Introduction
Amos was
a prophet of God from Judah to the northern kingdom of Israel. He spoke the
LORD’s charges and judgments against the seven nations surrounding Israel.
Amos’ last prophecy was against Israel. Coming from Judah, he saw the sins of
Israel better. Being an Israelite, Amos cared about his fellow Israelites.
Working as a shepherd, he understood how to love and speak to stubbornness.
Before
this judgment of Israel, Amos prophesied against Damascus/Aram, Gaza/Philistia,
Tyre/Phoenicia, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and Judah. As we learned in the earlier
studies of Amos, the people of Aram continually besieged Israel attempting to
take their land. We gave them a plaque describing them as “Persecutor”.
Philistia raided the Israelites and took land, people, and possessions. The
plaque under their name is “Harasser”. Phoenicia broke their covenant of
brotherhood with the Israelites established during the reigns of Kings David
and Solomon. They kidnapped and sold the people of Israel as slaves. The plaque
under their name is “Back-stabber”.
On the
eastern side of the Promised Land, Amos prophesied against the Israelites’
other neighbors. He prophesied against Edom, their blood relative through Esau.
They harbored and fed their anger against the people of Jacob because Esau did
not receive his birthright or blessing from his father, Isaac. The Edomites
took any chance they received to attack and not help the Israelites. The plaque
under their name on the wall of shame is “Angry”.
Amos
then went north in the net he wove around Israel. He prophesied against Ammon,
who were blood relatives of Israel through Lot, Abraham’s nephew. The Ammonites
were discontent with the land God gave to them. They wanted more and expressed
displeasure the Israelites did not give them the land the Amorites had taken
from them by force. The Ammonites wanted more than the LORD apportioned to them.
The plaque under their name on the wall of shame is “Greedy” or “Discontent”.
Moab was
the sixth nation against whom Amos prophesied. Lot was their common relative to
Israel. The Moabites showed disrespect toward the leaders of God’s people and
toward God. Their king burned the bones of a king of Edom. He disrespected
God’s anointed leader. King Mesha of the Moabites sacrificed his oldest son to
a false god, Chemosh. He did not consider life sacred and did anything to keep
his gods appeased. Mesha disrespected people from the line of Abraham and
people, in general. The plaque on the wall of shame below the Moabites’ name is
“Disrespecter”.
The last
nation we studied in Amos’ prophecies was Judah. With Amos’ prophecy against
them, he tightened the net on Israel. He brought the rope weaving around Israel
inward to finish its final two strokes of the weave. God charged Judah with
rejecting Him and His laws and statutes. They allowed the lies of their fathers
to lead them astray to follow other gods. The plaque on the wall of shame under
Judah’s name is “Rejecter”.
With the
first three nations’ prophecies, Amos showed they committed crimes against
humanity. With the next three, He showed their sins were crimes against
humanity and God. Judah, Amos said, committed crimes against God. They knew Him
and His laws, had history with Him, and still worshiped false gods. Because
they knew the LORD, their crimes were primarily against the LORD and He judged them
more strictly.
With the
prophecy against Israel, Amos prophesied God charged them with the seven charges
prophesied against the other nations. They persecuted the poor, were greedy and
discontent, disrespected other people and rejected God, harassed the judges
with corruption and bribes, worshiped false gods, stabbed their own brethren in
the back, and persecuted people for whom God told them to protect, the poor. Each
of the plaques that hung below the names of the other nations on the wall of
shame hung under Israel’s name on that same wall. Let’s consider now who the
Israelites of the northern kingdom were, the charge God laid against them, their
history, the judgment God proclaimed on them, and the fulfillment of that
judgment.
Who was Israel?
The
northern kingdom of Israel included people from the ten tribes of Israel who
did not want Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, to be their king. They chose not to
anoint him their king because he said he would keep their burdens heavy like
his father did. In his place, they chose Jeroboam I, Solomon’s servant, to be
their king (1 Kings 12). This was the fulfillment of God’s judgment spoken by
Ahijah against Solomon for erecting altars to foreign gods and idols at the request
of his 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:4-13, 29-38).
