000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

166 Proper 10 [15]/Year B
installed in its new cultic home, and distribution of food to the people
(6:12–19). David wears a linen ephod—a simple white linen garment associated
with the priesthood.
The preacher might help the congregation name symbols that function
similarly to the ark to awaken awareness of the divine presence. For
instance, in our tradition (Disciples of Christ) the Communion table often
has this quality. The preacher should also help the people recognize that
while the text is intended to impress readers with the importance of following
God’s directives, from today’s perspective it is theologically inappropriate
to claim that a God of love would strike a person dead for trying
to do something helpful, even if that person had not followed the typical
prescriptions for being around the ark.
This text does not appear in the New Testament.
Amos 7:7–15* (Paired)
Amos 7:1–8:3 describes four images as the sources of Amos’s prophetic
inspiration; between the third and the fourth image is the account of his
confrontation with “Amaziah, the priest of Bethel” (vv. 10–17). The four
prophet-inspiring experiences are perfectly ordinary events: the Lord
showed Amos locusts (7:1), fire (7:4), “a plumb line” (7:7), and “a basket
of summer fruit” (8:1).
Locusts could devastate farms and meadows, bringing famine on animals
and people (Joel 1:19–20). Amos sees the locusts eat all the grass of
the land (v. 2), prompting him to beg the Lord to forgive because “Jacob
... is so small” (v. 2). The Lord concedes to Amos’s prayer. When the
Lord shows Amos fire “eating up the land” (v. 4), Amos again prays to the
Lord to “cease, I beg you!” (v. 5), and the Lord says, “This also shall not
be” (v. 6).
Today’s reading makes a different move. Amos sees the Lord “standing
beside a wall . . . with a plumb line in his hand” (v. 7). The Lord said,
“‘Amos, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘A plumb line.’ Then the Lord said,
‘See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; . . . the
high places of Isaac shall be made desolate’” (vv. 8–9). This time Amos
does not intercede on behalf of Israel. Using a plumb line to determine if
a wall was properly built was standard practice in the ancient world. An
out-of-plumb wall will collapse. Amos uses the plumb line to measure
Israel’s situation in relation to God: Israel’s behavior is not an appropriate
response to God’s gracious love. Israel was to love the neighbor and take
especial care of the widow and the orphan on whose behalf Amos waged