Series: Dog Daze
Deuteronomy 28:1-6 ESV
Amos 6:4 ESV
Amos 6:5 ESV
Amos 6:6 ESV
Amos 6:7 ESV
Amos 6:8 ESV
Yahweh God is a faithful God.
God made a promise to Moses and his descendants. It was a solemn promise.
According to what the children of God were told at the time of Moses in Deuteronomy 28:1-6, “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.”
The promise said if you are faithful to God and His commandments then:
God will set you above all the nations.
The children of God will be blessed in the city.
The children of God will be blessed in the field.
You shall be fruitful and multiply both in the womb and with your cattle.
Your basket and your kneading bowl will be blessed.
You will be blessed when you come in and when you go out.
…and God was faithful to keep His promise.
Yet at the time Amos was Prophet in the 8th Century, he wrote in Amos 6:4: “Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall.” God saw His children who were lazy and self-indulgent.
In Amos 6:5 God saw His children, “sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music.” In other words unlike a David who sang praises to the Lord, they made up idle silly songs.
In Amos 6:6 God saw they were children,”who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!” The children of God were drunken fools and they used the finest oils to anoint themselves for pleasure. They did not think of God or His commandments. They thought only of themselves and their pleasure.
And in Amos 6:7 God promised, “Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.”
In Amos 6:8 the prophet Amos proclaimed, “The Lord God has sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts: “I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.”
Go back to Deuteronomy 28:1-6.
They were not faithful to God but were faithful to themselves and their own pleasures. They forgot God’s commandments.
Because (remember God’s promises) they were not faithful they would not be above the nations.
Because they were not faithful they will not be blessed in the city and in the fields.
Because they were not faithful they would not be fruitful and their livestock
would not be fruitful.
Because they were not faithful their basket and their kneading bowl would not be blessed.
Because they were not faithful they will not be blessed when they come in and when they go out.
God was faithful.
They were not faithful.
Because they were not faithful they were exiled. In 597 BCE thousands (estimated to be 7,000) Jews were deported to Mesopotamia. Then after the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple more Jews were exiled in 587 BCE. It is known as the Jewish Diaspora.
The Prophet Amos (among others) warned the exile would come.
They were warned by Moses, Micah, Habakkuk, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Daniel.
Spiritual Practice: Listen to God
Spend time listening to God. Ask what God has for you.
In God, Deborah
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