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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 Gaza, even for four, I will not relent. Because
she took captive whole communities and sold them to Edom, I will send fire on
the walls of Gaza that will consume her fortresses. I will destroy the king of
Ashdod and the one who holds the scepter in Ashkelon. I will turn my hand
against Ekron, till the last of the Philistines are dead,” says the Sovereign Lord.
Amos 1:6-8
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In our first devotion of this eight devotion series, we saw
God declaring judgment on the nation of Aram, long time enemy of His people.
Today, we find Him turning His attention toward Philistia and its people known
as the Philistines. Look again at His words here:
This is what the Lord
says:
“For three sins of
Gaza, even for four, I will not relent. Because she took captive whole
communities and sold them to Edom, I will send fire on the walls of Gaza that
will consume her fortresses. I will destroy the king of Ashdod and the one who
holds the scepter in Ashkelon. I will turn my hand against Ekron, till the last
of the Philistines are dead,” says the Sovereign Lord. Amos 1:6-8
You may remember that the Philistines were as famous for
being the enemies of Israel as the Arameans were. In fact, perhaps one of the
best known battle stories in the Bible had the Israelites going up against a
Philistine giant named Goliath, a giant that no Israelite was brave enough to
face until a young shepherd boy named David came on the scene and struck the
giant dead with a single smooth stone cast with deadly accuracy from David’s
sling.
The Philistines had interesting ties to Israel as their
descendants could be traced back to Noah’s son Ham who was one of the survivors
of the great flood. They would go on to settle in the land of Canaan but
conflict was guaranteed after God delivered His people from Egypt and gave them
the very land the Philistines occupied. You’ll remember that God commanded the
Israelites through Joshua to drive out every other group who may be living in
the land but the Israelites disobeyed that command and allowed the Philistines
to remain and paid the price afterwards through consistent warring with them,
warring that persisted until God brought punishment upon Philistia, punishment
we find prophesied in our scripture passage for today.
You see, the Philistines, like the Arameans, had committed
many sins before God, underscored by the Lord who said they had committed “three”,
“even for four”. These sins weren’t just isolated to one part of Philistia. No,
it was widespread as God called out four of the five major Philistine cities:
Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Ekron; only the city of Gath went unmentioned.
What transgressions were committed by the Philistines?
God tells through His prophet that they “took captive whole
communities and sold them to Edom”. In other words, the Philistines had used
God’s people for commerce much like they might sell a herd of cattle to another
nation for prophet. Obviously, the Lord was not going to stand for any nation
who intentionally participated in the enslavement of His people.
How would God respond to such atrocity?
He vowed to act in the following ways:
1. He would send fire on the walls of Gaza, fires that would
consume the city’s fortresses.
2. He would destroy the rulers of Ashdod and Ashkelon.
3. He would “turn His hand against Ekron”.
4. He would not change His mind in doing what He promised to
do.
5. He would make sure judgment was thorough, not stopping it
until “the last of the Philistines” was dead.
It all added up to bad news for Philistia and God’s promise
of consequences became reality when the Assyrians attacked Philistia,
devastating the nation but not finishing it off. That happened when the Babylonians
emerged on the scene as the new powers to be dealt with. No remnant of the
Philistines would be left as King Nebuchadnezzar eradicated Israel’s enemy once
and for all.
Hindsight being twenty-twenty, I’m sure the Philistines would
have reconsidered opposing the people of Israel, the people who had the God of
all creation in their corner, the very God the Philistines had sinned against,
not just once but three, even four times. If they had, they may still be around
today.
Perhaps as we look at God’s consequences imparted on nations
who sinned mightily against Him and His people we should consider the ways our
nations are conducting business today. Are governments intentionally taking
actions that are harming their people or the people of other nations? Given
that God is a God of perfect judgment, all nations should pause before
committing any atrocities against any group of people because as we have seen
in the case of the Arameans and Philistines, He can and will take action.
Tomorrow, we see Him extend His judgment to the nation of
Tyre in part 3 of this series. .
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
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