Amos 3:1-4:5 Hear This
God calls Israel to pay attention because He is about to ROAR! “Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel” (verse 3:1a).
God chose ONE family out of ALL the earth with which to bring about His work of salvation. He will see to it that His chosen family WILL complete the work He has begun. But His heart is breaking because of their attitude; their rebellion against Him.
Israel cannot escape their just punishment. God already told them that He would hold them in place to receive it. He is ready to go in and confront them. He doesn’t spell out their sin again, as He just finished doing that. Now He tells them that He has VERY GOOD REASON to be angry with them AND to correct them. The Lion is ready to spring on them, but first He must roar! It’s ‘roaring time”!!!
When God called Israel out from among her neighbors, He asked, NOT demanded, that they be His people. He gave them the choice and they agreed to follow Him. They were eager to throw their lot in with Him. Until things got hard. Then they started questioning His wisdom and His power.
The first questions arose right after the first plagues happened and Pharaoh increased their job demands. “How are we supposed to deal with this? Why didn’t God leave well-enough alone?!” But God proved Himself faithful, even in their impossible situation.
One would think that the more God did for them, the more they would trust Him. But it didn’t work that way. The more God did, the more they wanted and the more they got ‘puffed up’. And the looser they got with the way they were treating God.
When Israel split into two kingdoms, Jeroboam I got REALLY arrogant and created other gods for the people of Israel. He actually set up two COWS to be Israel’s gods!!! Talk about a slap in the face. God has Amos give them this message of correction in the presence of one of these symbols. If God could spit, He probably would have hawked up a huge ball of spit and spat it right on the face of the cow with the people looking on. Not that this was impossible to Him to accomplish somehow, but that He restrained Himself from showing His contempt of this idol in this fashion. It is just something that popped up in my spirit for an illustration for me.
Doing right is no longer in the peoples’ hearts. They are even PRETENDING to honor God by offering HIS prescribed sacrifices to this abomination! And even then, their hearts are not seeking Him in truth. They are trying to manipulate Him into meeting their desires.
Honestly, this is how I felt about the ‘faith movement’ where people would quote a scripture and INSIST that God had to do as they confessed. So much of it was done in an effort to ‘insist’ that God do as they desired. YES! It takes faith to please God. And God can AND does marvelous works. But MY telling Him what to do, when to do it, and how to do it does NOT mean that is the way it WILL happen.
I believe with my WHOLE HEART that God hears and answers our prayers. But I also believe that sometimes He says “No.” Sometimes He says “I’m going to do it another way.” And sometimes He even says, “Be patient. Keep coming to me with your needs. I AM listening. But I’m working it out in a way that will BLOW your mind!”
Israel wasn’t coming to Him but to THEIR alternatives. And He would NOT let that stand. SOON, He was going to cut them off and destroy the very thing they trusted in. When they were taken captive, their substitute gods would fall as well.
When God started talking of the “cows wo are on the mountain of Samaria” (verse 4:1b), I was curious as to what/who He was addressing. At first, I took it as cattle. Then, I thought He might be addressing the golden calf they had set up. Finally, I realized it was the women of Samaria. The wives who were acting as horribly towards the poor as their husbands were. It struck me as ‘funny’ that this is the first place I have seen (that I remember) where women were called cows by God. Cruel men call large women cows as an insult. I wonder what it was specifically that God saw that likened the two to one another. Was it their size? Was it the lazy way they go about their day? Was it how, when gathered together in a herd, they trample whatever gets in the path between where they are and what they want to get to? They don’t usually do this alone, unless they are VERY aggressive. Just a thought that caught my attention.
God then likens the people to fish. Fish are caught because they can’t resist what is being offered! That fat juicy worm or shinny spinner gets their attention. Once they take the bait, they are in trouble. With a skilled fisherman, certain death waits at the end of the line. Fight as hard as you can, when the hook is in deep, you won’t be in the ‘deep’ much longer. When fishing with spear hooks, there isn’t even a line to break for escape. The fish keep on fighting though, even when it is obvious that the battle is lost. They flop around even after being pulled out of the water.
Fight as hard as she could, enlist all the help she could find, still, Israel WOULD FALL. “’The Lord has sworn by His holiness that, behold, the says are coming upon you, when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks. And you shall go out through the breaches, each one straight ahead; and you shall be cast out into Harmon,’ Declares the Lord” (verse 4:3).
Israel was putting her trust in her past status with God. She was certain that, her status as the chosen people, would protect her, no matter what. She felt free to do whatever she wanted to do without fear of failure or consequences. As God’s chosen people, she figured she could do no wrong. God would take care of her, no matter what.
With the conflict raging in Israel today, I wonder if this is still the attitude. I KNOW that God does NOT go back on His promises to care for His people. But their actions have consequences. The stories on BOTH sides of the conflict show BOTH to be acting cruelly to one another. I don’t know what to pray for in that situation, except for God to touch the hearts of ALL those involved and to open their eyes to their own actions.
I recognize Israel’s desire for their ancestral land that God gave them as a people, but Old Testament means of acquiring it does NOT line up with the lessons Jesus taught. He said to “Love your neighbor as yourself” and to “do good to those who spitefully use you.” But then again, Israel didn’t recognize Jesus as their Messiah, so they don’t think HIS words apply to them too. News Flash: THEY DO! They apply to EACH OF US who are God’s children.
Father God, I pray for all those in conflict today with Your words. As You did in the days of Amos, do today too Father. Get the people’s attention by whatever means necessary and bring about the changes needed so Your people can TRULY turn back to You.
I pray this for my family too Father God. It is a scary prayer but I trust You with my children’s lives. More than that, I trust You with their eternal spirit! Get their attention Father and bring them back to You. With ‘fish hooks’ if necessary.
