Scripture Daily

Context No. 3617 of 4322 · Amos

Context · Reflection

Amos 1:11-15: in context

11The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Edom, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger raged continually, and he kept his wrath forever; 12but I will send a fire on Teman, and it will devour the palaces of Bozrah.” 13The LORD says: “For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead, that they may enlarge their border. 14But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it will devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle, with a storm in the day of the whirlwind; 15and their king will go into captivity, he and his princes together,” says the LORD.

Amos pronounces judgment on the surrounding nations for their crimes, and two are named here. Edom is condemned because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, nursing his anger perpetually; the sin is a relentless, pitiless hatred, especially against a brother nation. And Ammon is condemned for terrible atrocities committed in war, merely to enlarge their borders, brutality against the helpless for the sake of greed.

What stands out is that God holds the nations, not only Israel, accountable for their cruelty. These were pagan peoples who did not have the law of Moses, and yet God judges them for violating the basic human decency written on every conscience: pity, mercy, restraint, the refusal to butcher the helpless for gain. There is a universal moral law here that even those without Scripture are answerable to. God sees and judges cruelty wherever it is done, and the pitiless and the merciless, whoever they may be, finally answer to him.

Do I hold to mercy, pity, and restraint, remembering that God holds all people accountable for cruelty, and that the pitiless answer to him?

Sources