Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20100418.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Amos: Heeding The Word Of The God Of The Whole World
Part II: Heeding God's Word To All Gentiles To Respect Human Life, Amos 1:3-2:3
A. Heeding God's Word To Respect Human Life Of Even Bitter National Enemies
(Amos 1:3-8 with Genesis 9:5-17)
  1. Introduction
    1. The Christian of all men is to regard all human life with respect, to see all life as existing in God's image.
    2. However, that can seem difficult if one considers the people groups who are his nation's bitterest enemies!
    3. Nevertheless, Amos 1:3-8 in its context directs the believer to respect the human lives of even his nation's worst foes, to seek to avoid destroying such lives, and we view that passage for application (as follows):
  2. Heeding The Word To Respect Human Life Of Even Bitter National Enemies, Amos 1:3-8.
    1. The predictions of judgment against Gentiles in Amos 1:3-2:3 are for their "transgressions" (KJV, ESV).
    2. However, that fact raises a question: how could Gentiles could be responsible before Israel's God for "transgressions", for the word "transgressions" in the Hebrew here is, pesha', "'rebellion' or 'revolt,' and it was used in secular treaties to describe a vassal's disobedience of the terms of a covenant"? (Bib. Know. Com., O. T., p. 1428) Yes, Israel was in covenant relation with God to heed the Mosaic Law, but one asks what covenant relation did Israel's God have with the Gentile pagans that THEY had violated?
    3. The answer is found in viewing the covenant arrangement God had with the world back in Genesis 9:5-17:
      1. In Genesis 9:5-17, God had told Noah and his sons, the forefathers of the world's nations (Genesis 9:1; 10:1-32) that He would never again destroy the world with a flood, that they were to practice capital punishment for murder and respect human life since it existed in the image of God, Genesis 9:5-6; Ibid.
      2. This arrangement was meant to prevent the violence that had led to the worldwide flood, Genesis 6:13.
      3. However, the world turned apostate in Genesis 11, and returned to its violence of man against man.
    4. So, in pronouncing judgment on the nations around Israel, God first condemned her bitterest Gentile foes, Damascus and Philistia (Ibid., p. 1427), for showing disregard for His image in man, Amos 1:3-8:
      1. The repeat charge of "For three sins of . . . even for four" used for each of the nations in Amos 1:3-2:6 is a poetic reference to seven sins, the number of completion (Ibid., citing Meir Weiss, "The Pattern of Numerical Sequence in Amos 1-2, A Re-examination," Journal of Biblical Literature 86. 1967:418), for all seven of Israel's sins are named in Amos 2:6-8. All these nations were ripe for judgment, Ibid.
      2. As such, God pronounced judgment on the Gentiles who were Israel's bitter foes, on Damascus and Philistia, for they were ripe for His judgment in showing disregard for His image in man, Amos 1:3-8:
        1. God pronounced judgment on Israel's bitter foes in Damascus for apparently actually driving sharp threshing sledges over prisoners taken from Israel in Gilead, mangling and destroying their bodies in great violation of God's Genesis 9 arrangement that man show regard for His image in human life, Amos 1:3. God then promised to cause another nation to burn the palace of Hazael, founder of the Syrian dynasty and ruler in Amos' day, to destroy the lock of the gate in Damascus so it could be invaded, by letting many of their people be slain and by sending some of them into exile, Am. 1:4-5.
        2. God pronounced judgment on Israel's bitter foe of Philistia for showing disregard for His image in man: the Philistines had captured whole communities of innocent people and sold them throughout the world for commercial profit through the horrible Edomite slave trade, Amos 1:6; Ibid., p. 1429. This practice was especially dreadful for Jewish captives due to the notorious hatred the Edomites had for them, Obadiah 10-12. However, this disregard for God's image in human beings by the Philistines would be met by judgment in God's sending destroyers to burn down Gaza's wall, to devour her strongholds, to kill the Philistines in Ashdod with her king, and to destroy the city of Ekron and cause the rest of the people of Philistia to cease existing as a nation, Amos 1:7-8.
Lesson: God calls all men to respect His image even in those who belong to nations that are bitter foes of their own lands, that they always show respect for their lives, their honor and human relationships.

Application: (1) May we love and respect all folk and their relationships, even those in nations that are bitter foes of our own, Romans 13:8. (2) May we disciple them along with others, Matthew 28:19-20.