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Monday 9 May 2011

Amos 2 - Judgement comes close to home

Next is Moab. Moab, too, was descended from one of Lot's sons. Remember that they were also responsible for hiring Balaam to curse Israel (Numbers 22-25), and then for seducing the Israelites. However, the sin given special attention here is one not against Israel, but against one of the other recipients of judgement, Edom. Just because someone is under God's judgement does not mean that we can treat them how we like.
Attention then turns to Judah and Israel. Judah comes first. Judah's sin is to have rejected the Law of the Lord, but instead worshipped false gods, "the gods their ancestors followed". All of us, as individuals and as people groups, will have a history of some sort. That history will include some wrong attitudes, some trusting in wrong things. We need to be wary of this and to make sure we are not worshipping the "gods of our ancestors".
Israel is the primary focus of the prophecy, and at last attention turns to Israel, and much greater detail is given.
First to be mentioned is their treatment of people as mere economic commodities. In the pursuit of economic "success" they were ready to trample on the rights of people, they were prepared to put profit before the well being of people. This is something that we in the west need to be particularly careful about.
Sexual immorality and drink come next. This together with economic exploitation, could equally well apply to the west.
All this was despite the wonders the Lord had performed on their behalf, including rescuing them from Egypt. After that He frequently sent prophets to them to bring warnings. Yet they had ignored all this. So when judgement came there would be no escape, all their skill and wisdom would count for nothing. When the Lord does things for us it is imperative that we learn from them.

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