Our study today is much more expansive than our usual reflections on God’s word. Today we will reflect on the first two chapters in the Book of Amos. I encourage all of you to read the first two chapters for yourself in a translation most comfortable for you. The first two chapters are pretty grim and will require a lot of self-reflection to correctly apply to your life; as such, I will be using the Good News Translation to help with the interpretation and simplified analysis and reflection.
The title of our study is “8 Nations, 8 Sins, 1 Certain Doom.” In the first two chapters of Amos, the prophet expounds on the 8 distinct sins committed by ruling members of each of the 6 nations that surround Judah and Israel; but also adds that Judah and Israel have also committed dire sins and are no different than their non-believing neighbors. What we need to know about these 8 nations is that they are all neighboring nations. The socio-economic and political decisions made by one nation impacted the others.
Today, we will identify each of these sins and examine their ramifications to individuals committing them and the effects of those sins to society. Then we will discuss how 21st century believers can learn from the prophet’s warnings and change our minds and our hearts to be attuned to God and root out the cause of these sins.
Damascus – Torture
The Lord says, “The people of Damascus have sinned again and again, and for this I will certainly punish them. They treated the people of Gilead with savage cruelty. (Amos 1:3)
“Savage cruelty” is a nice way to say “torture.” In other translations of this verse, “save cruelty” is described as “threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron.” If you wait a moment, you’ll get an image of what was going on. “Threshing” is just a variant of the word “Thrashing” which simply means to violently beat. The context of this was that there was war between the two countries and people who were from the other country, were violently beaten. We don’t know who was beaten or for what reason, but we do know that it went beyond punishment and it pushed beyond the limits of acceptable behavior from a civilized nation.
In the 21st century we find this type of “torturous practice” in the realm of political prisoners, and also on the internet where people are psychologically tortured until they die. Yes, in America, physical torture may not be something that is practiced openly or widely by the general public, but it psychological torture is a growing epidemic because people can now sit in darken rooms, behind a keyboard and a screen to do immense evil.
Gaza – Human Trafficking
The Lord says, “The people of Gaza have sinned again and again, and for this I will certainly punish them. They carried off a whole nation and sold them as slaves to the people of Edom. (Amos 1:6)
I don’t think I need to explain this anymore than what’s there in the verse referring to it. People were carried off and sold like commodities. It was detestable then and it is detestable now. Human Trafficking is defined as “The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” (United Nations). You may not believe it’s a big deal in comparison to the centuries of slavery during the imperialistic period of world history, but to the people who are doing things they didn’t want to or were tricked into just so they can survive and can’t escape, it is a harsh reality. God simply hates it.
Tyre – Betrayal
The Lord says, “The people of Tyre have sinned again and again, and for this I will certainly punish them. They carried off a whole nation into exile in the land of Edom, and did not keep the treaty of friendship they had made. (Amos 1:9)
There’s nothing worse than being betrayed, except being betrayed by a person that was supposed to be your friend. The nation of Tyre made a treaty with the nation of Edom and then they reneged on the treaty. Again, I don’t know the context of this verse; however, it is apparent that the treaty that was signed was a smokescreen so that Tyre could go into the land of Edom and displace it’s residents.
The idea of betrayal makes your angry in your gut. I know for myself, I take betrayal very seriously, even to the point of no forgiveness in my own heart. Now lets think about the types of betrayal because obviously we’re probably not dealing with the type and level of betrayal that Tyre committed. However, just as hurtful is “cheating” in a relationship. That is a serious betrayal, especially if you’re married. Another would be a confidence betrayal, like gossiping about somebody behind their backs. Another would be breaking promises. All of these are types of betrayals that clearly irritate God.
Edom – Unhinged Anger
The Lord says, “The people of Edom have sinned again and again, and for this I will certainly punish them. They hunted down their relatives, the Israelites, and showed them no mercy. Their anger had no limits, and they never let it die. (Amos 1:11)
The nation of Edom and Israel were founded by brothers, Esau and Jacob. By all accounts the people in these two countries should be distant cousins collaborating together as they are pretty much distant family. Unlike Esau who forgave his brother for betraying him, his descendants had an anger management problem.
