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FTER wrapping up his general prophecies against the nations that
surrounded Israel, Amos turned his attention very specifically to his guilty
brethren. First, he made mention of Judah (vs. 4-5), and then made many
mentions of Israel. In fact, it seems as if Amos is saying in vs. 6 that there
would be no reason to even start counting the number of Israel's
transgressions, because frankly, there would simply be too many of them to
count. So, because of their propensity for moral and spiritual failure, God
said to them through Amos, "Behold,
I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves" (vs. 13).
Beginning in vs. 6, Amos started listing some of Israel's violations.
First on the list was Israel's mistreatment of people who were "righteous"
but poor. Simply for profit, the weak were abused. In fact, vs. 7 infers that
those with wealth and power in Israel even begrudged the dust that the poor
people around them put on their own heads when they were in mourning.
Now, God had destroyed the wicked Amorites for many of the same kinds
of infringements of which Israel was guilty. And, he had given their land to
the Jews. Yet, with ungrateful and foolish hearts, Israel acted without
appreciation. They contributed to the wayward misbehavior of men who should
have otherwise been devout. They flatly told their preachers not to
preach. No surprise, these attitudes
drove God to a point of reaction (vs. 13). Therefore, at this point in his
message, Amos had nothing nice to say to Israel.
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