Amos 2:6-8

PUNISHMENT PROMISED, THE COVENANT NATIONSISRAEL

TEXT: Amos 2:6-8

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Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes;

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they that pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father go unto the same maiden, to profane my holy name:

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and they lay themselves down beside every altar upon clothes taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of such as have been fined.

QUERIES

a.

How sell the righteous for silver. needy for a pair of shoes?

b.

How pant after the dust of the earth. ?

c.

What was involved in father and son going to the same harlot?

PARAPHRASE

This is the Lord's word; For sin after sin of Israel, I will not leave her unpunished, Because they have for mere trifles given debtors over to their creditors as slaves; because they long eagerly to bring the poor into a state of misery and destitution that they scatter dust upon their heads; because father and son shamelessly and intentionally profane the name of God by committing incest when they both go in unto the same maiden; because they take the garments of the poor for which they have loaned the poor money and use them as bedding before the very altar of God at His feasts; because in the places they where they worship Jehovah they carouse with the wine bought with the fines they have taken from the poor they have prosecutedbecause of all these sins I will not turn away from punishing Israel.

SUMMARY

Five specific charges Amos brings against Israel in this section. Every charge has to do with injustice against the poor.

COMMENT

Amos 2:6-8. FOR THREE TRANSGRESSIONS OF ISRAEL. SOLD. THE NEEDY FOR A PAIR OF SHOES. TURN ASIDE THE WAY OF THE MEEK. PROFANE MY HOLY NAME. IN THE HOUSE OF. GOD. DRINK. WINE. Now Amos lets loose all the stormy fury of God's anger where it is needed most imperatively! Israel is on the brink of disaster. God has called them time and time again. He has sent prophet after prophetnatural calamity after natural calamity, but unable to see through the veneer of a superficial prosperity (much like people today), Israel is at ease in Bethel!

Selling the righteous for silver, refers to the judges who were bribed to pronounce a man guilty of some crime of which he was accused while in reality he was innocent of the accusation. Selling the needy for a pair of shoes does not mean that some slave was sold by someone else merely to obtain a pair of shoes; but some rich creditor would bribe a judge with a bribe as trifling as the price of a pair of shoes and the judge would then sentence the poor man in debt to become a slave to his creditor. This was done by perverting the statute in Leviticus 25:39 (cf. also 2 Kings 4:1). The word translated pant means to gasp, to long eagerly for. The greedy rich desired eagerly to bring the poor into such a state of poverty and misery as to cause the poor to scatter dust (a symbol of sorrow and distress, Joshua 7:6; Ezekiel 27:30; Job 2:12; Lamentations 2:10) upon their heads. To this end they seek to bend the way of the meek. They long to trap the poor and cast them headlong into destruction by placing stumbling-blocks in their path. For themselves the rich seek gold and silver and luxury; for others dust and ashes, poverty and sorrow!

Father and son seek the same maiden for fornication. Actually the law calls it incest (Leviticus 18:7; Leviticus 18:15; Leviticus 20:11), a crime punishable by death. This was done not so much out of passion as it was in deliberate revolt against God's law. K & D put it, in daring contempt of the commandments of God. the profanation of the holy name of God is represented as intentional, to bring out the daring character of the sin, and to show that it did not arise from weakness or ignorance, but was practiced with studious contempt of the holy God. They literally defied God or man to punish them! Pusey says, Men, satiated with ordinary sin seek incitement to sin, in its very horrors. Oppression of the poor, wronging the righteous, perverting the way of the meek, laid the soul open for any abomination. The truth of this has been exemplified in every generation (cf. Romans 1:18 ff) and is no less true in our own generation!

The rich men were taking the poor men's cloaks as collateral on loans, The cloak as a pledge was to be returned to the pledger before nightfall (Exodus 22:25) and a garment so taken was not to be slept upon(cf. Deuteronomy 24:12-13). But the godless rich money lenders kept the cloaks of the poor and used them as blankets upon which they lay to rest at the feasts; and this they did by every altar, at sacrificial meals, in contempt of God and His law! Then, in further contempt of God and their fellow man they debauched themselves in drunken revelry, drinking wine they purchased from the fines collected from the poor; and this in the place where they claimed to worship God. Pusey sums it all up: What hardheartedness to the willfully forgotten poor is compensated by a little churchgoing. They did all these things but they also went through certain religious rituals and so they eased their consciences. The nature of this conduct which is terrifying to anyone of moral conscience at all is its intentional, daring, studious contempt of the holy God! Most of it done in the name of religion and in the very buildings hallowed for worshiping the Deity! Is it any wonder that Amos was so vituperative and vitriolic in preaching the warnings of God to these indolent near-incorrigibles. There are centers of government and religion equally as corrupt today as in Amos-' day. Let us know assuredly that God's wrath upon such rebellion has not changed. Amos-' preaching is as contemporary as today's newspaper!

QUIZ

1.

Why does Amos save Israel until last in announcing the warnings of God?

2.

What is selling the righteous for silver?

3.

What is selling the needy for a pair of shoes?

4.

What is the meaning of dust of the earth on the head of the poor?

5.

What is the nature of the sin in which father and son go into the same maiden?

6.

What is wrong with some lying on clothes taken in pledge?

7.

Could the preaching of Amos be used today? Where? How?