Introduction
For the
past five weeks, we have studied the background of the book of Amos and his
prophecies spoken to Israel about Damascus (Aram), Gaza (Philistia), Tyre
(Phoenicia), and Edom. These chief cities and their respective nations worshiped
false gods. Besides that, God charged them with going against His children, the
Israelites. Damascus battled against Israel, overtook them, and stole Gilead
from them. Gaza often raided Israel and took their possessions and their
people. They made their captives slaves and sold them with Edom as the
middleman. Tyre broke their covenant of brotherhood with Israel by capturing
and selling them as slaves with the aid of Philistia (Gaza) and Edom. They betrayed
the Israelites. Edom’s anger and jealousy of Israel caused them repeatedly attempt
to take areas of the Promised Land, the people, and their possessions for
themselves. They continually fought against the Israelites and sold them into
slavery even though they were blood relatives.
You will
note the net God wove with Amos’ prophecies now crossed over from the northern
and eastern sides of Israel to the western and southern sides. This net will
draw closer to Israel’s location with each successive prophecy. It will draw
closer as God and Amos try to draw the Israelites’ attention to themselves and
their own sinfulness and rebellion against the LORD.
This
week our study will cover what Amos prophesied about Ammon. What caused God to charge
Ammon with rebellion and sin? What judgment did God declare over that nation? Besides
these things, we will learn who the people of Ammon were, what their history
was, and learn how God fulfilled the prophecy He gave Amos. This week’s Bible
study will cover Amos 1:13-15.
Who was Ammon?
The
people of Ammon were blood relatives of the Israelites, like the Edomites were.
Where Edom’s link to the Israelites was through Esau, Jacob’s brother, the
Ammonites’ common relative with the Israelites was Lot, Abraham’s nephew. When
Lot and Abraham’s people and animals grew to be too many for their land to
support them, Abraham and Lot decided they needed to part ways. Abraham gave
Lot first choice of the surrounding land. Lot chose the fertile valley around
the base of the Jordon River in which to settle. Genesis 13:12 states he moved
his tents as far as Sodom, one of the “cities of the plain.”
Scientists,
archeologist, and theologians have looked for these ancient cities into which
Lot and his family fled and began their lives anew after departing from
Abraham’s company. Lot called Sodom a city of the plain. In Genesis 14:1-24, we
read the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah,
Zeboiim, and Zoar allied with each other and met in the Valley of Siddim,
the Salt Sea/Dead Sea region. The fertile valley of the Dead Sea was the southeastern
side of the Dead Sea. The Valley of
Siddim, watered by the Jordan River, was where Lot took his family when he and
Abraham separated the land between themselves. Lot chose fertile territory so
he and his family could prosper.
Lot
lived in Sodom with his wife, children, and servants. As the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah sinned more and more, God’s anger began to boil. He sent
messengers, His angels, to tell Lot to get his family out of the city because God’s
judgment had come upon the city and He would destroy it. The messengers told
them not to look back, but to escape. Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a
pillar of salt. Lot and his daughters escaped to Zoar. [Genesis 19:1-26]
After
leaving Zoar to live in the mountains, Lot’s daughters thought they were the
only people left alive on the earth so they got Lot drunk. On the first night,
the oldest daughter lay with her father and became pregnant. On the second night,
the youngest daughter did the same with the same result. They named the sons
born of those incestuous relationships Moab and Ben-Ammi. Moab means “of his
father.” Ben-ammi means “son of my people.” Moab became the father of the
Moabites. Ben-ammi became the father of the Ammonites. [Genesis 19:30-38]
How did
Moab and Ammon get the land from the Valley of Siddim north to Gilead as their
territory? In Deuteronomy 2:9, God commanded Moses and the Israelites not to
provoke Moab and in verse 19, Ammon, because He gave Ar (the Arnon River area)
“to the sons of Lot as a possession.” The descendants of Lot enlarged their
borders from southeast of the Dead Sea to the Gilead region. Before the
Israelites came through on their exodus pilgrimage, King Sihon of the Amorites
invaded the Ammonites and took the fertile land of Gilead for himself. When the
Israelites arrived there before crossing the Jordan River they found King Sihon
claiming ownership of Gilead. They defeated him and his army to take the land
as their part of their inheritance from God. The Israelites took possession of
the land of the Amorites as their own. [Judges 11:1-28] Though the Israelites
helped the Ammonites by defeating King Sihon who defeated them, they were angry
toward the Israelites (Judges 11:1-28). The Ammonites felt God promised them
the land, though in Deuteronomy 2:9, God told the Israelites He gave Ar (, the
area from the Arnon River to the southeastern area of the Dead Sea) to the sons
of Lot.
