Praise the Lord! God has blessed us yet with another week of life to live on earth. This means, the life we currently live is the gift of God. I say this because the Scripture states that our life is like grass that withers and flowers that fall and like a fleeting shadow (Psalm 103:15-17; Isaiah 40:7-8; Job 14:2). Since our days are already numbered even before we are born into this world (Psalm 139:16) and the length of our life on earth is reasonably cut short (70 or 80 years or an additional few more years [Genesis 6:3; Psalm 90:9-100]) compared to that of the early humans such as Adam (930 years [Genesis 5:5]) or Seth (912 years [Genesis 5:8]) or Methuselah (969 years [Genesis 5:27]) or anyone who lived in those days (Genesis 5:1-32), we need to live a life that is worthwhile and make every effort to live at peace with God, our fellow men/women (the citizens of the world), and the rest of God’s creation (Ephesians 2:14). Thus, the sole purpose of our life is to live for the glory of God – love Him wholeheartedly and obey His righteous laws, decrees, and commands in its entirety (Deuteronomy 4:6-8; 30:16; Psalm 147:19-20); for we are created by Him in His likeness and image (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7; Ephesians 2:10).

Although all of humanity belongs to God (for He created us), He set His affection upon the descendants of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; Deuteronomy 7:6-8; 2 Samuel 7:23-24; Jeremiah 31:35-36). He loved them and chose them to be His very own people (Genesis 17:7; Exodus 6:7; Deuteronomy 7:6-8; Jeremiah 24:7; 30:22; 32:38). God loved them (Jeremiah 31:20) and blessed them (Genesis 28:13-15) and extended His love and blessings to other nations and, ultimately, to all of humanity through them, especially through the Messiah (Genesis 12:3; 22:18; Ephesians 2:11-13; Colossians 1:17-22; Revelation 7:9). Regardless of all the privileges and blessings given to the children of Israel (Deuteronomy 28:1-14), they disobeyed God’s righteous laws, decrees, and commandments and worshipped the gods of the nations around them (Deuteronomy 29:26; Judges 2:11-23; 2 Kings 17: 7-41). The children of Israel were supposed to obey God’s commandments and receive His blessings promised in the Scripture, but they deliberately disobeyed the righteous laws and decrees of God, and made idols of the gods of the nations around them and burned incense before them. They also violated the instructions of God for righteous living and practiced the lifestyle of the nations that God drove out before them. The Lord warned them from the time He delivered them from the land of their slavery:

Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants (Leviticus 18:24-25)

The Lord continued to remind the children of Israel to keep the commands and decrees of the Lord, and warned His people Israel and Judah time and again not to follow the lifestyle of the nations around them but they would not listen or pay attention to the Lord’s instructions, as it is mentioned several places in the Scripture, for instance:

13 The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets. 14 But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors, who did not trust in the Lord their God. 15 They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.” 16 They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. 17 They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger. 18 So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence (2 Kings 17:13-18)

Despite God’s warning to the people of Judah and Israel, they neither stopped wickedness against the Lord nor stopped following the practices of the neighboring nations. Every now and then, especially when His people sin against the Lord, God raised His prophets to warn His people of their wrongdoings and guide them back to Yahweh, the Lord God who chose them as His treasured possession (Deuteronomy 14:2). Amos, who was a shepherd as well as a farmer, was also chosen to be an instrument in the hands of God as a prophet. Amos, a native of the Southern Kingdom Judah, was sent to the Northern Kingdom Israel to prophecy against its false religious worship and festivals. However, Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, tried to stop Amos from prophesying the message of the Sovereign Lord (Amos 7:7-13). In response to Amaziah’s complaints/rebuke against Amos: Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. 15 But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 Now then, hear the word of the Lord … Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land (Amos 7:14-17). Amaziah the priest of Bethel falsely prophesied with the authority of the king but Amos prophesied what the Lord God had commanded him to prophecy. Prophet Amos specifically mentioned some of the serious sins the people of Israel committed before their Lord God (Amos 2:6-8; 4:4-5). 

