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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
This is what the Lord says:
“For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not
relent. Because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth, I will send
fire on the house of Hazael that will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad. I
will break down the gate of Damascus; I will destroy the king who is in the
Valley of Aven and the one who holds the scepter in Beth Eden. The
people of Aram will go into exile to Kir,” says the Lord.
Amos 1:3-5
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Yesterday, we opened up our study of Amos with a look at the
prophet’s background (shepherd/sycamore-fig tree farmer), his birthplace
(Tekoa), and the place in history where his prophecies took place before the
first words of the messenger were shared, words that declared God roaring and
thundering in advance of bringing His judgment.
So who would on the receiving end of that judgment?
We will find out over the next eight devotions as God
provides a series of nations who would face His wrath and why. Today, we begin
with the nation of Aram and its capital of Damascus. Look at these words again
from Chapter 1:
This is what the Lord
says:
“For three sins of Damascus,
even for four, I will not relent. Because she threshed Gilead with sledges
having iron teeth, I will send fire on the house of Hazael that will consume
the fortresses of Ben-Hadad. I will break down the gate of Damascus; I will destroy
the king who is in the Valley of Aven and the one who holds the
scepter in Beth Eden. The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir,” says the Lord. Amos 1:3-5
Note here that the scriptures validate God as the one doing
the talking. The prophet might be the one speaking out but he is only sharing
the Lord’s words and those words open with a saying we will see common to each
devotion in this series. “Three sins, even for four.” In essence, the statement
means that the sins of the focus audience, Aram in this case, were many. Not
that the number mattered because to God one was too many and as we see in our
passage, there as really only one sin mentioned.
What had the Arameans done that got them in trouble?
Well, it was no secret that the nation of Aram had been an
enemy of Israel for a long time. During David’s reign as king, they attacked
twice and were defeated both times, the second resulting in being enslaved to
the Israelites into the reign of David’s son, Solomon. After that, they
continued to take every opportunity to make war with the Israelites. The Old
Testament contains the following list of such clashes:
1. A battle against the northern kingdom of Israel during
King Ahab’s reign, a battle won by the Israelites (1 Kings 20).
2. A second battle during Ahab’s rule, one that saw him
killed (2 Chronicles 18).
3. A raid of Israel in which the Arameans attacked the
capital of Samaria (2 Kings 6:8).
4. A fight during King Joram’s time on the throne in which
the king was wounded (2 Kings 8:28).
5. A war waged against the southern kingdom of Judah in
which the Arameans wounded King Joash (2 Chronicles 24:23-25.
6. Assisting the Babylonians when they warred against Judah
and destroyed Jerusalem (2 Kings 24:2).
Yes, the Arameans had a track record of atrocities against
the Israelites and God adds one more in our scripture passage, calling them out
for threshing Gilead “with sledges having iron teeth”. The brutality of the
Aramean killing of God’s people was illustrated by using the vision of a farmer
wielding a sledge to thresh the wheat, the sledge having very sharp teeth to
cut through the grain. The imagery here was the Arameans easily slashing
through God’s people with little impunity.
For the murdering of His people, God assured the people of
Aram that He would do the following:
1. Not relent.
2. Send fire on the house of Hazael (the king of Damascus
who oversaw the atrocities) that will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.
3. Break down “the gate of Damascus”.
4. Destroy the king who is in the Valley of Aven and
the one who holds the scepter in Beth Eden.
5. Send the people of Aram into exile to Kir.
The Arameans played a role in the destruction of Judah and
the subsequent exiling of the Israelites to Babylon. Now they would get a taste
of their own medicine, not only facing the same level of devastation but also
captivity as the people of Aram would get to feel the pain that the Israelites
had while in the midst of God’s judgment.
In the end translation, the nation of Aram had consistently and
persistently went to war with the Israelites but in essence, they were going to
war against God too, sinning against Him “three, even for four”.
That was a war that they were doomed to lose, a war which
they did lose.
Tomorrow, we find God turning His attention to Philistia and
her transgressions.
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
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