To sum
this up, Ammon was a nation that came from Lot’s son out of an incestuous
relationship he did not condone with his youngest daughter. God gave the
Ammonites and Moabites the land east of the Jordan River from the Valley of
Siddim to the Arnon River. Ammon occupied territory in Gilead above the Arnon
River for a while until King Sihon of the Amorites took it by force. The
Israelites took it from the Amorites and claimed it as part of their
inheritance from God.
The Ammonites were not happy their distant relatives defeated their enemy. We
will learn they harbored jealousy against the Israelites because of greed.
Besides that sin for which God would judge the Ammonites, they worshiped false
gods, the chief being Milcom and Molech. Because of the latter, God commanded
the Israelites not to marry the Ammonites-they would cause the Israelites to
worship false gods, too. [Exodus 23:31-33 & 34:12-16, and Deuteronomy 7:3] King
Solomon blatantly disobeyed the command of God during his reign. His first heir,
Rehoboam, who would succeed him as king, came from his wife, Namaah, an Ammonite.
The Charge against
Ammon
As Amos
did with the four earlier prophecies of other nations, he would do again. He
prophesied to Israel God’s charge and judgment against another nation – Ammon. As
Amos did in the first four prophecies, naming their chief cities intending it
to represent the whole nation, he did in verse fourteen by naming Rabbah to
receive God’s judgment. In this study, we will consider God’s charge and judgment
alongside Ammon’s history. The last major part of this study will consider the fulfillment
of God’s judgment against Ammon. After these, we should consider what God
wanted Israel to hear, learn, and consider then apply those to ourselves today.
Just as Ammon and Israel needed to return to a right relationship with the Lord,
so we, too, need to return to a right relationship with the Him.
Just as
Amos began the earlier four prophecies, he began this one with the prophetic
form about which we learned in our second Amos Bible study, Amos and the Judgment of Damascus. Amos
prophesied for God to Israel. God laid His charge against Ammon in verse
thirteen. Amos said,
“Thus says the LORD, ‘For three transgressions of the
sons of Ammon and for four I will not revoke its punishment because they ripped
open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their borders.’” [NASB]
Again we
see the prophetic form used: “For three transgressions and for four I will not
revoke its punishment.” Remember, in biblical numerology three plus four equals
seven and seven numerically denotes completion. The people of Ammon had
measured up sin upon sin and God could take no more. God’s righteousness
requires justice when sins amass with no repentance and return to Him. Just as
a loving father has mercy upon his child, eventually, because of his love, discipline
must occur. This will bring the child from rebellion to return to a right relationship
with the parents. God gave Ammon mercy and grace, but now their sins were too
great and the loving Father had to intervene with judgment. God would not
revoke His judgment because they needed it to instigate their guidance back to
Him hopefully.
Amos was
not the only prophet to prophesy against Ammon. Jeremiah 49:1-6, Ezekiel
21:28-32 & 25:2-10 and Zephaniah 2:8-9 each prophesied for the LORD against
Ammon. Consider what these prophets said:
“Concerning the sons of Ammon. Thus says the LORD,
‘Does Israel have no sons? Or has he no heirs? Why then has Malcam taken
possession of Gad and his people settled in its cities? Therefore behold, the
days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘That I will cause a trumpet blast of war
to be heard against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and it will become a desolate
heap, and her towns will be set on fire. Then Israel will take possession of
his possessors,’ says the LORD.” [Jeremiah 49:1-2, NASB]
“And you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the
LORD GOD concerning the sons of Ammon and concerning their reproach,’ say” ‘A
sword, a sword is drawn, polished for the slaughter, to cause it to consume
that it may be like lightning.’ ‘I will pour out My indignation on you; I will
blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and I will give you into the hand of
brutal men, skilled in destruction.’” [Ezekiel 21:28 & 31, NASB]
“‘I have heard the taunting of Moab and the revilings
of the sons of Ammon with which they have taunted My people and become arrogant
against their territory. Therefore, as I live,’ declares the LORD of hosts, the
God of Israel, ‘Surely Moab will be like Sodom and the sons of Ammon like
Gomorrah.’” [Zephaniah 2:8-9a, NASB]
Amos did
not prophesy just against Ammon in this verse. Since he spoke the prophecy to
Israel, it was for their consideration about their lives and nation, too. God
was trying to get Israel’s attention so they would repent before He charged and
judged them again. He wants a loving relationship with His children. God had given
them mercy and grace. He sent several prophets before Amos, and though the
Israelites repented and returned to Him, they quickly returned to their
rebellious ways. Fatherly discipline was due for the Israelites, too.
Now,
let’s consider the words Amos used in the prophecy of God’s charge against the
Ammonites. Even in English, this charge against them shows their unusual
harshness against their supposed enemies, Israel. Ripping open wombs and killing
unborn babies is heinous. We need to understand what Amos’ words in Hebrew mean
so we can understand exactly what he meant when he prophesied. The word “ripped”
comes from the Hebrew word baqa’ (baw-kaw).
Baqa’ means to split, rip, or
tear open. “In order” comes from the word ma’an
(mah-an) and means with the purpose or intent. Gilead is the rocky region
between the southern end of the Sea of Galilee and the northern end of the Dead
Sea on the eastern side of the Jordan River. Gilead was the promised land for
the tribe of Gad and part of the tribe of Reuben. With these words better
defined from their Hebrew meaning, we understand better what Amos said. He said
the Ammonites with intent tore open the wombs of pregnant women in Gilead intentionally
to keep them from bearing more children and to keep any future child from
inheriting the land of God’s promise. When they ripped open the wombs of the
women, they took away the future of the Gadites and Reubenites, God’s chosen
people. The Ammonites because of greed and jealousy intentionally killed the
future heirs of the Promised Land of Gilead so no claimants of Israel would
arise to claim the land of Gilead as their own. Ammon would do anything,
including kill unborn babies and pregnant women, to get what they coveted, the Promised
Land.
The
Ammonites stole the Israelites’ inheritance from the LORD. Their sin was not
accidental, but intentional. They knew of the God of their father Lot, but they
allowed their greed and jealousy to guide them. The Ammonites wanted to widen
their borders and own more and better land. The Ammonites took the land, the
future generations, and the confidence of the people of Gilead because of their
greed. They wanted the wealth they saw the Israelites had from the land, but
refused to recognize it came from the hand of the LORD. The Ammonites wanted
their land back no matter who they had to fight to get it, even though the LORD
only allotted them land from the Arnon River southward. They forgot the story of
their ancestor, Lot, who was wealthy and protected by the LORD when He laid Sodom
and Gomorrah to ruins. The Ammonites forgot God provided for and protected them
because they were part of His chosen ones.
·
Ammon was not grateful and
instead coveted jealously what Israel had. They forgot every good thing comes from God.
·
Have you ever wanted what someone
else had and became jealous of them?
·
Have you ever deceived or hurt
someone to get what that person had?
