Amos 2:1-16

As I read this chapter and the one preceding it, I am struck by the sameness of the nations of Judah and Israel to the other nations that have been mentioned.  God had called them to be a distinct nation from those surrounding them.  They were to be separated and holy unto God as an example to these nations and as a means of God using them to reach these other nations.  Unfortunately, they tried to do all they could to become just like all the other nations around them.  The desire to “fit in” and be just like everyone else is one of the most dangerous desires we carry in our hearts.  When God saves us He calls us to be sanctified or separate from the world.  He wants to use us as instruments of His grace to reach a fallen world with the Gospel of Christ.  The only way we can be effective at doing that is if we are distinct from the world.    

MOAB: The Moabites were descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew just like the Ammonites.  These two nations started as the result of Lot’s incestuous relationship with his two daughters who fled with him from the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.  When Abraham was called to leave Ur, he was told to leave his family behind.  Instead he took his father and nephew with him.   Israel would have been far better off if he had just been obedient.  Moab had committed war crimes against Edom by burning the king’s bones.  Their cruelty would come back upon them and they themselves would be burned along with their leaders.

JUDAH: Amos now turns his attention to the nation of Judah.  He is clearly not speaking of the judgment on these nations in a chronological order.  Israel was judged long before Judah, but the focus of Amos in the rest of the book will be on Israel so he saves them for last in this brief overview of God’s judgment.  Judah too would be judged but the reasons for this judgment are a little different.  They had been given the Law of the Lord and knew what God required of them.  Their refusal to obey this law and apostasy against the Word of God would bring down God’s judgment on them in a very similar fashion to the nations that surrounded them.

ISRAEL: When Amos gets to Israel his description of their disobedience us much more complete than that of the other nations.  This is a sort of introduction to the theme of the rest of the book.  There are many sins for which Israel would be judged.  They sold the righteous, the poor and the meek into slavery.  These people should have been especially cared for and honored within the society.  Instead they were seen as non-conformists and therefore a danger to the status quo that the nation was fighting so hard to achieve.  They were sold as slaves in order to ease the conscience of the society at large.  The nation practiced all kinds of idolatry worshiping the gods of the nations they should have destroyed.  They persecuted the prophets of God and the Nazarites that were sent by God to lead the nation into holiness.  These treacherous and idolatrous acts are what brought swift judgment and thorough judgment upon the nation of Israel.