5.1 SOCIAL JUSTICE – AMOS 2:6-8, 4, 5: 1-29, 9: 10-17, 8: 1-14

At the time Amos prophesied in Israel, his focus was on two aspects of Israel’s life. Social justice and true religion. The true worship of God had given way to immorality and hypocrisy in the worship of God. The Israelites had forsaken the laws of Moses. God was very annoyed and sent his prophet Amos to warn the people.

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AREAS OF SOCIAL DECAY WHICH AMOS ATTACKED

1. The judges themselves who were supposed to be custodian of justice were totally corrupt.
2. As a result of the judges’ corruption the poor could not seek redress in the courts. They were instead robbed of justice and justice was given to the highest bidder- the wealthy.
3. The poor were occasionally robbed of their properties when they could not fulfill their pledges.
4. The poor were exploited by the rich. The rich become richer by using false weights and measures while selling to the poor.
5. The rich built store houses and lived in luxury with money gotten from cheating the poor.
6. In spite of various forms of punishment like famine, drought, blight and mildew, locust infestation, depopulation, they still persisted.
7. The poor were humiliated and made to suffer unnecessarily.
8. Sexual immorality pervaded the social life of the people as there was indiscriminate sex. A man and his father could go into the same woman.
9. The rich slept on the garments taken in pledge from the poor. This was wrong because whatever was in pledge was supposed to be left untampered with until it was reclaimed. The same goes to the wine of those fined. But the rich drank such wine, in the house of God for that matter
10. Their women fed fat on the proceeds of their husband’s oppression of the poor. They drank wines from bowls; hence they are referred to as ‘’cows of Bashan’’.
11. Israel has turned into a nation that hates those who speak the truth and those who rebuke evil doers.

NATURE OF GOD’S PUNISHMENT

While Amos was busy warning the people to desist from their evil ways, he also pronounced to them unequivocally God’s punishment if they failed to repent. Amos therefore warned them that they should prepare for total doom. God would punish them as follows:

1.       The women of Samaria must go into exile ‘’with hooks’’ i.e fish hook. This means they would be exiled in a painful and humiliating manner.

2.       There will be wailing in the street squares and vineyards, signifying a very outrageous calamity which God will bring upon Israel.

3.       A nation will be raised by God that will conquer Israel and carry her into exile.

4.       Those who extort money from the poor will never live in the houses they built, neither shall they rear their vineyards.

5.       The hope of those exploiting the poor will be shattered and their feast turned to mourning.

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5.2 TRUE RELIGION AMOS 5:12-24

Alongside social justice which God demanded from Israel, was true religion because at that period, the worship of God had been adulterated with the worship of baal.

AREAS OF FALSE RELIGION WHICH AMOS ATTACKED

1. The people’s worship of God was ineffective, shallow and amounted to lip- service.
2. The two places of worship – Bethel and Gilgal were defiled.
3. Although the people fulfilled the physical obligation of worship – sacrifice, payment of tithes and others. These were not accepted by God because the land had been polluted by sin – The people were only hypocritical.
4. Israel mis-behaved by thinking that because they were God’s people, God would over –look their atrocities.
5. They wallowed in ignorance by thinking that those obligations of covenant which they made with God could be fulfilled by mere sacrifices.

WHAT AMOS REQUIRED FROM ISRAEL

1. Israel should seek God so they will live. (Amos 5:4)
2. They should not seek Bethel or Gilgal or Beersheba since all these places of worship will be brought to ruins worshiping God should be within and not outwardly.
3. Those who turn judgment to wormwood should desist from it.
4. They should hate evil and love good.
5. Justice should be established at the gate.
6. Righteousness should be allowed to reign like “an ever-flowing steam”.
7. The people should repent and go back to God for he may still forgive them.
8. True religion demands purity of heart, honest desires and faithfulness to God.

LESSONS TO LEARN

1. People should worship the Lord in Spirit and not mere outward expression of morality.
2. Payment of tithes and offering is meaningless if Christians do not live upright
3. Too much love of luxury and pleasure drags people into all kinds of evil and social vices.

