Amos, a vessel of wrath, whose name means burden bearer, was call by the Lord to prophesy to northern Israel in the days of King Jeroboam, and the days of king Uzziah in Judah and the surrounding nations. He was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet but a sheep breeder who tended to sycamore fruit and was commissioned by the Lord to carry His burden.
Amos heard the voice of God like the roar of a lion, which roars to forewarn nations of the plight of living in continuous disobedience and the consequences that follow suit. The Lord who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on the earth spoke to the nations about their inhumane practices, spiritual idolatry, shall repay each nation according to its works, there is no partiality with God. Through the voice of His prophet the Lord assures His people He will be a shelter and strength to them, so that all nations will know that He is the Lord of Host who dwells amongst His people and rules over the nations on the earth.
- Nation: Syria: Moab
- Transgression: Burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime
- Judicial decision: I will send fire on Moab it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth
Moab desecrated the dead body of king of Edom; they dug his bones up from the grave, and burn them on the altar, as act of vengeance, in response to King Josiah cleansing of Judah and Jerusalem of idolatry; he took the bones of the idolatrous priest out of the tombs, and burn them on the altar to defile it so that scripture might be fulfilled “By the word of the Lord a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: ‘a son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.” The arrogance and pride in Moab’s heart to apply the “word of the Lord” to defile an altar with a dead king’s bones – and profane the memory of the king- in a temple, was transgression in the sight of a Holy God, who judges both gods and men and to whom vengeance belongs.
Call to repentance: In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry. Forgive others as Christ forgives you. Do not take revenge beloved; instead give place to wrath. For it is written: Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.
- Nation: Judah
- Transgression: Despised the law of the Lord and have not kept His decrees
- Judicial decision: I will send fire on Judah that will consume the fortresses of Jerusalem
The indictment against Judah was unlike the previous charge against the other nations who were judge for crime against humanity and spiritual apostasy. Judah did not obey the Lord’s precept, statures and law as stipulated in scripture. “The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant” To whom much is given, much is expected; the Lord held Judah to a higher moral standard as oppose to the other nations because Judah was taught the righteous ways of the Lord and was told to observe and do what was good and right in the sight of the Lord; the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, warned Judah to not incorporate pagan practices into their lifestyle. “ And now, Israel what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear Him, walk in all His ways and love Him, to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
To love God is to obey His word, instead, Judah believed in lies which led them astray: they did not obey the voice of God, walk in his statues, keep his judgments, but defiled themselves with idols, and transgressed against the Lord. “ You shall have no other gods before me” They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the Lord had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that aroused the Lord’s anger. They worshiped idols, though the Lord had said, “You shall not do this.
Call to repentance: Love God and obey His word. “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. Jesus said: If you love me keep my commandments.
- Nation: Israel
- Transgression:
- Sell the righteous for sliver and the needy for a pair of sandals.
- They trample the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and do not give justice for the oppressed.
- Father and son use the same girl and profane the name of the Lord
- They lie down besides every altar on garment taken in pledge in the house of their god and they drank wine takes as fines.
- Judicial decision: Now then, I will crush you as a cart crushes when loaded with grain. The swift will not escape, the strong will not muster their strength, and the warrior will not save his life. The archer will not stand his ground, the fleet-footed soldier will not get away, and the horseman will not save his life, even the bravest warrior will flee naked on that day, declares the Lord.
The counsel of the Lord against Israel was three transgressions and namely four. Israel sold their kinsmen for corruptible things such as sliver and gold, and they took grain taxes from the poor rather than share the leftover of the harvest with the poor and strangers who contributed to the harvest, and transgressed against the word of God: “You shall not glean your vineyard a second time, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard, Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.
Call to Repentance: You should not muzzle the ox while it treads the grains: a worker is worthy of his wages”
Israel not only transgressed in the case of human liberty but also they adapted pagan practices of the neighboring nations when they oppressed both their kinsmen and the poor to accumulate wealth, contrary to the Lord ways of producing wealth. Jesus said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you.
“Israel is my servant whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; he should not be sold as slaves – a Jew cannot hire another Jew as a slave.
Masters should not rule over servant with rigor but in the fear of God. If anyone one of the brethren gets poor, Israelites are commanded to open their hands and with willing heart to lend to the poor to provide their needs, according to His riches in glory, as they would a stranger or sojourner in their midst. “Pure and un-defiled religion before God and the Father is this: visit the orphans, and windows in their trouble and to keep oneself un-spotted from the world “
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
Since we have been purchase with the price of Christ precious blood, without defect and blemish, the permitted stipulations of slavery in the old testaments are now fulfilled in Christ. A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God. Therefore, a believer: a child of God, a heir of God, a joint heir with Christ, cannot be sold as a slave, because he or she has been purchase at a price, the blood of Jesus. “You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men”
Jesus said: “I no longer call you slaves, because a master does not confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.
“And if ye call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear: knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers;but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ”
You were purchase at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
Israel adapted the abominable temple practice of the pagan nations, when a father and son knew the same girl, as in the case, of Ruben’s the first born of Israel: defiling the name of the Lord in a detestable way. Israel transgressed against the written word: “There shall be no ritual harlot of daughters of Israel or a perverted one of the sons of Israel.” There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, soothsayer or one who interprets omens or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells or a medium or a spirit or one who calls the dead: abomination in the sight of a Holy God. Call to Repentance: Repent, seek the Lord and live. Do not learn the detestable ways of the surrounding nations.
The wealthy among Israel oppressed the poor by taking their garment as pledge, but did not return the garment at the end of the day, rather the poor were fined and the fines were use to purchase wine to worship false gods. Israel transgressed against the written word: You shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own garment and bless you; and it shall be righteousness to you before your God.
Call to Repentance: Pay your vow; it is better not to make a vow than make one and not fulfill it. Jesus said: Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ But I tell you not to swear at all: either by heaven for it is God’s throne or, by earth for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem for it the city of the great King
The Lord who maintains the cause of the afflicted and execute justice for the oppressed reminded Israel of His mighty works: from the destruction of the Amorite whose height was like the height of the cedars with strength as an oak, to His leading of Israel through the wilderness to possess the land of the Amorite and how he raised sons of Israel as prophets and some young men as Nazirites but Israel forgot the works of the Lord, they were oblivious to His warnings, which cause them to gave the Nazirites wine to drink and commanded His prophets to not “Prophesy.”
Similar to how the religious leaders in the days of Christ persecuted the prophets, wise men, and scribes sent by Christ to the synagogues to build up and edify His body. The God of grace, whose works are verity and justice and done in truth, stretched His hands to Moab, Israel and Judah, to call them to repentance and is now stretching His hands to anyone who confesses Jesus is Lord and believe in his heart God raised Him from the dead or anyone with a repentant heart toward God, to draw him into fellowship with Him in Spirit and truth. For God did not call us to wrath but salvation through Jesus Christ.
Call to repentance: Today, if you hear His voices harden not your heart as you did in the rebellion. Jesus said: Repentance and remission of sin should be preached in His name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem.