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AMOS 8:4-7—RIGHTEOUS MOURNING OVER EVIL
News about the assassination of Charlie Kirk recently have fostered numerous responses of anger, confusion, and surprisingly even celebration by those who would reveal the evil in their own hearts. Whether or not one agrees with someone’s opinions and expressions, murder should never be a response and certainly should never be celebrated. The Prophet Amos spoke to the people of Israel in vivid visions and warnings, perhaps nowhere less than Amos 8. The Prophet begins the chapter by referencing visions of summer fruit (v. 2).[1] Through the prophet, God charges Israel with social injustice, commercial dishonesty, and indifference to holy days. Here, a sharp warning is given to God’s people regarding injustice, for God is just so anything that does not exhibit his own heart is evil.
Amos 8:4-7
English Standard Version
4 Hear this, you who trample on the
needy
and bring the poor of the land to an end,
5 saying, “When will the new moon be over,
that we may sell grain?
And the Sabbath,
that we may offer wheat for sale,
that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great
and deal deceitfully with false balances,
6 that we may buy the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals
and sell the chaff of the wheat?”
7 The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
“Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.[2]
Amos,
although prophesying often to the nations surrounding Israel, spends most of
his ministry prophesying to the nation of Isreal herself. “The vision could not
be simpler. In contrast to the plumb-line [Amos 7:7-9], where Amos had to sort
out what was central from what was peripheral—wall, hand, etc., what Yahweh
showed here was identical to what Amos saw: a
basket of summer fruit.”[3] According to the maskil of Ethan the
Ezrahite (Ps. 89:14), God is just; no matter how unjust circumstances may seem
and in a realization of God’s complete knowledge and the ignorance of
humankind, it is impossible for God to act in any way that contradicts justice
(i.e., God is righteous no matter what).
The Prophet Amos here offers the Lord’s complaint against the nation of Israel for their injustice. As such, since righteousness requires justice, justice is a part of the character of God, and the Lord demands his people to exercise justice, a presentation of requirements for righteousness is realized.
Righteousness Requires Justice (v. 4)
Righteousness
first requires justice. Justice is inarguably the primary focus of the text
here in Amos. Two imperatives exist in the text here. First, injustice is not
separated from but is the antithesis of humility. The Apostle Peter indicates
that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (1 Pet 5:5). Scripture
teaches that God hates pride (Prov 8:13, 16:16-19). Pride does not exist in the
character of God, for he is humble. Ironically, God is the only one who may
rightfully be filled with pride. Surely, God is self-centered and demands
worship (because he may rightfully do so), but his own atoning sacrifice on the
cross to purchase a people who utterly rejected him suggests that God is
humble. So too should his redeemed people be. Pride is the antithesis of
righteousness, for it is the opposite of humility and, thus, the opposite of
godliness. God is righteous so godliness requires justice and, therefore,
humility.
Second, righteousness requires justice because God’s just heart is for the needy (Ps 72:12-13, 140:12, Prov 14:21). Throughout Scripture (and especially the Psalms), it is revealed that God holds a deep affection for the poor and needy. Even Jesus teaches that the poor and meek are blessed (Matt 5:3-5). Amos points to Israel’s lack of righteousness—lack of godliness—by referencing their own injustice—specifically trampling upon the needy and discarding the poor (i.e., those for whom God has a heart and loves). If godliness is to be poured from his people’s lives, justice is demanded. Anything else is worldly and demonic.
Righteousness Requires Worship (v. 5a)
Amos
next focuses on worship and specifically feasts and holy days, which emphasizes
the importance of the Lord’s day of worship. For Christians, that day is
Sunday. Lord’s Day gatherings should not underestimated. The people of Israel
neglected the new moon (every fourth week) and the Sabbath (weekly and founded
on God’s acts of creation in Exodus 20:8-11 and redemption in Deuteronomy 5:12)
and were admonished for such neglect. Nevertheless, how often does culture
consider Lord’s Day gatherings as minimal? For the people of Israel, neglecting
God’s commanded feasts and holy days was not optional but required punitive
acts from the Almighty. What one generation does in limitation, the next will
do in abundance.