5.3 DIVINE LOVE

THE LOVE OF GOD HOSEA 1,2,3 AND 4

God instructed Hosea to go and marry a harlot by name Gomer; this was to show the unfaithfulness of Israel to God. Hosea’s experience in the marriage was horrible. Gomer gave birth to a son and named him ‘’Jezreel’’ meaning God will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel. Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter named ‘’Not pitied’’ which meant God will no longer have pity on Israel. The third child Gomer gave birth to was a son named ‘’Not my people’’ meaning God had rejected Israel as his people just as they had rejected him as their God. It was after giving birth to these three children that Gomer went away leaving Hosea with the children and ran after her lovers. She was unfaithful. All attempts made by Hosea to plead with her and bring her back failed. Hosea sent her children to plead with her but she refused to come back home.

At last, Hosea, not knowing what else to do, divorced her. Eventually, however, he reclaimed her back to himself. At this period, just like the days of Amos, the worship of baal thrived in Israel. Several times God pleaded with Israel to forsake baal and worship him: they still refused. God had the hope of bringing them back one day to himself.

Hence, Gomer’s adultery is a symbol of Israel’s adultery. They were making sacrifices to Baal. The messages of Hosea portrayed God as Israel’s husband and Israel as the unfaithful wife Just as Gomer refused to come back to her husband and her husband decided to divorce her, Israel would as well face total ruin if they failed to repent. As a husband, God expects Israel to show that faithfulness which a wife owes her husband, failure of which, she will be divorced finally (she will be ruined).

One striking similarity in the message of both Amos and Hosea is God’s willingness and readiness to accept his people back, if they repent genuinely.

MAN’S RESPONSE TO GOD’S LOVE HOSEA 6:1-11,14

God genuinely loves man. He is faithful to man in all forms. He makes provisions for man to enjoy. Man, on his part, is not faithful. Many people pretend as if they love God, but their relationship with God is questionable. They only go to God when they feel they have a problem just to know whether God will solve the problem or not. Some even make vows and pledges to God once God solves the problem, they will not only default in paying the vow, they will go back to their sinful life. This was the case with the Israelites. Many of them do not have genuine love in their mind.

No man can trick God. God is a spirit and whoever worships him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Apparently, God knows the wickedness of their heart. This is the reason why He makes it clear what He needs from them. He says He desires steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. The people think they can win God by their numerous sacrifices without holiness and righteousness.

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LESSONS TO LEARN

1. Many Christians today, in their relationship with God, play the role of a harlot. God is faithful to them but they are not faithful to God.
2. Many are in the church, not because they love God, but because of material gain. Once they get it, they forsake God.
3. Once people forsake God, God forsakes them and calamity takes over their life, just as the Israelites go into captivity because they forsake God.
4. Christians cannot use tithes and offering to appease God. What God requires from his children is steadfast love and faithfulness.

5.4 HOLINESS AND DIVINE CALL (ISAIAH 6:1-13; EZEK. 2; 3:1-11; JER. 1:4-10)

Holiness refers to a state of being pure and sacred. It is a state of purity, blamelessness and without blemish. Holiness is an essential attribute of God who is an example of perfect purity and he enjoins us to imbibe and demonstrate this virtue in our lives.

ISAIAH’S VISION OF THE HOLINESS OF GOD (ISAIAH 6:1-7)

In the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah had a vision of the holiness of God in the Jerusalem temple. He saw the Lord sitting upon a throne (high and lifted up). His train filled the temple. The Seraphim stood above. Each had six wings; two covered his face, two covered his feet and with the last two, he flew. Isaiah had the angels shouting: Holy! Holy!! Holy!!! is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of your glory.

The whole temple was filled with smoke and the glory of God manifested. As Isaiah stood face to face with God’s holiness, he realized that he was unholy before God and the whole nation of Israel too. He knew that he was unworthy to see and behold the state of holiness of God and so he cried out: “woe is me for I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Lords”.

In order that Isaiah might attain a status of holiness, one of the angels flew to him with a burning coal in his hand which he took from the altar and touched Isaiah’s lips and said: “behold this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sins forgiven. Isaiah was cleansed and this made him holy in God’s sight.

ISAIAH’S TEACHING ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD (ISAIAH 1:10-20)

Isaiah discovered that though Israel believed in God that their hearts were far away from God. They had separated morality from religion and thought that the demands of the Lord could be met by worship and sacrifices. The leaders of the people were corrupt and the people too were corrupt. Isaiah referred to these corrupt leaders as Rulers of Sodom because they were leading a people as corrupt as Sodom. The people believed that no matter how corrupt or immoral or wicked they were, once they worshiped and sacrificed to the Lord, God was pleased with them and their sin offerings. Hence there was regular worship and sacrifices to God. The Sabbath days like the new moon and other solemn assemblies were well observed. Isaiah told them that God was not pleased with their shallow religiosity and this was most detestable, objectionable and hateful before the Lord and that God would no longer tolerate immorality, false worship and vain sacrifices.

