Bible

 

Amos 1

Studie

1 The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

2 And he said, Jehovah roareth from Zion, and uttereth his voice from Jerusalem; and the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withereth.

3 Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke [my sentence], because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron.

4 And I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the palaces of Ben-Hadad.

5 And I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Beth-Eden; and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith Jehovah.

6 Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Gazah, and for four, I will not revoke its sentence; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver [them] up to Edom.

7 And I will send a fire on the wall of Gazah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

8 And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn my hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord Jehovah.

9 Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not revoke its sentence; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant.

10 And I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

11 Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke its sentence; because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity; and his anger did tear continually, and he kept his wrath for ever.

12 And I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.

13 Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not revoke its sentence; because they ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border.

14 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind.

15 And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith Jehovah.

Komentář

 

Shepherd

  
A Chilean gaucho herding sheep.

Shepherds represent people who lead and teach others, using knowledge and true ideas to help people reach the goodness of life. This makes sense if you think about what a shepherd does. He makes sure the flock has good grass to eat; plants in the Bible represent facts and knowledge. The shepherd makes sure the flock has good water to drink; water represents true thinking about the spiritual aspect of day-to-day life. He carries weapons (a true understanding of spiritual things) to ward off predators (desires for evil) and keeps the flock safe. And the ultimate goal of the shepherd is for the flock to be useful, to do good, to provide good things, representing the good of life. There are, of course, a few cases in which shepherds are the bad guys (for instance, a group of them in Midian would chase Jethro's daughters away so they could water their sheep first; Moses found favor by helping the daughters and ended up marrying one of them). In these cases shepherds represent people who lead and teach without the good of life as the goal. When goodness is not the goal, ideas and knowledge are twisted into falsity and the teaching and leading trend toward evil. See also Sheep.