Bro. Burgess is a Past Grand Master of Louisiana and is cur-
rently the editor of The "Louisiana Freemason" This arti-
cle was originally published in the Louisiana Freemason and
we are grateful for their permission to reprint as a Short Talk
Bulletin.
Editor
AMOS, WHAT SEEST THOU?
by Ray W. Burgess, P.G.M.
In all the Lodges under the jurisdiction
of the Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana (and many other Grand Jurisdictions)
the Volume of the Sacred Law should be
open at the Seventh Chapter of Amos in
the Fellowcraft Degree. Why do we do this?
This practice is not universal, but ours has
the sanctity of long use and the sacredness
of the familiar. Also, since one of the working tools of a Fellowcraft Mason is the
Plumb, it is appropriate to open the Bible
at the story about the plumbline of the
Lord.
What do we really know about this man,
the prophet Amos? Do we know why the
Lord called him to deliver His message of
judgment to His people of Israel?
Solomon received from his father, David,
a powerful empire. During his latter years,
however, it began to fall apart. Expensive
building projects sapped the strength and
loyalty of native Israelites. As the tributary
nations saw the opportunity to assert their
independence they did so and Solomon was
unable to prevent the disintegration of the
empire. Before Solomon's death the
Aramaeans severed themselves from his
kingdom, and shortly after he was succeeded by Rehoboam, a further split took
place. With the breakdown of the monarchy, subject states declared their independence so that the territory once ruled by
David was divided into autonomous units.
The portion of Solomon's empire north
of Mount Hermon, extending as far as the
Euphrates, revolted and formed the
kingdom of Syria, with Damascus as its
capital.
South of Syria was the kingdom of the
ten tribes, known as Israel, or the Northern
Kingdom, with its capital at Shechem. The
Northern Kingdom included the larger portion of Palestine proper, an area of about
9,400 square miles.
The kingdom of Judah included the tribe
of that name, a portion of Benjamin, and
Simeon, which had been incorporated
earlier into Judah. Kings of the Davidic line
reigned over Judah until the fall of
Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar, King of
Babylon (587 B.C.)
Solomon retained control over Moab;
but his successor found the Moabites hard
to keep in subjection. Moab disappeared as
a political power when Nebuchadnezzar
subjugated the country.
South of the Dead Sea was the kingdom
of Edom which had been conquered by
David and remained tributary during the
reign of Solomon.
The three kingdoms which developed
from Solomon's kingdom in western
Palestine--Syria, Israel and Judah--strove
for supremacy. Wars were constant between
Israel and Judah. With the threat to both
Israel and Judah from the powerful Syrian
state of Damascus, there developed a
tendency for the two states to reconcile their
di fferences.
During the reigns of Ussiah, king of
Judah (783-742 B.C.), and Jeroboam II,
king of Israel (786-746 B.C.), the sister
states pushed their boundaries out to
include the territories which once belonged
to Israel under David and Solomon.
Many of the smaller nations were
required to pay tribute to Israel and Judah.
Both kingdoms collected tolls from the
caravans that passed through their lands.
In this period in both Israel and Judah
there was a transition from an agricultural
to a commercial way of life. Industries and
cities sprang up which gave rise to a class
of wealthy merchants and landholders.
This new wealthy class built winter and
summer houses out of hewn stone
elaborately adorned and decorated. They
had couches inlaid with ivory, covered with
the tinest imported silk, upon which they
reclined while eating prime cuts of meat,
drinking wine out of bowls, and listening
to strains of varied music.
But the presence of great wealth did not
mean that there was no poverty in the land.
The extremely rich had obtained much of
their wealth by their merciless oppression
of the poor, taking exactions of wheat from
them. The merchants used false weights and
measures in their business transactions, in
addition to selling refuse wheat. Because
these unscrupulous men were able to bribe
the judges, no redress was left for the
innocent .
The tragedy of all this was that Israel's
social structure was completely disrupted.
Israel had originally been a covenant community in which there was no class distinction. All men were equal before the law,
God, and one another. Now all this had
changed. Wealth, power, and affluence
came to some in Israel. But the affluent,
rather than using their wealth to benefit all
of God's people, squandered it on luxuries
and status symbols and used their newlygained power to keep their poor brothers
in subjection.
One would think that, in the light of the
conditions just described, there would have
been little interest in religion in those days.
Just the reverse was true. The people were
very religious, especially the rich. Religious
services were well attended; tithes and
offerings were freely and punctually given;
impressive festivals were held; and
pilgrimages were made to the important
religious centers. They thought they were in
the favor of God and under His protection.
However, just the oppo.site was true. The
Lord despised their feasts and would not
accept their sacrifices. Their worship was
a protane travesty. It was an act of men and
women morally unclean and unwilling to
submit themselves to the searching
discipline of God.
God had entered into a covenant with
Israel. God had chosen Israel out of all the
families of the earth. God had given her a
land and had given her people special laws
to guide them in the way they should go.
It seems that Israel believed the covenant
to be inviolable and that it gave her
privileges and a license that no other nation
had. But Israel broke her covenant. She
used her freedom from bondage to enslave
a large segment of her own people. The gift
of the land she used lor .selfish purposes.
