Amos: Man’s Inhumanity To Man

by JONES, C. | Category: Minor Prophets? Major Issues! | Dec 2006

Mankind’s seemingly inexhaustible capacity to inflict hardship, suffering, injustice and death upon fellow men, women and children is staggering in its scope. Historians have estimated that up to 170 million people have died at the hands of their own brutal, repressive governments during the 20th century, with the worst culprits being China’s Mao Tse-Tung (up to 50 million) and Russia’s Joseph Stalin (over 20 million). Quite apart from the consequences of internal or external conflict amongst nations, the inhumane treatment of men, women and children can be seen in many other areas, where the deliberate inaction of governments, organisations, businesses and individuals leads to poverty, famine and disease - whilst those who possess more of the world’s material benefits look on in apparent indifference. Such indifference is chillingly summed up by Joseph Stalin: "A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic."

It may seem to us that such inhumanity is indeed a 20th century phenomenon - or at least that the 20th century has produced ever more sophisticated and subtle ways in which to inflict it. However, some 750 years before the birth of Christ, God raised up a humble shepherd, Amos, commissioning him as a prophet of God, with an uncompromising message, warning of judgement upon nations who had committed atrocities comparable in their brutality to those we identify in our own recent history (ethnic cleansing, rape, murder, genocide – see chapter 1). This message was also to be taken to those whom God had chosen as His own people, to whom He had promised special privileges and blessings and of whom He expected justice and righteousness to be characteristic of their individual and national consciousness, guiding their actions and policies, setting them apart as an example to the nations round about.

God’s chosen people - both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah - had sinned grievously against the Lord, in particular in regard to their mistreatment of the poor and less fortunate (Amos 2:6-8; 4:1; 5:11-12). The nation at this time was very prosperous and it seems evident that this prosperity was only enjoyed by the rich, whilst the poor suffered. The rich became richer and consequently more self-indulgent and decadent in their pleasures – well-appointed houses (5:11), easy living at the expense of others (6:4-6). All this was an affront to God, who, in entering into covenant relationship with His chosen people, made careful and specific provisions for the poor of the community (Lev.19:9-10, 15; Deut.15:7-11; 24:14-15, 17-22). On top of all this, they had rejected the law of the Lord and had not kept His statutes; their observance of feasts and offerings of sacrifices were empty gestures, devoid of meaning in their own hearts and consequently despised by the Lord Himself (5:21-23). The people had consistently ignored the warnings of impending judgement and now the time had finally come when the Lord had no other option but to bring them into captivity.

As God’s people today, there remains for us an expectation from the Lord that a sense of social justice and compassion should characterize our community. In his letter, James warns against an attitude of snobbery and class distinction (James 2:1-9) and also cries out against all those who abuse their wealth and status at the expense of others (James 5:1-6). Whilst we naturally recoil from the more brutal examples of man’s inhumanity to man, and decry the wickedness that motivates such violence, it is nevertheless possible that the underlying attitudes that often reside in the hearts of those responsible for such atrocities may be in evidence in us, albeit subtly; a certain sense of superiority, of partiality towards some people as opposed to others, of not wanting to associate with those who aren’t in our ‘class’, of vanity and the desire for recognition and attention. We do well, therefore, to remember Paul’s words to the believers in the church of God in Corinth, ‘For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many ... noble; but God has chosen the ... weak things of the world ... and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen’ (1 Cor.1:26-28).

As with God’s people of old, we have a high and privileged calling and the Lord expects that those who are His chosen ones, above all others, should outwardly reflect His own nature of love, kindness and compassion in their dealings with each other, and with their fellow men, women and children. We are to prove the genuineness of our discipleship by our love and to manifest ‘the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ’ (2 Cor.2:14,15).

JONES, C. | Dec 2006
Minor Prophets? Major Issues!