Key
verse 5 :4
Man
has the right to live amongst his peers. However, since the beginning of time
the strong oppress the weak and helpless. God judges the nation that does evil.
1.
Seek God and live
(1-17) God’s judgement is concentrated on the sinful nation. There will be an earthquake and the Earth’s inhabitants will lie down on the Earth. The enemy will come and nine tenths of them will be Lille. Therefore what can we learn from this? Amos told them « Seek yee God and live ». The only route to have life is to seek and find God. Israel’s amalgamated religion is horrible before God. God wants them to be purified and He wants them to believe in Him. Seeking God means fearing God (6b). Fearing God means not doing what’s evil but what’s good (14,15).God is the souvereign Creator who controls how the stars move and He changes darkness into light. The Israelites oppressed the just and the poor without reason and they behaved as though God was does not exist. They will be correctly judged. When we act justly we are reassured that God is with us and He will give us the victory. Due to their multiple crimes, the Israelites will be in constant lamentation.
2. The day of the Lord (18-27)
As
in the days of Joel, the Lord’s Day is one of divine judgement. It's the day of
darkness wherein the wicked will receive the salary of their acts. They are
like a man who escapes the lion but who falls upon a bear that strikes him or a
snake that bites him. Israel’s real problem is their false beliefs. Inspite of their
appearance, they are not actually believers but they are those who adore the
golden cow as another element to their religion. They were therefore used to
bringing many animals before God as their sacrificial offering but this was a
useless act as their heart was not really in it. God asks His people if they
are not fed up with bringing Him offerings that are useless just as those that
they used to bring Him in the desert. God wants these offerings to be removed
from before Him. That which is important to His people is mentioned in verse
24. The law has to flows like water and righteousness like a never-drying
river.
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