Jeroboam I was the king of Israel who
established idol worship for his people by having two golden calves made and
erected at Dan and Bethel. He did not want his people being influenced by the
people of Judah when they went to the temple in Jerusalem to worship. None of
the nineteen kings of Israel walked in the ways of God. The writers of the Old
Testament recorded all the kings of Israel walked in the ways of Jeroboam. For
Ahab, they recorded he did more to provoke the anger of the Lord than all the
kings of Israel who went before him. Idol-worshipers and people who forsook the
LORD made up most of the people of the northern kingdom of Israel.
The Charge against Israel
You will
notice the prophecy against Israel is considerably longer than against any of
the first seven nations. The leaders of these children of God did not follow
the LORD though He chose them, protected and provided for them, and remained
faithful to His covenant with them. God sent four prophets to Israel before
Amos. The people momentarily turned to the LORD after they prophesied, but quickly
returned to walk in the way established by Jeroboam I and maintained by the
succeeding kings.
Amos
spoke God’s charge against the Israelites in verses six through eight. He said
in these verses,
“Thus says the LORD, ‘For three transgressions of
Israel and for four I will not revoke its punishment, because they sell the
righteous for money and the needy for a pair of sandals. These who pant after
the very dust of the earth on the head of the helpless also turn aside the way
of the humble, and a man and his father resort to the same girl in order to
profane My holy name. On garments taken as pledges they stretch out beside
every altar and in the house of their God they drink wine of those who have been
fined.’” [NASB]
Just as
he did with the first seven prophecies, Amos started his prophecy against
Israel with this phrase, “For three transgressions and for four God would not
revoke its punishment.” Israel had amassed sin upon sin and did not stop. Their
sins were complete and God, as their loving Father, could not allow anymore
without strong punishment.
In this
charge are eight indictments against Israel. Verse six includes two. Amos said
the Israelites sold the righteous for money and the needy for a pair of
sandals. The first charge said Israel bribed its judges to decide in their
favor against a person who had a righteous case, whose case would have won on
its own merits. God gave a law concerning this in Deuteronomy 16:19. Moses told
the Israelites in this verse, “You shall not distort justice, you shall not be
partial, and you shall not take a bribe for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise
and perverts the words of the righteous.” [NASB]
The
second charge in verse six states the Israelites sold the poor for a pair of
sandals. Sandals were nothing like the shoes the rich wore. Back then sandals
had soles of wood or bark that fastened to the foot with leather straps. They
were basic and poor footwear, not something a rich person would wear. The
Israelites took no care whatsoever of the poor and would bribe a judge to rule
in their favor if a poor person owed them as little as what a sandal cost. Poverty
did not cause them to sink to this desperation, but greed and disrespect for
other people. They did not want to take care of the widow, orphan, and
foreigner in their land, those who represented the poor, as God instructed them
to in Deuteronomy 10:17-19 and 24:19-22. In these passages Moses told them
to leave the fallen wheat, olives, and grapes for the poor to glean. He specifically
mentioned the alien, widowed, and orphaned. He said God executes justice for
the orphan and widow and His love for the alien by giving him food and
clothing. In Deuteronomy 14:28-29, God told the Israelites every third year to
deposit their tithe in their own town to provide for the Levite, alien, orphan,
and widow so they can eat and be satisfied. God’s plan was for no one in Israel
or of all the Israelites to go without what they needed. He commanded His
people show love and justice to all who live in the land, not just the wealthy,
but the poor, too.
With
verse seven, God indicted the people of Israel of three other sins. Amos said
they influenced the humble to stray from God’s laws and statutes regarding
taking care of the poor. That the rich would even seek to take the dirt the
poor put on their heads in misery and mourning speaks scathingly against them. By
influencing others to follow in their ways, they were no better than their
kings and the pagan nations around them who followed their own desires. The
people of Israel abused the poor and corrupted the judicial system of their
nation. They broke God’s laws set up to let them live in peace and contentment.
