Judgments Pronounced on the Nations: Israel's Enemies (1:3-2:3)
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
Last week we began our study of this great Old Testament prophet, Amos. We learned that he was a sheep herder and a dresser of sycamore figs, which in the eyes of the world around him was not the credentials that you would expect from a prophet of God. But God called him to prophesy during a time of economic renaissance in both the 10 northern tribes of Israel under king Jeroboam II, and the 2 southern tribes of Israel under king Uzziah. His message was an indictment against them for the breaking of their covenant with God, and the resulting judgment that would incur. In the prophetic judgment that God would mete out on his covenant people, it becomes clear that God’s judgment would also be meted out against the enemies of his covenant people.
This morning we will look at those judgments that were prophesied against the enemies of his people, in our message entitled, Judgments Pronounced on the Nations: Israel's Enemies, from Amos 1:3-2:3.
Text: Amos 1:3-2:3
Text: Amos 1:3-2:3
3 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. 4 So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. 5 I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir,” says the Lord. 6 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom. 7 So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour her strongholds. 8 I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,” says the Lord God. 9 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they delivered up a whole people to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood. 10 So I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour her strongholds.” 11 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever. 12 So I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.” 13 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border. 14 So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour her strongholds, with shouting on the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind; 15 and their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together,” says the Lord. 1 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom. 2 So I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth, and Moab shall die amid uproar, amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet; 3 I will cut off the ruler from its midst, and will kill all its princes with him,” says the Lord.
Main Idea: Since God is the one, universal, Sovereign God, creating all people in his image, all people without exception are subject to his standard of holiness or incur his righteous judgment.
Main Idea: Since God is the one, universal, Sovereign God, creating all people in his image, all people without exception are subject to his standard of holiness or incur his righteous judgment.
Interesting note: It seems to be that the way people reject God’s standard of holiness and God himself, is to persecute God’s covenant people, which in the Old Testament, was the children of Israel, and in the New Testament, it is the new Israel, his church. We will develop that further as we move through this book.
Background:
Background:
It should be noted from the beginning, that the phrase, “Thus Says the Lord”, begins each judgment, and the phrase, “says the Lord”, ends each one. This is significant as we learned last week the word used, LORD, is the Hebrew word Yahweh, which is the most personal name for God, and denotes the God of the eternal covenant. So we can assume, I believe, that these judgments have to do with God’s covenant with his covenant people, Israel.
Amos is about to pronounce Yahweh’s judgment on six of Israel’s enemies, which to the Israelites is good news and should cause many loud amens in his sermon. However, very strategically, God uses Amos to show his people once again who he is, and what he expects, which will come into play as Amos turns his sermons against them, starting next week.
Amos’ message to Israel is uniquely progressive, we will see that the charges and judgments progressively get closer to the nation of Israel. First, three heathen nations are addressed, then three kindred nations are addressed, and finally, next week, a sister nation is addressed. Amos draws his net tighter and tighter around Israel.
You may have noticed the repeated use of the phrase, “FOR THREE TRANSGRESSIONS AND FOR FOUR” throughout this section to mark off each judgment. This is the Old Testament’s way of expressing an indefinite but full number. Each of the nations addressed had filled its cup with lawlessness and was ripe, and even overripe, for judgment. It’s like us saying, “If I told you once, I told you a thousand times”, or, “this is the straw that broke the camels back.”
You also noticed that the phrase, “I will not revoke punishment” is used in all six charges and judgments. God will not turn from His determination to punish these nations. Nations and individuals can fill their cups so full of sin that God will no longer pardon them but will certainly punish them.
The first five nations are charged with mistreating God’s Old Covenant people, the people of Israel. One of the greatest sins committed by the unsaved is the mistreatment of God’s Old Covenant people, the Israelites, and His New Covenant people, the church (which we will talk about as we progress through Amos). God takes seriously his relationship with his covenant people…much more seriously than even his covenant people do.
One final note, in the first three charges and judgments (those against the three heathen enemy nations), a capital city or a chief city is used to represent a whole nation. This is commonly done in the Old Testament, for a capital city or a chief city usually reflects the moral and the spiritual condition of the whole nation.
So we begin with God’s…
I. Judgment on Israel’s Heathen Enemies (1:3-10)
I. Judgment on Israel’s Heathen Enemies (1:3-10)
A. Damascus (1:3-5)
A. Damascus (1:3-5)
(1:3) Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. - The city of Damascus, on the east side of the Jordan, is used to represent all of Syria
The Charge: threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. The Syrians, under their Kings Hazael and his son Ben-hadad, had torn and mangled the bodies of the Israelites of Gilead (part of Manasseh, east side of the Jordan) by running iron threshing sledges over them, 2 Kings 10:32, 33; 13:3–7.
(1:4) So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.
(1:5) I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir,” says the Lord.
The Announced Judgment:
fire upon the house of Hazael - as we will see through each judgment, fire is a symbol for warfare and destruction. God’s judgment often is symbolized by fire…in fact, the final judgment on the this old earth and heaven will be destruction by fire.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir - national captivity. This judgment was inflicted by the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser, 2 Kings 16:9. The brunt of the judgment fell upon Damascus. The bar of her gate was broken and her people were carried away captive to Kir, the original homeland of the Syrians, 9:7.
B. Gaza (1:6-8)
B. Gaza (1:6-8)
(1:6) Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom. - Gaza, one of the five ruling cities of the Philistines, is used to represent the whole nation of the Philistines. The Philistines, coming from Crete, had settled on the shores of the Mediterranean to the southwest of Israel many centuries before Amos’ day and had been persistent enemies of the Israelites from the time that they [the Israelites] settled in Canaan. (Samson began to defeat them in Judges 15, and King David war against them frequently, beginning with the giant Goliath from Gath in 1 Sam 17, as a shepherd boy)
The charge: they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom - Delivering Jewish captives to Edom. The Philistines had conquered whole cities and districts of Judah and had sold the whole populations of the captured cities to the Edomites for resale to other peoples (they sold into slavery not only war captives but also whole populations of captured peoples made up of men, women, and children), 2 Chron. 28:16–18; 21:16, 17.
