Introduction
In our first two Bible studies on the book of Amos, we
learned Amos was from Tekoa, a small town ten miles from Jerusalem. He was a shepherd
and a sycamore fig grower/caretaker. God called Amos, a man from the southern
kingdom of Judah, to deliver prophecies to the people of the northern kingdom
of Israel. Amos spoke to the Israelites during the reigns of King Jeroboam II
of Israel and King Uzziah of Judah between 760-750 BC. Amos and Hosea were contemporaries.
They were the sixth and seventh prophets sent by the LORD to Israel.
In last week’s lesson, we learned of Amos’ prophecy to
Israel about God’s judgment of Damascus. Amos used a familiar prophetic pattern
denoting completion. He used the words, “for three transgressions and for four
I will not revoke its punishment.” In biblical numerology, three plus four
equals seven and seven is a number denoting completion. It means they had
multiplied sin upon sin and God would most assuredly execute His judgment on
them. In our study, we will realize Amos used this pattern for each of the
eight prophecies in this book.
God charged Damascus with “threshing Gilead with implements
of sharp iron” in Amos 1:3-5. The people of Aram, of which Damascus was the chief
city, battled Israel and forcibly took lands in Gilead, east of the Jordan
River and part of the Promised Land. When God charged Damascus, the capital
city of Aram, He charged the whole nation of Aram. Damascus represented the
whole nation. God’s judgment then was against the whole nation. Because He is
faithful to His covenant with the Israelites, He would protect and defend them
against other nations and people. In this case, Aram fought against Israel and stole
some of the land so the LORD defended them and their covenant with Him by pronouncing
His judgment against them.
This week we will learn about God’s judgment on Gaza. Gaza’s
history with the Israelites showed their antagonism of the Israelites throughout generations.
The LORD would challenge them with their aggravation of Israel and pronounce judgment
on them because they continually harmed and harassed the Israelites. Besides
Amos, other prophets pronounced God’s judgment on the Philistines, whom Gaza
represented in Amos’ prophecy- 1 Samuel 6:17, Jeremiah 47:1, 4-5, Ezekiel 25:16 and
35:5; 2 Chronicles 21:16-18; Joel 3:6; Obadiah 1:11.
·
Do you
remember a time when your parent, guardian, or teacher stood up for you to make
bullies or hateful people cease harassing you? How did it make you feel knowing
someone cared enough to fight your battles?
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The Charge against Gaza
Who were the people of Gaza? What was their issue with the
Israelites? Why did they continually harass and harm them, the people of the
LORD?
The people of Gaza were Philistines. Many scholars believe
the Philistines descended from Cyprus or Crete (Amos 9:7). Zephaniah 2:4-7
calls them "sea peoples". They were sea-faring people who traded with countries
on the Mediterranean Sea such as Egypt. Gaza was the primary shipping port for
the Philistines as they dealt with great commercial traffic with Egypt and
other nations. Gaza’s location was the extreme southwest part of Canaan. It was
diagonally opposite of Damascus in the north central and eastern area above the borders of Israel. (Remember Amos created a woven net on the map with
his prophecies that would draw closer to Israel with each pronouncement he made
against their neighboring nations.) The Philistines had four other main commercial
cities-Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath. Just as in the prophecy against Aram,
Amos used the name of the capital city to denote the whole nation; here he used
the name of the biggest city, Gaza, to denote the entire nation of Philistia as
the recipient of God’s judgment. In verse eight, Amos used the
remaining chief cities of Philistia to show the prophecy encompassed the whole
nation.
Of what did God charge the Philistines? Amos stated it in
verse six. He said,
“Thus says the LORD, ‘For three transgressions of Gaza and for four I will not revoke its punishment because they deported an entire population to deliver it up to Edom.’”
What do Amos’ words mean? Did the Philistines kidnap and sell
the Israelites as slaves? When we study the Hebrew words of this text, we learn
“deported” comes from the word galah
meaning take to exile or carry to captivity. “Deliver” comes from the Hebrew
word cagar meaning to shut up,
imprison, and deliver over or hand over. “Edom” means “I will praise him,” but
their actions did not show praise of the LORD. It showed praise of themselves
in their cunning against their blood relations. Remember the nation of Edom
descended from Esau, Jacob’s twin brother. Amos prophesied God’s judgment would
come upon the Philistines because they captured and delivered for sale the
Israelites to their blood relatives, the Edomites.
·
Have you
ever experienced a betrayal by someone close? How did you feel about it?
Did you have someone who stood up for you and called that person on his or her
actions?
