Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ Today we will examine
Amos 5:6–9 with theme of God’s justice and righteousness
Amos 5:6 Seek the Lord and live lest He hurl a fire upon Judah
consuming the palaces of Joseph and
it shall not be quenched in Bethel
You who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to
the ground—seek him who made the constellations Orion and Pleiades
who turns darkness into morning and darkens the day into night who calls the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the earth
The Lord is His name who sends the waters to pour upon
the earth He brings the strong call to ruin so that the stronghold is destroyed
In our previous discussion we talked about the prophet's warning
from the Lord saying seek the Lord or disaster will come upon you
The Lord will set Bethel ablaze and no one will extinguish it Why will no
one extinguish it Because the fire was lit by the conqueror of that time
Historical records state that King Josiah of the South burned Bethel
with fire naturally no one dared to go up and extinguish it at the time
Are the Israelites of Bethel truly that wicked We have repeatedly
mentioned the keepers of Bethel in our previous articles
Ever since the founding king of the northern kingdom Jeroboam established the worship of the golden calf
Not only people from Bethel but also Israelites from all over the country came to Bethel and Dan to offer such worship
Yet can we not say that it was King Jeroboam who led Israel into sin
Was it because of ignorance that the people of Israel worshipped the golden calf which was called Yahweh
Yes but anyone who has read or heard the story of Moses and
Aaron should know that worshiping the golden calf is unacceptable
Those who are well-informed likely just watch the unfolding events and fearing the ruler's authority remain silent out of fear
In addition to the sin of worshiping false gods the
prophets also condemned the Israelites saying: "You have
turned justice into bitterness and cast righteousness down to the ground " What then does "bitterness" mean
Harden is a shrub that yields a green juice oil which has an extremely bitter taste
However it can serve as an intestinal vermifuge to eliminate worm eggs or
be combined with other herbs to enhance its effects—this means precisely that
When someone points out the importance of fairness and justice—and the need to
uphold them—people react as if they're being asked to swallow something bitter
Yes this one can kill intestinal worms but whoever wants to eat it can have it—I don't need to
That's how people cast aside justice for it tastes bitter
justice is God's very nature and humanity was created by God
God has placed within people a heart that seeks fairness and justice revealing
this truth first to the prophets of Israel and then extending it to all humanity
That is why there should be justice in this world yet people instinctively
demand fairness for themselves when they experience injustice feeling it deeply
But to remain utterly indifferent and continue trampling over
injustices done to others—this is unacceptable the prophet then declared
Seek the constellation of Orion and the Pleiades turning death into dawn and
daylight into darkness command the waters of the sea to pour upon the earth
These four adjectives are describing
the Lord God What are the Pleiades
and Orion The names of these two stars appeared in Job chapter 38
The star known as Mao is actually a star cluster and the name of the star known today as Shen is Orion'
s constellation No matter which star or constellation it is all the stars in the sky were created by God
And God is the one who said "Let there be light " and light came to be—this is what transforms
death into dawn Then God saw that the light was
good and He separated the light from the darkness
And He called the light Day and the darkness
He called Night with evening and morning— does this
not make the daytime become night Yet upon reading this some might still say
I could pour seawater onto the ground
too—just give me a bucket and I'll go
to the seaside and do the same But child that's not what the prophet meant
Know that heaven and earth were originally one big dumpling God said there should be an expanse between the waters
to separate them above from below and that the waters across
the earth should gather in one place revealing the dry ground
Actually this passage by Amos is a condensed version of Genesis Chapter One—what other
being besides the God who made heaven earth and sea could possibly match these descriptions
Therefore the prophet calls people to seek God to pursue the true God and His word
from this we can discern God's righteous nature and He also calls us to Himself
And God rewards those who seek Him those who seek the salvation and life offered through Ye and Hua
Not only is there no fear of losing life in calamity but it also implies bestowing
life upon such people yet what of those who trample upon fairness and justice
The prophet declares that He forcefully calls for destruction resulting in ruin and devastation
—this is a warning to those who now have the power to trample justice and righteousness
Destruction and ruin may not be far off
May God have mercy and lead us
Amen