The people of Israel influenced people to stray from God’s laws and statutes
and led them to mistreat the poor.
On top
of this, verse seven said the fathers and sons resorted to the same girl. This
action speaks to two sins. First, like a son sleeping with his father’s wife of
which Moses told them God commanded them not to do in Deuteronomy 22:30. In
this passage, Moses said, “A man shall not take his father’s wife so that he
will not uncover his father’s skirt.” It was an act of incest and an attempt to
usurp his father’s position in the family and community. The second sin to
which this passage speaks is worshiping false gods. The girl spoken of in this
verse refers to a cultic temple prostitute. Worship of Baal and Asherah
involved lying with temple prostitutes. When the men did this, it was an act of
worship to those false gods. Verse seven speaks of influencing the humble to be
disobedient to God by mistreating the poor, usurping a leader’s/father’s role
in the community/family, and worshiping false gods.
With
verse eight, God indicted them further about their mistreatment of the poor,
worshiping false gods, and reveling with ill-gained goods. The first part of
verse eight speaks to the first two charges. In Deuteronomy 24:10-13 & 17,
Moses proclaimed God’s law regarding loans. He said in Deuteronomy 24:10-13,
“When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you
shall not enter his house to take his pledge. If he is a poor man, you shall
not sleep with his pledge. When the sun goes down you shall surely return the
pledge to him that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you, and it will be
righteousness for you before the LORD your God.” [NASB]
For a
person to pledge his or her cloak for a loan meant they had nothing else of
value to offer as guarantee of repayment. Taking a person’s cloak was more than
taking his coat. It meant taking his blanket that kept him warm at night, too.
That person had no other bed linen and would be cold. It would create an
unnecessary hardship for the person. God did not want that for His people and
the foreigners who lived in Israel. Besides this, using a person’s cloak to lie
down beside every altar, not the LORD’s altar, defiled the person’s cloak and
showed disregard for it and the person. It showed disregard and disrespect for
the LORD who brought them out of slavery and provided every good thing for
them. Remember, the people of Israel had two main temples, one in Dan and one
in Bethel, and neither of them was a temple of the LORD. They were temples with
idols of calves. Besides these, the people of the northern kingdom worshiped
the gods of the nations surrounding them – Chemosh, Baal, Asherah, and Molech/Milcom.
God charged them with worshiping false gods and not Him.
Added to
this, the final part of verse eight says they drank the wine received by illegally
fining people while in the houses of their gods. The ill-gotten gains became festal
food and drink before their false gods. Produce from the grapes God provided
the people of Israel to use for their thirst and His offering became the property
of unrighteous people through corruption. The sinful Israelite used it to
worship his or her own gods. That was a slap in the face of the LORD and the
person to whom the wine originally belonged.
The
people of the northern kingdom of Israel oppressed and abused the poor. They
corrupted the justice system with bribery and intentional misjudgment. These
unrighteous people used their ill-gotten gains to worship false gods instead of
allowing the people to praise God for their provision. The
Israelites corruption, greed, abuse and oppression of the poor, back-stabbing,
jealousy and discontent, disrespect of people and God, and willful and stubborn
rejection of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, harmed the poorest of society
and influenced others to walk away from the righteousness of God. It led the
northern kingdom to fall into further depravity just as each of their kings
influenced them.
We need to consider if similar
things occur in our time. Since Amos spoke this to Israel for them to reflect
upon themselves and their sins, we as the readers of this book should consider
ourselves and our time to see if we sin in like manner. Let’s consider a few
possibilities to jog our memories.
·
Do we exact absolute repayment of
a loan and seek further retribution if it’s not paid? Or do we offer grace to
the person?
·
Do we influence people not to
walk moral lives by a small indiscretion? People watch you as you live and
often imitate you thinking it must be okay or I won’t be caught because they are
doing it and not getting caught.