• • They sell the innocent for silver (2:6a)
  • They sell the needy for a pair of sandals (2:6b)
  • They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground (2:7a [Job 4:4])
  • They deny justice to the oppressed (2:7b [Deuteronomy 24:17])
  • They profane the holy name of the Lord God Almighty (2:7c)
  • They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge (2:8a [Exodus 22:26-27; Deuteronomy 24:12-13])
  • They drink wine taken as fines in the house of their God (2:8b)
  • They go to Bethel and sin (4:4a)
  • They go to Gilgal and sin yet more (4:4b)
  • They burn leavened bread as a Thank offering (4:5a)
  • They brag about their freewill offerings (4:5b)
  • They boast about their sacrifice and offerings (4:5c)
  • They love to do what the Lord forbade them to do (4:5d)

The Lord’s anger burned against the people of Israel for the wrong they committed before Him. As Apostle Paul reminded the believers in Rome, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23 [also refer to Psalm 145:20; Ezekiel 18:4, 20-21), the divine principle of God is that anyone who does what is right will be rewarded blessings and anyone who does wrong will face its consequence and punishment. God spoke to the people of Israel through prophet Amos: Hear this word, people of Israel, the word the Lord has spoken against you—against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt: You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins (Amos 3:1-2). According to prophet Amos, Judah rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept His decrees and neglected the worship of the true God (Amos 2:4-5). Also, Israel committed numerous sins against the God of Israel (Amos 2:6-16). The consequences of Israel’s sin brought God’s judgment upon them and God punished them, still, they did not turn from their sin and return to the God of their fathers (Amos 4:6-12)

• • The Lord gave them empty stomachs in every city (4:6a)
  • The Lord caused lack of bread in every town (4:6b)
  • The Lord caused several reasons for their return to Him but they have not returned to Him (4:6c)
  • The Lord withheld rain from Israel (4:7a)
  • The Lord changed the weather from Israel when the harvest was still three months away (4:7b)
  • The Lord sent rain on one town (4:7c)
  • The Lord withheld rain from another town (4:7d)
  • The Lord gave rain on one field (4:7e)
  • The Lord caused another field to dry up (4:7f)
  • The Lord caused the people to stagger from town to town for water (4:8a)
  • The Lord caused them not to have enough water to drink (4:8b)
  • The Lord added several more reasons for their return to Him but they still did not return to Him (4:8c)
  • The Lord struck their gardens and vineyards several times (4:9a)
  • The Lord destroyed their gardens and vineyards with blight and mildew (4:9b)
  • The Lord sent the locusts to devour their fig and olive trees (4:9c)
  • The Lord added several more reasons for their return to Him but they still did not return to Him (4:9c)
  • The Lord sent plagues among them similar to what He did to Egypt (4:10a)
  • The Lord killed their young men with the sword (4:10b)
  • The Lord killed their captured horses (4:10c)
  • The Lord filled their nostrils with the stench of their camps (4:10d)
  • The Lord added several more reasons for their return to Him but they still did not return to Him (4:10e).
  • The Lord overthrew some of them as He overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah (4:11a)
  • The Lord snatched them from the fire like a burning stick snatched from the fire (4:11b)
  • The Lord added several reasons for their return to Him but they have not returned to Him (4:11c).
  • The Lord, finally, prepares a different way for them to meet their Lord God (4:12) 

God punishes everyone who sins against Him (Jeremiah 31:30; Romans 6:23). It doesn’t matter who they are, whether God’s chosen people Israel who follow His righteous laws and decrees or a people who do not know Him closely, if they carry out wicked schemes against God or fellow human beings, they will be punished (Genesis 6:5; Proverbs 6:16-19; Isaiah 13:11; Micah 2:1-2; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15). Below mentioned are a few examples for our reference:

• • When Adam and Eve sinned against Him, He punished them for their sins (Genesis 3:1-24)
  • When people committed sin against the Lord God during the time of Noah, God punished them (Genesis 6:1-8; 7:20-23)
  • When the people of Sodom and Gomorrah committed sin against Him, God punished them (Genesis 19:1-29)
  • When the people of Israel sinned against God, their deliverer and Savior, (in the wilderness and in Canaan), God punished them (Judges 2:10-23; 2 Kings 17:7-23)
  • When Aaron and Miriam sinned against God by falsely accusing Moses, God punished them (Numbers 12:1-16)
  • When Moses sinned against the God of Israel, God punished him (Numbers 20:6-13; Psalm 106:32-33)
  • When Israel’s neighboring nations sinned against the God of Israel by opposing the people of Israel, God punished each of them at the proper time (Amos 1:3-2:3)
  • When Judah and Israel sinned against Yahweh, the God of Israel, God punished them (Amos 2:4-16)
  • When David and Solomon sinned against the God of Israel, God punished them (2 Samuel 12:7-22; 24:11-17; 1 Chronicles 21:7-17; 1 Kings 11:1-43)
  • When Ananias and Sapphira behaved unfaithfully against the Holy Spirit, God punished them (Acts 5:1-11)

