Lesson Focus:
Worship and justice go hand in hand. Worship without
justice lacks substance.
Lesson Outcomes:
Through this lessons students should:
1. Be
able to define the biblical concept of justice.
2. Be
able to define the biblical concept of righteousness.
3. Understand
the connection between justice and right worship.
4. Seek
to examine our church’s worship and seeking of justice.
Catch up on the story:
Amos has made it abundantly clear that God’s judgment on Israel is coming. It is coming because Israel, among all the people of the world, were God’s chosen and special people. They were God’s covenant people. But they have engaged in oppressive and exploitative behavior so that they might live in prosperity and luxury. It’s not just those who actively engage in those behaviors who will be punished, but also those who benefit from Israel’s ill-gotten prosperity. No one is innocent. Even though Israel has been warned, even the clearest of warnings have not caused her to change her ways.
The Text:
This week’s text can be split up into two large sections,
5:1-17 and 5:18-25. Each section is likely composed of a collection of smaller
speeches made by the prophet Amos and compiled by Amos or later editors.[1]
A Funeral Dirge: 5:1-7
Chapter 5 begins in the style of
and poetic meter of a lament for the dead given by lamenting mourners. The
voice here is that of the prophet. Later on in the passage the voice will
switch to God’s. Here Amos lifts his voice and calls the “house of Israel,” the
entire northern nation of Israel, to hear the sad words he is about to speak.
Amos begins his funeral dirge
declaring that Israel is fallen. There is no more chance that she would raise
from the dead then there would be for a virgin maiden who has been tragically
struck down. In fact, Amos likens Israel to a maiden, an unwed woman who was in
the prime of her life with so much ahead of her. Israel is a virgin maiden who
has died. It is always sad when a person dies, but it is even sadder when
someone so young with so much unfulfilled potential dies. Israel is here
pictured as a young woman who has collapsed in a desolated land with no hope of
help. Since the following images will be that of military defeat, the image of
Israel as a maiden is meant to heighten the sense of Israel’s powerlessness and
vulnerability in the face of an enemy army.[2]
What may have been equally startling to those who first heard these words was
that Amos is not speaking in a future tense. Rather, Amos is mourning as if
Israel were already dead.
As we move on to verse three the
image shifts to the aftermath of a battle. A city engaged in conflict with
another power has sent out a thousand men to fight the battle. When the battle
is over they will only have a hundred left. It will also be that way for the
city that marched out a hundred men, only ten will be left. The image here is
of an utter and complete defeat. Only one out of ten men survives. Indeed, it
would be very hard to go out and fight another day with only one tenth of your
original army. Israel’s defeat is as good as done. They are dead before the
battle even begins.
In verse 4 the tone changes from
that of a funeral dirge to that of a summons to seek God and live. If God has
already determined Israel’s fate, why then do we have these words of hope? It
may be that Amos is introducing a glimmer of hope, perhaps knowing that Israel
will not change her ways. It also could be that Amos is using the phrase “Seek
the Lord and live” as a segue into a section which talks of ineffectual ways to
seek the Lord. For Israel, to “seek the Lord” was often associated with going
to the sanctuary or Temple. This was particularly true in times of trouble. If
God is in the Temple, then it seems logical that one should go there if one
were in trouble. Even now this is not uncommon. Families or individuals often
return to church in times of trouble, hoping that some good may come of it.
Often times, when the trouble is over, commitment to church wanes.
The verses immediately following
verse 4 challenges Israel to seek God, not in the ways they have become
accustomed to, i.e., engagement in religious services, but in other ways. By
the end of the chapter we will have a clearer understanding of what it truly
means to seek the Lord. Bethel, Gilgal, and Beer-sheba are all places of
religious practice for Israel. They will be destroyed or will go will into
exile. It is not that Amos, or God for that matter, believes that engagement in
regular worship activities has become unimportant, rather, for Israel these
religious engagements have become ends unto themselves. Israel believes that if
they engage in worship enough, it will not matter how they engage in life
outside of the sanctuary. There is a disconnect between worship and moral and
ethical living, as the next set of verses will display.
Amos is quite clear at this
point. There are two possibilities for Israel. The first is death and
destruction at the hand of God. The second is life as a result of doing justice.
In verses 7-9 Amos describes why this judgment is coming. Israel has turned
justice into “wormwood.” Wormwood is a plant that is well known for its
bitterness and has often been used as an image for bitterness and trouble.
Israel, because of her oppressive and exploitive ways, has turned justice,
something that should be sweet and life giving, into something bitter. Justice
often denotes a right and ordered society. It refers to the “claim of all
persons to full and equitable participation in the structures and dealings of
the community, and especially to equity in the legal system.”[3] In God’s
eyes, Israel has ceased to be a right and ordered society. The one who will
bring the judgment is the very one who ordered the universe in the first place.
The one who made the constellations, brings rain upon the mountain, and brings
day from the dark night. The God of order now brings punishment on a people who
have brought about disorder.
Verses 10-13 again stress
Israel’s sins. The city gate was a place where the elders of the town mediated
disputes. It has ceased, however, to be a place where justice could be found.
Those who speak truth at the gate of the city are hated. Part of a right and
ordered society is that justice could be found for all, especially the poor and
powerless. Israel, however, has actively denied justice to those who need it
most. What is worse, they have denied justice to the poor and powerless so that
they could increase in wealth and power themselves. Consequently, they have
built houses of stone and they have planted vineyards (a crop of the wealthy
because of the time investment needed). Because they have obtained these things
in an unjust manner, they will no longer live in these houses they have built
for themselves.
