missio

Here’s a continuation of my blogging series on Amos. Here’s the a link to the overview for the book: Blogging Amos: Overview. Without further ado, chapter one.

• Chapter one starts with an intro of Amos and who he is. The most profound thing here is that he saw the Word. Amos had visions of the Word he was going to preach. We may see this as fantastic, but we also have “seen” the Word we are to preach: the person of Jesus Christ.
• Amos’ message begins where most messages should begin: who God is and what He does. The Lord roars from Zion, from heaven; not from any place made by man. Right here, Amos is overturning the temple construct and system. He says, in essence, that God is not bound in our box.
• The next few sections of Scripture go over the sins of Israel’s neighbors: Syria (Damascus), Gaza (Philistia), Tyre (Phoenicia), Edom, Amman, and Moab. They have the same structure: God will not revoke punishment for their sins, but in fact will destroy them through means He has sovereignly determined.
• People misunderstand the whole “three, four” thing in this chapter of Scripture. It is not a number of sins that the places have committed, but instead a revelation of the very nature of man: three and four is seven, which is a number in Jewish literature equivalent to infinity. God is not saying they’ve committed three or four or even seven sins, but that they will never stop sinning: they are evil to the core. Just like us.
• Damascus, the major city in Syria, has, as an outworking of their sinful nature, threshed Gilead with “sledges of iron”. Some people interpret this differently, but I think it is very literal: the Syrian army would come in with spiked iron sleds (sledges), and literally run over their enemies, whether civilian or not. This is rooted in historical military studies as possible. Their fundamental sin is that they disregard the nature of human life, and it is evil in the sight of God (and most people). God determines that He will send fire upon the house of Hazael, devouring that of Ben-hadad. This comes true in the story of Hazael strangling Ben-hadad. The strongholds of Damascus will be broken, the Lord speaks, and indeed they were: in 732 BC, Assyria dominates the area.
• Gaza, a primary city in Philistia, is working in the slave trade business: selling Israelites (women and children included) to Edom: relatives of Israel. It is not this fact alone that condemns Philistia, but, like Tyre, has forgotten the relationship Edom has with Israel. Edom shall be condemned as well. So God judges Gaza, saying that He will turn His hand against them as well, and indeed it was: in 732 BC, Assyria continues to Gaza, bringing it into it’s empire.
• Tyre, a primary city in Phoenicia, has also bought/sold people in slavery to Edom, ignoring their relationship with Israel. The “covenant of the brotherhood” is found in Genesis 33, between Jacob (Israel) and Esau (ancestor of the Edomites). So God condemns Phoenicia as well, and they are taken over by Assyria by 661 BC.
• Edom is condemned, as mentioned earlier, for ‘pursuing his brother with the sword’. He has, like Esau waiting until his father is dead to exact revenge, stored up anger and kept wrath. God can play that game too. He devours Edom through Assyria by 661 BC.
• The Ammonites are condemned for what most would think is the most horriffic sin listed: ripping open pregnant women in order to gain territory. It is disgusting. It is vile. But in our country today, it’s legal and called abortion. God destroys them through Assyria as well.
• Moab has disregarded the dead, which to God is a disrespect for humanity as well. So God decides to deal with them differently: as I was researching Moab, they completely disappear from the historical record. Go God.
• So what? It’s fine and dandy that this is history and everything, but who cares, really? Well, we must remember that this prophet is preaching to an Israel that is prosperous and has forgotten God. The Lord is judging their neighbors so that when He judges Israel, they will not attribute it to chance, and realize that they are just as evil as everyone around them. How does this apply to us? Well, do we have global neighbors that are involved in mass genocide (Damascus), slave trade (Gaza, Tyre), killing their brothers (Edom), ripping open pregnant women (Ammon), and disregarding humanity (Moab)? Of course we do.

If we do not turn to Christ, we’re next, regardless of our prosperity: God can do and does what He wants, when He wants, how He wants. There may not be another chance.