Amos 1-5: Psalm 141
*Click here to read these passages:
Amos is speaking in the same time as Hosea, addressing Israel when
it was booming financially. They
had power, prosperity, and extravagant wealth, but horrible injustices were
happening at the same time. It was
kind of the “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times” scenario. And God gets fed up.
“They buy and sell upstanding people. People for them are only things—ways
of making money. They’d sell a
poor man for a pair of shoes.
They’d sell their own grandmother!
They grind the penniless into the dirt, shove the luckless into the
ditch.” (2:6-7 MSG)
“Hear this word, you cows…, you women who oppress the poor and
crush the needy and say to your husbands, “Bring us some drinks!” (4:1)
“You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain.” (5:11)
“You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the
poor of justice in the courts.
Therefore the prudent man keeps quiet in such times, for the times are
evil.” (5:13)
God tells His people who are still going through the motions of
worshiping Him even though their lives do not match up: “I can’t stand your religious
meetings… I want nothing to do
with your religion projects… your public relations … Do you know what I
want? I want justice—oceans of
it. I want fairness—rivers of it. That’s what I want.” (5:21-24 MSG)
The injustices and the attitude of the wealthy describing the time
of Amos is very similar to things happening in our own world in our own time – oppression
of the poor, injustices in the courts, and human trafficking is growing rampant. We cannot be the “prudent who keep
quiet in such times.” God is fed
up. It is time His followers get
fed up too and do something about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment