these philosophers. However, it is a thought that has passed through many traditions. Even Mohammed had his version of these words. A story is told that one day Mohammed noticed a Bedouin leaving his camel without tying it down. He asked the Bedouin, "Why don't you tie down your camel?" The Bedouin answered, "I placed my trust in Allah." At that, Mohammed said, "Tie your camel and place your trust in Allah." God helps those who help themselves.

From a Christian context, the problem with the saying is that it places success solidly in the hands of the person instead of God. It is part of a “works-based” theology that says that if I work hard enough, then maybe God will move. We don’t believe that, but that doesn’t seem to matter. Barna reports that 82% of Americans believe that the phrase is in the Bible. Of those who call themselves Christian, but not “born-again” that number drops to 81%. Of those who identify as “born-again” believers, 68% believe that the phrase is in the Bible. And of American teens, three out of every four think that “God helps those who help themselves” is the central theme of the Bible. Even Jay Carney, President Obama’s former Press Secretary, got into the act by quoting the beloved Bible verse that isn’t in a press conference. Oops.

Amos prophesies of a coming famine. Not one of food and water, but rather one of hearing the words of God. The coming famine will be a famine of Scripture. And that famine we are suffering through today. Over seven years ago I began writing this blog as a tool to try to get my church to read the Bible. My hope was that this blog would show solidarity with people as they wrestled with the text. If you read the text suggested every day, then in just over three years you will read every word that is written in the Bible. Here, in year eight, this is our third time through the biblical text.

But the reality in North America is that we substitute other things for the Bible. Even this blog can be that kind of a temptation to substitute something else for Bible reading. It is sometimes easier to read what someone else has written about the Bible than to try to read the text yourself. But when we settle for the words that someone else has written about the Bible instead of the biblical words themselves, we welcome the famine about which Amos prophesied. And we begin to believe things are in the Bible that just aren’t.

In our culture, there is no excuse. Most homes have multiple versions of the Bible laying around somewhere. But, to be honest, I rarely open the Bible as a printed book. Most of my Bible reading is done on my laptop, or my tablet, or my phone. I am one of those annoying people who when the pastor says “Open your Bible to Amos 8” grab my phone and open an app. I spend a lot of time on sites like “Bible Gateway” which offers multiple translations of the Bible and “Blue Letter Bible” which allows me to study the text in the original language.

Whatever the method, the Bible has never been more convenient. But to avoid the famine that Amos speaks about, we have to be willing to read the Bible for ourselves and to wrestle with the harder passages. The practice is well worth it. After all, who cares what Garry says; it is what God says to his people in the Bible that is of the most importance.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Amos 9