We often forget that justice and righteousness are intimately woven into the fabric of God’s person. Jon Berquist writes, “YHWH’s rule will be made manifest, despite the cost that it carries to the people.”[1] The prophet Amos says it’s like fleeing from a lion only to run headlong into a bear—or reaching the safety of home only to be bitten by a snake when we believe to be safe. There is no escaping God’s justice and righteousness. And no amount of hiding behind ritual practices can take the place of trusting in His goodness and grace and faithful obedience to Him. Nevertheless, we see this dynamic at work in our churches today. Many of us drive our roomy cars to a sprawling church complex and park in spacious, paved lots outside magnificent church structures. Once inside, our taste senses are greeted with coffee and pastries. We are surrounded by plasma televisions bombarding our visual senses with church activities and coming attractions. Finally, we settle into comfortable stadium seating and worship to music of near-professional musicians utilizing world class lighting and sound systems (and fog machines!). We are taught by some of the most eloquent preachers of our time who tell us that God loves us and that Jesus died for us. After an hour (exactly one hour in many cases) we make our way to the car and head home thinking we’ve done our part in a spiritual transaction of sorts. This describes the spiritual life in its entirety of many in our churches today.
Lest you think this attitude and practice is something new, Amos experienced something quite similar in his day. Israel was looking forward to the "Day of the Lord" in the hopes that God would step in and elevate Israel above its adversaries and enemies. However, Israel in general, refused to acknowledge the unfaithfulness and disobedience of their own behavior. Instead, they brazenly believed that God would overlook Israel's sin while punishing the sins of their enemies. But no amount of worship, even elegant, verbose, or sincere worship, could hide their sin. Because Israel was unwilling to deal with their own sin, the "Day of the Lord" would prove to be a grim event for Israel during the time of Amos. Let's look at the text and see what it says:
Amos 5:18-27
18 Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? That day will be darkness, not light. 19 It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. 20 Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light—pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness? 21 “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. 22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! 25 “Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house of Israel? 26 You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god—which you made for yourselves. 27 Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is God Almighty.
I think some historical context is important before we begin to dig into this text. Amos was a prophet during the time of King Jeroboam of Israel in the north and King Uzziah of Judah in the south during the middle of the 8th century BC. This was a period of great prosperity for Israel and Judah. Unfortunately, the elite prospered at the expense of others. Small farmers that once farmed primarily for their own needs were now being forced to farm crops that brought the highest trading prices. At the same time, prosperity and trading with neighboring nations left Israel and Judah vulnerable to experiment and adopt the religious practices of those neighboring nations. This meant neglecting their obedience and faithfulness to YHWH. Also during this time Assyria was battling the forces of Damascus in the north on its way south to pay a visit to both Israel and Judah!
Many believe that Amos 5:18-27 forms a complete literary unit. Although it is part of a larger context within the book, it “still exists as an independent unit.”[2] This pericope forms one theme divided into three distinct parts:
Part 1 – vv. 18-20: This section includes the claim that the people are awaiting “the day of the Lord.” As previously stated, the people were clearly expecting that day to be a day of blessing and triumph for Israel. They seemed oblivious to the coming destruction. “This makes sense only if Amos is contradicting a popular expectation of a positive, beneficial day of YHWH. In that case, then Amos’ audience has been experiencing the beginnings of their own destruction…Amos 5:18-20 emphasizes prophetic contradiction of the people’s hope in the day of YHWH as a cure for their current distress.”[3]
Part 2 – vv. 21-24: This section focuses on Israel’s worship and sacrificial practices. The clear admonition of their worship and sacrificial practices is not intended to denounce the practice itself but the spirit of the practice. God seeks true justice and righteousness and that cannot be derived through worship and sacrifice alone but in complete obedience and faithfulness to God. Part 3 will demonstrate just how far removed Israel was in the spirit of their worship and sacrifices. Instead, they were using these practices as some kind of quid-pro-quo system with God.
“The seeking of divine favor through cultic excess appears so futile that God asks the people to desist, emphasizing the utter impossibility of cultic influence upon divine actions…God shows no interest in human activities that might render them acceptable. To the contrary, this passage asserts the futility of human attempts to earn God’s favor through any means, especially through acts of worship.”[4]
Part 3 – vv. 25-27: This section naturally progresses to the point of shining a bright light on the detestable practices of Israel. Not only do they claim to worship God but it is revealed that they also worship foreign gods! During their wilderness wandering, God proved himself faithful to Israel by caring for and protecting them. During that time, none of his care required sacrifices by the people. Now that they were finally in the land promised to them during their wilderness wandering, they could offer sacrifices to God to demonstrate their love and affection for him. However, they turned the cultic system into a means to an end while simultaneously worshipping foreign gods. Ultimately, God would not be mocked by their selfish acts of worship and proclaimed their impending doom.
