HEBREW WORD STUDY – BURDEN OF PAIN – ‘AVAQ  עוק Ayin Vav Qop

Amos 2:12-13: “But you gave the Nazarites wine to drink and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘Prophecy not.’  Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.”

Amos is a contemporary of Isaiah, Micah, and Hosea.  He came from a little farming community in Judah known as Tekoa,  just a little south of Bethlehem.  Yet, he was called to prophesy to both Judah and the Northern Kingdom of Israel.   He prophesied about 750 BC which was just three years before the first invasion of Northern Israel by the Assyrians.  

The Northern Kingdom was at the height of its power and prosperity.  The Mighty nation of Assyrian was suffering internal struggles and backed away from its conquest of the Northern Kingdom.  Israel regains all the land that it lost in prior wars and then some. They succeeded in vanquishing many of their enemies in surrounding nations.  They had a strong alliance with Phoenicia who was the center of commerce as merchants and seafaring people.  Using their wealth from the exportation of wine, oils, and fruits such as figs they were able to purchase many luxuries from around the world through the Phoenicians. Israel was a rich and powerful nation.  Even though there was still tension between Judah and the Northern Kingdom, they did form something of an alliance for the sole purpose of increasing their wealth and power.   

In 740 the Assyrians, however, the Assyrian Empire got its act together and invaded the Northern Kingdom. Almost overnight they carried away the people of Reuben, Gad, and ½ of Manasseh in one invasion. All the power and prosperity that Israel enjoyed ended, practically overnight. When Assyrian turned their attention to the remaining  7 ½ tribes and for the next 15 years they picked away at the nation until they finally laid siege on Samaria, the capital city of Israel for three years.   In 722 the city fell under Sargon II.  

During all this time God’s prophets were warning of coming captivity.  Amos 3:7: “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealed his secret unto his servants the prophets.”  Yet as we see in verse 2:12, the prophets were silenced.  The rich and powerful forced many to live as sharecroppers and were forced to produce products for export rather than to feed their own families.  Although the nation was rich, the average person lived in poverty and near starvation. The gulf between the rich and the poor was at it widest point.  

Amos was a shepherd and a tender of sycamore-fig trees.  He knew the suffering first hand and when God gave him his vision, he went to the rich and powerful and gave them the message of God of coming natural disasters and conquest by foreign powers.  

Uzziah was the king of Judah at this time and it was at this time that he seized the role of High Priest and was struck with leprosy.  Amos also had a vision of an earthquake and two years after the vision it happened.   This gave him quite a bit of credibility and resulted in many disciples spreading his message.  Yet, the message fell on deaf ears. conflict and the nation was experiencing its greatest financial boom. No one could believe that the balloon of power and prosperity would bust.  

Only a handful believed the message of the prophets, they became the remnant, the ones to whom God “gave a song”  as mentioned in Isaiah. They faithfully preached a message of repentance.  Amos’s message was threefold. His first message was against the wealth and prosperity of not only the rich merchants but the religious leaders who became richer at the expense of the poor who became poorer.  His second message was for the lack of justice for those who were doing the right thing. These were the ones who sought to help the poor, the innocents, the ones who could not help themselves, these righteous people where thrown in prisons, tortured, and beaten because they were a threat to the rich and powerful.  Finally, the message of Amos was directed to religious rituals devoid of true faith. This was ritually performed to win some favor with God and not done to seek the heart of God.

There is a lot of murmuring going on today with the shutdowns due to the virus.  Just when small businesses were beginning to climb out of debt from the first shut down the governor and mayor has ordered another shutdown. There is a lot of talk about the abuse of power.  Talk of these political leaders who care more for their power base and wealth than they do for the small business families and really don’t care if they go bankrupt or not. Whether this is true or not, I cannot say, but it serves as an example of the sin of the Northern Kingdom.

Amos, as a farmer, used a strong agricultural motif.  In Amos 2:13 he declares that God is so hurt by the rejection of the message of his prophets and the dedication of his servants that God feels like a cart that is pressed down full of sheaves.  There is some dispute over the syntax, but I side with the KJV that this references God not what He will do to the corrupt leaders.   The word “sheaves’ in the Hebrew is amar.  This word has a double meaning. It does mean stalks of grain tied together, but is also is the same word used for those who are self-seeking. The word “pressed” is avaq which has the idea of burdened with pain or heart break.   God is saying that the rejection of the message of his prophets by those who are self-seeking hurting the poor and needy has burdened His heart or broken His Heart. He sent the prophets and the Nazarites to warn and be an example to the people, but they were rejected. Then overnight, God allowed justice to come to the oppressed through the pagan nation of Assyria. 

I don’t know the motives of our political leaders nor can I speak of the motives of our religious leaders.  However, if there are leaders who are self-seeking, who are trampling over the weak, the poor, and the needy to consolidate their power and wealth. Amos has a message for them.  Better enjoy your prosperity while it last, because there is a just God whose heart has been broken over the treatment of the innocent for political or religious gain. There are natural consequences that will result and only the mercy of God has held those consequences back. But God will withdraw His protection to bring justice to those who have suffered from these corrupt leaders in government, education, religion, and churches.

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