010. III. No Excuse Or Pardon For The Crimes Of Israel’s Leaders (Amos 3, 4)
III NO EXCUSE OR PARDON FOR THE CRIMES OF ISRAEL’S LEADERS (Amos 3, 4)
Responsibility proportionate to opportunity (Amos 3:1-2). Give heed, O Israelites, to the solemn message which Jehovah sends to you, his favored people. “True, you of all nations stand in a peculiarly intimate relation to me. Do not deceive yourselves, however, by thinking that for that reason you will be exempted from punishment On the contrary, greater privilege brings with it greater responsibility, and therefore, in the light of your base betrayal of the trust, severer judgment.” The prophet’s vindication of his right to prophesy (Amos 3:3-8). Some of you question my right thus to address you in the name of Jehovah. Consider: Does anything come to pass in the natural world without a sufficient cause? Conversely, does not a sufficient cause produce a corresponding effect? The fact that I stand here preaching to you, although so doing endangers my life, implies a cause, namely, that Jehovah has given me a revelation concerning you. When he commands, his prophet must obey.
Israel guilty even in the eyes of the heathen (Amos 3:9-10). You are the chosen people of Jehovah! Let proclamation be made, and your heathen neighbors summoned to witness the state of anarchy within your capital, and the crimes of oppression and of legalized robbery which your nobles are committing.
Fate awaiting the corrupt rulers (Amos 3:11-15).). While such enormities exist, think not for a moment that your land, and those greedy rulers who are betraying you, shall escape the common judgment Worthless shall be that which is left of all these princely palaces, with their luxurious appointments; overthrown shall be the royal sanctuary here at Bethel, when the rapacious world-conqueror who is advancing has completed his work of destruction.
Guilt of the wives of the Nobles (Amos 4:1-3). Voluptuous, thoughtless women of Samaria, who have so completely lost all sense of pity for the afflicted that you are constantly urging on your husbands to grind their dependents the more, that, with the blood-money thus secured, they may pander to your vile appetites, listen to your sentence. As surely as a God of justice lives, brutal conquerors shall soon come to drag you forth as captives.
Vanity of the ceremonial worship (Amos 4:4-5). Do you urge, O Israelites, that you are punctilious in bringing to Jehovah rich offerings, and that, therefore, he cannot think of inflicting upon you a judgment such as I predict? Deluded fools! Go on with your round of ceremonies, regulated so as to conduce to your personal pleasure. In the eyes of Jehovah it is mere mockery.
Jehovah’s plain warnings unheeded (Amos 4:6-11). All this ritualistic service has only lulled your consciences to rest, so that you have been insensible to the most obvious indications of divine displeasure. As you must all remember, he has sent upon you famine, drought, insect plagues, pestilence, and earthquake in their most hideous forms, and yet you have not learned the lesson he would teach and turned to him in penitence.
Inevitable doom impending (Amos 4:12-13). You stand convicted of the most heinous charges ever brought against a nation; the fatuity of the defense which you have urged has been conclusively demonstrated; you have persistently refused to heed Jehovah’s plain and repeated warnings; therefore, prepare to meet the awful and inevitable judgment, which Jehovah, the all-powerful creator and just ruler of the universe, is soon to execute upon you.