Amos Chapter 2 - What Kind of Life Are We Living as God’s Chosen People?
Following the contents of Amos 1, God warns the nations of their impending punishment through the mouth of Amos. Apart from the gentile nations, even the chosen people of God, the Israelites, sinned time and time again. From this, what meaningful warnings do we ought to take heed to today? The Bible has 8 instances of “for three transgressions and for four”, all of which appears in the book of Amos. God wishes to give people the chance to turn back and repent. “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) However, the nations and Israel transgressed continually against God without any heart of repentance. As they sinned time and time again, their wicked deeds crossed the threshold of warranting God’s mercy and forgiveness. Thus, the Lord enacted His righteous judgment upon them. It might seem like Moab merely committed a small transgression where he burned the bones of the Edomite king to lime. Yet, this attests to their various brutal, inhumane and merciless tactics. Their end punishment is to be engulfed in flames. The palace is where the king resides, which symbolises the kingdom’s state of affairs. A palace razed to the ground therefore parallels a kingdom’s total annihilation. It is then axiomatic that the incumbent king‘s corruption led to the tragic end of the vanquished nation. As God’s chosen people, Israel should have been God’s closest and most intimate people that kept His laws. However, Amos placed the nation of Israel under their last and final warning. The totality of the sins that the Israelites have committed already exceeded the other nations’ transgressions “for three times and for four”. Their spiritual compass and morals are completely corrupted and defiled. Besides sinking deep into their own destruction, they even tried to drag God’s prophets down with them. The result of their perpetual sinning is the eradication of the kingdom. God will hold ransom the sins of each and every single person as well. What a great sorrow this is! As Christians, we are the spiritual Israelites who are immersed in God’s grace and His words daily. How then, do we carry out our lives today? If we continue to act out of our own lusts and desires like the Israelites of Amos’ era, then we, according to Galatians 5:19-21, who practise such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Salvation is not only a protective shield, but more importantly it is a commission and a responsibility. We ought to lead holy lives that are pleasing to the Lord, as we know that “the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17). Let us heed the lessons from the Israelites, to be diligent in self-reflection and introspection, and to be resolved in living out God’s will.
