As we begin our readings in the Prophets, you will find how amazingly close the issues of their world parallel our own, and how much we have to learn from them. They are timeless words of warning and challenge that ring as true today as they did when the prophet first spoke them. May we have humble hearts and ears to see as we read their pages.

Wealth is a relative thing. The average middle class American enjoys comforts that only kings and emperors enjoyed in the ancient world. Most twenty-first century American Christians live in peace and prosperity, enjoying the fruits of their labor as the blessing of God. Certainly such achievements should not be belittled or envied—through personal responsibility in an innovative, free market society, the path to prosperity is a relatively open road. Yet in many parts of the world, the path to wealth is still paved by corruption. When considering the global population, Jesus’s words concerning the poor still ring true. The poor are always with us, often on a massive and overwhelming scale. Poverty may come as a result of laziness and foolish behavior, but it too often as a result of violence, corruption, social injustice, and crimes against humanity. Amos preached in an environment of unparalleled prosperity for the upper class of Israel, though the vast majority of people still lived in poverty and oppression. The political expansion of Jeroboam II ensured a false sense of geopolitical security (see 2 Kgs 14:23–29); the Assyrian Empire was temporarily subdued by its own internal strife, and Israel had little to fear from other external threats. The ruling class had come to see their blessings as a sign of God’s favor, yet they were blind to the suffering of the population they suppressed. Moreover, they were blind to the coming wrath of God. What seemed nearly impossible during the reign of Jeroboam II—the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel—was actually only decades away.

— Dr. Al Fuhr, The Message of the Twelve