There are a number of interesting interpretive and exegetical issues within this text that are worth noting:
Verse 18
“Woe” – This interjection carries with it the weight and “nature of a threat.”[5]
“The day of the Lord” – In scripture, this expression is used for the first time in the Book of Amos. No doubt, the people anticipated something great and triumphant associated with this day. However, “Amos did not share that hope. He knew that this ‘day of the Lord’ would be a day of ‘darkness, and not light’ for the Israelites who had rejected the truth. It would not be a time of victory for Israel over her enemies, but a time of victory for God over Israel.”[6]
“That day will be darkness, not light” – Amos’ use of this term is clearly metaphorical. Instead of a day of triumph and celebration filled with light and hope, it will be a day of judgment and sorrow filled with the darkness and despair of being taken into captivity.
Verse 19
“Bear” – Occurs as a pair with “lion” in places such as Proverbs 28:15, Lamentations 3:10 and 1 Samuel in the story of David. In all but one of these cases “lion” precedes “bear.” This is presumably intended to communicate that the latter is more fierce than the former as Hebrew poetry usually adds strength and precision to the second word in parallel lines.[7]
“As though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him” – This second part of verse 19 reinforces the first part that there is no escaping the coming judgment. Just when someone thinks they have escaped to the safety of their own home, they are bitten by a snake.
Verse 23
There have been some who have used this text as evidence against certain songs and instruments during worship. The text does not indicate anything inherently inappropriate about the music described in this verse. It seems to be part of the festivities described in verse 22. Consequently, because the activities of verse 22 are rejected, the activities of verse 23 are likewise rejected.
Verse 24
“But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream” – Some have translated “never-failing stream” as “mighty stream.” However, “The words ‘mighty stream’ cannot be found in any recent English translation of the Bible; all our contemporary versions recognize the Hebrew…instead means something like an ‘ever-flowing’ or ‘everlasting’ stream.”[8] The sense is not of something that grows or gets bigger but instead of something that always continues and advances. “Amos means: ‘Let true judgment be constant and not intermittent.’ This is one of Amos’ most effective similes drawn from his wilderness life.”[9]
Verse 25
This is a rhetorical question meant to be answered “No!” “If the prophet’s listeners had to concede that Israel did not offer Yahweh sacrifices in the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, which could be regarded as a time when the people were under the full care of Yahweh, they would be able to realize that sacrifices had no influence on Yahweh’s good will towards the people, and therefore were not a necessary part of the people’s worship of him.”[10]
There is some debate about this particular position with respect to whether there was or was not a mandate to offer sacrifices. However, some believe that this misses the point altogether insisting that “Amos does not refer at all to the question of whether Yahweh prescribed cultic laws to the people through Moses, but simply fastens on the fact that the wilderness period was in fact a time of God’s favour.”[11]
Verse 26
The difficulty in this verse lies in the translation of “shrine” and “pedestal.” Instead of translating the words as ‘shrine,’ ‘hut’ or ‘tent’ and ‘pedestal,’ ‘foot-stool’ or ‘statue’ respectively, “Originally it [“shrine”] certainly read Sakkut, which is an alternate name of the Assyrian and Babylonian god Ninib (Saturn). Similarly [“pedestal”]…is in reality a proper name for Kaiwan or Kewan, which also corresponds to the planet Saturn.”[12] I believe the use of Sakkut and Kaiwan respectively in the translation of this verse is the better translation of the Hebrew given the overall context. The Hebrews wanted to worship the celestial bodies while at the same time worshipping God who created the celestial bodies! It’s not difficult to see why God would be so upset. It is as ridiculous as a man sleeping with his neighbor’s wife and then going home and climbing into bed with his own wife and expecting her to ignore his behavior and instead be loving and accepting.
Verse 27
“Beyond Damascus” – This reference is assumed to imply Assyria since “This phrase in earlier days represented the climax of judgment, as did Babylon in later days.”[13] However, strictly speaking, “the Hebrew means ‘in a land which is farther than the town of Damascus.’ The actual distance is not important in the meaning, and it is not clear how far the people were to be taken beyond Damascus. Even if this is a reference to Assyria, such information should not be stated in the translation, since the author intends it to be vague.”[14] Nevertheless, it is interesting to note the irony that Israel would go into exile to become slaves to a nation whose gods they prostituted themselves to!