She rejected the law of God and walked
after lies.
What was God going to do in the face
of Israel's sin? Would he ignore it? Would
he wink at it? Or would he stop turning
away the punishment from Israel? The
answer was "No," he would stop turning
away the punishment from Israel. The end
had come upon Israel.
Was there no hope for Israel? Was there
no way to escape the impending judgment
of God? There was only a slight possibility--only that possibility tound in the
sovereignty of God. Here is where we begin
the story about Amos.
Very little is known about the man
Amos. He is never mentioned by any other
biblical writer. All the information we have
about him comes from the little book which
bears his name. Amos' name probably
means "burdened" or "burden-bearer."
Amos lived in Tekoa, a village in Judah
about 11 miles south of Jerusalem and 18
miles west of the Dead Sea. Tekoa was
located in a barren rockbound region
surrounded on three sides by limestone hills
and a breath-taking view of the Dead Sea.
Amos was a shepherd or herdsman and
dresser of sycamore trees (wild figs). He was
probably a very poor man since his sympathies were with the poor against their rich
oppressors. Although he was a shepherd
and one who performed menial tasks, he
was by no means uneducated. His formal
training might have been nil, but he was a
keen observer of the ways of God and men.
Awareness and sensitivity characterized the
man. His literary style was free and pure.
Amos lived in the time of the earthquake,
just as the Northern Kingdom of Israel was
coming to a close. Seemingly before anyone
else in his generation, Amos heard the lion's
roar of God's wrath. He is generally
recognized as the first of the writing prophets in Israel. He introduced a new element into Old Testament prophecy. He was
the first to preach a message of judgment
that meant the end of the kingdom of
Israel.
At about 760 B.C. God called Amos to
deliver His message of judgment to the
people of Israel. In spite of his humble
background, he was the one God chose to
preach His message of repentance and
warning to a rebellious nation. Amos
possessed a sense of unquestioned obedience and a clear proclamation of God's
message. He was committed to the Lord
and His principles of holiness and
righteousness.
Amos began his ministry with biting
words of judgment against the six nations
surrounding the land of Judah and Israel.
Next he announced Cod's judgment
against Judah, but Amos was only warming up to his main objective: a vivid description of God's judgment against the nation
of Israel. Amos condemned the people of
Israel for their oppression of the poor;
worship of idols; rejection of God's salvation; and defilement of the Lord's holy
name.
Twice Amos saw the judgment of God
coming and interceded for Israel, and God
turned away his judgment. But with the
third vision of the plumbline, we come to
the title of this dissertation.
"Thus He showed me: and behold
the Lord stood upon a wall made by
a plumbline, with a plumbline in His
hand.
"And Ihe Lord said unto me, Amos,
what seest thou? And I said, a plumbline. And said the Lord, Behold, I will
set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel:
"I will not again pass by them any
more. ' '
Amos 7:7-8
The prophet Amos was the prophet of
righteousness and he saw the Lord God as
judging Israel by means of the plumbline,
signifying the unchanging standards of that
righteousness.
Let us look further at this plumbline.
What is a plumbline? It is a simple tool
made of a cord with a weight attached to
one end. It is used by brick masons and
other builders to test the verticality of a wall
or other structures. If a wall or a foundation leans, it is out-of-plumb.
Why did God say, "I will set a plumbline
in the midst of my people Israel?" Because
the plumb admonishes us to walk uprightly in our several stations before God and
man. The people of Israel had sinned and
in spite of the warnings of Amos, they had
not reentered the fold. God made it very
plain that each man must try himself by the
unerring standard of the plumbline. The
plumbline is the symbol of uprightness of
character, of integrity, of honest and tair
dealings among persons. To plumb one's
life and actions is to test them by the
eternal laws ot God. In all these tests, the
people of Israel had failed. That's why He
said, "I will set a plumbline in the midst
of my people Israel."
So it is with Freemasonry. The real worth
of a Mason can never be measured in the
opinion of his fellows or in the Masonic
honors he has attained. The standard by
which a Mason must be judged is by his
own evaluation of his conduct and by the
principles which he knows to be the unerring and unchanging ones.
What can a Freemason expect to get
from Freemasonry? The rewards of
Freemasonry and the wages of Masons are
endless, so long as a man is willing to strive
for them. If he is content to be a "button
Mason," paying his dues merely for the
privilege of wearing a pin, this is just what
he will get out of Masonry. If he is content
to be a "knife-and-fork Mason," showing
up at his lodge only when there is some type
of banquet, he will receive only this from
Masonry.
If, however, he measures himself by the
plumb, and sets his standards accordingly,
he will benefit from Masonic education,
Masonic philosophy and trom the association with the finest men in his community.
The standard by which a man judges
himself as a Mason is the same unerring
principle by which he judges himself as a
family man, as a churchman, as a businessman, and as a citizen. He will learn to walk
uprightly in all his endeavors, learning from
the plumb the lesson of rectitude of conduct. Each man must stand by the
plumbline which is set in the midst of God's
people.
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