Bible Questions Answered:
“...did God actually tell people to
sin.....”
Trennen/ Mainz, Germany (Rhineland
Palatinate)
Bible Answer:
Bible Text:
Amos 4:1-13 NLT
1 Listen to me, you fat cows living in
Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, and who
are always calling to your husbands,“Bring us another drink!”
2 The Sovereign Lord has sworn this by
His holiness: “The time will come when you will be led away with
hooks in your noses. Every last one of you will be dragged away 0
like a fish on a hook!
3 You will be led out throu0gh the
ruins of the wall; you will be thrown from your fortresses,” says
The Lord.
4 “Go ahead and offer sacrifices to
the idols at Bethel. Keep on disobeying at Gilgal.
Offer sacrifices each morning, and
bring your tithes every three days.
5 Present your bread made with yeast as
an offering of thanksgiving. Then give your extra voluntary offerings
so you can brag about it everywhere! This is the kind of thing you
Israelites love to do,” says The Sovereign Lord.
6 “I brought hunger to every city and
famine to every town. But still you would not return to Me,” says
The Lord.
7 “I kept the rain from falling when
your crops needed it the most. I sent rain on one town
but withheld it from another. Rain fell
on one field, while another field withered away.
8 People staggered from town to town
looking for water, but there was never enough. But still you would
not return to Me,” says The Lord.
9 “I struck your farms and vineyards
with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured all your fig and olive
trees. But still you would not return to Me,” says The Lord.
10 “I sent plagues on you like the
plagues I sent on Egypt long ago. I killed your young men in war and
led all your horses away. The stench of death filled the air!
But still you would not return to Me,”
says The Lord.
11 “I destroyed some of your cities,
as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Those of you who survived were
like charred sticks pulled from a fire. But still you would not
return to Me,”
says The Lord.
12 “Therefore, I will bring upon you
all the disasters I have announced. Prepare to meet your God in
judgment, you people of Israel!”
13 For The Lord is the one who shaped
the mountains, stirs up the winds, and reveals His thoughts to
mankind. He turns the light of dawn into darkness and treads on the
heights of the earth. The Lord God of Heaven’s Armies is His name!
Before anything, we must have the
definitions of at least several words that are at work here.
IRONY:
The use of words to convey a meaning
that is the opposite of its literal meaning: the irony of her reply,
“How nice!” when I said I had to work all weekend.
(Dictionary.Com)
The use of words to express something
different from (and often opposite to) their literal meaning.
(The Free Dictionary-By Farlex)
Hyperbole:
Obvious and intentional exaggeration.
(Dictionary.com)
A figure of speech in which
exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect, as in I could sleep for
a year or This book weighs a ton.
(The Free Dictionary-By Farlex)
Cynicism:
An attitude of scornful or jaded
negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or
professed motives of others
(The Free Dictionary-By Farlex)
Distrusting or disparaging the motives
of others.
(Dictionary.Com)
The Scripture in question are verses 4
& 5.
Amos 4:4,5 NLT
4 “Go ahead and offer sacrifices to
the idols at Bethel. Keep on disobeying at Gilgal.
Offer sacrifices each morning, and
bring your tithes every three days.
5 Present your bread made with yeast as
an offering of thanksgiving. Then give your extra voluntary offerings
so you can brag about it everywhere! This is the kind of thing you
Israelites love to do,” says The Sovereign Lord.
Israel was a sinful nation, living in luxury and
disobedience to The Lord. She had two places of worship, against The
Lord's commands. One at Bethel, meant to mean “House of God,”
which the prophet Amos renamed “Beth Aven,” meaning “House of
wickedness.” And a place of worship in Gilgal, which was also a
place of idolatrous worship.
The Lord, (Understand this carefully!)
had sent them judgment after judgment, To Stop Them.
But we read some five times in this
narration, their reply. “
6 “I brought hunger to every city and
famine to every town. But still you would not return to Me,”
says The Lord.
8 People staggered from town to town
looking for water, but there was never enough. But still you
would not return to Me,” says The Lord.
9 “I struck your farms and vineyards
with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured all your fig and olive
trees. But still you would not return to Me,” says The Lord.
10 “I sent plagues on you like the
plagues I sent on Egypt long ago. I killed your young men in war and
led all your horses away. The stench of death filled the air! But
still you would not return to Me,” says The Lord.
11 “I destroyed some of your cities,
as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Those of you who survived were
like charred sticks pulled from a fire. But still you would not
return to Me,”
says The Lord.
Time after time The Lord in His great love tried to stop them, but to
“no,” avail.
Finally The Lord in irony said to them.....
4 “Go ahead and offer sacrifices to
the idols at Bethel. Keep on disobeying at Gilgal.
Offer sacrifices each morning, and
bring your tithes every three days.
5 Present your bread made with yeast as an offering of thanksgiving.
Then give your extra voluntary offerings so you can brag about it
everywhere! This is the kind of thing you Israelites love to do,”
says The Sovereign Lord.
Hebrews 3:15
KJV
While it is said, To day if ye will hear His voice, harden not
your hearts, as in the provocation.
Hebrews 3:15
NLT
Remember what it says: “Today when you hear His voice, don’t
harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled.”
Israel rebelled against The Lord, at Kadesh-Barnea, not believing
Joshua and Caleb, and refused to enter the promised land. Their
rebellion cost them 40 years of wandering in the desert until they
were all dead, only their children, and Joshua and Caleb entered the
land of promise.
Judgment is
the fate of men and nations that turn their back on The Living God!
Would God in all His love, send Disasters to mankind?
Read the story again, by the hand of God, the following came to
Israel, “to stop them!”
Famine & Hunger
Drought & Lack Of Water To Drink.
Mildew & Blight, On Crops.
Locusts
Pestilence & Plagues
Animal & Human Deaths
Cities Destroyed
But still you would not return to Me,” says The Lord.
Well had Ezekiel prophesied earlier:
Ezekiel 18:31
KJV
Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have
transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will
ye die, O house of Israel?
Ezekiel 33:11
KJV
Say unto them, As I live, saith The Lord God, I have no pleasure
in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and
live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O
house of Israel?
The day came when judgment fell, and Assyria carried them all away.
And the message remains yet for us today! Do we we see the signs of
Judgment in our land?
Is God trying to speak to our people? Are our leaders and our people
on their knees seeking the will of The Living God?
Israel, hardened her heart against the warnings of Almighty God, and
what of our people?
Isaiah 55:6,7
KJV
6 Seek ye The Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while
He is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts: and let him return unto The Lord, and He will have mercy
upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
II Chronicles 7:14 KJV
If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble
themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked
ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and
will heal their land.
Psalm 34:18 KJV
The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth
such as be of a contrite spirit.
Psalm 51:17 KJV
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite
heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Hosea 10:12 NLT
I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will
harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for
now is the time to seek The Lord, that He may come and shower
righteousness upon you.’
Joel 2:12,13 NLT
12 That is why The Lord says,“Turn to Me now, while there is
time.
Give Me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
13 Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts
instead.” Return to The Lord your God, for He is merciful and
compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He
is eager to relent and not punish.
II Corinthians 7:10 NLT
For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away
from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind
of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in
spiritual death.
I John 1:9 KJV
If we confess our sins, He is Faithful and Just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Jeremiah 27:12-14 KJV
12 Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me,
and I will hearken unto you.
13 And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me
with all your heart.
14 And I will be found of you, saith The Lord.
