SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/19/2015
10:17 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Judgment of Philistia
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Amos 1:6-8
Message
of the verses: “6 Thus says the
LORD, "For three transgressions of Gaza and for four I will not revoke its
punishment, Because they
deported an entire population To deliver it up to Edom. 7 “So I will send fire upon the
wall of Gaza And it will consume her citadels. 8 “I will also cut off
the inhabitant from Ashdod, And him who holds the scepter, from Ashkelon; I
will even unleash My power upon Ekron, And the remnant of the Philistines will perish," Says
the Lord GOD.”
Now when we studied the books of
Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel we saw how much harm that those from Philistia
did to the children of Israel and now the Lord, through the prophet Amos says that
He will judge them and even mentions five key cities that will receive His
judgment, Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. The judgment comes because of their trading
in human lives as they had raided Jewish villages and captured people to be
sold as slaves. The Philistines would
sell these human slaves which they got from Israel to Israel’s greatest enemy,
the Edomites. Now remember that the
Edomites came from Jacob’s brother Esau and that fight began when those two
were still in the womb of their mother Rebecca.
Now as we read the Old Testament we
see that even in Israel slavery was practiced, however in the Law of Moses
there were guidelines on how they should be handled, and for sure the nations
around Israel were not practicing these laws set up by the Lord. Slavery was a very big problem in our country
for many years, and we can be sure that many slave traders did not treat their
slaves right. When Jesus was on earth He
did not speak out against slavery, nor did His apostles, but it is clear that
they wanted slaves to be treated in a right manor, and we can be sure that the
Philistines did not treat the slaves that they captured from Israel
rightly.
Dr. Wiersbe concludes “God’s judgment
on Philistia came in the days of King Uzziah (2 Kings 18:7-8) and the Assyrian
invaders under Sargon and the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar. The slave masters were themselves taken into
exile and slavery.” I have never seen
these words written in the Word of God, but I have seen the principles
there: “What goes around, comes around.”
8/19/2015
10:32 PM
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