And their children. Amos 4.1-3
Amos 4 (1)
Pray Psalm 58.3-5.
The wicked are estranged from the womb;
They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
Their poison is like the poison of a serpent;
They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear,
Which will not heed the voice of charmers,
Charming ever so skillfully.
Sing Psalm 58.3-5.
(Arlington: This Is the Day the Lord Has Made)
The wicked from the womb rebel; from birth they utter lies.
Their tongues of serpent’s venom tell; all truth their ears despise.
Read and meditate on Amos 4.1-3.
Preparation
1. Against whom did the prophet speak?
2. What would happen to them?
Meditation
All the relevant words in these verses are feminine in the Hebrew. That is, their distinctive endings (וֹת- oht) show that the prophet is addressing women. Calvin regards this as applying to the wealthy and at ease in Samaria (Bashan) and translates “husbands” as “masters”. That’s an accurate translation, but I think the shepherd of Geneva missed the point.
As I see it, Amos is speaking a word to the women of Samaria, especially those who were married to the wealthy. God gave Eve to Adam to complete Him. Together, they were the image-bearers of God, more than they were by themselves. A wife should bring completeness to her husband and he for her; and each should be a check for the other against falling into sinful ways.
The women of Bashan were complicit with their husbands in departing the path of the Lord, just like Eve. The sins catalogued in chapters 2 and 3 are here compressed like a zip file and laid at the feet of the wives of Israel’s leaders. They would not escape the wrath of God.
The graphic description of their judgment is chilling: led away, together with their posterity, with fishhooks in their flesh, queued up like cattle, and “cast into Harmon”. Harmon is another name for Samaria, and this suggests—to me, at least—that the cruelty visited on these women was so great that they could not survive the trek out of Samaria, but would die and be cast into pits in the place of their sin.
Horrible? Indeed. But let’s not forget Him Whose flesh was pierced by stripes and nails, and Who, bearing our sins, was cast into a rich man’s grave in His own land. The women of Samaria died because of their own sins. Because Jesus died, not for any sins He had committed but for ours and for those of all the world, He would revive and bring new life to the world.
Even in the horror of judgment, God pointed the way to hope.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
The horror of judgment came because they were complicit with evil yet claimed innocence.
“This is the way of an adulterous woman: she eats and wipes her mouth, and says,
‘I have done no wickedness’” (Prov. 30.20). The intentional obliviousness and stupidity of sin.
“So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain; it takes away the life of its owners” (Prov. 1.19). The covetous and deadly consequences of sin.
“‘Woe to the rebellious children,’ says the LORD, ‘who take counsel, but not of Me,
and who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin…’” (Is. 30.1).
The innate and willful stupidity of sin.
“They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped the molded image.
Thus they changed their glory into the image of an ox that eats grass.” (Ps. 106.19, 20) The outlandish and destructive pursuit of sin.
They forgot God their Savior, Who had done great things…wondrous works…awesome things…” (Ps. 106.21,22). The foolish forgetfulness and stupidity of sin.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them…Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Gen. 1.1, 27, 31). The perfection of His glorious creation.
Then sin. And judgment. “Behold, the days shall come upon you when He will take you away with fishhooks…” (Amos 4.2). God continuously warned of sin and the judgment to follow.
And then He sent Jesus— “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5.21).
We then say, as one thief said to the other, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong” (Lk. 23.40, 41).
If we have found that our sin has made us as a “cow” or an “ox”, “so foolish and ignorant…like a beast before [God]” (Ps. 73.22); or “brute beasts”, as Peter describes us in 2 Pet. 2.12-22, we need only to repent, seek forgiveness, completely turn away from them, and walk again on the Jesus Path with Him.
For we are not meant to be beasts, but people created in the image of God, to do His will, and to live completely for Him. He has not given us “a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind…Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began… (2 Tim. 1.7, 9; Eph. 2.10).
Thus we are willfully obedient unto righteousness; not bovinely wicked unto judgment.
Reflection
1. What is it about sin that makes us so “beastly”?
2. How would you counsel a new believer to begin hating sin?
3. How do these horrible judgments against Israel help you to appreciate the suffering of Jesus?
What is got by oppression cannot be enjoyed with satisfaction. How miserable are those whose confidence in unscriptural observances only prove that they believe a lie! Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Amos 4.1-5
Pray Psalm 58.1, 2, 10, 11.
Ask the Lord to search your soul, to help you become more sincere, more faithful, and more obedient to His Word. Rejoice in the righteousness of Jesus, and seek grace to help you become more like Him.
Sing Psalm 58.1, 2, 10, 11.
(Arlington: This Is the Day the Lord Has Made)
Do you indeed speak righteousness, you rulers of the earth?
And do you judge the sons of men according to their worth?
No, not at all, but in their hearts they seek unrighteous ways;
their hands weigh out upon the earth cruel violence all their days.
The righteous will rejoice to see the vengeance of the LORD.
All men will say, “Then God must be, the righteous to reward.”
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