·
Have you ever bribed someone for
a favor whether not to get a speeding ticket, get reprimanded at work, or not
to fail a class?
·
Are there leaders of nations who
are corrupt and have not gone to trial because of their connections in the
country? They influence the morals of the people of their nation and often
other nations.
·
Have you ever used something God
gave you for your basic needs without giving God praise for it and thanking
Him?
We can
each relate to these instances and recall others we have seen happen. When we
are the recipients of unfair treatment, we rail at the mistreatment. When we
are the perpetrators, as Israel often was, how often do we heed to God’s
pricking of our conscience. God said in this charge Israel more often than not
did not heed Him, repent, and turn away from sin toward Him.
Before
we go further in our study, we should realize something is different in this
prophecy than in the other seven we studied. The format is different. In this prophecy,
the LORD recited His history of what He did for them. He reminded Israel of who
He is and had been for them, how they had what they did. In no other prophecy
by Amos did God recite his history with the people, not even with Judah.
A History of God for the Israelites (and their Response)
In
verses nine through eleven, God reminded the Israelites of what He had done for
them and who He made them to be. Amos said in Amos 2:9-11,
“‘Yet, it was I [God] who destroyed the Amorite before
them, though his height was like the height of cedars and he was strong as the
oaks; I even destroyed his fruit above and his root below. It was I who brought
you up from the land of Egypt, and I led you in the wilderness forty years that
you might take possession of the land of the Amorite. Then I raised up some of
your sons to be prophets and some of your young men to be Nazarites. Is this
not so, O sons of Israel?’ declares the LORD.” [NASB]
God
recalled for the Israelites that He annihilated the Amorites and their kings
Sihon and Og (Numbers 21:23-25 and Joshua 10:12). Even though the Amorites held
themselves up, prided themselves, as being much greater than the Israelites and
stronger than the strongest tree (the oak), the LORD God utterly destroyed
them. God thought even to remove its root, its permanence and resolve, and its
fruit, its descendants and actions in the future. The LORD had taken care of
this big enemy.
Besides
this, Yahweh brought them from Egypt. After their four hundred years of
captivity and abuse, His greatness, might, and power won their freedom from
slavery. The LORD led them out of slavery and led them to the Promised Land
providing what they needed on their journey – courage, faith, food, drink, clothes,
protection, and guidance. He carried them for forty years even though the spies’
lack of faith caused them to have to wander those extra years; God did not
leave them to perish. The LORD led them to the land of the Amorite and gave
them the land as their possession, dispossessing the Amorites, and making it an
inheritance for the Israelites and their descendants.
Added to
this, the LORD provided leaders and messengers to continue to guide them and
help them understand His will. He raised up prophets to be spokesmen for Him
(Deuteronomy 18:18). The LORD consecrated and devoted men and women to Him and
His service as Nazarites (Numbers 6:2-3). These men and women would be like
Moses and Aaron were to the Israelites. The prophets would speak as the LORD
willed His people to hear from Him. Nazarites would live lives devoted solely to
Him as examples and be judges for God to the people of Israel.
The LORD
provided everything the Israelites needed including His leaders. He gave them
food, drink, and clothing. God fulfilled His promise and gave them a land to
call their own - their inheritance. He made them into a nation and called them
His children. Yahweh realized temptation would entice the Israelites to follow
in the ways of the people in the surrounding nations. He knows the weaknesses
of humans and made sure a continual witness about Him, His works and love, and
His promise for their descendants remained with the Israelites. Yahweh, I AM,
was their past, present, and future.
How
did Israel act in spite of these reminders? Amos told us the Israelites’
response to God’s faithfulness and promises to them. In Amos 2:12, he said,
“But you made the Nazirites drink wine, and you
commanded the prophets saying, ‘You shall not prophesy!’” [NASB]
The
Nazirites, in their vow of consecration and devotion to the LORD, swore off
drinking wine and cutting their hair. Their devotion to the LORD by not drinking
wine made them obvious among the people who drank wine. Wine was a common drink
of the time because the water was not always potable. Everyone drank some wine
though most drank it watered down. The Nazirites ingested nothing of the grape
at all. The people of Israel knew whatever the Nazirite did and said
represented the will of God and led them in the ways of the LORD. By getting
the Nazirites drunk, the Israelites caused two things to happen. First, the man
or woman of God would lose his or her senses and inhibitions and his or her
actions would not always bring glory to the LORD. The Israelites did this to
the Nazarites to bring them down to their own sinful level. It caused the
Nazarites to become unconsecrated and blemished before God, too. It made them
sinners. The Israelites determined if they could not beat the righteousness of
another person, they would tempt or trick them to bring them down to their own
level of sinfulness.
Of the
prophets, Amos said the unrighteous Israelites commanded them not to prophesy.
They gave orders from the legal authorities of the land not to speak the words
of God or else face physical punishment. These Israelites wanted no one
influenced to follow the ways of the LORD and perhaps see their own acts as
sinful and requiring a call to repentance and return to God. These people did
not want to hear the charge and condemnation by God for the wrong they did. If
they could keep the prophet from telling them God’s charge and judgment, then
they would be okay, they thought. What they had not heard they could not be
accountable for, was their idea. God’s recounting of their history with Him
showed that defense would not stand.
The sinful Israelites could not
be like ostriches who buried their heads in the sand when faced with an
opponent. They knew God and His Law and they intentionally broke it. Whether or
not God sent a judge, prophet, or Nazarite to them, they knew His Law and their
sin, and knew God would judge and punish them. God did not stop sending
prophets to speak His charges and judgments on Israel. God gave them these
gifts - His special anointed messengers - but they perverted the messengers.
·
Maybe you say to yourself, I
didn’t cause someone to get drunk, or I didn’t drug them to bring them to my
level. Yet, if you have done anything to decrease a person’s worth or value at
work or in the community, you have done this same thing. You did it so you wouldn’t
appear so bad.
·
Have you pointed your finger at
someone who drove through a red light making sure your passenger saw them
breaking the law? Did it make you remember a time when you were impatient and
ran a red light?
·
Have you ever encouraged a person
to have just one more drink even though they didn’t want one and knew it would
affect their reflexes and rationing ability?
·
Have you ever known someone who
dared another person to take a small item from a shop without paying?
Was that right? If you were there, would you have stood with the person who
dared or the person who felt small if he or she didn’t act on the dare?
Each of
us has done something like what God charged of Israel. We each are sinful and
can relate to what God said. Will our courage see us through to live with the
consequences from our loving Father?
The History of Israel
As noted
above in the section called "Who was Israel", the people of the
northern kingdom of Israel followed the ways of King Jeroboam I and their subsequent
kings. They worshiped false gods and idols. They lived sinfully like the pagan
nations around them participating in cultic prostitution, selling people into
slavery, and striving to enrich themselves letting nothing get in their way.
Before
Amos and his time of prophesying for the LORD around 752 BC, four other
prophets of the LORD spoke to the northern kingdom. These prophets were Ahijah,
Elijah, Elisha, and Micaiah. Each prophet spoke God’s charge against them of
turning away from Him and His laws and statutes. Each time they told the
Israelites God would hear them if they repented and turned from their wicked
ways. With Amos’ arrival as God’s prophet around 752 BC, only thirty years
remained before their captivity by the Assyrians. At the same time as Amos, God
sent Hosea, a man from the northern kingdom, to prophesy to the Israelites. The
Israelites refused to repent and return to a right relationship with the LORD.
The
kings continued to influence and lead the people of Israel further away from
the LORD. God’s charge always comes with a subsequent judgment. The Israelites knew
what would happen for their stubborn and stiff-necked refusal to return to a
right relationship with God.
