God's Wrath: Amos 6:8-11
Because of the elite, all Israel faces God’s judgment. We do not live in a vacuum. Decisions I make impact the lives of others. Decisions others make impact me. It reminds me of Locard’s Exchange Principle: Every contact leaves a trace.
They say pride goes before the fall. God tells Amos He abhors the pride of Jacob. The pride of the Hebrew elite keeps them in their selfishness. They have an image to keep up. They have neighbors to compete with. They have a pecking order to manage and maintain. Pride makes the elite act like elite.
Since God has an issue with the elite among the people of Israel, He has an issue with their pride as well. The result of their pride is God’s promise to deliver them into their enemy’s hands. This also makes sense. The only cure for pride is humility; God plans to humble His people. The Assyrians will come for Israel and drag them away into exile.
When the Assyrians come, life will be bad. Things will be so bad the Hebrew people resort to cremating their dead rather than burying them. It’s possible this is because the Assyrian siege will force the people into the towns and there wasn’t enough space to bury the dead. It’s more likely that the Hebrew people were cremating their dead because plague and disease set in. When armies lay siege to a city, nothing gets in or out. Disease spreads. Death and decay breed more death and decay. In an attempt to curb the decay, the people burn their dead to destroy the diseased.
God promises things will be terrible in those days. When someone comes to burn the dead, those who remain will instruct people to not mention the name of the Lord. This isn’t a sign of rebellion. It is a sign of fear. The Bible teaches that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. When the Assyrians come and the disease of the siege spreads, God’s judgment will be so severe the people won’t mention God’s name out of fear that its mention will bring even more judgment! The Hebrew people will hide from God’s name because their guilt will be crystal clear. The Hebrew people will finally realize they cannot run from God’s righteousness.
At this point, Amos speaks once more of judgment. For one of the first times, Amos speaks about judgment on everyone and not just the elite. God will shake the great house into fragments and the small house into bits. When God’s judgment comes, all will get caught up.
This brings the conversation back to Amos’ condemnation of the elite. Yes, all people have sinned. Nobody earns their way to God. However, the lifestyle of the elite focuses God’s judgment upon Israel. The lifestyle of the elite corrupted the Hebrew society. Wealth trickled up, but corruption trickled down. Because of the elite, all Israel faces God’s judgment.
