Intro to Old Testament
November 12, 2012
Hermeneutical Assignment
Amos was a prophet from the early 8th century and of Judah who had visions of what was to become of Israel. He spoke to the people of Israel of the vision that God had given him and what he said. “This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. (NIV Amos 2:6) They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name. (NIV Amos 2:7) They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. In the house of their god they drink …show more content…
In that time you were either very rich or just really poor. Amos explained to them that God was condemning Israel for five specific reasons that were displeasing him. To start off, the poor were being sold as slaves, only for their own benefit and greed. Secondly, they exploited and oppressed the poor and denied them justice. The wealthy treated them like dirt and didn’t care for them, as God would want them to. So the rich people were giving extra tithes, and would go to places of worship to offer sacrifices, but they were still taking advantage of the poor and helpless and that made them greedy and unjust. Today, we see this just about anywhere we go. There will always be poor, but there isn’t always someone to help them. People go to …show more content…
In these verses The Prophet is speaking the words the Lord had given him. The Prophet, through the Lord, is calling out upon the people of Israel specifically because they were the ones He brought out of Egypt. The Lord will punish them specifically because they are the ones he chose as his people and he had an even more specific charge over them. As is stated "You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities (NIV Amos