Someone one said that anyone who
likes either politics or sausage should carefully avoid seeing either being
made. I love sausage, and in my case, it certainly could be said that “ignorance
is bliss.” I don’t know exactly how sausage gets made, and I don’t want to
know. Ever.
The reason I bring up this rather
morbid segue is because of the 1st verse in today’s passage. Amos,
ever the picture of subtle criticism, compares the upper income ladies of
Israel to cows. Bashan was a region of Israel just east of the Jordan River and
the Sea of Galilee, and it was famous for its choice, pampered cattle. One of
my favorite comic strips was The Far Side,
and I remember seeing one in which cows are in a line leading to the
slaughterhouse, and one of them is cutting ahead of the others, and one of the
cows is yelling at the cutter “Hey, you! Get back to the end of the
line!”
You see my point. He was comparing
these wealthy women to cattle because they were pampered and supposedly had
their every need cared for, but they were just being prepared for the
slaughter.
And what specifically were they
guilty of? Well, they crushed the poor, oppressed the needy, and treated their
husbands with contempt. All they cared about was their luxurious lifestyle. And
that was going to come to an end very shortly and very painfully. The fish
hooks in the mouth were an extremely torturous way of carrying off prisoner of
war into exile. By the way, that was something in particular that Assyria was
famous for, and this was in fact the nation that the Lord used to punish Israel
and destroy her.
But what I’d like to focus on even
more sharply is what the prophet says about their worship. What did the Holy Spirit
think about it?
Well, he invited them to “Go to
Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin yet more.” Bethel and Gilgal were very sacred
in Israel’s history as places in which God intervened on their behalf. Bethel
was the place of Jacob’s famous dream,
and Gilgal was where all Israel was circumcised
as they entered the Promised Land.
They offered their tithes just like they
were supposed to, except they were supposed to be using unleavened bread most
of the time. However, leaven was used
in the thanksgiving offerings, which Amos references in vs. 5. Scholars are
divided as to whether he's condemning them for using leaven, but based on the
context, I don’t think so.
You see, the main issue wasn’t
following the correct formula. The main problem was the condition of their
hearts, which then overflowed into how they treated the poor and other people.
Now matter how often they went to
corporate worship or how often they sacrificed, God was not impressed. They
didn’t come with a right heart, and that was all-important.
You probably didn’t notice this, and
I certainly didn’t until commentators pointed it out to me. Do you notice anything
missing in his description of their worship? He lists thank offerings and
freewill offerings. What’s not there? Like the non-barking dog in the The Silver Blaze, it’s what’s missing
that’s all important.
There’s no sin offering mentioned here.
There’s no indication that they had any sense of how much they’d offended the
Holy God of Israel.
You see my friend, there’s
no true worship that he accepts until the sin issue is dealt with. Now
hopefully you know that just killing an animal and spilling its blood—even if
the ritual is performed perfectly—would not solve the problem. There had to be—as
Joel put
it—a rending of the heart. There had to be, there has to be, an acknowledgement
of the seriousness of our sin. That leads to confession, and there has to be a
blood sacrifice.
And of course all the blood of all
the animals in the Old Covenant were only shadows
of the one and only true sacrifice which would appease God’s wrath for all
time.
But for those of us who are
believers, who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, there’s still something
we need to consider: How’s our worship? Is it something he finds acceptable? Something
with which he’s pleased? Is the sin in our lives dealt with? If not, then what
are we doing?
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
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