Amos 1:3-5 Judgment Against Syria

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/18/2015 9:54 PM

My Worship Time                              Focus:  Judgment on the Gentile Nations PT-1(Syria)

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Amos 1:3-5

            Message of the verses:  “3 Thus says the LORD, "For three transgressions of Damascus and for four I will not revoke its punishment, Because they threshed Gilead with implements of sharp iron. 4 “So I will send fire upon the house of Hazael And it will consume the citadels of Ben-hadad. 5 “I will also break the gate bar of Damascus, And cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven, And him who holds the scepter, from Beth-eden; So the people of Aram will go exiled to Kir," Says the LORD.” 

            We looked at verse one in our last SD on Amos, but did not look at verse two so I want to quote that verse now and will make some comments on it tonight:  “1 The words of Amos, who was among the sheepherders from Tekoa, which he envisioned in visions concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 2 He said, "The LORD roars from Zion And from Jerusalem He utters His voice; And the shepherds’ pasture grounds mourn, And the summit of Carmel dries up.’”

            The Lord wanted to get the attention of the Gentile nations and so verse two says that He roars, and I would hope that will get their attention.  At this point I want to quote an endnote from Dr. Wiersbe commentary:  “How could Amos rightfully announce judgment to the Gentile nations that had never been given the Law of God?  On the basis of natural law and conscience (Rom. 1:18-2:16).  When humans brutally sin against each other, they sin against God; for humans are made in the image of God.  When Amos denounced the Jews, he appealed to the Law of God as sell (Amos 2:4).”

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “Eight times Amos used the phrase ‘for three transgressions and for four,’ a Jewish idiom that means ‘an indefinite number that has finally come to the end.’  God is long-suffering with sinners (2 Peter 3:9), but He marks what they do and His patience eventually runs out.  To try God’s patience is to tempt the Lord; and when we tempt the Lord we invite judgment.” 

            Now the first Gentile nation that Amos speaks about is Syria and he does that from 1:3-5, which we quoted above.  I would like to say that one of the emails that I get is from channel 2 news in Jerusalem and in one of the emails that I got yesterday from them there was a story stating that Israel may use ground troops to invade Syria as there has been much going on there for over a year with the organization ISRIS.  In April I read the newest book written by Joel Rosenberg entitle “The Third Target” and he spent much time looking at ISRIS before writing his book, and while he was doing research for it the world began to know who they were.  What we see in our text today may be ancient history, but it seems that the same thing is now going on in our world today as far as these same nations that Amos is writing about.

            As we look at these verse we know that Damascus was the capital of Syria and they were one of Israel’s greatest enemies, and for that matter in today’s world they still are.  What Amos is denouncing them for is ill treatment or better inhuman treatment of the Israelites who lived in Gilead, and Gilead was the nation East of the Jordan River that was given to two and a half tribes of Israel when they were about to conquer the Promised Land, so it belonged to Israel.  In w Kings 10:32-33; 13:1-9 God had called Syria to punish Israel, but they went to far in doing so and now God would punish them. 

            The following quote that Dr. Wiersbe uses in his commentary that we have used before is from Benjamin Franklin which he made at the Constitutional Convention:  “I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men.”  God see what is going on in this world even though many don’t believe He does and one day all the wrongs that are going on will be made right.

            In this first chapter and also into the second we see the phrase “I will send a fire” and this means that God is about to judge and as we look back in history we see that this is exactly what God did and the dynasty of the Syrian “King Hazael” ended; his son Be Hadad was defeated.  It was the Assyrians that God used to conquer them, so Amos’ prophecy came true.

8/18/2015 10:24 PM