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aside the needy in the gate.... it is
an evil time" (Amos 5:
12-13).
Bribe-taking was commonplace.
Political leaders could be bought
and sold. When in government of–
fice- "in the gate"-these leaders
were unwilling to dispense social
justice; the "little man" bore the
brunt of sueh corruption and lack of
character.
Soclallnjustice
Amos Jived in a day when the rights
of the poor were made a mockery.
Only those who could buy their way
out of trouble escaped política! op–
pression. The self-indulgent, hard–
drinking wives of política! leaders
were instrumental in grinding the
poor into the dust of Israel. Amos
ship had become hollow, mean–
ingless vanity. The people erro–
neously measured righteousness
quantitatively instead of qualita–
tively.
These endless ritu als-though
originally commanded through
Moses- had become a stench in the
nostrils of God because of hypoc–
risy. They had become nothing
more than hollow proceedings with–
out Tea! meaning. Spiritually, that
ancient nation was bankrupt. There–
fore God said through His prophet:
" I hate, 1 despise your feasts, and 1
take no delight in your solemn as–
semblies.... Take away from me
the noise of your songs .. . I will not
listen. But Jet justice roll down like
waters, and righteousness like an
"For 1 know how many are your transgressions, and how great are your
sins- you who . .. turn aside the needy in the gate." (Amos 5: 12)
minced no words in addressing
them: "Hear this word, you cows of
Bashan, who are in the mountain of
Samaria, who oppress the poor, who
crush the needy, who say to their
husbands, 'Bring, that we may
drink!' ... the days are coming upon
you, when they shall take you
away ... with fishhooks ..." (Amos
4: 1-2).
Their husbands turned "justice to
wormwood" and "cast down righ–
teousness to the earth" (Amos 5:7).
So greedy for wealth were the
leaders that they could hardly wait
for the end of the traditional holy
days to resume their corrupt money–
making activities. As always, the
small and powerless citizen was the
victim: "Hear this , you who trample
upon the needy, and bring the poor
of the land to an end, saying, 'When
will the new moon be over, that we
may sell grain? And the sabbath,
that we may offer wheat for sale,
that we may make the ephah small
and the shekel great, and deal de–
ceitfully with false balances, that we
may buy the poor for silver and the
needy for a pair of sandals, and sell
the refuse of the wheat?'" (Amos
8:4-6.)
It
was the day of the Almighty
Shekel. Everything was for sale.
22
Even the "falling off'' of the grain,
normally given as fodder for ani–
mals, was sold to the poor for ex–
orbitant prices. The poor became
yet poorer, and many were forced to
sell themselves into slavery in order
to survive. Mea_nwhile the idle rich
became richer, at the expense of the
working classes. In addition to their
preoccupation with pleasure-seek–
ing pursuits, the wealthy classes in–
volved themselves in elaborate
religious rites and ceremonies,
which represented a kind of spiri–
tual insura_nce policy and gave
them a feeling of being right with
God.
But God was not pleased with
their rites or their wrongs! They
were denying the true essence of the
faith and replacing it with elaborate
ceremonies and traditions. Isaiah-a
contemporary of Amos-said: "This
people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips, while
their hearts are far from me, and
their fear of me is a commandment
of men learned by rote . · .." (Isa.
29:
13).
God wanted justice and righ–
teousness more than He wanted
songs and ceremonies. He de–
manded peace instead of pageantry.
The outward forms of religious wor-
everflowing stream" (Amos
5:21-
24).
A Message for Today
The same God who sent Amos to
Israel still sits on His throne in
heaven looking out over the nations
here below. Sin is no less sinful
today than it was in Amos' time.
Social injustice, the oppression of
the poor, graft, bribery, corruption,
crime and violence are every bit as
abhorrent to God today as they
were in the eighth century B.C.
Today's religious ceremonies–
often masquerading as Christian,
but unaccompanied by true righ–
teousness and justice-are often
every bit as hollow and meaningless
as those of ancient Israel. The sheer
volume of violence in today's "civ–
ilized" and supposedly Christian so–
cieties is as much a stench in the
nostrils of God as it was when the
herdsman ofTekoa walked the trails
of the northern kingdom.
So long as modern politicians can
be bought and sold, corrupted by
political ambítion, or induced to
tread on the rights of the poor, they
are no better than the self-indulgent
women of Bashan or the "husbands
in the gates" described by Amos. So
long as crime-organized and
The
PLAIN TRUTH February 1978