One of the earliest of the writing prophets, Amos homed in on the rebelliousness of the northern kingdom, Israel. He did this in a rhetorically interesting way. He started by focusing on the situation of the neighboring nations. “Thus says the Lord: for three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment” (Amos 1:3) – and similarly for Gaza, for Tyre, for Edom, for Ammon, for Moab (1:6, 1:9, 1:11, 1:13, 2:1). In each case some specific sin is named for that particular nation, and God’s judgment against them is declared. Rhetorically, this motivates the hearers to say, “Yeah! That’s right! They totally deserve to feel the wrath of God smiting them!”

And then: “Thus says the Lord: for three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they have rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept his statutes” (2:4). This accusation against the southern kingdom would have played even better. The setup prompts the people of the northern kingdom to think, “Of course, all the heathen nations would get singled out for God’s judgment. But look at that: Judah – those self-righteous folks in Jerusalem who imagine they’re better than anybody else – they’re getting singled out for judgment, too!

And then the hammer comes down on Israel: “Thus says the Lord: for three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals – they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way; father and son go in to the same girl, so that my name is profaned; they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge” (2:4-5).

This may be a little challenging for us to parse, in our present day. Within contemporary society many of us have a strict attitude against sexual sins and a laissez-faire attitude concerning economic sins, while others of us have a strict attitude against economic sins and a laissez-faire attitude concerning sexual sins. God calls us to purity of heart in every aspect of our lives, but as a people we have a hard time getting that holistic idea. Amos’ rebuke against Israel calls for both economic and sexual repentance; will we have the courage to heed his warning?

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Grant us a longing for yourself, O Lord, a longing great enough to move us toward righteousness in every area of life. Point out to us our secret sins – the ones we want to pretend are not really there, and the ones we want to pretend are not really bad – and move us to repentance.