A co-worker mentioned over lunch yesterday that he just finished a round of jury duty where a personal injury lawsuit resulted in a substantial sum paid out to the plaintiff. During jury deliberations the co-worker, himself a devoted follower of Jesus, commented how other jurors were insistent that “justice” be served for the plaintiff. As the co-worker saw it, the plaintiff actually was responsible for the injury; not the defendant/company he worked for. The final rendering parsed out liability to all parties involved: some to the company who had to pay out to the plaintiff, some to a third-party vendor, and a portion of liability to the plaintiff due to his own negligence.
This reminded me that justice is the theme of the book of Amos (Parenthetically: When’s the last time you heard a sermon from Amos? When’s the last time you read Amos?). Things had gotten bad in the divided kingdom….really bad. Israel and Judah were about as corrupt as nations get. Kings, governors, citizens alike were dolling out one injustice after another to the poor and disenfranchised. Humanity was viewed as a mere means to one’s own profitable ends; and in the name of religion! Despite their material prosperity God’s people had become indifferent to justice for all.
We are told repeatedly that God is always long-suffering, patient, kind, and ready to forgive whenever we sin. Yet the book of Amos paints with a broader brush. One cannot read this inspired text without seeing the fact that God has lost his patience with his people. Enough is enough! As Sovereign Lord (38 times in nine chapters is God referred to as the “Sovereign Lord”) he is Judge of all. Syria, Philistia, Phoenicia, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Israel, and Judah all experience the limitations of God’s mercy.
On the one hand, it’s comforting to know that God judges others; when you are not part of the “others” God judges. But the sword of justice cuts both directions (how could it do otherwise and remain “just?”). Idolatry was not what provoked God in Amos; it was crimes against humanity. And it is not merely nations who are judged here. It is God’s people who are judged. More than models of nations who have turned a cold heart to the oppressed, Judah and Israel are, above all, models of God’s people. And, as God’s people they are the model for God’s Church. Possessing and believing in God’s inspired text does not exempt God’s Church from God’s judgement. It is obedience to the inspired text that God relents from judgement. Thus, what we do matters! The lesson: “Beware the fury of a patient God!”
Seek good, not evil,
that you may live.
Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you,
just as you say he is.
(Am 5:14)
Some of these observations are from Roy Clements’s Where Love & Justice Meet: The Truth of Amos for Today (out of print).
‘Things had gotten bad in the divided kingdom….really bad. Israel and Judah were about as corrupt as nations get. Kings, governors, citizens alike were dolling out one injustice after another to the poor and disenfranchised. ‘
Was William Lane Craig right when he said about his god that he had to order the Israelis (sic) to kill whole tribes of men, women and children as ‘It was His way of preserving Israel’s spiritual health and posterity. ‘
How did that work out for your god then?
Steven,
I’m not sure of the context around Craig’s comments so I’ll not say whether or not he was right. Nevertheless, a response to the concerns typically raised against God’s moral justification for some of the commands issued in the Old Testament, I highly recommend Paul Copan’s Is God a Moral Monster?.
P.S. He’s “your god” too, whether or not you agree ;-)