Amos 1-2

While chapter one of Amos describes the judgment that the Lord is raining upon the enemies of his covenant people, the culmination of that judgment is in chapter two with the judgment on Israel and Judah themselves, the purpose of which is to bring his people back to Himself in faith.

There are two forms of judgment that God judges with. God uses the first judgment to bring the consequences of the pagan nations' sin to themselves, while the second God uses to bring his covenant people to himself as we see in 4:6-13 where God says the purpose of his judgment is to bring them back in faith.

The literary forms of the judgment on all parties is the same, as seen with "For three transgressions of___, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment." However, the purpose of that punishment is differing, the pagan nation's punishment is there for their sin against Israel and therefore God himself, while the punishment on Israel is their covenant unfaithfulness, and one other major offense. The other major offense is absolutely frightening to me, because I know that I don't fulfill that obligation that is upon all who are stewards of God's resources.

Each of the judgment statements on the other nations, including Judah, are almost so cut and dried that reading becomes repetitious, until the judgment on Israel, the Northern Kingdom. The other major offense that Israel evidences is their oppression of the poor and afflicted, which is one of the themes that runs throughout the book. That is one of the applications that I can see from this passage, that just having right doctrine (which the Israelites probably did not have) is not enough to live the Gospel. James the apostle goes into this in more detail in James 2:14-26, which may be the next book that I study. How do we as Christians balance faith and works; staying doctrinally correct while reaching out to those around us in need. Reaching out and caring and sharing are concepts that are popular this time of year being Christmas, but what about sharing and caring and giving in the middle of February?

Let us be sensitive to the needs of those around us, living out the Gospel that we claim, and using our giving in order to point to the glory of Christ's work in our lives.