Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Amos 6: Live as there is no resurrection and no justice

Amos was prophet who spoke to Samaria and Judah/Zion:

1-2 Woe to you who think you live on easy street in Zion,
    who think Mount Samaria is the good life.
You assume you’re at the top of the heap,
    voted the number-one best place to live. (...)
3-6 (...)
Woe to those who live in luxury
    and expect everyone else to serve them!
Woe to those who live only for today,
    indifferent to the fate of others!
Woe to the playboys, the playgirls,
    who think life is a party held just for them!
Woe to those addicted to feeling good—life without pain!
    those obsessed with looking good—life without wrinkles!
They could not care less
    about their country going to ruin.

Amos is almost saying: "Woe to those who laugh because they will cry". The problem is not being happy, it is to be indifferent to others. I am afraid I am living this good life now. Am I indifferent to the fate of others?

12-13
Do you hold a horse race in a field of rocks?
    Do you plow the sea with oxen?
You’d cripple the horses
    and drown the oxen.
And yet you’ve made a shambles of justice,
    a bloated corpse of righteousness,
Bragging of your trivial pursuits,
    beating up on the weak and crowing, “Look what I’ve done!”

The verses 12-13 are translated very differently, but let us take what the MSG says. It is addressed to those who think of themselves as righteous due to religious practices (not in text, inferred), but are not righteous at all; in fact, they addressed to be punished (by the Assyrians). It seems not so different from our days.

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