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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 Israel, even for four, I will not relent.
They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They
trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice
to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane My holy name.
They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. In the house of
their god, they drink wine taken as fines.”
“But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the
prophets not to prophesy.”
“Now then, I will crush you as a cart crushes when loaded
with grain. The swift will not escape, the strong will not muster their
strength, and the warrior will not save his life. The archer will not stand his
ground, the fleet-footed soldier will not get away, and the horseman will not
save his life. Even the bravest warriors will flee naked on that day,” declares
the Lord.
Amos 2:6-8, 12-16
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Today’s devotion is the last in a series that has looked at
nations who sinned in plain sight of God and faced His judgment as a result.
Included in the seven countries we have looked at to date are a who’s who of
Israelite enemies: Aram, Philistine, Phoenicia, Edom, Ammon, and Moab.
If you’re counting, then you’ll know that is only six
nations. So who was the seventh?
We covered that in yesterday’s devotion as God turned His
attention to His own people and, specifically, the southern kingdom of Judah. God
made it clear that no one would be spared who chose evil over the righteousness
and holiness that He not only offered but expected His people to live by. God’s
word told us that His people in Judah had rejected His law, were disobedient as
they failed to keep His decrees, and chose to worship false pagan gods and
idols.
God responded to this complete disregard and disrespect for Him,
their Maker and Master, by sending punishment upon them in the form of the
Babylonians who attacked Judah and Jerusalem under the leadership of King
Nebuchadnezzar, plundering anything of value before destroying everything and
leaving it in smoldering ruin. The Israelites who were fortunate enough to
survive the onslaught were hauled away into seventy years of exile in Babylon.
All this leaves us with one more nation to cover, one more
nation to finish this series and as we look to our scriptures, we see God
address the sins of the northern kingdom of Israel. Look again at these verses here:
This is what the Lord
says:
“For three sins of
Israel, even for four, I will not relent. They sell the innocent for silver, and
the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as on
the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use
the same girl and so profane My holy name. They lie down beside every altar on
garments taken in pledge. In the house of their god, they drink wine taken as
fines.”
“But you made the
Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.”
“Now then, I will
crush you as a cart crushes when loaded with grain. The swift will not escape, the
strong will not muster their strength, and the warrior will not save his life. The
archer will not stand his ground, the fleet-footed soldier will not get away, and
the horseman will not save his life. Even the bravest warriors will flee naked
on that day,” declares the Lord.
Amos 2:6-8, 12-16
What sins did Israel commit that got them out of God’s favor
and into the crosshairs of His judgment?
There was more than one, that’s for sure, many
transgressions that were underscored by the Lord’s statement, “For three sins,
even for four”.
Note that some of the sins had a common theme of injustice.
Those serving as judges were easily swayed into passing guilty verdicts on the
innocent and would wrongly sentence anyone for some silver or even as small an
amount as a pair of sandals. The poor were mistreated and neglected while the
oppressed were denied the justice that would bring them freedom.
The Israelites were also engaging in sexual immorality as father
and son had sexual relations with the same women, sometimes within the temple
by the holy altar as they profaned the name of the Lord. Drinking in the temple
was also mentioned as an iniquity the Israelites committed because the wine
they drank was wine confiscated as fines from the community. Finally, the
Israelites had made Nazirites drink wine when they had taken a solemn oath to
not drink alcohol and demanded that the prophets stop prophesying, perhaps
tired of being called out for the sins they committed.
Because of these sins, and more I am sure were omitted, God
promised to send judgment on His people and that judgment came in the way of
the Assyrians who invaded Israel and crushed the kingdom “as a cart crushes
when loaded with grain.”. There was no escaping the formidable Assyrian
warriors as the Israelites were no match for them. When it was all over, Israel
would be a site of utter devastation and be left practically uninhabited by God’s
people who would not return again like their Judean counterparts.
The consequences were harsh but they always will be when it
comes to willing and willful sinning, disobediently choosing to ignore and
abandon the Lord’s word, will, and way. We had better wake up and see this
today because the very God who judged the nations in Amos’ time is the same God
who judges the nations today. As we look at our world, we can see there are
more than a few countries who have decided to sin before God without
reservation or fear of His retribution.
Perhaps those nations should pay attention to the words
found in the Book of Amos and repent of their sins before God takes action. And
rest assured, He will take action.
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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