1Hear this word that Yahweh has spoken against you, children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying:
2“I have only chosen you of all the families of the earth.
Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins.”
3Do two walk together,
unless they have agreed?
4Will a lion roar in the thicket,
when he has no prey?
Does a young lion cry out of his den,
if he has caught nothing?
5Can a bird fall in a trap on the earth,
where no snare is set for him?
Does a snare spring up from the ground,
when there is nothing to catch?
6Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city,
without the people being afraid?
Does evil happen to a city,
and Yahweh hasn’t done it?
7Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing,
unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
8The lion has roared.
Who will not fear?
The Lord Yahweh has spoken.
Who can but prophesy?
9Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod,
and in the palaces in the land of Egypt,
and say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria,
and see what unrest is in her,
and what oppression is among them.”
10“Indeed they don’t know to do right,” says Yahweh,
“Who hoard plunder and loot in their palaces.”
11Therefore the Lord Yahweh says:
“An adversary will overrun the land;
and he will pull down your strongholds,
and your fortresses will be plundered.”
12Yahweh says:
“As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs,
or a piece of an ear,
so shall the children of Israel be rescued who sit in Samaria on the corner of a couch,
and on the silken cushions of a bed.”
13“Listen, and testify against the house of Jacob,” says the Lord Yahweh, the God of Armies.
14“For in the day that I visit the transgressions of Israel on him,
I will also visit the altars of Bethel;
and the horns of the altar will be cut off,
and fall to the ground.
15I will strike the winter house with the summer house;
and the houses of ivory will perish,
and the great houses will have an end,”
says Yahweh.
1Hear this word that Yahweh has spoken against you, children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying:
2“I have only chosen you of all the families of the earth.
Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins.”
3Do two walk together,
unless they have agreed?
4Will a lion roar in the thicket,
when he has no prey?
Does a young lion cry out of his den,
if he has caught nothing?
5Can a bird fall in a trap on the earth,
where no snare is set for him?
Does a snare spring up from the ground,
when there is nothing to catch?
6Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city,
without the people being afraid?
Does evil happen to a city,
and Yahweh hasn’t done it?
7Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing,
unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
8The lion has roared.
Who will not fear?
The Lord Yahweh has spoken.
Who can but prophesy?
9Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod,
and in the palaces in the land of Egypt,
and say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria,
and see what unrest is in her,
and what oppression is among them.”
10“Indeed they don’t know to do right,” says Yahweh,
“Who hoard plunder and loot in their palaces.”
11Therefore the Lord Yahweh says:
“An adversary will overrun the land;
and he will pull down your strongholds,
and your fortresses will be plundered.”
12Yahweh says:
“As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs,
or a piece of an ear,
so shall the children of Israel be rescued who sit in Samaria on the corner of a couch,
and on the silken cushions of a bed.”
13“Listen, and testify against the house of Jacob,” says the Lord Yahweh, the God of Armies.
14“For in the day that I visit the transgressions of Israel on him,
I will also visit the altars of Bethel;
and the horns of the altar will be cut off,
and fall to the ground.
15I will strike the winter house with the summer house;
and the houses of ivory will perish,
and the great houses will have an end,”
says Yahweh.
After being charged with particular sins, you can imagine that Israel were not too amused with the message. They do not come right out and say it, but from the way God speaks to His people, you can see that the Israelites were near trying to excuse their actions. Amos 6:1 says, “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion!” The fact of the matter is that at this time in their history, the people of God have lost all spiritual concern. A spirit of apathy has kicked in. They have become self-centred and self-indulgent, making excuses for their behaviour.
Their first excuse is in Amos 3:1-2. God says, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” In other words, the people are saying to God “But we are your chosen people! You have known only us! We’re forgiven, we’re chosen, we’re your favourites God! Surely you will let us off the hook!” But God says to them, “That makes your sin even worse” – you already have this knowledge! Not only did Israel know God as the Lawgiver, but they also know Him as Father, as Redeemer, as Saviour! Therefore the message to Israel is “to whom much is given, much shall be required” (Luke 12:48). Just because they are God’s chosen people, it does not mean that He will not “punish them for all their iniquities.”
Their second excuse is found in Amos 5:21-23. God says, “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no pleasure in your solemn assemblies. I will not accept your offerings. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I don’t want to hear it!” The Israelites are clearly thinking, “If we do enough religious activities then that will make up for our bad moral choices. Our religious zeal will make up for our moral failures. These religious activities will appease God’s wrath and satisfy Him. They will keep God on our side.” That is their logic. At this point in their history they went to the Temple for worship all the time. They put on all the feasts. They had all of their assemblies. They did all of their sacrifices. They sang all their songs. But that did not cut it in their relationship with God. Why? They had totally forgotten the purpose of why God had been saved and rescued them in the first place. It was not to conform and be like all the other nations around them, rather it was to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6).
We can’t excuse ourselves with grace in our relationship with God. We can’t say, “Well praise God that God accepts us by grace. We can now do whatever we like.” No – God’s grace is not a license to sin. God’s grace is help, strength and power not to give into temptation and sin, so that we live as transformed people. Paul talks about this in Romans 6: “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1-2). Paul goes on to explain that through God’s grace, we have been called to “walk in newness of life” having “been set free from sin” (Romans 6:4 and Romans 6:18). We are not perfect people; we are forgiven people who by the grace of God seek to grow in becoming like Jesus. It’s like Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8:9: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” The Gospel is all about poor impoverished people becoming spiritually rich in Jesus. Not using God’s grace as a licence or an excuse to indulge in sin, rather using God’s grace as power to live a rich transformed life with Jesus.