The History of Ammon
Let’s
now consider the history of the charge of God against Ammon. Even before the
Israelites settled into the Promised Land, God commanded them not to marry the
Ammonites because they were pagans and would cause the Israelites to worship false
gods. Consider these Bible passages: Exodus 23:31-33 & 34:12-16, and
Deuteronomy 7:3-4. The latter says,
“You shall not intermarry with them. You shall not
give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your
sons. For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods,
then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly
destroy you.” [NASB]
Through
Moses in Deuteronomy 23:3-4, God told the Israelites,
“No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of
the LORD because they did not give the Israelites on exodus any food or water
and because they hired Balaam (a prophet) of Mesopotamia to curse you.” [NASB]
The
Ammonites were not a helpful people. Even though related to the Israelites by
blood, they hoarded what was theirs and did not share. The Ammonites hired a
prophet to curse the Israelites. He refused. That prophet was Balaam of
Mesopotamia. They did not want the Israelites to have any of what they had or
experienced in the land the LORD, their ancestor’s God, gave them. [Numbers
22:5 & 7, and chapters 31 and 35]
Later,
when Saul was king over Israel, he and his 330,000 warriors battled the
Ammonites in Jabesh-gilead because they besieged it and tried to take it from
the Israelites. Those of the Ammonites who did not die Saul scattered so they
could not regroup and rise up against him. [1 Samuel 11:1-15] Several
historians say the Ammonites became vassals to Israel then. In 2 Samuel 10, we
read of Ammon working with the Arameans to revolt and battle against Israel. David’s
military captain, Joab, showed wisdom and the two armies fled in fear that day.
In 2 Samuel 12:26-31, we read Joab and David subdued the revolting Ammonites in
their key cities. They captured the land the Ammonites claimed as their own. The
Ammonites kept rebelling against God’s will for the Israelites to have the
Canaan lands. They showed their greed and were ready for battle against the
Israelites continually.
Though God
told the Israelites not to marry the Ammonites, Solomon took a wife from among
the Ammonites, Naamah, and she bore him his first heir, Rehoboam. Rehoboam would
become the first king of Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel. A non-Israelite
would rule Judah. At the time Rehoboam became king of Judah, Jeroboam I became
ruler over Israel, the northern kingdom of Israel. Before and after this split
in the kingdom, Ammon allied itself with the enemies of the Israelites. Their
allies were Aram (1 Kings 22), Assyria, Chaldee (Babylonia) (2 Kings 24:2), and
Meunim and Moab (2 Chronicles 20:1). Even with a half-Ammonite king over Judah,
Ammon still attempted to take the land of Gilead from the Israelites.
Amos
denounced the atrocious act of tearing open the wombs of pregnant women and
killing the infants. Before Amos arose as a prophet, King Hazael of Aram did this
same thing in 2 Kings 8:12. He did it before the Ammonites did. It was nothing
new to the region. Menahem, later king of Israel from 752-742 BC, attacked Tiphsah
and Tirzah (at the northern border of the northern kingdom on the Euphrates
River) because they would not open its gates to him and accept him as their
ruler. He killed, struck, and ripped open the wombs of the pregnant women. [2 Kings
15:16] Menahem learned this from the Canaanite people. If the Israelites had
followed everything God commanded them, the Canaanite people would have had no
influence over their culture, ways, and religion.
·
History seems to repeat itself.
Aram, then Ammon, and next Israel ripped women apart and killed unborn babies.
·
Is there something that is
against the law or against the consciences of people, yet people continue to do
it?
·
Is there something you do God
frowns upon and has spoken against, but yet you still do it? Possibly lying,
white-collar theft, gossiping?
·
God is still God and sin is still
sin. What He spoke against in the beginning is still wrong and is rebellion
against Him.
·
For what do you need to seek His
forgiveness and mercy? For what do you need to claim His strength to stop
doing?
The Judgment of Ammon
With
verses fourteen and fifteen, Amos pronounced God’s judgment against the
Ammonites. He said,
“‘So I will kindle a fire on the wall of Rabbah and it
will consume her citadels amid war cries on the day of battle, and a storm on
the day of tempest. Their king will go into exile, he and his princes
together,’ says the LORD.”
One of
the first things we should note when we read God’s judgment here is Amos did
not prophesy that the Ammonites would “perish” like he said of the Philistines.
Let’s keep that in mind as we continue our study of this passage.
