No Escape from God’s Judgment

Amos 2:1-16 

1 Thus says the LORD:
"For three transgressions of Moab, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime.

2 But I will send a fire upon Moab,
And it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth;
Moab shall die with tumult,
With shouting and trumpet sound.
3 And I will cut off the judge from its midst,
And slay all its princes with him,"
Says the LORD.

[Judgment on Judah]

4 Thus says the LORD:
"For three transgressions of Judah, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they have despised the law of the LORD,
And have not kept His commandments.
Their lies lead them astray,
Lies which their fathers followed.

5 But I will send a fire upon Judah,
And it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem."

[Judgment on Israel]

6 Thus says the LORD:
"For three transgressions of Israel, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they sell the righteous for silver,
And the poor for a pair of sandals.

7 They pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor,
And pervert the way of the humble.
A man and his father go in to the same girl,
To defile My holy name.

8 They lie down by every altar on clothes taken in pledge,
And drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.

9 "Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them,
Whose height was like the height of the cedars,
And he was as strong as the oaks;
Yet I destroyed his fruit above
And his roots beneath.

10 Also it was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt,
And led you forty years through the wilderness,
To possess the land of the Amorite.

11 I raised up some of your sons as prophets,
And some of your young men as Nazirites.
Is it not so, O you children of Israel?"
Says the LORD.
12 "But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink,
And commanded the prophets saying,
'Do not prophesy!'

13 "Behold, I am weighed down by you,
As a cart full of sheaves is weighed down.

14 Therefore flight shall perish from the swift,
The strong shall not strengthen his power,
Nor shall the mighty deliver himself;
15 He shall not stand who handles the bow,
The swift of foot shall not escape,
Nor shall he who rides a horse deliver himself.

16 The most courageous men of might
Shall flee naked in that day,"
Says the LORD.

There is no escaping judgement.  Nobody can deliver himself.  All will be held accountable for their idolatry and immortality.  That is the consistent message of the LORD God of Israel and all His chosen children across the scriptures.  Moab is first added to the list of other nations from chapter one and then Judah and Israel are taken to task and given their sentences here.  Yes, the fire of God’s wrath on sin is handed onto Judah first, likely because they had held onto their LORD longer than the northern kingdom of Israel.  Faithful Judah had come to despise the word of God and substituted lies for His commandments to justify their sliding away from righteous into outright rebellious sin against Him and their calling to be holy because He is holy (Leviticus 19:2, 1 Peter 1:16) as His children.  Their lies led them astray because they did not hold their ship to the good and true set course of His word.  As for Israel, they persisted in perverting their ways in all manner of sexual immorality that was even unheard of among the ungodly like that which was repeated in Corinthians 5:1.  They committed these atrocities before idols of false gods in defiance of the LORD as if to further reject Him and His word, becoming like the immoral nations which they were commanded to eliminate (Deuteronomy 7:2, 4, 6, 11) when entering their promised land.  It was to be a cleansed land for righteousness to reign and they instead assimilated into the ones they allowed to remain along with their gods and sins.  Such was the cost of disobedience in breaking the covenant which the LORD had graciously made with them.  God reminded Israel how He had defeated their enemies and led them out of the bondage of Egypt which was symbolic of sin’s bondage of their souls.  He also reminded them of their forty years of wandering in the wilderness because of their disbelief before entering that promised land as a reminder of the consequences of returning to that sin.  They corrupted their vows as the example of wine to the Nazirite to undermine their commitment to God and threatening the prophets to remain silent because they no longer wanted to hear God’s word.  We must beware lest we fall into similar traps of sin which deceives us into only hearing the parts of the scriptures we like or that don’t make us feel accountable to God (1 Corinthians 10:6, 11).  Just like Israel, we cannot deliver ourselves by our strength of works to fight against the grace of God in Christ.  We are saved and sanctified in Him only.  Let us trust Him fully and lean not on our own understanding with vain attempts to save ourselves or to be more like Jesus Christ in our own efforts apart from that grace (Zechariah 4:6, Philippians 1:6, 2:12-13).  We remember how He suffered and died for our reconciliation and was raised as the promise for eternal forgiveness and never ending life in His kingdom that is far greater than Israel or Judah on this earth.  We who have believed and received Him have already escaped judgment.  There is no escape from God’s Judgment apart from the way God has provided.