Once again, in verse 14, Israel
is encouraged to seek the good and reject evil. Israel has claimed that God is
with them, only because of their unjust ways, he has not been. But, God
proclaims, that if Israel rejects the evil and seeks the good, he will be with
them. Seeking good here is establishing justice and righteousness in the gate
so that there might be an honest and equitable court system where the exploited
and wronged my seek relief.
The Dark Day of the Lord: 5:18-25
The first section, 5:1-17 mourns
the loss of Israel because of her lack of justice and righteousness. While she
has been encouraged to seek God and reject evil, her fate is all but sealed.
The remainder of chapter 5 deals with the Day of the Lord, which for Israel,
expressed hope and expectation for the day when God would descend and bring
judgment on Israel’s enemies. The Day of the Lord was to be a glorious time,
when Israel would be vindicated and all would once again be right.
Amos turns this idea of the Day
of the Lord on its head. This day will not be a day of light, as they had
expected, but will be a day of darkness and fear. Verses 19 and 20 describe the
day as going from bad to worse. The Day of the Lord will be like a man who is
fleeing from a lion. He narrowly escapes the lion only to be met by a bear. Or,
the man escapes the lion by running into a house. As he rests his hand on the
wall to catch his breath a snake reaches out and bites him! The image is clear;
the Day of the Lord will not be a good day, and just when Israel thinks she
finds safety and respite from danger, she will be confronted with a fatal
threat. Trouble will follow trouble and death will not be far behind. Israel
thought she was safe and protected because she was God’s people. Only she has
forgotten that God’s protection of her has always been contingent upon her
faithfulness to the covenant, of which justice and righteousness are the
cornerstone.
Verses 21through 24 forms the
climax for this section of Amos, if not the book itself. Here God himself
speaks to Israel declaring that because Israel has not paired justice and
righteousness with her worship, her worship is meaningless. God hates her
religious festivals and takes no delight in her worship gatherings. They offer
the right sacrifices at the right time and in the right amount but God will not
accept them. He will not listen to their songs. They are a useless noise. “God
has become numbed to Israel’s efforts to draw God’s regard toward them.”[4]
Instead, God says, justice
should roll down like the water of a waterfall. Justice and righteousness
should flow through the land like an unrestrained and unending river. Water,
even small amounts, has the power to dramatically shape the landscape. Even
very hard rock can be shaped by the constant application of water.
Righteousness and justice, even in small amount, have the ability to radically
reshape our world. What God makes very clear, here in chapter 5, is that
Israel, even though she engages in right worship, has neglected justice and
righteousness, therefore her worship has been rejected and so has she.
So What…?
This passage should give
us pause. It forces us to ask ourselves a very crucial set of questions, Are we
like Israel? Have we neglected justice and righteousness? Has our material
comfort been purchased at the expense of the ability of others to live above
poverty? Do we help perpetuate a justice system that is more accessible to the
wealthy? Do we place more emphasis on our worship than we do living lives
filled with justices and righteousness?
If we answer yes to any
of the above questions, and I think as Americans we have to, then we are in
danger or ending up like Israel. The good news is, even though we may live in a
land where injustice seems to rule the day (maybe not for us directly, but for many
Americans), as the church we are called to work for justice and righteousness.
Our worship will be pleasing to God when we are challenged to examine the ways
in which our consumption of material goods affects the lives of others. Our
worship will we be pleasing to God when we are sent out from our sanctuary to
seek justice and to live in righteous and right relationship with our neighbor.
Through the work of the Holy Spirit we have the ability to go forth like an
ever-flowing stream of justice so that the landscape may be dramatically
altered!
Critical Discussion
Questions:
- What does God look like in this text/Who is God in this text/What is God doing in this text?
- God is just as concerned that we live with justice and righteousness, as he is concerned with our engagement in worship. God is bringing judgment on Israel because she had not lived lives of justice.
- What does holiness/salvation look like in this text?
- Holiness looks like allowing our times of worship to prepare us to go forth into the world to seek justice and righteousness. The perfected love of holiness propels us to seek for the good of those who are poor and powerless. Sometimes this means the sacrifice of comfort and wealth on our part.
- How does an encounter with this story shape who we are and who we should become?
- Justice and righteousness are extremely important to God. Our worship becomes meaningless if we do not live lives that seek justice and righteousness. Therefore, we must constantly examine the ways in which we live to see if we are seeking after justice and righteousness.
Specific Discussion
Questions:
Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself
quietly. Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.
1.
Why does Amos tell Israel not to go to Bethel, Gilgal
and Beer-sheba, all centers of religious activity, to seek God?
2.
What does Amos mean when he says that Israel has turned
“justice to wormwood?”
3.
The city or town gate was where the elders would gather
to mediate disputes between people. What kind of activity does Amos say is
taking place in the gates? What kind of place should the gate be?
4.
What is the Day of the Lord and why would Israel want
that day to come? How does Amos understand what the Day of the Lord will be?
5.
In verse 21, God says to Israel that he hates their
festival and solemn assemblies. What has caused God’s hatred? Why has
completely rejected their worship?
6.
Instead, God wants justice to roll down like water, and
righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Why does God use this water imagery
to illustrate what justice and righteousness should be like?
7.
Define both justice and righteousness.
8.
In what ways might we be like Israel in this passage?
Do we work toward justice? How do we ensure that our worship is acceptable to
God?
[1] Hans Walter Wolff, Joel
and Amos: A Commentary on the Books of the Prophets Joel and Amos, trans.
S. Dean McBride Jr, and Waldemar Janzen, (Philadelphia: Augsburg Fortress
Publishers, 1977), 231.
[2] Bruce C. Birch, Hosea, Joel, and Amos, Westminster Bible
Companion (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997), 212.
[3] Birch, 215.
[4] Birch, 219.
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