Amos 2:4-16, The Wheel Turns

2:4 Thus says Yahweh: “For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have rejected the law of Yahweh, and have not kept his statutes. They have been led astray by lies, the same ones after which their fathers walked. 5 So I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.”

6 Thus says Yahweh: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. 7 They trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and shove the afflicted away. Son and father sleep with the same girl, profaning my holy name. 8 They lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge, and in the house of their gods they drink wine purchased with unjust fines.

9 “Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, who was as tall as the cedars and who was as strong as the oaks. I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath. 10 And it was I who brought you up out of the land of Egypt and led you through the wilderness for forty years, so you could possess the land of the Amorite. 11 And I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel?” declares Yahweh.

12 “But you made the Nazirites drink wine, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘You shall not prophesy.’ 13 I will press you down in your place, like a cart full of sheaves is pressed down. 14 The swift will be unable to flee, and the strong will not retain his strength, nor shall the mighty save his own life. 15 The one who handles the bow will not stand his ground, and he who is swift of foot will not save himself, nor shall he who rides the horse save his life. 16 And your powerful and courageous warriors will flee away naked in that day,” declares Yahweh.

Oh, oh. God has something against Judah and Israel, also. Judah will be punished because she rejected Yahweh’s law, violating His commands, primarily by becoming disciples of false gods. This longstanding problem had never been finally corrected. The other nations were doing the same things, worshiping false gods, but they were judged for violating the overall moral law of God. Judah had a more specific revelation, a very privileged knowledge, and they will be judged for rejecting the greater light they were given. The fire of war would come to them, Amos says. And, in fact, Judah was conquered by Babylon in 612 BC.

Israel gets the bulk of the attention because Amos is called to prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel. And the way Israel has violated God’s law is more specifically detailed.

• Systemic injustice – Those in the right were being handed wrong judgments because of bribes the officials took. The result was like trampling the heads of the needy and shoving them away.
• Sexual promiscuity – There was improper sexual relations in their personal lives, particularly incest (Lev 18:6-18; 20:17-21).
• Security violation – Clothing given as a pledge or security for payment of a debt was supposed to be returned to the debtor nightly so that they would not be cold when sleeping (Ex 22:26-27), but the lenders were violating this, causing needless suffering.
• Spiritual hypocrisy – The lenders themselves would lie down near the religious altars and drink wine paid as a fine, pretending to be spiritual but violating true religion of caring for the poor.

This was all the more blameworthy given the wonderful things Yahweh had done for His people. He had powerfully enabled the Israelites to conquer their more powerful enemies, the Canaanites, giving them a thorough victory. And God gave them spiritual leaders to guide them in their relation to God.

But Israel rejected all this. As the Expositor’s Bible Commentary says,

These two groups ministered God’s word to Israel and showed the Lord’s care for their spiritual welfare. The word “Nazirite” conveys the idea of “separate” and denotes the consecration practiced by this group. The Nazirites took special vows of separation (cf. Nu 6:1-12), abstaining from partaking of any product of the vine and vowing neither to cut their hair nor to touch a dead body. They were an influence for good in Israel. But now Israel was forcing them to drink wine and to violate their vows, and they were muzzling the prophets. This was tantamount to rejecting the word of the Lord.

So, judgment was coming. No one, no matter how strong, or fast, or militarily capable would be able to withstand the force God would bring against Israel. They would be squashed.