God Demands Righteous Relationships

MEMORY VERSE: Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.” —Amos 5:14

AMOS 5:12-15; 6:1,4-8

THROUGH the Book of Amos the Lord continues his condemnation of the unjust practices of his professed people of Israel. Apparently there was a wealthy class within the nation, which oppressed the poor. In verse 11, just preceding the beginning of the lesson, we find the Lord saying to these wealthy ones, “Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.”

This is quite in contrast with the manner in which the Lord will bless those who obey the laws of Christ’s kingdom when that kingdom becomes operative in the earth. On that time we read, “They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.” (Isa. 65:21) The wealthy of Israel could well afford to build fine homes, and to plant prize vineyards, but because they oppressed the poor, the Lord told them that they would not be permitted to continue enjoying these good things.

Hanging over the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel and its people were the Lord’s prophecies through Amos, and others, that unless a sincere spirit of repentance was manifested they would be taken into captivity. Through another prophet the Lord reveals that he does repent of what he proposes to do to punish a people, if the people reform. We quote, “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.”—Jer. 18:7,8

So the Lord spoke to Israel against whom he had “pronounced,” and in the words of our memory verse told them that if they would even now seek to do good and not evil they would live—as a people, or nation, that is. When God gave his Law to Israel at the hand of Moses, the promise was that anyone who could keep that Law would live. This had reference to individuals, but it was demonstrated that none could keep God’s perfect Law and thereby gain eternal life. Life in this sense can be obtained only through the redemptive work of Christ.

But the practice of righteousness and justice on the part of the responsible ones in the ten-tribe nation of Israel would have brought a continuance of divine blessings upon that people, and they would have been saved from exile among the Gentiles and ultimate death as a nation. True, there was a remnant of the ten-tribe kingdom which did not go into captivity with the others. These joined with those of the two-tribe kingdom of Judah, and later were taken into captivity in Babylon. There was a release from that captivity, but those of the ten tribes who went into captivity into Assyria lost their identity, and ostensibly became a part of the Gentile world.

Rotherham’s translation of Amos 6:1 reads, “Alas for the careless in Zion, and those who put confidence in the mountain of Samaria.” Zion was the capital of the two-tribe kingdom of Judah, while Samaria was the capital of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel. Here the Lord is warning all twelve tribes of the danger of ignoring him and of depending on their own wisdom and riches to save them. History proves that this and other warnings were justified, for the people of both kingdoms were taken into captivity—first the ten tribes, and then the two tribes. God does not forever withhold his hand from punishing sinners.

Verse 3 speaks of those who “put far away the evil day.” The people may well have felt that trouble was ahead which would be due to their wrongdoing, but put that evil day far away. It was nothing, they thought, to be particularly concerned about at the moment. They enjoyed their “beds of ivory,” and stretched themselves “upon their couches” They ate “the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall.” They chanted to “the sound of the viol” and invented “instruments of music, like David.” David, of course, used his music to glorify God, but these to add to the pleasure of their selfish revelry.

A hint of the excesses of these rich among God’s professed people is given in the statement that they drank wine in “bowls.” Wine ordinarily is sipped from small cups, or glasses, but these people drank bowls full of it. Thus they stupefied their consciences, and rendered their hearts callous, so that they disregarded the miseries of their oppressed brethren.

The closing portion of the lesson informs us that these luxurious persons would be the first to go into captivity, and that he abhorred the “excellency of Jacob”; that is, all those things which the descendants of that patriarch valued so highly.

QUESTIONS

When will the people build houses and inhabit them?

Does the Lord ever repent of his purpose to punish a nation?

Why can’t we as individuals gain life by good works?

Into what country was Israel taken captive?

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