20160111 Monday, January 11 2016
Amos 02: Israel's Neighborhood Roots

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the Law of the LORD, and have not kept His Commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked"

The Book of Amos opens (see What Did The Prophet Of The LORD From Tekoa Say?) with a stark warning, not only to Israel and Judah, but also to the nations around Israel and Judah - including Syria, Gaza, Lebanon, Jordan, Arabia - who witnessed, the easy way, or experienced, the hard way, the LORD's power and righteousness. They were included in the wrath because they were included in the promise of salvation.

The Kingdom of Israel was created by the LORD (see The Identity Of The LORD God and The LORD God Our Saviour) as an object-lesson prophecy of the coming Kingdom of God - in which people of all nations will become natural-born citizens (see What Was The Lesson Of John 3:16?) - if they repent and truly obey the LORD's Law (see Who Can Be Saved?).

As an integral basis of that prophecy, Israel was itself created from all of the nations of the "world," including:

Abraham was from Iraq (see the complete series of studies for Abraham, beginning with A Biography Of Abraham: The Genealogy Of Abram)

Nearly all of the Israelite tribal patriarchs (including Judah) were born in Syria, of 4 Syrian mothers (see A Biography Of Jacob: The Jacobites Of Syria and A Biography Of Jacob: When Jacob Became Israel).

The Israelite tribal patriarchs Ephraim and Manasseh were born in Egypt of an African / Egyptian mother (see The Adoption Of Ephraim and Manasseh).

Jews originated from the Israelite patriarch Judah and 2 Canaanite women (see The First Jews).

Ruth, a key ancestor of King David and the Messiah, was from the Arab Kingdom of Jordan (see Ruth: Building The House Of Israel)

The sons of Moses were born from Zipporah, an Arab / Midianite woman (see Moses And Zipporah).

So it was then that the LORD's rebuke to Israel and Judah, when they became corrupt, included the nations around them when they became hostile to the prophecy of salvation that was and is as much about them, and people of all other nations, as it is about Israelites.

"2:1 Thus saith the LORD;

For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime: 2:2 But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet: 2:3 And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the LORD.

2:4 Thus saith the LORD;

For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked: 2:5 But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

2:6 Thus saith the LORD;

For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes; 2:7 That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name: 2:8 And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.

2:9 Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.

2:10 Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. 2:11 And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD. 2:12 But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.

2:13 Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. 2:14 Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself: 2:15 Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself. 2:16 And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the LORD." (Amos 2:1-16 KJV)

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