God’s people must comprehend the severity of worship: worship is not optional, a luxury, or an element low on the priority scale. God is jealous (Exod 34:14) not of but for his people—specifically his people’s worship (i.e., God’s demands are nothing less than complete abandon and total adoration). Here, God extends the seriousness of such demands to the people of Israel. Israel was chosen as God’s own people but neglected to employ the first of his commands to have no other gods before him. Instead, God’s own people, chosen and bought for his glory, neglected the Lord’s utmost command of worship. If Christians desire to live righteous lives both as individuals and as a people, worship is necessary. Worship is required both on an individual level (lifestyle worship) and as a comprised body (corporate worship). Neither should be forgotten, for neglect of worship indicates neglect of the living God.
Righteousness Requires Honesty and Integrity
(v. 5b-6)
Third, righteousness requires honest and integrity. The Prophet Amos criticizes Israel’s business practices, for God’s people were “boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat” (Amos 8:5b-6). “Such dishonest business practices are against the Lord’s law, and will result in his judgment (Lev 19: 36; Deut 25: 14).”[4] Moreover, selling the sweepings with the wheat emphasizes a specific dishonest practice abominable to the Lord. “By mixing the chaff with the actual kernels of wheat, the estate owners cheat the buyers of their grain. These owners add to the good wheat that which falls the floor and is supposed to be discarded in the wheat threshing process.”[5] How will an outside world looking into the Christian faith believe upon the name of Jesus if his own people act no different from anyone else? What kind of example is observed when God’s people act in dishonesty? Integrity and honesty are required of God’s people for righteousness, for God himself is honest and demands the same of his people.
God Does Not Let Injustice Go (v. 7)
Mark
Labberton refers to worship as a dangerous act, for when God’s people truly
worship, they hold a heart for justice and desire to trample upon injustice.[6] Malachi submits the day of
God’s justice when what has been wrong will be made right.
For
behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the
arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is
coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it
will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my
name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its
wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall
tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your
feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts (Mal 4:1-3).
God’s
justice demands consequences for injustice, which is of what Amos warns here.
Amos provides a sharp warning to Israel here by referencing the pride of Jacob.
The pride of Jacob “may refer to the Lord himself, or to the land of Israel,
which is elsewhere called ‘our heritage…the pride of Jacob’ (Ps 47:4).”[7]
Additionally, the Lord’s promise in the context of injustice is that he will never forget. After September 11, 2001, calls for the United States to forgive and forget what happened on the day of those dreadful attacks were made by radical terrorists to which a growing response became, “We will never forgive; we will never forget.” Truly, an injustice had been served to the United States, and people rightfully felt wronged and, thus, upset and angry. When the justice of the Lord is compromised, his anger rightfully burns, and it is a righteous anger. Likewise, God’s people are right in expressing outrage over injustice, but such outrage must not be the endpoint, for the people of God must strive to exercise justice, as God’s instrument. God does not let injustice go. He did not do so for Israel, and he will not do so for his people now. To live in righteousness, the Lord requires his people to employ perpetual justice, for God himself is just. Worship requires righteousness; righteousness requires justice.
[1]
The Hebrew words for “summer fruit” and “end” are similar and skillfully
brought together (v. 2) for effect (i.e., the end has come for Israel).
[2] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the English
Standard Bible.
[3] David A. Hubbard, Joel and Amos: An Introduction and
Commentary, vol. 25, Tyndale Old
Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1989), 231–232.
[4]
R.C. Sproul, ed., ESV
Reformation Study Bible
(Sanford, FL: Crossway Publishing, 2016), 8651, Kindle.
[5] Sproul,
ESV Reformation Study
Bible, 8651,
Kindle.
A significant Biblical principal is that of commercial and
business honesty. The Apostle Paul instructs the Church at Corinth to do all to
the glory of God whether eating, drinking, or anything done (1 Cor 10:31-33).
[6] It
should be noted that God does not differentiate between disparate types of
justice. Justice is justice, just as the gospel is the gospel (i.e., social
justice is not different from any other type of justice). Moreover, any time a
term is placed before the gospel (e.g., social gospel, etc.), it is a false
gospel, for the gospel of Jesus Christ makes no distinction. Said another way,
justice is justice with no such distinctions, and the gospel is the gospel in
the same manner.
[7] Sproul, ESV Reformation Study Bible, 8651, Kindle.