We need to consider times when we
did not heed the rules and laws and received judgment for it.
·
As a child living at home, did you
always obey your parents? What happened when they found you disobeyed? Did they
restrict you to your room or the house? Did you lose allowance or have to work
around the house to pay for what you broke?
·
As an adult, when you drove
faster than the speed limit, did you receive a speeding ticket and have to pay
a large fine?
·
Did you ever refuse to follow
God’s statutes, gossip and back-stab someone, then feel the negative effects of
it when someone called you on it and you lost face in your circle of friends?
Even
today we fail to follow morals and laws of the land and we fall away from
following the Lord. We are sinners just like Israel. Are we ready to turn
around, repent, and return to God? Let’s consider now God’s judgment against
Israel for the sins with which He charged them.
The Judgment of God
What would
God do with such an evil kingdom? His mercy and grace given to Israel from the
reign of Jeroboam I onward did not lead them to see His love and desire and
incline them to return that love via obedience. Just as any loving parent must
discipline his or her child, God would do that to Israel and any person who
sins, too. Though He sent five prophets specifically to Israel and a couple
more, like Isaiah, to both kingdoms, and though the Israelites knew God’s
judgment through each of those prophets, they did not fear the LORD. They did
not consider His great love would bring punishment upon them. Let’s consider
God’s judgment as Amos prophesied it.
Amos
said in Amos 2:13-16,
“‘Behold, I am weighted down beneath you as a wagon is
weighted down when filled with sheaves. Flight will perish from the swift, and
the stalwart will not strengthen his power, nor the mighty man save his life.
He who grasps the bow will not stand his ground; the swift of foot will not
escape, nor will he who rides the horse save his life. Even the bravest among
the warriors will flee naked in the day,’ declares the LORD.” [NASB]
The
first thing in these verses we need to note is God’s mental picture of His
burden because of Israel’s sin. Just as any loving parent carries burden when a
child’s decision results in him or her leaving the path on which they taught
the child to live, the LORD carried a similar burden for Israel. God said he was
weighted down like a wagon when filled with sheaves of wheat. His heart felt
crushed by the burden because He loved them so much. God’s heart was heavy because
of the Israelites’ sins against Him, their rebellion. They disregarded,
disrespected, and discarded Him as their LORD. God was not physically crushed
because that is impossible though He was tired and burdened by their sins and
loved them still. Jesus illustrated this burden well in the parable of the
prodigal son found in Luke 15:11-32. Just as the father trained his son and
hoped he would live as he trained him, he did not stop loving him because he
walked away from his family and training. The father loved his son and watched
for him each day. The father carried a burden for his son who was in the world
somewhere, but lost to him. He loved his son so much that he carried a burden
of care for his safety and for his lack of relationship with him at that time.
The LORD still loved Israel, but carried a burden because they turned their
backs on Him. The Israelites did not want a relationship with Him or to live in
the way He taught them. God’s judgment on them showed his patience and mercy grew
thin because of their stubborn and intentional sins against Him and His laws,
but His love never gave up on them. It was from His love that His judgment
came.
The LORD
through Amos used the analogy of warriors in His judgment of the northern
kingdom. He said in three ways in verses fourteen and fifteen that no one would
escape His judgment. The swift of foot, those who run quickly, would not find a
place to escape away from the judgment. God’s judgment would occur and it would
happen swiftly when they were not expecting it. These people would not avoid
His judgment.
Neither
the stalwart-the strong and mighty-nor the bravest man would defeat God’s plan
for judgment with the coming army. God is too powerful for man to defeat. Even
the brave man in his bravery would not defeat the oncoming judgment of the
LORD. God would stand strong until He accomplished His will.
The
archer would not endure-remain standing-against the LORD without Him
prevailing. He battles from far away,
but he would not save himself. The swift of foot, like the messenger, would not
escape God’s judgment. God would prevail against the one who tried to sneak
away quietly and swiftly. The man on a horse such as a cavalryman could not
escape His judgment; God would catch him. In these ways, by distance, by
stealth and by swiftness, Israel would not escape God’s judgment. He is
greater, stronger, swifter, and mightier than any person.