(1:7) So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour her strongholds.
(1:8) I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,” says the Lord God.
The Announced Judgment:
fire upon the wall of Gaza ( a symbol for warfare and destruction)
I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,- national destruction and oblivion, which happened through the Assyrians in 734 b.c., 711 b.c., and in 701 b.c. inflicted judgment upon the four Philistine cities here mentioned. In later years, the Philistines were gradually destroyed as a nation and today they are an extinct race.
C. Tyre (1:9-10)
C. Tyre (1:9-10)
(1:9) Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they delivered up a whole people to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood. - Tyre is used to represent all of Phoenicia, along with her sister city, Sidon.
The charge: they delivered up a whole people to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood - Delivering Israelitish captives (probably obtained from Syria) to Edom, thus breaking her brotherly covenant with Israel,( 2 Sam. 5:11; 1 Kings 5:2–12, King Hiram of Tyre, made a covenant with David and Solomon to provide the building materials for the temple in Jerusalem)
(1:10) So I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour her strongholds.”
The Announced Judgment:
fire upon the wall of Tyre ( a symbol for warfare and destruction)
Tyre was built on a large rock in the sea and was considered virtually impregnable until the fourth century B.C., when Alexander the Great conquered the city by building a causeway to it. Six thousand Tyrians were slain, two thousand were crucified, and thirty thousand were sold into slavery.
Now let’s move the circle closer and look at the…
II. Judgment on Israel’s Kindred Enemies (1:11-2:3)
II. Judgment on Israel’s Kindred Enemies (1:11-2:3)
You will notice here that Amos no longer addresses cities as representing nations but he now, in 1:11–2:3, directly addresses three entire nations, all three of them being nations related to Israel.
A. Edom (1:11-12)
A. Edom (1:11-12)
(1:11) Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever. - You may remember, the Israelites and the Edomites came from the twin brothers, Jacob and Esau. From their beginning as a nation, the Edomites hated their brothers, the Israelites, and down through the centuries, they nourished this hatred and constantly sought opportunity to vent it upon their brothers in merciless warfare.
The Charge: Having perpetual and pitiless anger against their brothers, the Israelites.
(1:12) So I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.”
The Announced Judgment:
fire upon Teman - warfare and destruction
The two chief cities of Edom (Bozrah in the north and Teman in the south) and the other cities of Edom are to be destroyed. This judgment was inflicted by the Babylonians, the Maccabees, and the Romans. Under the Romans, the national existence of the Edomites came to an end.
B. Ammonites (1:13-15)
B. Ammonites (1:13-15)
(1:13) Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border. - The Ammonites were the children of Lot, Abraham’s nephew, through one of his daughters, Gen. 19:30–38, and were therefore related to the Israelites.
The Charge: Ripping up the women of Gilead in her wars of territorial expansion
They, in one of their wars to expand their territory, had ripped up (disemboweled) the pregnant Israelitish women of Gilead, a barbarous custom rather commonly practiced in that day, 2 Kgs. 8:12; 15:16, with the purpose of eliminating the heirs of Israel.
(1:14) So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour her strongholds, with shouting on the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind;
(1:15) and their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together,” says the Lord.
The Announced Judgment:
fire in the wall of Rabbah - warfare and destruction
Rabbah (modern-day Ammon), the capital city of the Ammonites, is to be conquered and her rulers carried off into captivity. This judgment came upon the Ammonites several times in the succeeding centuries until finally the Ammonites were exterminated as a nation and as a people.
C. Moab (2:1-3)
C. Moab (2:1-3)
(2:1) Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom. - The Moabites were also the children of Lot through one of Lot’s daughters, Gen. 19:30–38.
The Charge: Burning the bones of the king of Edom into lime
They frequently were in conflict with the Edomites and in one of these conflicts, they apparently slew the king of Edom and then burned his bones into lime, an act that they believed would eliminate their chances at an afterlife, thus showing an inhuman spirit of revenge.
(2:2) So I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth, and Moab shall die amid uproar, amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet;
(2:3) I will cut off the ruler from its midst, and will kill all its princes with him,” says the Lord.
The Announced Judgment:
fire upon Moab - warfare and destruction
Nebuchadnezzar, around 581 b.c., crushed the Moabites and brought their national existence to an end.
In all of this death and destruction meted out by God, what is behind all of this? Do these heathen nations even know that what they are doing is wrong and must be punished? I want to end this morning’s message with a quick review on what God has provided to mankind so that they might know what right and wrong truly is, so as we leave this morning we will understand the…
III. Universality of God in Righteous Judgment (Rom 2:12-15)
III. Universality of God in Righteous Judgment (Rom 2:12-15)
My So What application this morning will be understanding this final point as it relates to all human beings, and to develop that application, I will use a passage of scripture from Romans 2…
12 For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them
A. All Mankind will be judged by the same standard
A. All Mankind will be judged by the same standard
God has a standard, and it is his standard alone. Every human being will be judged by that standard. That standard is absolute holy perfection.
B. All Mankind is Culpable
B. All Mankind is Culpable
Or, deserving to be blamed or considered responsible for something bad. Because God alone provides the standard, we all have broken it and deserve to be blamed.
C. All Mankind knows what is right and wrong
C. All Mankind knows what is right and wrong
In essence, we all know, because we are created in God image and have his law written in our hearts, the difference between right and wrong. The scripture say it like this:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,