Read
Israel Will Be Punished
1Do you rulers in Jerusalem
and in the city of Samaria
feel safe and at ease?
Everyone bows down to you,
and you think you are better
than any other nation.
But you are in for trouble!
2Look what happened
to the cities of Calneh,
powerful Hamath,
and Gath in Philistia.
Are you greater than any
of those kingdoms?
3You are cruel, and you forget
the coming day of judgment.
4You rich people lounge around
on beds with ivory posts,
while dining on the meat
of your lambs and calves.
5You sing foolish songs
to the music of harps,
and you make up new tunes,
just as David used to do.
6You drink all the wine you want
and wear expensive perfume,
but you don't care about
the ruin of your nation.
7So you will be the first
to be dragged off as captives;
your good times will end.
8The Lord God All-Powerful
has sworn by his own name:
“You descendants of Jacob
make me angry by your pride,
and I hate your fortresses.
And so I will surrender your city
and possessions
to your enemies.”
9If only ten of you survive
by hiding in a house
you will still die.
10As you carry out a corpse
to prepare it for burial,
your relative in the house
will ask, “Are there others?”
You will answer, “No!”
Then your relative will reply,
“Be quiet! Don't dare mention
the name of the Lord.”
11At the Lord's command,
houses great and small
will be smashed to pieces.
12Horses can't gallop on rocks;
oceans can't be plowed.
But you have turned justice
and fairness
into bitter poison.
13You celebrate the defeat
of Lo-Debar and Karnaim,
and you boast by saying,
“We did it on our own.”
14But the Lord God All-Powerful
will send a nation to attack
you people of Israel.
They will capture Lebo-Hamath
in the north,
Arabah Creek in the south,
and everything in between.
Reflect
“Horses cannot gallop on rocks, oceans cannot be plowed” (6:12). War, trade and wealth warped like a Dali painting. Bitterness squeezed from the just and fair.
“You are cruel, and you forget the coming day of judgment” (6:3). Lounge lizards, celebrity chefs, pop singers, wine connoisseurs, perfume pushers, do not care about the ruin of their society – then as now.
They made him angry with their pride. Do we make him proud with our humility? Or do we sing “foolish songs” however like David’s. Are our iTunes just about I?
Do we feel “safe and at ease” when others bow down to us? (6:1) In the constellation of the church would we love to be superstar pastors and bestseller authors? How many bows and scrapes would it take to inflate us?
Amos is introduced with three facts: his name, home and job. He has no dust jacket accolades. He has no list of degrees and accomplishments. No glowing reviews from his contemporaries, from Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah. There is no “#1 New York Best seller” sticker on his book.
What have we done to our heroes? What peril have we put them in? Have we made them think themselves better than us, and left them to vie with each other? Have we invited them to drink from the chalice of fame, to swoon at the aroma of power, to bite the bitter fruit of pride?
What did Jesus say? Follow those who behave like your servants, not your masters (Mark 10:35ff). So, if we follow masterful people, are we not as much to blame as they? Have we created a culture of celebrity in the church that is every bit as toxic as the world’s, to both star and fan?
“At the LORD’s command, houses great and small will be smashed to pieces” (6:11): leader and follower, known and unknown, writer and reader, speaker and listener, great and small. Are we “in for trouble” (6:1)?
Respond
Forgive us our little idols. Help us destroy what fools us before it destroys us fools. We pray for humility lest we be humiliated. You alone are worthy of worship. By it we are made whole, arranged, as we ought, bowed, but only to you.
Alexander Best
Alexander cultivated a network of Christian leaders, OneMission, to promote collaboration, including service to the 15,000 new students arriving at University of Toronto each fall, under the umbrella, ServeToronto. He helped foster the same at the PanAm Games in Toronto and is the former Canadian Director of the Lausanne Movement Canada. He publishes THisToronto, a social media platform promoting & connecting the activities of over 300 ministries and churches in the city."