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Pastor Nathaniel's Blog May 4, 2023
"God’s Care and Judgement VII"
Last week we saw that God cares about human rights - that he wants humans to flourish, whether they have a relationship with him or not. This focus on "human rights" and human flourishing continues in Amos 2:4, which says, "Thus says the LORD: 'For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept His commandments. Their lies lead them astray, lies which their fathers followed" (NKJV).
The problem God has with Judah may not seem at first to be a human rights violation, but the terms of God's indictment of Judah strongly suggest that it is concerned with human relationships. God accuses the Kingdom of Judah of actively engaging in three sins: despising his law, not keeping his commandments, and letting themselves be led astray by their own lies. The literal translation of the phrase "they have despised the law" is "they have rejected the instructions," and is meant to indicate that those in Judah have continually been rejecting all of God's instructions to them. This is the opposite of "choosing" in Hebrew: rather than choosing to be in covenant with God, Judah has consistently rejected covenant relationship with God. Likewise, the word for "kept" in the phrase "have not kept His commandments" is the word "shema," which in Hebrew means both "hear" and "obey."
Not only do the inhabitants of Judah reject covenant relationship with God, they purposely refuse to listen to him, and then they do what God tells them or asks them NOT to do! As well, the lies that perpetually led them astray most likely had to do with following deities other than God. The reason this is a serious human rights offense is due to how it disrupts human relationships: rather than listening to God by loving their neighbor, those in Judah were breaking God's law and probably treating other people according to the hardness of their own hearts.
Friends, God doesn't want you to turn your back on your covenant relationship with him. If you do, you'll most likely turn your back on other people, too - because "thus says the Lord."
God bless,
Pastor Nathaniel Gamble