In the
end, Amos said, even the bravest would flee. He added to this. In their
attempts to run faster, they would discard their armor and clothes to reduce the
hindrance of any excess weight. Even the bravest would know he could not stand
against God and so would try to flee by doing the most he could, discarding the
clothes that weighed him down and hindered him in any way.
The
latter gives a visual image that is almost humorous, but God was not laughing. The
Israelites had rebelled for so long against God and His laws and statutes, God
would have to do something dramatic and powerful to get them to see, hear, and
obey Him. Did the Israelites’ attention turn to the LORD after Amos’
prophecies? Did they ever recognize their sinfulness or were they too hardened?
History tells us the rest of this story.
What about us today?
·
Do we hear God when He tells us
not to do something?
·
Do we shrug Him off and do what
we want anyway?
·
What repercussions arose because
you did not follow God?
The Fulfillment of God’s Judgment against Israel
During
King Hoshea’s reign (732-721 BC) as the last king of the northern kingdom,
Shalmaneser V of Assyria came against Israel. Second Kings 17:3 notes this. The
fulfillment of God’s judgment began happening. Hoshea became Shalmaneser’s
vassal and paid him tribute (2 Kings 17:3). After a while Hoshea conspired
against Assyria with the king of Egypt and gave no tribute to Assyria. Because
of this, Shalmaneser V bound him into prison (2 Kings 17:4).
Shalmaneser
V invaded the whole northern kingdom and besieged Samaria for three years.
During that time, Shalmaneser V vanished from the history annals and his
brother Sargon II came to power. Sargon II finished the siege of Samaria, the
capital of Israel, and took Israel into exile in Halah and Habor of Assyria (2
Kings 17:5-6).
Notice in
2 Kings 17:7-18, the writer noted God always reminded His people why His
judgment came. In these verses, God said the people of Israel sinned against Him,
feared other gods, and walked in the customs of the nations the LORD cast out
of Canaan. The Israelites built high places (temple and altars) in their
cities. They set up sacred pillars and wooden idols an every high hill and
under every green tree. They burned incense to the idols and lived like the
nations the LORD had carried away before them. The Israelites served idols. They
were stubborn and rejected God’s statutes and covenant. The Israelites left the
commandments of the LORD and made molded images and two calves. They sacrificed
their children to the gods of the surrounding nations. These provoked the LORD
to anger, and He allowed Assyria to carry them away as captives exiled to a
foreign land.
By 721
BC, the Israelites of the northern kingdom were in captivity. They remained
there until about 537 BC as Ezra mentioned in Ezra 2:28 and Nehemiah
spoke in Nehemiah 12:44-47 about them returning with Judah and Levi.
What is
your history with God? If you are like most people, it has been a journey with
ups and downs. The ups are times when you were close to the Lord and walked in
His ways. There was ease in life even when you walked through difficulties. The
downs are the times when you forgot the Lord, went after what you wanted, met
difficulties, and wondered why God left you. The question should have been,
“Where did I leave God and how can I get back there?” That is what Israel did
not ask themselves and they received punishment from the LORD for over 70
years.
Recap
The
northern kingdom of Israel occurred as a split in the nation of Israel when the
elders of the ten northern tribes rejected Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, as their
king. Instead they chose Jeroboam I, Solomon’s servant, to be their king.
Jeroboam I instituted idol worship and its priesthood within the northern
kingdom. He established places of worship at Dan and Bethel so his people would
not venture to Jerusalem and be influenced by them. From Jeroboam’s epitaph at
the end of his life through the lives of the other 18 kings of the northern
kingdom, we understand each of the kings rebelled against God, caused their
people to rebel, and provoked God to anger.