As
before, we must look at the Hebrew meaning of the English words used in this
passage to get a clear understanding of what Amos said to the Israelites. The
word “kindle” comes from the Hebrew word yatsath
(yaw-tsath), which means to burn, set on fire, to be left desolate. The
word “fire” we encountered in the earlier four judgments by God against the
other nations. “Fire” is the supernatural flame representing God’s anger. “Fire”
can be actual fire God sends from heaven to destroy a place and people or it
can come as flames of war, just as in Numbers 21:28 and Isaiah 26:11. Rabbah
was the capital city of Ammon and we note Amos used his same technique in the
earlier prophecies. When he prophesied against Rabbah the capital, he
prophesied against the whole nation of Ammon. The word “consume” comes from the
Hebrew word ‘akal (aw-kal) which
means to burn up, to destroy, or to devour as in oppression and fire. Citadels,
we remember, mean the fortresses, strongholds, and palaces of the region. The
term “war cries” is new to the prophecies of Amos. This term comes from the
Hebrew word teruwmah (ter-oo-maw) It means
to alarm and signal and is a shout or blast by the approaching army to embolden
themselves and strike fear in the adversary. War cries cause confusion and
terror. This tactic enabled the enemy to scare the people so fear befell the
adversary before going into battle. The adversary would be more willing to run
away or fight less hard thinking the battle was lost before it began. Soldiers
and sports teams use this tactic even now. The word “storm” comes from the
Hebrew word “ca’ar (sah-ar) and means
tempest or whirlwind, like a tornado or hurricane that comes on suddenly. The
word “tempest” means an overflowing wind that is surprisingly swift and
effective in its destruction. The storm of God against Ammon would be so great
it would overwhelm them with is speed, lack of mercy, and effectiveness. It would
buffet the body, while the battle cry would affect the emotions and mind of the
people. A tempest is irresistible. The victim would not know exactly when the
war cry would occur so they needed to prepare. For the Israelites, God was
telling them they needed to get right with Him now. The final word we need to
understand to realize the extent of God’s judgment against Ammon is “prince.”
It comes from the Hebrew word sar and
can be the king’s sons or his rulers, captains, officials, or advisors. It can mean
the priests of the people, too. They were the ones to prophesy over warriors
and proclaim they would be victorious because their gods foretold it. Their
priests held power over them. For Ammon, the priests worshipped Molcom and
Molech.
By
understanding these words, we better understand what Amos prophesied as God’s judgment
against Ammon. God would come upon the nation of Ammon so quickly and strongly they
could not resist Him. He would send His wrath upon their citadels and strong
places. Those things they counted as their best defenses would fall due to the
strength and power of God’s battle. Ammon’s king and princes, most likely the
priests who blessed and encouraged them to battle against Israel, the LORD’s
children, would go into exile. They would know the power of their gods could
not deliver them from the One True God, Yahweh. The land Ammon coveted in Gilead,
which God gave to Gad and Reuben, was not theirs to take. God would defend it
and bring vengeance and wrath upon any enemy of the Israelites, in this case,
Ammon. Rabbah, their stronghold, and the entire nation of Ammon would feel the
results of God’s judgment. They would be without leaders and the Israelites would
reclaim the land Ammon coveted jealously.
The
Ammonites, though related to Israel by blood and having a promised land from God
through Lot, continually and intentionally harassed and harmed the current and
future children of Yahweh. They sided with Israel’s enemy, Nebuchadnezzar.
Their jealousy of Israel’s prosperity from the land God gave them when they
entered the Promised Land caused them to become enemies of their own relatives.
Their greed caused their betrayal of family.
God jealously
loves His children and protects them against their enemies. He will not let
them stray far from Him whether they get lazy in obeying His commands or rebel
and worship other gods. God’s jealous love for His children will cause Him to
defend or discipline His people. His judgments would occur against Ammon in due
time. They occurred in several waves throughout the years. When Ezekiel spoke
his prophecy against Ammon in Ezekiel 21:22, & 28-32 and in Ezekiel
25:2-10, God’s judgment against Ammon escalated to utter destruction just as it
did against Edom. The people of Ammon did not return to Him and continued to
harass and harm His people, the Israelites. God’s judgment against Ammon escalated
just as we saw against Edom. He utterly annihilated them as a people and
nation.
·
Have you ever felt like you were totally
alone against the world to defend yourself from beggars, thieves, con artists,
and people trying to defame your integrity?
