“I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.”

Amos 7:14

Spring had sprung and my garden was sorely in need. Grabbing my gardening gloves and clippers and long-handled pruning shears, I headed for the yard. I trimmed and chopped and wrestled with all that dead wood, keeping a sharp eye out for the tender new growth—such tedious, nit-picking work.

And my mind wandered everywhere, eventually landing on the book of Amos—a natural considering the prophet’s occupations of shepherd and fig farmer.

A fig farmer had to diligently prune his trees to produce that lush fruit. The sins of the Israelites were “beyond the pale”*. It was time for the Lord to prune out all that dead wood. He had planted their righteousness in His law, watered it in His grace, and fertilized it with His love. Their branches should have been loaded with godliness. Instead they’d denied justice to the poor and oppressed, profaned God’s holy name with temple prostitution, and turned to other gods (2:6-8).  

So God was forced to condemn their excessive transgressions, one by one: “For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath” (Amos 2:6). Those Israelites thought He was nit-picking at them—why, look at Damascus and Gaza and Tyre and Edom and Ammon and Moab, not to mention Judah (1:3-2:5)! And that’s exactly what the Lord was doing. If His people didn’t get to the root of their sin they would never return to that special relationship they once had with Him.

Amos knew about nit-picking. Sheep were the carriers of lice and their eggs, nits. Have you ever picked nits? I spent one summer in Newfoundland at a small cottage hospital. When the children came in from the outports for care, they inevitably had to be treated for lice. The aides carefully combed through the heads of their small charges in search of those tiny nits, the only way to eradicate the problem.

Thankfully my mind then turned to Shakespeare and the inherent quality of God’s mercy to all who turn their sins over to Him:

“The quality of mercy is not strained;

  It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath.

  It is twice blessed; it blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.”

  —Portia, Merchant of Venice

Nancy P

*excessive, offensive, unacceptable

All Scripture quotations are from the NIV 1973, 1978, 1984, unless otherwise noted.