Because
of this rebellion and stubbornness of heart, God sent seven prophets to
prophesy to and about Israel. He wanted them to recognize their sin and Him as
their God. The LORD wanted the people to return to covenant faithfulness with
Him. He declared seven prophecies in Amos 1 and 2 describing and charging the surrounding
nations with their sins and their judgment because of their sins. God wanted
the Israelites to recognize their sinfulness, repent, and return to a right
relationship with Him before His judgment befell them.
While
issuing His charge and judgment on the northern kingdom of Israel, the LORD
reminded the people of who He had been for them, what He had done for them, who
He continued to be, and what His promise to them was. He recounted their sins
and told them His judgment because of those sins. The LORD explained no one would
escape from the judgment and it would come upon them without warning.
Conclusion
As we
learned from history, the judgment came upon the people of the northern kingdom
just thirty years after Amos’ prophecy. They could not say they did not expect
it because they heard the prophecy. The judgment caught the people off-guard
because they did not believe God would fulfill it. They had been so long
without knowing the LORD as their God that they had limited belief and
understanding.
Judgment
can seem to come along unexpected and swiftly against us and we wonder why
those bad things happened. Yet, if we stay in tune with the LORD, stay in a
right relationship with Him and obey Him, then 1) we will know the LORD, 2) we
will take Him at His word, and 3) we will not experience surprise. None of
these occurred to Israel because they were stubborn and had hardened their
hearts against Him.
What
should we take from this lesson? We must consider the sins God charged against
each of the nations and recognize we could be any of them. Each of us is a
sinner and wants to go our own way. It takes daily walking with God to keep us
from straying afar and sinning. The more we sin, the more we want to sin. With
no growth in our fellowship with the Lord, there will be little awareness of
our sin and need to return to Him. As we continue to push the pricks of our
consciences away, shrugging them off with a shake of our head or shoulders, we
become more hardened by sin toward God. We become more like Aram, Philistia,
Phoenicia, Edom, Ammon, and Moab.
Because
we know the Lord now, when we sin repeatedly, we become more like Judah and
Israel. We have greater sin because our sins are against our Lord and His laws.
If we were not children of the Lord, our sin would not be as great, because we
did not have knowledge of Him. This is why God holds pastors and teachers to a greater
accountability, because they can influence other people to follow them, either
in sin toward or submission to God. James 3:1 says this and the rest of the
chapter gives multiple examples. James said in James 3:1, “Let not many of you
become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter
judgment.” God held Israel and Judah to a stricter judgment because they had a
covenant with Him. They knew Him and His laws and statutes.
We have a
covenant with the Lord if we have faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior. God will
hold us accountable to a stricter judgment. Just as the Israelites were to be a
light to the nations about their LORD God, we should be a light to the nations about
the Lord. The question remains –
What
are we going to do about it?
Will you
continue walking in rebellion to God refusing to follow Him like Israel?
Or, will
you choose to get to know God, grow in your relationship with Him, and show
your love to Him by your obedience to Him through the power of His Holy Spirit
living in you?
It
is as simple as that.
If you
do not have saving faith in Jesus Christ, but want to know more and receive the
power to overcome temptation, here is what you need to do –
1.
Admit to God you are a sinner and repent, turning
away from your sin.
a.
Romans
3:23 says “All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory.”
b.
Romans
6:23 says, “We deserve death as the judgment for our sins, but the free gift of
God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
2.
Believe Jesus is God’s Son and accept God’s gift of
forgiveness from sin.
a.
Romans
5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.”
b.
John
3:16 says, “God loves the world so much that He gave His only Son so that
whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.”
3.
Confess your faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and
Lord.
a.
Romans
10:9-10 & 13 says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and
believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved;
for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth
he confesses, resulting in salvation.” “For whoever will call upon the name of
the Lord will be saved.”
It
is as simple as that.
You
have two choices –
Believe
and Grow in the Lord or
Fall
away from God, sin and receive His judgment.
Now is the time to pray seeking God.