·
Did you get weary of having constantly
to protect yourself and your things?
·
How can we get peace when we feel
we have to defend what we have and who we are so often?
The Fulfillment of God’s Judgment against Ammon
The fulfillment
of God’s prophecies against Ammon began with King Solomon [1 Samuel 11:1-5] as
we noted earlier in the section called The
History of Ammon. In 1 Chronicles 20:1 and 2 Samuel 12:26-31, David and his
captain of the army, Joab, led an army against Ammon, ravaged Ammon, and
besieged Rabbah. Both battles against the Ammonites came before Amos’
prophecies, but were still judgments of God against Ammon for their betrayal,
greed, and jealousy.
As
Ezekiel prophesied, Nebuchadnezzar conquered Ammon. After Ammon helped the army
of King Nebuchadnezzar of Neo-Babylonia defeat and loot Jerusalem and the
temple, that same army rose against Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Phoenicia in 582 BC.
They took the key people of these nations – kings, princes, captains of armies,
priests, etc. - into captivity and exiled them throughout their empire. Over
time they intermarried with people in Babylon’s empire and became absorbed into
Babylon. The remaining Ammonites who lived in Canaan probably were absorbed
into the Arab society during the Roman Empire.
·
Have you experienced the ongoing
harassment of a person who wants what you have: either your job, skills, possessions,
or good name? Did that make you weary and possibly make you angry with them? It
may feel like being stalked.
·
Have you ever envied something
another person had and made that person’s life difficult because of your envy?
Why did you think what they had was better than what God has given you?
·
What can you do to find
contentment with what God has given you?
Recap
Ammon,
though related to the Israelites by blood, harassed and harmed the Israelites continually
and intentionally over hundreds of years. They did not offer aid when Moses
asked for permission to go through their territory to get to the Promised Land.
Instead of siding with and thanking Israel when they defeated Ammon’s enemies, King
Sihon of the Amorites, they grew discontent, greedy, and jealous. Ammon sought
ways to regain the land of Gilead from Israel. They attacked Jabesh-gilead.
Ammon joined forces with Israel’s enemies and attacked them in Judah. They raided
and robbed Jerusalem and the temple. Ammon’s warriors ensured the people of Gilead
had no future heirs to challenge their claim to Gilead by ripping unborn babies
from the wombs of pregnant women. They stole Israel’s confidence, its
fertility, and its future. Ammon destroyed their name and became infamous for
their actions against Israel.
God revealed
He knew what the Ammonites did. His prophets, Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and
Ezekiel, pronounced His charges and judgments against them. Being blood
relatives should have caused the Ammonites to defend Israel, but it did not.
Their betrayal against Israel was equal to and possibly greater than Phoenicia’s
betrayal. The Phoenicians were not blood relatives of Israel. The greed of the
Ammonites for the fertile land of Gilead blossomed from temptation and internal
sin into flagrant sin when they acted upon their jealousy against the Israelites.
The Ammonites, as Lot’s descendants, would have known about I AM, the God of
Abraham and Lot. They worshipped the false gods Milcom and Molech, gods who
gave nothing to them except fear. This led to the Ammonites jealousy and coveting
Israel’s blessings from Yahweh. Ammon was not content with what they had, nor
did they walk in the ways of the LORD. They did not look to the God of Israel
who gave them their blessings. Instead they took matters into their own hands
and took what they wanted causing fear and death, and ultimately their nation’s
own utter destruction.
Conclusion
At
points in our lives, we each experience pangs of jealousy because of what
someone has, whether its possessions or fame. What we do about that jealousy
determines who leads our lives. Jealousy comes from greed, from discontent with
what God gives you. If you are not content, jealousy raises its head. If you do
not quench your jealousy by turning to God and giving Him control of your
heart, mind, and soul, then you act upon your jealousy. The acting out based on
jealousy causes damage to the person against whom you covet and against your
own self. It causes harm to the person you steal from be it their possession or
integrity. When you act on your jealousy, it harms you, too. It steals from
your integrity and makes you infamous. It ruins your name.
