Amos 5

I think that the prophet Amos in these passages says it all. We must do what the Lord requires of us. We must Be Fair, Love Mercy and Walk Humbly with our God. To oppress the poor, to think we are above others is abhorrent to God. To turn aside justice and equality for all is the beginning of the end of a nation or a people that calls upon God as their Savior. God hates pride and arrogance
and does not tolerate building wealth upon the misery of others.

4 For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:

"Seek Me and live;

6 Seek the Lord and live,

Lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph,

And devour it,

With no one to quench it in Bethel—

7 You who turn justice to wormwood,

And lay righteousness to rest in the earth!"

8 He made the Pleiades and Orion;

He turns the shadow of death into morning

And makes the day dark as night;

He calls for the waters of the sea

And pours them out on the face of the earth;

The Lord is His name.

10 They hate the one who rebukes in the gate,

And they abhor the one who speaks uprightly.

11 Therefore, because you tread down the poor

And take grain taxes from him,

Though you have built houses of hewn stone,

Yet you shall not dwell in them;

You have planted pleasant vineyards,

But you shall not drink wine from them.

12 For I know your manifold transgressions

And your mighty sins:

Afflicting the just and taking bribes;

Diverting the poor from justice at the gate.

13 Therefore the prudent keep silent at that time,

For it is an evil time.

14 Seek good and not evil,

That you may live;

So the Lord God of hosts will be with you,

As you have spoken.

15 Hate evil, love good;

Establish justice in the gate.

It may be that the Lord God of hosts

Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

18 Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!

For what good is the day of the Lord to you?

It will be darkness, and not light.

19 It will be as though a man fled from a lion,

And a bear met him!

Or as though he went into the house,

Leaned his hand on the wall,

And a serpent bit him!

21 "I hate, I despise your feast days,

And I do not savor your sacred assemblies.

23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs,

For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.

24 But let justice run down like water,

And righteousness like a mighty stream.

27 Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus,"

Says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

Warnings to Zion and Samaria

To whom the house of Israel comes!

The Study Bible says this: The land had been God's gift to Israel. By their faithlessness, the people had turned God's gift into the place of their death and burial. Rather than saving Israel, its armies would themselves be decimated. The house of Joseph here refers to the whole nation. On several occasions, the Israelites were encouraged to seek God by preparing their hearts for God through humble repentance. One of Amos's primary responsibilities as a prophet of God was to announce the "day of the Lord," the time of God's judgment of wicked Israel. The God who created and sustains the processes of all the universe surely can bring His judgment to bear, even upon the strong of the earth and their fortresses. Taxes were collected in kind from those with few resources of silver and gold. To take grain taxes from the poor was to put them at risk of starvation if the harvest had not been bountiful. Yet the rich and powerful had sufficient resources to build luxurious houses of hewn stone for themselves. God promised that the rich would not enjoy their luxury stolen from the lifeblood of the poor and powerless. Israel's leaders did not sin incidentally or furtively; they sinned brazenly and habitually, as though God had never revealed Himself and His standards of justice and mercy. The prophet interrupted himself, as it were, to plead with Israel to return to God and avoid the judgment He otherwise would bring upon them. Worshiping in the Lord's name, the Israelites invoked the Lord's presence with them in their spoken prayers and blessings. If they began to live as God had taught them in the Law, He would indeed be with them. A visit from God is a dreaded and mournful event for anyone not ready to meet Him. The popular theology of Amos's day apparently looked forward to the day of the Lord as the time of Israel's restoration to military, political, and economic greatness, perhaps to the greatness of the reigns of David and Solomon. Amos declared such hopes futile, even pitiable. What the people looked forward to as a day of light and triumph would rise upon them instead as a day of darkness and ruin. God had promised that if the Israelites honored Him with their lives, He would savor, accept, and regard Israel's sacrifices and hear their words. By stating He would no longer accept Israel's sacrifices or listen to them, God was rejecting Israel's worship as hypocritical, dishonest, and meaningless. God called for the honest tumult of the rolling waters of justice and the perennial stream of righteousness, the only foundation for true praise and worship of the Lord. Israel had not worshiped the Lord exclusively, even in the earliest wilderness days. At the time of Amos's prophecy, Israel and Judah together had enjoyed about a generation of military might and economic prosperity. It became natural for officials in Jerusalem and Samaria to regard themselves as notable persons. It was the boast of Israel's elite that
no other nation was greater than they were. Luxurious palace strongholds represented both the pride of Jacob in their own strength and the oppression of the powerless, whose stolen wealth had financed the construction of these palaces.