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History of Gaza
What does the history of the Philistines’ interaction with
Israel show us regarding this charge by God? In 2 Chronicles 21:17, the chronicler
recorded,
“They [Philistines] came against Judah and invaded it, and carried away all the possession found in the king’s house together with his sons and his wives, so that no son was left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.”
The chronicler during King Ahaz’s reign recorded in 2
Chronicles 28:18,
“The Philistines also invaded the cities of the lowland and of the Negev of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, and Soco with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages, and they settled there.”
As a side note that
will be important later in this chapter when Amos dealt with the Edomites, we
must recall the Philistines often used Edom as their intermediary to sell their
slave captives (2 Chronicles 28:17).
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King Saul, the first king of the Israelites, and his son,
Jonathan, continually battled the Philistines as they tried and sometimes captured
Israelite territory (1 Samuel 13, 14, 29, & 31). David, while still a young
shepherd, fought the giant of the Philistines, Goliath, with a sling and rocks.
With the power of the LORD, he slew him (1 Samuel 17). The chroniclers of the
Bible noted other instances of the Philistines harassment of the Israelites.
As the Great Shepherd, Jehovah remained faithful to His
covenant with the Israelites and defended the enemies of His children. Yet,
when the Israelites broke their covenant relationship with Him, He allowed
other nations to rise against them to punish them as punishment from Him to cause them to seek Him
and return to a right relationship with Him. The LORD was always faithful to
His children, the Israelites, though they turned their backs on Him. His faithfulness to His
covenant with them required His charge and judgment of their enemies.
The LORD’s charge against Gaza and the whole nation of Philistia began this prophecy
given to and spoken by Amos. The judgment and fulfillment of it lay ahead of
them.
·
Have you
experienced God’s presence in your life guiding and protecting you? Has He
provided a defense for you against your enemies?
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The Judgment of Gaza
As the righteous and just God, the defender of His children-His
sheep, the LORD judged nations and people for harming the Israelites. Against
the Philistines, Amos, God’s prophet, proclaimed His judgment. He said in
verses seven and eight,
“So, I will send fire upon the wall of Gaza and it will consumer her citadels. I will also cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter, from Ashkelon; I will even unleash My power upon Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,’ says the LORD GOD.”
You may remember God pronounced a similar judgment against
Damascus. For Damascus’ sin, the LORD said He would send fire upon the house of
Hazael and it would consume the citadels. For Gaza, a fire would come upon the
wall of Gaza and consume her citadels. “Send” comes from the Hebrew word shalach meaning to let loose or direct.
“Fire” comes from God and represents the flames of war, either real fire or the
wrath of God on them through armies of other nations. Numbers 21:28 and Isaiah
26:11 speak of fire in this same way. The LORD, the One who defends His
children, would release and direct His fire, His wrath, upon the walls around
the city of Gaza. He would send it through battles with their enemies. The
walls around Gaza would collapse and the fortress would fall. Remember the
walls around a city of the time were similar to Jerusalem’s wall, which was
thirty-nine feet tall. That protective wall consisted of two thick walls extending
to an eight foot breadth. The people filled in the space between these two walls
with rocks and soil to add strength during battle. The fire God would send upon
Gaza and the whole nation would destroy the walls they relied upon to protect
them. Their fortress/citadels/palaces would succumb to the fire of the LORD.
The manmade things of this world are no match to the strength and power of the
LORD of all creation. The Philistines were human. God’s righteousness and power
could judge and punish them. They were not immune to enemy threat or to
almighty God.
With verse eight, Amos’ prophecy reached the remaining chief
cities of Philistia. The LORD said He would “cut off”, eliminate, and utterly destroy
the inhabitants of Ashdod. Even the ruler of the land would experience the
might and punishment of God as noted when Amos said, “and him who holds the scepter”.
God named Ashkelon as ones who would receive punishment, too. He would unleash
His power against Ekron, and the remaining few people of Philistia would die. God
charged and pronounced His judgment against each person of Philistia, low-ranking
and high, and in the major cities and outlying areas-the remnant.
The word “perish” found in verse eight comes from the Hebrew
word ‘abad. It means to be absolutely
destroyed, exterminated, and annihilated. Moses used this same word when he gave
God’s command to the Israelites. God commanded them to destroy utterly the people
of Canaan when they claimed the Promised Land for themselves so there would be
no one remaining to lead the Israelites to follow other gods.
Just as the other nations of Canaan succumbed to the LORD
and His people, the people once called the nation of Philistia would no longer
exist. They would become a dispersed people once called Philistines existing around
the middle and near-East.
One other thing you may note is that in the list of cities
Amos spoke against, it did not include Gath, a chief city. Scholars believe Gath
was not included because it had lost its position as a chief city earlier in King Uzziah’s reign before Amos
prophesied. Uzziah destroyed Gath and rebuilt it and
the surrounding areas into Judean cities and villages. Gath did not exist as a
Philistine city at the time of Amos’ prophecies.
