At more or less the same time as Hosea, during the era of the latter kings of Israel, the prophet Amos homed in on the rebelliousness of the northern kingdom. He did this in a rhetorically interesting way, by starting with declarations of the sins of various 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, I:11, 1:13, 2:1). In each case some specific transgression is named for that particular nation, and God’s judgment against them is proclaimed. Rhetorically, this motivates the hearers to say, “That’s right! Boo on them! 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 particularly well among Amos’s hearers in Israel: 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!

But after the people of Israel have had this practice in recognizing Yahweh’s righteous judgment on the sins of others, the hammer then comes down directly on Amos’s audience:

“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—those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned; they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge” (2:6-8).

In our present day 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’s plan for us is purity of heart in every aspect of our lives: we have a hard time getting that holistic idea, but Amos uses examples of both kinds of sin, economic and sexual, and calls Israel – and us – to repentance.

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Grant us a longing for yourself, O Lord, a longing great enough to move us to repentance in every area: 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.

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