The Cows of Bashan

Amos 4:1-3

1 “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’

2 The Lord God has sworn by his holiness that, behold, the days are coming upon you, when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks.

3 And you shall go out through the breaches, each one straight ahead; and you shall be cast out into Harmon,” declares the Lord.

The people of Israel were so incredibly self-satisfied and secure in their own prosperity that God compares the women to the cows that roamed the fields of the rich grazing lands of Bashan. At that time, those cattle were considered the fattest, healthiest, and laziest in the world. Clearly, not a compliment! And then God declares that they will, much to their surprise, be carried off into captivity, pulled along by hooks through their noses, which was how slaves were marched home to the land of their captors. This is an ugly prediction of future events. But, it falls on deaf ears.

Instead of just shaking our heads in derision at how foolish these people were, we always need to look within and see if we are wandering on the hillside of luxury and unaware of God’s Word into our lives. This is the message of the prophets. Look honestly at a your life and repent. Now, we’re only four chapters into Amos, and already the message seems to be a bit repetitive, right? Turn and look at your life and then repent. Turn back to God.

Why does the same story seem to repeat itself over and over and over throughout the Old Testament? The reason is that it seems to be very difficult for us to change. You know what it means to want to stop the sinful actions of your daily life, but then to find that extremely difficult to do. It is easy to feel like a failure in a walk of faith in the Lord. This is why Jesus was sent into the world, because we simply cannot save ourselves, no matter how much we want to be able to do that. Has the people during the time of Amos looked to the Lord and said, “We are sinners, please forgive us and take us back,” God’s response would have been immediate and grace-filled. He is always in the business of restoration and He will always choose mercy over wrath. Even on those wrath filled pages of Amos, where God likens the women to cows, He goal is restoration, just as it is for you.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Excusez-moi

Image
2 Kings 23:31-37 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-fiv
Read more

יהוה שָׁמַר--Yahweh Shamar (God Watches)

Image
Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. There are numerous passages I cling to when stress takes over my life. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but this psalm would come close. So this morning I listened to Psalm 121 about 20 times as I meditated through the verses. First, I want to point out that the word or idea of shamar appears in every verse expect 6. The NIV uses the word "watch" while the ESV uses "keep". The
Read more

Narrow Door

Image
Luke 13:22-30 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them , 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at tabl
Read more