As we can see, the righteous will be rewarded and the wicked will be punished (Ecclesiastes 3:17; 1 Peter 3:12; 2 Peter 2:9). Even when the nations neighboring Israel sinned against Yahweh, the Creator God of the universe, He punished each of them according to what their deeds deserve. Prophet Amos prophesied the judgement of  God upon some of those neighboring nations of Israel (Amos 1:3-2:3)

• • The sin of Damascus exposed when they waged war against Gilead (1:3-5a)
  • The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir (1:5b)
  • The Philistine cities like Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, were judged for their slave trade with Edom (1: 6-8)
  • Tyre was also charged for selling slaves to Edom (1:9-10)
  • Edom, Teman, and Bozrah will be punished for their sins of pursuing the descendants of Jacob with a sword (1:11-12)
  • Ammon and Rabbah were found guilty for waging war to expand their borders (1:13-15)
  • Moab and Kerioth were found guilty for desecrating the bones of Edom’s king (2:1-3)

In order to achieve a righteous and rewarding life, one need to seek the Lord earnestly, keep His righteous laws and decrees, and live our life according to God’s will (Psalm 9:9-10; 34:4; Hebrews 11:6). If one seeks the Lord with all of their heart He will be found. As Prophet Isaiah noted in his writings to Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon (Isaiah 55:6-7). God forbade His people from seeking life outside of Him, as it is mentioned in Amos 5:4-6

4 This is what the Lord says to Israel: “Seek me and live; 5 do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing. 6 Seek the Lord and live, or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire; it will devour them, and Bethel will have no one to quench it. 7 There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground

Amos 5:4 states that Seek the Lord and live. To seek the Lord and live means abiding in Him fully – that is, abiding one hundred percent (100%) in His presence, protection, and provision (Deuteronomy 28:2; Psalm 16:11; 103:4, 17; 136:1; Isaiah 41:10; Ephesians 3:17-21; Philippians 4:7, 19). The Lord told the people of Israel to seek Him earnestly and live (Deuteronomy 4:29; 1 Chronicles 16:11; Psalm 34:4-5; 63:1-4; 105:3-4; Amos 5:4), to love Him with all their heart (Deuteronomy 6:5; 10:12 [Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27]), to obey His commandments – the righteous laws and decrees He has given them through His servant Moses (Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 11:1; 30:15-20; 1 John 2:3-5), and to worship Him and Him alone (Exodus 20:1-7; 34:14; Deuteronomy 5:7; 1 Chronicles 16:25; Psalm 29:1-2; 148:1-2; Isaiah 42:8; Luke 4:8; John 4:23).

The Lord who said to Seek the Lord and live (Amos 5:4) sternly warned His people not to seek Bethel, or go to Gilgal or journey to Beersheba (Amos 4:4; 5:5). Bethel, a prominent place during the patriarchal age, especially during the time of Jacob the son of Isaac the son of Abraham (Genesis 12:8; 13:3-4; 28:10-22; 35:1-15), was the place where Jeroboam, a subordinate of king Solomon who rebelled against king Solomon and later became the first king of the divided kingdom Israel (1 Kings 11:26-28; 12:20), set up one of the two golden calves he made and worshipped it (1 Kings 12:28-29). He also appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites, to perform religious rituals, and instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and to offer sacrifices on the altar (1 Kings 12:30-33). God also prevented His people from going to Gilgal, where they set up carved images/idols and worshipped them (Amos 4:4b; 5:5b [Exodus 20:4-6; Deuteronomy 4:16, 23-24]); and Beersheba, a place where Abraham (Genesis 21:33; 22:19), Isaac (Genesis 26:23-24), and Jacob (Genesis 28:10; 46:1), had lived and worshipped the true God, but, lately, their descendants worshipped the false gods and practiced wide-spread idolatry (Amos 5:5c; 8:14).  Therefore, the Lord determined to punish them for their wickedness and unfaithfulness towards the Lord, the God of their fathers:

13 “Hear this and testify against the descendants of Jacob,” declares the Lord, the Lord God Almighty. 14 “On the day I punish Israel for her sins, I will destroy the altars of Bethel; the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground. 15 I will tear down the winter house along with the summer house; the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed and the mansions will be demolished,” declares the Lord (Amos 3:13-15)

The Lord God hated their false and all-inclusive worship and religious festivals. They worshiped the gods of the nations (idols of cast and carved images) alongside their worship of Yahweh, the God of Israel. They treated Yahweh, the God of the universe – the God whom their ancestors worshipped,  similar to the gods of the nations, the gods whom their hands have made, which are not gods at all (Psalm 115:3-8; 135:15-18; Isaiah 44:9-20).  Therefore the Lord, who created the universe and everything in it out of nothing (Genesis 1:1-31), who chose the children of Israel as His treasured possession (Genesis 12:1-3; Deuteronomy 14:2), hated their false worship and religious festivals (Amos 5:21-23):

• • The Lord hates and despises their religious festivals (5:21a)
  • The Lord God hates their assemblies and it is a stench to Him (5:21b)
  • The Lord will not accept the burnt offerings and grain offerings they bring before Him (5:22a)
  • The Lord will have no regard for the choice fellowship offerings they bring before Him (5:22b)
  • The Lord told His people to do away with the noise of their songs (5:23a)
  • The Lord will not listen to the music of their harps (5:23b)

The Lord whom we worship is a God of justice and righteousness and He invites us all to perfectly implement justice and righteousness in our day-to-day life. The Lord God who hated the false worship and religious festivals of His chosen people, invited them to practice justice and righteousness in their day-to-day life (Amos 5:24):

• • • The Lord commanded His people to let justice roll on like a river (5:24a)
    • The Lord commanded His people to let righteousness roll on like a never-failing stream (5:24b)

As the chosen people of the New Testament, we are invited by our Lord and savior Jesus Christ to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27a), and love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27b); and practice justice and righteousness in our dealings with others (Psalm 33:5; 89:14; 103:6; 146:5-9; Amos 5:24). Apostle Paul wrote: Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Ephesians 5:1-2).  And so, as the New Testament believers:

• • We are all called to live a life that is worthy of God’s calling on us (Ephesians 4:1-6)
  • We are all called to walk before God faithfully (Genesis 17:1)
  • We are all called to be men/women of integrity (Job 2:3)
  • We are all called to lead/guide others with integrity of heart (Proverbs 11:3; 1 Peter 3:16)
  • We are all called to be blameless and upright before God (Job 1:1, 8)
  • We are all called to fear God and shun evil (Job 1:1, 8)
  • We are all called to be gentle and humble (Matthew 11:29; Ephesians 4:2)
  • We are all called to live at peace with God and His creation (John 14:27; Romans 12:18; Ephesians 4:3; Hebrews 12:14)
  • We are all called to obey God’s commands wholeheartedly (Psalm 100:2; 119:33-34;
  • We are all called to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly before God (Micah 6:8)
  • We are all called to be ambassadors of Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:20-1)
  • We are all called to live in truth, righteousness, and justice (Psalm 85:10-13; Proverbs 21:3; Isaiah 56:1; Ephesians 6:14)
  • We are all called to be holy as our heavenly father is holy (Leviticus 19:2; 1 Peter 1:15)
  • We are all called to do good works (Ephesians 2:10; 1 John 3:18)

The prophecy of Amos carries an urgent message for the people of God during the Old Testament times (the people of Israel) and the New Testament times (the followers of Jesus Christ / the church). The Lord our God whom we worship is a God of justice and blessings – He blesses us materially and spiritually. As the receivers of God’s blessings, we are commanded to share our blessings with others who are in need (Deuteronomy 15: 7-8; Proverbs 19:17; 22:9; 2 Corinthians 9:6-8, 10-11). The writer of Hebrews also encouraged his readers to do good and share the blessings with others: Do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased (Hebrews 13:16). These blessings are not to be kept for ourselves alone but must be shared with others who are in need, especially those who are underprivileged, downtrodden, and disadvantaged, as James stated in his writings: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world (James 1:27). May the Lord Almighty bless us all! Amen!