·
What do
you feel when you consider that God loves you enough to protect and defend you?
How do you feel to know He would go so far as to remove completely the person
or people who are harassing or harming you, His child?
(http://www.biblewalks.com/Photos124/AshdodSea10.jpg)
The Fulfillment of God’s Judgment of Gaza
Was this prophecy
fulfilled? How did it happen and by whom? God used many rulers to bring the
downfall of the Philistines. These rulers came from the presiding empires
during the centuries-Judean, Assyrian, Egyptian, Babylon, and Macedonian.
King Uzziah of
Judah, who reigned 790-740 BC, warred against them. He broke down the walls of
Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. Uzziah built cities for Judah there in their place. Second Chronicles 26:6-7 says,
“Now he [King Uzziah] went out and warred against the Philistines and broke down the wall of Gath and the walls of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod and among the Philistines. God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians who lived in Gur-baal, and the Meunites.”
Tiglath-Pileser
III, ruler of Assyria (745-727 BC), and Sargon of Assyria (721-705 BC) fulfilled
part of God’s judgment. The Assyrians were merciless warriors. They tortured,
killed, or took prisoners from cities and nations to be slaves. Tiglath-Pileser
and Sargon tortured, killed, or dispersed the Philistines as exiles throughout
the Assyrian empire. It weakened the nation of Philistia.
King Hezekiah of
Judah, who reigned 716-687 BC, warred against the Philistines. Second Kings 18;8 records his triumph over them. It says,
“He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza (the southwestern-most city of Philistia) and its territories, from watchtower to fortified city. Hezekiah destroyed the strongholds under God’s power and direction. He and his army destroyed their walls and citadels.”
Other nations
battled the limping people of Philistia to bring about their absolute
extermination. These nations and their rulers were Pharaoh Psammetichus of Egypt
(664-610BC), King Nebuchadnezzar of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (605-562 BC), Alexander
the Great of Macedon (336-323 BC), and the Asmoneans (Hasmoneans or Maccabees)
of Judea and surrounding regions (140-116 BC).
God’s instruments
of judgment caused Philistia the land-grabbers, kidnappers, and slave-sellers to
go out of existence. Jehovah proved His prophecy by fulfilling it. He showed
Himself greater than the great thinkers of the time and stronger than any
manmade fortress or wall. By being greater than the enemies of the Israelites,
the LORD showed His omniscience. This reminded the Israelites once again of the
greatness of their God, I AM.
·
Has there
ever been a time when you saw or experienced something and you stood back and realized
only God’s power and might could have accomplished that? Did you praise God
when you experienced it?
·
Did that
experience cause you to remember the greatness of God?
·
Did it
cause you to return to a closer relationship with the LORD?
Recap
When God called him, Amos was just a shepherd, but he was a
shepherd who obeyed Him. He had the heart of a shepherd and of an Israelite who
cared about his people. Amos could have, but did not omit this prophecy against
Gaza. He realized God had a reason for him to proclaim it to Israel.
Ø
One reason was to remind the Israelites God is
still supreme, and He defends His people.
Ø
Another reason was God sees what each person of
the world does, not just the actions of our enemies.
Ø
Besides this, God wanted the Israelites to
recall their own sins and return to a right relationship with Him before He
fulfilled His judgment against them. God is merciful and did not want to punish
His people by fulfilling His judgment of them.
The Pharisees took Israelites and sold them. Surely the
Israelites did not do that, they thought. Later though, in God’s charges
against Israel, they would hear they did that, too. The necessary charge and judgment
against Gaza applies to the Israelites. God’s resultant judgment was punishment
of Philistia and incentive for the Israelites.
Relevance and Conclusion
As we continue to read the prophecies of Amos against the
nations, we will see the web woven closer to Israel. The first prophecy was
against Damascus, a city north of the northern border of Israel. The next prophecy
was against Gaza, the southeastern-most city in the Canaan region. A diagonal
crisscross began the weave of this web. The third prophecy of Amos, against Tyre
of Phoenicia, secures the western side of Israel’s borders before crossing over
to the eastern borders. How long will it take before the people of Israel
understand God is leading them closer to their own homes and hearts with Amos’
prophecies? He wants them to search their own hearts, and repent and return to Him
before He must fulfill His judgment for their sins.
·
How long
does it take for God’s nudges and ideas to prick you to return to Him?
·
What will
it take for you to allow Him to be your God, the One who defends and provides
for you, and whom you solely worship?
Now
is the time to stop, pray, and listen for God’s voice.
He’s
calling to you just as He did to Israel.
