Theological Commentary: Click Here
Amos 4 gives
one of the best descriptions of the rebelliousness of Israel that has ever been
written. Amos speaks of the Hebrew
people as cows. What are cows? Cows are large, relatively unintelligent, herd
animals that honestly are either beasts of burdens or raised for
slaughter. They trample everything that
gets underfoot because of their girth.
These are the things to which Amos compares the Hebrew people.
Keep reading. What does Amos say? These cows of Bashan oppress the poor. They crush the needy. That makes sense. Heavy beasts of burden are good at crushing
things and imposing their will. If you’ve
ever been near a cow that didn’t want to do what it was expected to do, it’s a
real force of wills!
What is God
saying about the rebellious? In their
rebellion – in their selfish ambitious pursuit of their own dreams – they are
crushing the life out of the very people that God has asked them to care
about! They are hording all the
resources to themselves and not distributing the as needed. They are cows in that their own girth is
proof of their opulence!
In this
context, God delivers His perspective.
He has tried to get their attention.
He started by giving them blessing, but they walked away. He tried to give them hardship in famine and drought,
but they would not pay attention. He
raised up opponents to get them to realize their need for Him, but they refused
to humble themselves and rely on God. He
sent plagues of disease and insect upon them to get them to cry out to Him, but
they refused to call. Therefore, God has
only one way left to deal with these cows of Bashan. He will bring the Assyrians down upon them
and take away their nation.
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