Read Amos 4:1-6
Okay, this is a funny passage to me. I grew up in Santa Barbara, California – a hive of the rich, privileged and pretentious. When I first heard this passage about the “cows of Bashan…who say to your husbands, ‘Bring me a drink!”, I thought surely Amos was talking about my town, not Samaria!
Seriously, the politically correct image painted by Amos must have been incredibly offensive to the self-absorbed Samaritan elite, who were “crushing” the needy through their methods of financial gain. Referring to them as cows was a direct reference to the quality of beef being produced in the region. Like cattle, these unsuspecting socialites will be herded out of town by meat hooks … and, there will be so many exiles that they’ll run out of big hooks, and have to resort to little fish hooks at the last.
After describing this human cattle drive, Amos gets very sarcastic. A paraphrase of verses 4 and 5 might read, “Go ahead. Keep worshiping the way you have been – sacrifices, tithes, offerings … you love it. But in God’s eyes, it’s just sin after sin after sin. And you don’t even see it.”
Some profound thoughts from John Phillips’ commentary: “The Israelites were deluded by the national religion, which had been born of apostasy. Every animal sacrificed on the false altars at Bethel and Gilgal was an affront to God. All false religion is an offense to God, especially when its devotees are so duped that they think they are pleasing Him. With their rites and rules. The Israelites thought they were secure in the favor of heaven because of their religious observances, so Amos tried to jolt them with sarcasm, urging them to sacrifice more and more.”
The United States is a land of incredible opulence. It’s also a country where many, many people have every confidence in their religious observance. Yet, our faith communities are full of racial intolerance, economic class divisions, and indebtedness. I wonder how much of what happens in churches across the land is an affront to God.
This Advent, might Amos get the attention of us and our herds? Quick, before He gets out the hooks…
– EO
An Evangelical Orphan in Search of His Family 