The Lord was so disturbed by their hypocrisy, wickedness and immorality that he would no longer listen to them when they called upon him. And so, Isaiah preached to the people on the holy and righteous ways of living. He advocated a call for national repentance and an amendment to their ways of life. He told them that God said: “wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil… though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, defend the fatherless, and plead for the widow”.

He concluded by telling them that if they repented of their bad behavior, all would be well with them but if not, destruction awaited them.

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DIVINE CALL

Divine call is the God’s anointing and commissioning of his servants to perform a particular task in the life of man and man’s relationship with God. This entails serving God as a prophet, a priest, a pastor. All those who are called by God must be holy and those who receive the message must strive towards holiness.

THE DIVINE CALL OF ISAIAH (ISAIAH 6:8-13)

The divine call of Isaiah took place immediately after his vision of the holiness of God in the Jerusalem temple. After his sins had been forgiven and had been made holy, Isaiah had the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall we send, and who will go for us?” Then Isaiah replied: “Here I am, send me.” Thus, Isaiah’s call consisted in God asking whom to send and Isaiah requesting God to send him.

God gave message to Isaiah for the Israelites: “Hear and hear, but do not understand; see and see but do not perceive; make the heart of this people fat and their ears heavy and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turned to be healed”

When the prophet demanded to know how long this hardening of the people would last, the Lord replied: “until the cities lie waste without inhabitants and houses without man and the land utterly desolate and the Lord removes men far away and the forsaken places in the midst of the land. And though a tent remains in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains standing when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump”.

Isaiah was called by God to speak to a people whom his words would only harden, until desolation and exile should fall again and again. And after the devastation and exile, a remnant shall survive to make a new beginning.

5.5 THE DIVINE CALL OF JEREMIAH

Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, a priest of Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin. His call to prophetic office came in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, King of Judah. His prophetic office covered the reigns of Josiah, Jehoiakim and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah. He also prophesied to the Jews in exile.

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying: “before I formed you in the womb, I knew you and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations”. Jeremiah said he was incapable of discharging the assignment because he was too young and unable to speak. God assured him of his direction and guidance concerning how to go about the mission, what to say and where to go. The Lord further put forth his hand and touched Jeremiah’s mouth and said to him; “behold, I have put my words in your mouth; and have set you this day over nations and kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

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THE DIVINE CALL OF EZEKIEL (EZEK. 1; 2; 3:1-11)

Ezekiel was the son of Buzi and one of the exilic prophets. While in exile in the land of the Chaldeans at River Chebar, he had the vision of the likeness of the glory of God. Ezekiel was frightened by the vision and fell upon his face and the Lord spoke to him saying: “son of man, stand upon your feet and I will speak with you”.

Ezekiel on hearing the voice of God was filled with the spirit and he stood firmly on the ground to listen to the voice. The Lord commissioned Ezekiel to go and prophesy to Israel in exile that he described not only as rebels but also as impudent and stubborn. God however, knew the difficulty involved in prophesying to stubborn people. God told him that whether the people heard or not, they would know and feel that there had been a prophet among them. Ezekiel was not to be afraid of them or their words and he was not to be afraid of them or their words; he was not to be terrified at their looks as though they were scorpions.

The content of God’s message to Ezekiel was committed to writing in a scroll. God thereafter gave him the scroll to eat, and a voice said: “Son of man eat what is offered before you, eat this scroll”. The scroll whose front and back contained words of lamentation and woes, tasted very sweet; as sweet as honey. Having eaten the scroll, God directed him to go and speak His words to the people of Israel who were of a hard forehead and of a stubborn heart and that he had been prepared and fortified to face the people with courage.

SIGNIFICANT LESSONS

1. The holiness of God requires that the children of God should be holy
2. God’s call comes in different ways and experiences
3. We ought not to separate religion from morality
4. God does not call the qualified but qualifies the call
5. God hardened the heart of the Israelites because they had deliberately refused to obey the word of God.
6. God is a merciful God and that was why he spared a remnant to make a fresh start.
7. As God’s prophet, we must preach what God has asked us to speak and not our own word