In this chapter, the Lord calls for us to come back to Him and get rid of our idols. Here’s the chapter in its entirety: “Listen, you people of Israel! Listen to this funeral song I am singing:
“The virgin Israel has fallen, never to rise again!
She lies forsaken on the ground, with none to raise her up.”
The sovereign Lord says: “When one of your cities sends a thousand men to battle, only a hundred will return. When a town sends a hundred, only ten will come back alive.”
Now this is what the Lord says to the family of Israel” “Come back to me and live! Don’t go to worship the idols of Bethel, Gilgal, or Beersheba. For the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile, and the people of Bethel will come to nothing.” (Wow…the Lord is simple! He just wants us to worship Him and get rid of our idols! Why do we have to make everything so complicated?)
Come back to the Lord and live! If you don’t, he will roar through Israel like a fire, devouring you completely. Your gods in Bethel certainly won’t be able to quench the flames! You wicked people You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the poor and oppressed. Righteousness and fair play are meaningless fictions to you.
It is the Lord who created the stars, the Pleiades and Orion. It is he who turns darkness into morning and day into night. It is he who draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The Lord is his name! With binding speed and power he destroys the strong, crushing all their defenses. (Yes!!!)
How you hate honest judges! How you despise people who tell the truth! You trample the poor and steal what little they have through taxes and unfair rent. Therefore, you will never live in the beautiful stone houses you are building. You will never drink wine from the lush vineyards you are planting. For I know the vast number of our sins and rebellions. You oppress good people by taking bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. So those who are wise will keep quiet, for it is an evil time.
Do what is good and run from evil – that you may live! Then the Lord God Almighty will truly be your helper, just as you have claimed he is. Hate evil and love what is good; remodel your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on his people who remain.
Therefore, this is what the Lord, the Lord God Almighty, says: “There will be crying in all the public squares and in every street. Call for the farmers to weep with you, and summon professional mourners to wail and lament. There will be wailing in every vineyard, for I will pass through and destroy them all. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Warning of Coming Judgment
How terrible it will be for you who say, “If only the day of the Lord were here! For then the Lord would rescue us from all our enemies.” But you have no idea what you are wishing for. That day will not bring light and prosperity, but darkness and disaster. (Wow! We sin against God when life is great, and when life gets rough we expect God to save us.) In that day you will be like a man who runs from a lion – only to meet a bear. After escaping the bear, he leans his hand against a wall in his house – and is bitten by a snake. Yes, the day of the Lord will be a dark and hopeless day, without a ray of joy or hope.
“I hate all your show and pretense – the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your hymns of praise! They are only noise to my ears. I will not listen to your music, no matter how lovely it is. (Wow! This is why I’m not rushing to get back to church. Many of our churches are nothing but show!) Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, a river of righteous living that will never run dry.”
“Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, Israel? No, your real interest was in your pagan gods – Sakkuth your king god and Kaiwan your star god – the images you yourselves made. So I will send you into exile, to a land east of Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty. (Amos 5)
Lord, thank you for your Word today! Help us turn from our misguided ways, and embrace and idolize you! And, Lord, create in us a heart that wants to please, honor, and be committed to you…where none of our actions are for show. Lord, we love you!.
May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
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