Morning Light – November 9th, 2017 – Amos 06: Samaria and Zion Reproved

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Today: [Amos 6] Samaria and Zion Reproved. In chapter 6 of Amos the ruling houses of the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel are held accountable for their crimes against God. The impoverished are afflicted, the peoples are convinced that they are too important to ever be allowed to fail, the courts of the day were perverting judgment in astonishing dimensions. For this reason God declares both houses of Israel will be taken into captivity.
[Amo 6:1-14 KJV] 1 Woe to them [that are] at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, [which are] named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came! 2 Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: [be they] better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border? 3 Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; 4 That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; 5 That chant to the sound of the viol, [and] invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David; 6 That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. 7 Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed. 8 The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein. 9 And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die. 10 And a man’s uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that [is] by the sides of the house, [Is there] yet [any] with thee? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD. 11 For, behold, the LORD commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts. 12 Shall horses run upon the rock? will [one] plow [there] with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock: 13 Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength? 14 But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hemath unto the river of the wilderness.
In chapter 6 we find rebuke against Zion and Samaria for their self-confidence and pride. The mention of Zion directs the rebuke specifically against the ruling house of the line of David and the elite of the city of Jerusalem. Samaria’s mention in the shadow of focus on Zion would point to the ruling house of the 10 northern tribes, in view of the fact that the city of Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom. Woe is pronounced against Zion because they are at ease in their own self-confidence, and though trouble looms on the horizon for both nations Zion and Samaria are completely assured in their own strength to deliver them.
The question for us is what is our security? Would we be capable of identifying false security if we were looking to something other than God as our strength? The confidence of Zion and Samaria was nationalistic in nature. Amos counsels his listeners to consider the fate of the Philistines, now taken into captivity. The question posed is to consider whether Zion in the south or Samaria in the north considered themselves better than these nations recently defeated and overrun. In v. 3 the prophet reproves them for thinking that the evil day (the day of their downfall) was so far away that there was no need to reform their ways. They are described in v. 4-6 as lying upon beds of luxury, enjoying their favorite meals and singing and playing like king David himself, but demonstrated no pity for the afflicted and the impoverished in their own midst.
Because of their heartlessness toward the poor v. 7 declares that both royal houses in Israel will go captive first by the hands of the coming invaders. This in fact happened as in time to come when invasions took place, both kings (in the north and south respectively) were taken hostage, the king of Samaria by the Assyrians and the king in Judah to Babylon – each where they died in captivity. Why? Because of their wanton neglect of the poor. It is amazing to me that this theme of advocacy for the impoverished is so marginalized in Christian culture and theology. We all know there are various references about visiting the widow and the fatherless, but before studying Amos, who of us could have identified it as a book that speaks so strongly against the sin of enriching ourselves while the poor languish in neglect? From Amos’ perspective the attitudes in his day in neglect of the impoverished are one of the primary reasons why the two houses of Israel eventually fell to foreign invasion.
Because of the cold hearts of His people, in v. 8 we find the Lord swares by Himself that He hates the prosperity of Jacob, and hates their lofty palaces and will therefore deliver them up to their enemies. In v. 9 the prediction of Amos is that 1 in 10 men will die. This is call decimation which we coin as a term for general destruction but actually it describes the practice of invading conquerors to harass the population by randomly taking 1 man in 10 and executing them. This came to pass when Babylon invaded the southern kingdom in years to come.
In v. 11 the command of God is that the great house (Judah) and the little house (Samaria) with both be smitten with breaches and clefts in their line of kings. As each respectively fell to invasion, we know from sacred history that in their final administrations the line of kings was broken when the invaders rejected rightful heirs to their thrones and set up their own puppet kings, ignoring the rights of succession. To the unspoken question as to why God would allow this to happen we are told in v. 12 it is because they turned judgment into the gall of bitterness and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock. What might that mean? I remember one lady who wrote in from Sweden, who said in her country it was tantamount to spiritual suicide to identify with the prophetic in the things of God, that culture being so averse to that aspect of the callings of ministry to the prophetic.
The courts likewise of our day right here in our own country are more interested with social engineering than with executing justice for the oppressed. In v. 13 the judges of the day are said to rejoice in a thing of nought, boasting in their own power to shape the nation by their unjust judgments. The arrogance of the high courts in our land is astonishing. Recent Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch (lauded and praised by the Christian right) declared in his confirmation hearing in April of 2016 that the Supreme Court as the highest authority in the land was (in his opinion) infallible. The magnitude of such hubris is difficult to calculate, that this man would describe the authority of the Supreme Court in language that for centuries has only been used to speak of the Bible as the infallible rule of life. Because the ancient Israelite kingdoms of Samaria and Judah thought this way the Lord declares through Amos that He will raise up a nation against them to afflict, enslave and destroy them for their arrogance and their pride.
What can we take away for ourselves from this chapter? We must pause and realize that nationalism as a political sentiment is a false security. Samaria and Judah considered themselves to be exceptional among the nations, and therefore did not think God would ever let their nations fall. For this reason, they allowed idolatry, sin and abuse of the impoverished to continue unchecked, thinking that in God’s eyes because they descended from Abraham – they were too big to fail. In the midst of a high minded self-serving modern culture we must purpose as individuals to remember the poor. Taking care of the poor is not something we can rightly relegate to a benevolence ministry or a local food bank. That is passing the buck. What are you personally doing for the impoverished? God will never hold an institution or government program responsible for the plight of the impoverished. The accountability lies with us and we personally will answer to God for lives lived leveraged to the hilt to live in nice homes and drive decent cars, unless we make commensurate and personal sacrifices to care for those less fortunate than ourselves. Finally, we must commit to intercession for our land. Our nation is in peril. The hubris of our courts is obscene. If it were not for the high mindedness of our courts there would be no same sex marriage, no abortion, no encroachment of homosexual political strength against our lands – yet it is the politicians we elected that put these judges in power. 70 percent of the population of America identifies as Christian, therefore the church in America bears more responsibility for the moral decay in our culture than any other people group. You cannot change someone else’s mind but you can change your mind and you can pray and intercede for the mercy of God to move in our nation to turn the hearts not just of the world but the church back to the foundations of our faith.