This reminds me of unreasonably angry people. Just think about any show where you’ve seen a celebrity personality throw a fit toward his or her assistant for no reason. We laugh at that scene because it is a debacle, but we’ve thrown worst fits for lessor reasons. Sure, afterward we may be sorry and apologetic and even a little embarrassed. But when it is happening, we are merciless and the people closest to us suffer.
Ammon – Genocide
The Lord says, “The people of Ammon have sinned again and again, and for this I will certainly punish them. In their wars for more territory they even ripped open pregnant women in Gilead. (Amos 1:13)
This could literally mean taking pregnant women and killing them or this can mean killing an entire people. The context clues around the interpretation of this is evidenced in the words, “In their wars for more territory…” which implies genocide. The people of Ammon went to the lands of Gilead and committed an atrocious act of murdering a people group so they can inhabit the land they coveted.
Some 21st century examples of genocide: Syria, Darfur, Congo, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Nigeria. I can actually go on, but you may do better by googling it. Genocide is hell on earth and we allow it to happen if it impedes on our dominance over a place or territory. Nothing can justify the evil of genocide and God abhors it.
Moab – Desecration
The Lord says, “The people of Moab have sinned again and again, and for this I will certainly punish them. They dishonored the bones of the king of Edom by burning them to ashes. (Amos 2:1)
Desecration is generally considered from the perspective of a particular religion or society and often involves around the idea of persecuting the people actively participating in a religion or society. Yes, persecution is the same as desecration. Along those lines, we look at why Moab did what they did to the dried bones of the king of Edom and we realize that the purpose behind it was to persecute the people of Edom.
Let’s come back to our day and age where persecution is outlawed in the United States. But we still persecute, we just do it discreetly within the bounds of our “laws.” In fact, we glamorize persecution on TV. Look at one of the million news channel talk shows and you’ll know that every idea that one anchor throws in the face of another is persecution in the form of words and ideas for something or against another. Sure, we’ve evolved from digging up bones from a grave yard, but we just do this looking at a camera behind the safety of our glass screens.
Judah – Refusing God
The Lord says, “The people of Judah have sinned again and again, and for this I will certainly punish them. They have despised my teachings and have not kept my commands. They have been led astray by the same false gods that their ancestors served. (Amos 2:4)
I don’t think I need to say a lot about this. This is simple. God came to the people of Judah. God offered himself to them, to be their God. To provide for the people. They refused. Refusing God is a sin against Him. How in the world can you know about the goodness of God and not want Him, when all He wants from you is the best for you? Instead, like us, the ancients refuse chose to satisfy themselves for whatever purpose or reason that suited them at the time. They lost sight of what was important and then rejected God.
Israel – preying on the innocent
The Lord says, “The people of Israel have sinned again and again, and for this I will certainly punish them. They sell into slavery honest people who cannot pay their debts, the poor who cannot repay even the price of a pair of sandals. They trample down the weak and helpless and push the poor out of the way. A man and his father have intercourse with the same slave woman, and so profane my holy name. At every place of worship people sleep on clothing that they have taken from the poor as security for debts. In the temple of their God they drink wine which they have taken from those who owe them money. (Amos 2:6-8)
Have you ever peer pressured somebody to do something stupid? If you were ever in a frat or sorority with pledge week, the answer is yes. If you’ve ever been to a party as a teenager, the answer is yes. If you’ve ever done anything you regretted later, then the answer is yes. Now, how about this: have you ever taken advantage of somebody because they didn’t know better? If you’re an older sibling, the answer is yes; and if you’re the younger sibling, the answer is still yes. If you’re a boss or manager, then the answer is yes. At the end of the day, we all take advantage of other people and sometimes we don’t have the best intentions when we do so.
Well, Israel was famous for this type of disadvantaged crookedness. God despises this type of evil. He created the universe and set the world in the motion. He set aside a worthless people to be His inheritance. He did not prey on them, as other nations have preyed on His chosen people. Yet, when God’s chosen people had the chance and opportunity, they preyed. They acted with malicious evil intent. If we are God’s people, we need to stop this behavior.
The result of each of these 8 sins is judgment.
Let’s live like we love God and trust in Him even if nobody else seems to.
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