The trajectory of these verses make it clear that Israel wanted God’s blessing and protection as they looked forward to “The day of the Lord.” They worshipped and offered sacrifices to God but failed to address their own sins. They seemed to think that as long as they “performed” for God through their worship and sacrifices that God would somehow be obligated to overlook their disobedience and unfaithfulness (maybe they needed a fog machine!). Instead, their view of “The day of the Lord” and God’s view of “The day of the Lord” would be dramatically different in the face of the Assyrian military onslaught and subsequent exile.
Conclusion
I don't want to leave you with the idea that I'm opposed to worship--I'm not! In fact, I love worshipping God. My concern is that some have lost sight of what worship really means in its entirety. They think that worship is a “performance” that only happens on Sunday mornings. Emilie Griffin writes,
“Worship, it seems, is one of the ways we lose focus in our service to God. Distracted by pomp and circumstances, we fall in with false expectations of worship. We think large congregations are more impressive than small ones. We think renowned preachers are more important than simple ones. We plan our worship to impress others and to impress God. Most of all, we fall into ways of manipulating God. We judge the worth of our worship by what we ‘get from God’ rather than how we give ourselves to God.”[15]
The giving of ourselves in service to God and to humanity strikes at the very heart of what it means to worship and sacrifice to God. However, we continue to pretend to be obedient to God in our churches as we hide behind our well orchestrated worship services. We are quick to recognize, with raised hands and loud voices no less, that our way of worship is the best way. However, I wonder how many of us would just as quickly recognize the neighbor that is desperate to know someone loves them as they sit beside the hospital bed of their cancer stricken child? How many who enjoy the relative safety of their suburban neighborhoods have walked the dangerous streets of Juarez, Mexico caring for those innocently trapped in a society controlled by corrupt politicians and murderous drug cartels? How many who leave their happy and healthy babies in the church nursery have held a dying AIDS baby in a remote African orphanage? How many want God to deal with our neighbor’s sin but close His eyes to our sin? How many sit and stare weekly at the cross and still fail to take serious the fact that God demands justice and righteousness and no amount of church attendance and finery can satisfy that demand? How many realize the enormity of the cost associated with God’s justice and righteousness? Amos proclaimed to Israel that the cost of that justice and righteousness for their disobedience during his generation was that they would be forced into exile. Centuries later, God’s continuing demand for justice and righteousness would require the ultimate price—a price that only He could afford to pay. The Father sent the Son to pay the price that would fulfill God’s demand for justice and righteousness once and for all. Nothing we do, whether they are personal sacrifices or beautiful worship services, will fulfill God’s demand for justice and righteousness. That demand has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. As a result, those who put their trust in Christ are made just and right because of what Christ did on the cross. Being, therefore, made just and right, we are called to do what is just and right as well. And that, my friends, is sacrifice and worship that is acceptable to God as a sign of our love for and devotion to Him.
[1] Jon L. Berquist, “Dangerous Waters of Justice and Righteousness: Amos 5:18-27,” Biblical Theological Bulletin 23, no. 2 (Summer 1993), p. 59.
[2] Jon L. Berquist, “Dangerous Waters of Justice and Righteousness: Amos 5:18-27,” p. 58.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid., p. 87.
[6] Bernard Thorogood, A Guide to The Book of Amos, (S. P. C. K. Holy Trinity Church, Marylebone, London, 1971), p. 63.
[7] Robert Alter and Frank Kermode, eds., The Literary Guide to the Bible, (First Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1987), pp. 611-624.
[8] Susan Ackerman, “Amos 5:18,” Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 57, no. 2 (April 2003), p. 190.
[9] Cripps, Book of Amos, p. 198.
[10] Erling Hammershaimb, The Book of Amos a Commentary, (Schocken Books, New York, NY, 1970), p. 91.
[11] Ibid., p. 92.
[12] Ibid., p. 93.
[13] William Rainey Harper, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Amos and Hosea, (Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, NY, 1905), p. 138.
[14] Jan de Waard and William A. Smalley, A Translator’s Handbook on The Book of Amos, (United Bible Societies, West Germany, 1979), p. 124.
[15] Emilie Griffin, “The Hidden Way: Elijah & Authentic Worship,” Conversations: A Forum for Authentic Transformation 7.2, (Fall/Winter 2009), p. 70.
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