There are a number of examples in the Bible where individuals, who disobeyed God, received punishment or discipline, sometimes exceeding what one might consider as being reasonable. It’s evidence of how seriously God feels we should take the commandments He has given us, especially since these rules are for our good and not His.
There are as well examples of how He desires His laws to be followed by nations or institutions as well as by individuals. Deuteronomy (chapters 28-30) lists the blessings and curses that can follow when nations do or don’t obey God.
In addition, Amos summarizes three of these. First, he says that God curses Israel for their smugness and self-righteous attitude. They had built large places of worship, had many festivals, and offered sacrifices, appearing very religious, but in reality they were not knowledgeable about what the Scriptures really said. In addition, they had developed their own ways to worship, their own places of worship, and submitted to the leaders that they chose rather than the ones God chose for them. In response, God states in Amos 5:21&23 “‘I hate, I despise your feast days, And I do not savor your sacred assemblies’…‘Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.’” Today, it seems that anyone can become a church leader and can promote any type of worship that pleases them without any true regard for what God has said. In 1 Corinthians 11:17, Paul states: “Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse.”
Secondly, Amos tells about how complacent Israel had become and how secure they seemed to feel in themselves and surroundings. They seemed to be more concerned with having the finest of everything; wine, music, accoutrements, fragrances; the finest of everything except the finding of forgiveness. In effect, Amos talks about the destruction of the nation if such behaviour were to continue.
Thirdly, Amos curses Israel for being so proud. “…I abhor the pride of Jacob, and hate his palaces…” (Amos 6:8). All that the Israelites did, they attributed to their own resources rather than God’s beneficence, and as Phil Moore puts it: “Because they have forgotten that He is ‘the Sovereign Lord’, He will bring upon them such a devastating exile that they will learn to fear the very utterance of His name.”*
Smugness, self-righteousness, complacency, pride - these were the basis for the warnings put forward by Amos and others in the Old Testament, and in many ways are repeated again by Jesus in the Gospels. But these are still attributes which seem to exist today in ourselves and in many of our places of worship. Considering the changes that developed in Israel following the prophecies of Amos and others, perhaps it’s something that we ourselves and our leaders should be thinking more about.
*from Straight to the Heart of the Minor Prophets by Phil Moore pg 31
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