Less Than Human

Introduction

Amos 1:1 ESV

1 The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

What is a prophet?

Before they were prophets they were called seers

1 Samuel 9:9 ESV

9 (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, “Come, let us go to the seer,” for today’s “prophet” was formerly called a seer.)

A seer is someone who sees things that other people either can’t or don’t - someone with insight.

Not just seeing divine realities or seeing the future

Seeing the present as it really is

David said to Joab “Don’t let the murder of Uriah and the adultery with Bathsheba be evil in your sight.” Nathan came and showed David just how evil it was.

Punk Rock

A lot of you aren’t going to like this comparison, but prophets were like the punk rock bands back in the day. A big part of punk is criticism of the establishment and telling the man what’s what. In modern terms it’s “Speaking truth to power.”

System of a Down

“B.Y.O.B.” famously asks, “Why don’t presidents fight the war? Why do they always send the poor?”

Critique police brutality

Sing about how constant advertising makes them want therapy - against materialism

Amos is punk rock

Condemns Israel for their treatment of the poor

Warns them about taking too much security in their fortresses and military strength

Prophecies that all of their luxuries will be taken away with them into exile

Uses some offensive language (Fat cows!)

The difference between Amos and punk rock is that these critiques are direct from God.

You can disagree with a rock band on morality

But God’s message can still be offensive

Not because Amos is using words we don’t like

Because he’s opening our eyes to the reality of our relationship with God - not our dream

For Three and Four Transgressions

Amos 1:2–5 ESV

2 And he said: “The Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers.” 3 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. 4 So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. 5 I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir,” says the Lord.

The Pattern

3+4 transgressions

Debate over what this means exactly

Possibly saying that three was bad enough for punishment, but then they added a third to it!

I will judge because XYZ

Description of the judgment

The Transgression

Transgression - pesha

It is related to the word “step” and carries the connotation of stepping over a boundary - going where you have no right to be - or striving against someone - moving in opposition.

Paul uses the Greek word paraptoma to translate this Hebrew word and uses it most frequently to describe the sin of Adam and Eve

What was the trespass of Adam and Eve? Eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They were given the one command and they rebelled against it - they overstepped their boundaries in an attempt to supplant God by becoming like him.

It sometimes also involves betrayal.

Proverbs 18:19 ESV

19 A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle.

So let’s see the lines that these nations crossed - how they betrayed others.

Map of nations condemned

Insert Map here

Damascus

Amos 1:3 ESV

3 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron.

They threshed Gilead

Threshing

Insert photo here

Man stood on nail studded plank

Animal dragged it around to tear up the chaff from the grain

We hope it’s figurative, but knowing how brutal people were, it could be literal

2 Kings 13:7 ESV

7 For there was not left to Jehoahaz an army of more than fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen, for the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing.

They ground people up to nothing - treated them as a commodity to be broken apart and consumed or sold

Less than human - They squeezed Gilead for everything they had.

Gaza

Amos 1:6 ESV

6 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom.

Philistia - they were kidnappers! Selling people to Edom.

Exodus 21:16 ESV

16 “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.

Less than human - people are property to be sold into foreign nations

Tyre

Amos 1:9 ESV

9 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they delivered up a whole people to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.

Similar to Gaza - kidnapping and treating people like property.

Adds the betrayal of a covenant - a transgression.

They were friends with Israel at one point, even helping to build the temple:

2 Samuel 5:11 ESV

11 And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, also carpenters and masons who built David a house.

1 Kings 5:12 ESV

12 And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.

Less than human - they’re opportunities.

Edom

Amos 1:11 ESV

11 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever.

Edom was literally Israel’s brother - Jacob and Esau.

Numbers 20:14 ESV

14 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: “Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that we have met:

Less than human - not worth pity, suffering from anger

(compare Jesus’ statements on anger in Matthew 5:21-26 - when angry we view others with contempt - less than human)

Ammon

Amos 1:13 ESV

13 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border.

Less than human - people are inconvenient obstacles in the way of territorial expansion

Moab

Amos 2:1 ESV

1 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom.

Interesting that this is not a sin against Israel

God cares about how the pagans treat each other

He cared about the king of Edom, even in all of his sin against Israel

Burned to lime

Ash is mixed into lime

Lime coats structures as a white plaster

Early Jewish interpretation of this verse:

Amos 2:1 TMP

1 Thus says the Lord, “For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not forgive them; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom and used them for plaster on his house.

Less than human - you’re a product to decorate my house

Judah

Amos 2:4 ESV

4 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray, those after which their fathers walked.

Judah transgressed, betrayed, not man - but God.

Connect: Commodifying Humans

Slavery, exemplified in American slavery during the 1700-1800’s

Abortion: Living humans are an inconvenience that can simply be removed

The constant battle between Gaza and Israel - each occupying each others houses

The Russian invasion of Ukraine - for what purpose than more land?

How Does This Happen?

Judah is nation number 7 and doesn’t have any specific sin mentioned

I think they function as an explanation for all the atrocities of the nations

This is what happens when you don’t have the law of God

Morality is subjective, might makes right, if someone is in the way of your success either remove them or take advantage of them

“Hitler’s policies, although rooted in a sense of race as something primordially ancient, were rooted as well in the clinical formulations of evolutionary theory. The measures that would restore purity to the German people were prescribed equally by ancient chronicles and by Darwinist textbooks. To eliminate those who stood in the way of fulfilling such a programme was not a crime, but a responsibility. ‘Apes massacre all fringe elements as alien to their community.’ Hitler did not hesitate to draw the logical conclusion. ‘What is valid for monkeys must be all the more valid for humans.’” - Tom Holland, Dominion

Without God we’re less than human - we’re monkeys.

Getting Closer and Closer

Look at the map again

Insert Map again

With each nation we’re getting closer and closer to the actual audience Amos has in mind.

Nations of the north, skipping over Israel

Nations in the south - each related distantly to God’s people

Here’s the sucker-punch. Seven is a number of completion in the bible. They would have thought that Judah being the seventh would have been the primary target.

But Amos unleashes on no. 8

The Sin of Israel

Amos 2:6–8 ESV

6 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals— 7 those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned; 8 they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge, and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.

Much more than three or four transgressions!

List transgressions

Amos’ strategy

They would have been hooting and hollering over the judgment of all these other nations and their horrible sins

They were different! They weren’t near as bad as those other people and their sins!

No enslaving

No abortions

No threshing people

No making people into commodities

Amos wants Israel to see that even though they’re not ripping open pregnant women, they are treating their fellow man as less than human.

See that Israel is no different from the nations

Do we see the severity of our sins?

How much better are we really than all those ‘other people’?

Proverbs 14:31 ESV

31 Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.