More
than anything, retaining jealousy due to greed or acting it out is sin. Sin
separates us from God. We could say jealousy is only sin when we act on it, but
God stated it differently in the Ten Commandments. The last five commandments
speak to jealousy/covetousness. If you covet a neighbor’s wife, husband, possessions,
or any other thing he or she has, you will commit adultery, murder, steal, and
bear false witness against that neighbor to get what you want. Exodus 20:13-17
stated these last five commandments. Moses spoke God’s commandments to the
Israelites saying,
“13You shall not murder. 14You
shall not commit adultery. 16You shall not steal. 16You
shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17You
shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife
or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything
that belongs to your neighbor.” [NASB]
You see
from reading these five verses that jealousy can lead to each of them and they
are each sins. Jealousy is the root of these sins. Jesus told the Pharisees in
Matthew 15:11, “It is not what enters the mouth that defiles the man but what
proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles him.” [NASB] When Peter later asked Jesus
to explain the parable, in verses seventeen through twenty, Jesus told them,
“Do you not understand that everything that goes into
the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated? But the things that proceed
out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of
the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false
witness, and slanders. These are the things which defile the man;
but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.” [NASB, emphasis is
from the author]
Evil
includes things that come from the heart. Before any action occurs regarding
greed and jealousy, the thoughts of a person’s heart determines if he or she
has already sinned.
What
hope do we have then? Will we always be prone to sin and should we just give up
now? No, Paul spoke about this in Ephesians 4:17-31 when he spoke about the
Christian’s walk. He said,
“So this I say and affirm together with the Lord, that
you walk no longer just as the Gentiles [the non-believers] walk, in the
futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded
from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the
hardness of their heart, and they, having become callous, have given themselves
over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard of
Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference
to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is
being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be
renewed in the spirit of your mind [your heart], and put on the new self,
which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of
the truth. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with
his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry and yet do not sin;
do not let the sun go down on your anger and do not give the devil opportunity.
He who steals must steal no longer, but rather he must labor, performing with
his own hands what is good so that he will have something to share with one who
has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word
as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will
give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you
were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and
anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be
kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God
in Christ also has forgiven you.”[NASB, emphasis by author]
As
believers in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit renews our minds, our hearts. We put
on the mind of Christ as Paul said in Philippians 2:5-11. He humbled Himself to
the point of obedience, even the obedience that led him to the agonizing death
on a cross. How do we have this mind of Christ and overcome the temptations of
our old self? Jesus gives this mind to each believer through His Holy Spirit. He
gives the Holy Spirit to each believer to convict of sin, righteousness, and
judgment (John 16:7011). The Holy Spirit lives in each believer’s heart
(Romans 8:9, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, 12:13). He teaches (John 16:13, John 15:16,
1 Corinthians 12:3), guides (John 14:16), gives glory to Christ (John 16:14),
and grows fruit in believers (1 Corinthians 12). By the Spirit’s residing in,
teaching, guiding, and convicting believers, we each grow to have the mind of
Christ.
With the mind of Christ we do not sin in our hearts or in outward actions and words. We have the power of the Holy Spirit living in us to give
us the power to overcome temptation and sin.
When God
sent Amos to Israel to pronounce His charge and judgment on Ammon, He hoped the
hearts of Israel would hear and return to Him so He would not have to judge and
discipline them, too. The Israelites were unfaithful to their covenant with God.
They rebelled continually and sometimes intentionally.
Today,
we, too, rebel against God. Whether Christian or not, we fall to the temptation of being discontent with God and His blessings, and seek for more – stuff and/or
fame. When we seek to be like Christ, have His mind and become renewed in our spirit,
the spirit of the world that seeks constantly to gratify self first falls away
to reveal humility and obedience because of love for God and other people.
We can have the mind of Christ. We can be renewed in the spirit.
Seek
first His kingdom and all these things will be added to you, Christ said. [Matthew
6:33] Seek God’s will and you will have all you need and desire.
No more sin. No more pain. No
more need.
Greed will go. Jealousy will
vanish.
The beacon
of God’s light will shine from us.
Others will see the love of God,
His mercy and grace,
through
the love of Jesus lived out in our lives.
