FRAMEWORKS: Amos 2: An Accounting for Moab, Judah and then Israel

 

[Preliminary Comment: The shorts denunciations of seven people groups continue up to verse five, but from verse 6 on we find a much larger prophecy challenging the northern kingdom of Israel under the rule of Jeroboam II [782/81-753] that continues for the next four chapters.]

 

 

v.1-3 [6] MOAB , south and west of the Jordon

   

v.1   This is what the Lord says:

‘For three sins of Moab,
    even for four, I will not relent.
Because he burned to ashes
    the bones of Edom's king, [this judgment is about justice]
v.2   I will send fire on Moab
    that will consume the fortresses of Kerioth.
Moab will go down in great tumult
    amid war cries and the blast of the trumpet.
v.3   I will destroy her ruler
    and kill all her officials with him,'
says the Lord.

 

v.4,5 [7] JUDAH is also included for her unrighteous acts towards the Lord

  

v.4   This is what the Lord says:

‘For three sins of Judah,
    even for four, I will not relent.
Because they have rejected the law of the Lord
    and have not kept his decrees,
because they have been led astray by false gods,
    the gods their ancestors followed,
v.5   I will send fire on Judah
    that will consume the fortresses of Jerusalem.'

  

v.6 From now on the focus is on ISRAEL

 

v.6   This is what the Lord says:

‘For three sins of Israel,
    even for four, I will not relent.

     
v.6b [i] they sell off people as slaves

 

They sell the innocent for silver,
    and the needy for a pair of sandals.
   

v.7 [ii] They oppress the poor

  

v.7   They trample on the heads of the poor
    as on the dust of the ground
[iii] they don't rescue the oppressed from injustice  

and deny justice to the oppressed.

[iv] they ignore the law of relationships
Father and son use the same girl
    and so profane my holy name.
    

v.8 [v] They indulge in idolatry

  

v.8  They lie down beside every altar
    on garments taken in pledge.
In the house of their god
    they drink wine taken as fines.

 

v.9,10 [vi] They forgot God's deliverance

  

v.9   ‘Yet I destroyed the Amorites before them,
    though they were tall as the cedars
    and strong as the oaks.
I destroyed their fruit above
    and their roots below.
v.10   I brought you up out of Egypt
    and led you for forty years in the wilderness
    to give you the land of the Amorites.

 

v.11.12 [vii] They despised the oaths of the Nazirite

 

v.11   ‘I also raised up prophets from among your children
    and Nazirites from among your youths.
Is this not true, people of Israel?'
declares the Lord.
v.12   ‘But you made the Nazirites drink wine
    and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.

 

v.13-16 Thus judgment will fall on them and their warriors will flee

  

v.13  ‘Now then, I will crush you
    as a cart crushes when loaded with grain.
v.14  The swift will not escape,
    the strong will not muster their strength,
    and the warrior will not save his life.
v.15  The archer will not stand his ground,
    the fleet-footed soldier will not get away,
    and the horseman will not save his life.
v.16  Even the bravest warriors
    will flee naked on that day,'
declares the Lord.

      

[Note: Amos concludes his seven-fold mini-denunciations of cities and people surrounding Israel [v.1-5] and turn to Israel itself [v.6a], rebuking them [i] for their oppression of the weak [v.6b,7], and [ii] for their idolatry [v.8] and [iii] for forgetting they were God's covenant people [v.9-12]. As a result, judgment will fall on them [v.13-16]. God's judgments always come with reasons!]

  

  

Continue to Chapter 3

 

     

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