Amos 2:4-5

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD AND RESPONSIBILITY OF MAN
PUNISHMENT PROMISED, THE COVENANT NATIONSJUDAH

TEXT: Amos 2:4-5

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Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have rejected the law of Jehovah, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have caused them to err, after which their fathers did walk:

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but I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

QUERIES

a.

To what extent had Judah rejected the law of Jehovah?

b.

What lies caused them to err?

PARAPHRASE

This is the Lord's word: For sin after sin of Judah, I will not leave her unpunished. Because they have spurned the law of Jehovah and have refused to keep His commandments, and because they have walked after lying idols just as their fathers did, I will send down upon them the fires of My judgment and this judgment shall consume even the great buildings of Jerusalem.

SUMMARY

Just as the heathen did not live up to their revelation, neither did Judah and although elected by God for a special mission they need not think God is a respecter of persons. They are to be judged for indifference to God's commandments and for idolatry.

COMMENT

Amos 2:4-5. FOR THREE TRANSGRESSIONS OF JUDAH. BECAUSE THEY HAVE REJECTED THE LAW OF JEHOVAH. AND THEIR LIES HAVE CAUSED THEM TO ERR. Amos may have been a sheepherder and a farmer but he was a student of human nature and a master psychologist. His homiletical approach to the central application he made was excellent. In a series of concentric circles Amos denounced the sins of men against Jehovah. Beginning with a great encircling movement that included Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Amman, and Moab; he identified the rebellion against God with those outside God's special covenant. Then, shrinking to a smaller circle, a similar rebellion was placed squarely upon the shoulders of Judah. One can almost hear the people of the northern kingdom, Israel, giving ready Amens to Amos-' preaching against their neighbors! Yes, there were many in Israel who probably still held grudges against Judah and so when Amos pointed out the sins of Judah they were in full agreement. Then after this announcement, Amos immediately thrust into the very heart of Israel the sword of the Spirit, the word of God's judgments against her! If it was true that the nations outside the covenant were accountable, if Judah, in the covenant were accountable, then it logically followed that Israel could not escape accountability.

We find Judah, not being judged for the wild excesses of the heathen, but for rejection of the law of God. Judah stood in greater responsibility than the heathen for she had been blessed to know the law of God, had been blessed with a succession of teachers and religious leaders to instruct her in the law and so her's was an even more heinous sin against God! Greater privilege brings greater responsibility (Luke 12:48). Judah is not immune to judgment because they are God's elect. Indeed, their judgment is greater because they are His; and being His they chose to rebel against His law.

Walking after is the standard expression for idolatry. Their fathers before them walked after false gods. These false gods were impotent, dumb, vain and deceitful. So their lies are their idols, (cf. Isaiah 44:9-20)! The law of God embraces far more than just a legal codification of certain statutes. It included the totality of all instruction, civil, religious, moralthe total revelation of God. Instead they followed falsehood, deception, immorality and rebellionan inevitable consequence of idolatry. Society is little better today, even in so-called Christian cultures. Men have deified science, philosophy, flesh, government and self. To worship any of these is hardly more intelligent than the idolatry of 2700 years ago. Rejection of divine revelation and substitution of any pantheon of godsancient or modernbrings the same inevitable consequences! Man without God becomes autonomous which leads inevitably to anarchy in societyboth political and ethical. This is exactly what it led to in Judah (read the book of Jeremiah and II Kings) just before the awful judgment of God fell by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.

QUIZ

1.

How was Amos-' preaching of the judgments of God a homiletical masterpiece?

2.

Why was Judah held accountable to a greater degree than the heathen?

3.

What were the lies Judah was caused to err in?

4.

What is the inevitable result of rejecting divine revelation?