The Inevitable End (Amos 8:1-14)
The astounding thing about Amos is not just the terrible nature of the judgement God is proclaiming, but the terrible beauty of artistry Amos uses to paint the message of judgement. He is like today’s horror novelist, painting a image that you can’t process in it’s fear, but that you can’t look away from.
Amos sees a vision of “summer fruit.” This is an agrarian signal of the end of a season. It also is a rhyme for “the end” in Hebrew. God is abstractly showing Amos that the end has come. Then He gets graphic: “…songs will become wailings…” “…so many corpses!” “Silence.”
The condemnation of Israel is consistently damning, as it has been the whole book. The people trample the poor and sell them into slavery. They long for the end of their religious ceremonies and holidays so that they can again increase their wealth through injustice. As if the religion gives them a pass to do all the evil they want! They have their fire insurance! Not so!
God’s judgement is coming, as sure as the seasonal floods. Earth shaking judgement. The day will be as night, and it will be time of mourning.
But the worst is not the death, not the corpses. It is not the famine and war that Israel has in store. The worst is that God is going to stop speaking to His people. There will be a famine of God’s revelation. Up until now Israel has turned her back on YHWH, worshiping false, pagan, nationalistic versions of Him that they have made for themselves and their own desires. But God has dealt with them and warned them. No more. They will cease to hear from Him for centuries!
Amos sees a vision of “summer fruit.” This is an agrarian signal of the end of a season. It also is a rhyme for “the end” in Hebrew. God is abstractly showing Amos that the end has come. Then He gets graphic: “…songs will become wailings…” “…so many corpses!” “Silence.”
The condemnation of Israel is consistently damning, as it has been the whole book. The people trample the poor and sell them into slavery. They long for the end of their religious ceremonies and holidays so that they can again increase their wealth through injustice. As if the religion gives them a pass to do all the evil they want! They have their fire insurance! Not so!
God’s judgement is coming, as sure as the seasonal floods. Earth shaking judgement. The day will be as night, and it will be time of mourning.
But the worst is not the death, not the corpses. It is not the famine and war that Israel has in store. The worst is that God is going to stop speaking to His people. There will be a famine of God’s revelation. Up until now Israel has turned her back on YHWH, worshiping false, pagan, nationalistic versions of Him that they have made for themselves and their own desires. But God has dealt with them and warned them. No more. They will cease to hear from Him for centuries!
Comments
Post a Comment